Alana Moceri

Which woman will be Joe Biden’s VP?

Depending on how you see it, either Joe Biden, the Democratic Party or both were lucky in that the coronavirus lockdowns started kicking in just as he had cinched the nomination. Everyone, probably even most Republicans, knows that Biden can do the job. That wasn’t at issue in this primary where Democratic voters were hellbent on determining which candidate had the best chance at beating Trump. Both voters and other candidates coalesced behind Biden, who seemed to have the best chance at winning over moderate voters and perhaps even moderate Republicans in swing states. Much of this calculation has to do with a perceived comfort level with white man. Afterall, with the exception of one, all U.S. presidents have been white men.

Therefore, Biden is a comfort-zone candidate, but that comfort could also serve as a liability considering that Democrats love to fall in love with transformational candidates like Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. They later fall out of love, but that is another story for another article. Biden lacks excitement and he promises little more than a third Obama term. (After these past two months, voters might just be hankering for a safe and boring president.) But, in the March Democratic debate, Biden committed to doing something that might add some freshness and vigor to his campaign: he committed to choosing a female vice-presidential running mate. Since then speculation has run high. The prospect of a female vice president is still a novelty for Americans, this will only be the third time that a woman has been chosen as the vice-presidential candidate for a major party.

¿Qué mujer será la vicepresidenta de Joe Biden?

Dependiendo del punto de vista, para Joe Biden, para el Partido Demócrata o para ambos fue una suerte que las medidas de confinamiento por el coronavirus comenzaran justo cuando acababa de asegurarse el nombramiento. Todo el mundo, seguramente incluso la mayoría de los republicanos, sabe que Biden está cualificado para el puesto. No era eso lo que estaba en duda en las primarias, en las que los votantes demócratas estaban totalmente empeñados en determinar qué candidato tenía más probabilidades de derrotar a Trump. Tanto esos votantes como los demás candidatos se han unido para apoyar a Biden, que parece tener más posibilidades de ganarse a los demócratas moderados y quizá algunos republicanos moderados en los estados indecisos. Esa opinión tiene mucho que ver con la idea de que el hombre blanco da cierta sensación de seguridad. Al fin y al cabo, todos los presidentes estadounidenses, salvo uno, han sido hombres blancos. (read in English)

Entrevista con RT sobre Trump y COVID-19

¿Se romperán las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y China?

En una entrevista reciente con Reuters, Trump dijo que "China hará todo lo posible para que pierda esta carrera". Con la "carrera" quiere decir la carrera para ser reelegido como presidente este noviembre.

Han pasado 48 años desde que el presidente de los Estados Unidos, Richard Nixon, hizo su famosa visita a China para reunirse con el primer ministro chino, Zhou Enlai, para abrir relaciones entre los dos países. Desde entonces ha habido momentos difíciles, el que más, el de la Plaza Tiananmen, pero ahora la relación está en un punto aún más bajo. No solo porque los dos países están liderados por hombres de enormes egos (grandes incluso para los estándares de los dirigentes mundiales), sino porque esa animosidad se ha extendido a la opinión pública, en gran parte impulsada por el nacionalismo que sus dos líderes han avivado. (leer articulo en El Español)

The breaking point for US-China relations?

In a recent interview with Reuters Trump said that “China will do anything they can to have me lose this race.” The “race,” meaning, the race to be re-elected as president this November.  It’s been 48 years since U.S. President Richard Nixon made his famous visit to China to meet with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, opening up relations between the two countries. Since then, there have been some tough times for this relationship, most notably, Tiananmen Square, but this moment brings this relationship to an even lower point. Not just because the two countries are led by men with mega-sized egos (even by world-leader standards), but because this animosity has extended into public opinion, in no small part driven by the nationalism that these leaders have stoked.

Both Trump and Xi have engaged in a childish blame game over the coronavirus disinformation as they both have tried to shape the narrative over the origins of the pandemic. Both have their reasons for wanting to shift the blame, but it doesn’t excuse this behavior. Trump’s sluggish reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic has been widely criticized at home and as he came on board with it being an actual problem—even trying to defy reality by saying that he knew about it before everyone else—he fell on his favored tactic of blaming others. He’s repeatedly called it the “Chinese” virus, attacked the World Health Organization for purportedly helping China cover up the outbreak at its onset and most recently accused China of hoping that he’ll lose his reelection bid. This didn’t come out of the blue, bad blood has been building over time, particularly over ongoing trade tension, and is just reaching the boiling point now.

¿Se romperán las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y China?

En una entrevista reciente con Reuters, Trump dijo que "China hará todo lo posible para que pierda esta carrera". Con la "carrera" quiere decir la carrera para ser reelegido como presidente este noviembre.

Han pasado 48 años desde que el presidente de los Estados Unidos, Richard Nixon, hizo su famosa visita a China para reunirse con el primer ministro chino, Zhou Enlai, para abrir relaciones entre los dos países. Desde entonces ha habido momentos difíciles, el que más, el de la Plaza Tiananmen, pero ahora la relación está en un punto aún más bajo. No solo porque los dos países están liderados por hombres de enormes egos (grandes incluso para los estándares de los dirigentes mundiales), sino porque esa animosidad se ha extendido a la opinión pública, en gran parte impulsada por el nacionalismo que sus dos líderes han avivado. (leer articulo)

Trump intenta reinventarse como presidente de guerra para las elecciones de 2020

El coronavirus lo está cambiando todo y eso incluye las elecciones presidenciales de 2020 en Estados Unidos. Gran parte del país, así como su Presidente, comenzaron a darse cuenta de la gravedad de la pandemia del coronavirus en las semanas posteriores al Súper Martes, justo cuando el exvicepresidente Joe Biden consolidaba su victoria en las primarias presidenciales demócratas. Biden y el senador Bernie Sanders mantuvieron el primer y último debate entre dos candidatos el 15 de marzo ante las cámaras, pero sin una audiencia en directo y a una distancia segura el uno del otro. Ambos habían dejado ya de celebrar actos de campaña en vivo cinco días antes.

El coronavirus definitivamente les ha robado el papel en el centro del escenario que legítimamente correspondía a las primarias demócratas y a Biden en este punto de los comicios de 2020. Las presidenciales de EE UU son la Super Bowl de las elecciones, un espectáculo del que está pendiente el mundo entero. Iowa, el Súper Martes, la conquista de la nominación, las convenciones, los debates, los mítines, las visitas a pequeñas cafeterías pintorescas, los apretones de manos con los votantes… Se trata de una batalla entre dos candidatos en la que cada momento es inmortalizado por la presencia constante de cámaras. Es el programa de telerrealidad definitivo pero con mucho más en juego. (leer articulo)

Trump tries to rebrand himself as a war president for a 2020 victory

The coronavirus is changing everything and that includes the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. Much of the U.S. and its president woke up to the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic in the weeks after Super Tuesday, just as former Vice President Joe Biden was consolidating his victory in the Democratic Presidential Primary. He and Senator Bernie Sanders held the first and last 2-candidate debate on March 15th before cameras but without a live audience and at a safe distance from each other. They had already stopped holding live campaign events five days earlier.

The coronavirus has certainly stolen the Democratic Primary’s and Biden’s rightful spotlight at this point in the 2020 election. U.S. presidential elections are the Super Bowl of elections, a spectacle that the whole world watches. Iowa, Super Tuesday, the capturing of the nomination, the conventions, the debates, rallies and visits to quaint diners, pressing the flesh—it’s a battle between two candidates with every moment captured by the constant presence of cameras. It’s the ultimate reality-TV but with much higher stakes.

Learning the Value of Solidarity in Coronavirus-Stricken Spain

MADRID—On the first Friday in March, Spain was deep into the rigorous hand-washing phase of its response to the coronavirus pandemic, but still about a week away from a lockdown. That night, I met a friend at a quiet tapas bar close to home. Afterward, we went to another bar in the Arguelles neighborhood, a popular late-night haunt for students at several nearby universities. It was the typical Friday pandemonium of people yelling orders, drinks and plates being passed around, and used napkins covering the floor. As I washed down my Spanish omelet with a glass of Verdejo, I looked around and remarked, “This is the perfect place to pass around the virus.”

It would be my last night out for the foreseeable future, yet even at that point, it was pretty stupid to head into any bar, let alone one that crowded. Since then, Spain has become one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with a confirmed death toll of more than 15,000 people. No one can say whether that number might now be lower if authorities had acted more quickly or if people had taken the virus more seriously. But there are still some broad lessons to take from countries like Spain. (read article)

The coronavirus is a deadly moment of reckoning for the American healthcare system

As Spanish schools and universities went online, my students made a mad dash for their home countries and towns and while it might be comforting to be with family at a time like this, I realized that I would be a fool to leave Spain for the my home country, the U.S. This is in part because I am covered by Spain’s world-class public health system and currently have no health insurance in the U.S. But it is also because Spain is in a much better position to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. While Americans are doing voluntary self-isolation, still freaking out over buying toilet paper and apparently purchasing guns (only in America), the people of Spain are doing the only thing that can stop the spread of this deadly virus, staying at home.

Why is Trump’s newly great-again America doing such a terrible job against the coronavirus? To be fair, he inherited this system, if you can even call it one, but he has also done things to make it worse. We’ll start with healthcare in the U.S., which is a fragmented, for-profit mess that doesn’t cover everyone, which is the first and most important point.