While recent epidemics hit almost only developing countries, the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting both the global south and the global north. Although this might create an illusion that the pandemic is an equalizer, impacts are unevenly distributed across and within countries.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has dragged on for three decades without much progress on the part of the mediators to find a fair and durable solution. Events of 2019 and early 2020 do not yet augur well for the prospects of finding a solution.
In recent years, China and Russia have been jointly engaging in military adventures in the Pacific. Their military adventurism is aimed particularly at Japan and South Korea, two major U.S. allies in the region. Japan and South Korea, in response, have been preparing their respective militaries in order to thwart such military adventurism.