COVID-19 Pandemic and 2020-Vision?!

COVID-19 Pandemic and 2020-Vision?!

By Giorgi (George) Peikrishvili

 General overview

 Mankind has often had to contend with catastrophes, both manmade and natural. In the past century alone there have been two World Wars, the Cold War, the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the financial crash/banking crisis in 2008 and the Spanish ‘flu pandemic of 1918/19.  In December 2019 a new disaster began to unfold in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province in China. A new and unfamiliar Corona virus, later named Covid-19, was sounding alarm bells and spreading dismay and trepidation in the Chinese Communist Party. The official government account states that the novel Corona virus was identified in the last days of 2019. Legitimate doubts about its origins have been raised by many Western Governments and the virus may already have been around for months, and spreading.  Wuhan, a bustling metropolis with a population of almost 19 million people, played host to the CISM Military World Games in the second fortnight of October (Wuhan 2019). Around 10,000 athletes from over 100 countries participated in this global event. Hot on the heels of this massive international sporting event came Central China’s gigantic Electronic and Dance Music Festival on the first weekend of November. There is now evidence that a man tested positive for Covid-19 in France on December 27. This was four days before the WHO's China country office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause being detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Should the Chinese have cancelled the aforementioned events? In hindsight, probably. Yet no government in the world would take such drastic action until they know what they are dealing with. So, what are we dealing with?! It is not regular seasonal influenza. It is heretofore unknown, therefore a “novel” C-virus. It has spread all over the world very quickly and continues to take lots of lives every day. It has demolished economics globally. Suffice it to say it has stopped the world. It is becoming more and more apparent that in the aftermath of the pandemic the world will not be the same. There will be a post COVID-19 new “normal”.

•  The Covid-19 story started rather dramatically and tragically on 30th of December 2019. Dr Wenliang Li, from Wuhan Central Hospital, sent out warnings to colleagues in a group chat about a SARS-like virus, and told them to protect themselves. Police made Dr Li write and sign a statement that his early warnings about the outbreak of a deadly virus were “False Alerts”. Later an apology was issued to Dr Li and he was officially honoured by the Chinese Government as a "martyr", which is the highest honour the government can bestow on a Chinese citizen who dies serving his country. This proves that the virus was there for weeks if not months before it was officially admitted by the Chinese Government and the WHO (World Health Organisation). Now let us examine more closely what might possibly have happened? There are two possibilities that come to mind.
•  The first hypothesis is that COVID-19 started in China due to hyper anti-sanitary problems in the wet-market region of Wuhan. It is perhaps surprising that WHO was on very mild alert even in the beginning of January 2020. Until January 4, 2020 WHO was referring to it as pneumonia with no death (source WHO official twitter). Only from January 10 did WHO refer to it as novel Coronavirus. Officially the first case of Corona virus outside of China was confirmed on 13th of January.  This raises a lot of questions for evaluation, adequate information and preparation to contain and tackle the outbreak. Based on these legitimate doubts, can one conclude that WHO was playing along with the Chinese Government to underestimate the risk and to withhold information about COVID-19?
•  On the flip side of the coin, another way of looking at things is to consider that someone or some group of countries/organisations wanted China to get blamed for the pandemic.  WHO played along by with-holding information in order to buy more time for either party to include more details in order to make China look bad, or to buy time for China to find out who was lurking behind this hypothesis?  I would not completely discount the possibility of this version of events, even though it reeks of a conspiracy theory. China is not the same China as it was 50 years ago. It could clearly predict and diffuse this plan if it were a set-up. No one would go there fearing that it could be disclosed to the Chinese Government. However, as there is a good many reason it could have happened that a “set-up” was successful due to highly influential countries/organisations, or groups of people backing it up.
•  The Chinese New Year which began on January 25 is the Year of the Rat, (an animal associated in the West with the Bubonic Plague). For those following world-news it transpired that China had taken the drastic step of putting the whole country into Lockdown and sealing off the city of Wuhan completely. The extreme measures were deemed necessary to stop people travelling during the two week long Spring Festival Holiday. Outside of China the reports that China had closed down the second largest economy in the world were greeted with dispassionate aloofness. The numbers dying seemed relatively small for such a big country, and people, if they thought about it at all, thought of it as China’s problem. Then something changed, slowly at first but then accelerating and catching the world off guard. Some countries looked to the East and showed a willingness to learn lessons from countries already afflicted with the virus such as South Korea, Japan and Singapore. Other countries blindly and rather arrogantly dismissed the crisis as a bad ‘flu and thought that it wouldn’t affect them. Even if it did it would disappear as quickly as it materialised. Governments lost valuable time in taking measures to slow the spread of the virus and to mobilise personal protective equipment to shield their frontline workers. In two months covid-19 had spread to every continent except Antarctica. What was a Chinese epidemic and perceived as their problem quickly established itself as a global pandemic which was now everybody’s problem. In IT parlance when we say a meme or a story goes viral, it means it spreads like wildfire. In March the world learnt the real meaning of going viral.
•  European Union countries reacted differently, sometimes reflecting the characteristics of their citizens. Italy and Spain were worst affected initially both in terms of numbers of cases and deaths. Their public health systems were quickly overwhelmed and woeful stories emerged about mass graves and people dying alone or in abandoned nursing homes. The numbers are still fluid but at the time of writing Britain has overtaken Italy and Spain in the number of fatal casualties. The recently “Brexited” UK were basking in the glory of being free to make their own decisions and dithered over whether Herd Immunity would be more effective in the long-run. They lost precious time, and while elsewhere people were becoming conversant with flattening the curve to reduce the number of cases and take the pressure off the health system, Britain sat on the fence and paid a heavy price. In Sweden the perceived wisdom was to trust their citizens to do the right thing and take common-sense precautions. They did not lock down and tried to save themselves from the economic crisis afflicting their neighbours. The country has forged its odd path. In absolute terms, unfortunately, more people so far have died compared to its Nordic neighbours. Norway and Finland have far fewer deaths than Sweden where the situation continues to deteriorate. Comparing Sweden to Switzerland the statistics show that even though Switzerland had more cases, Sweden has double the Swiss death rate. This is probably due to different rates of testing. It will take time to analyse all the data and get a clearer picture of what happened in different countries. It must be remembered nevertheless that every figure represents a human casualty. The crisis has spawned a debate about the value of human life versus protecting the economy.
•  The strength of the European Union was severely tested after the financial crash of 2008. The bail out of the banks left a bad taste for countries like Ireland and more especially Greece, who seriously considered leaving the project. Then the bombshell of the British vote to leave the Union in 2016 threatened the stability of Europe. The Covid-19 crisis saw a rapid reversion to an everyman for himself approach as each country did their own thing as their governments saw fit. Even though ostensibly Europe was economically ready for a pandemic, the unity evaporated very quickly as countries closed their borders. Italy was quickly overwhelmed and lacking in medical supplies and equipment and frontline staff. Incidentally aid, in the form of medical personnel and equipment, when it did come, came from China which seemed eager to emphasise that they were open and willing to help and share their expertise. As regards the European Union, Italy may have felt a little bit abandoned. Sweden did their own thing as discussed above. The British PM seemed to think they would be okay with sheer willpower alone as they had just thrown off the shackles of Europe. He rather recklessly shook hands with Covid patients a day after a scientific advisor warned him that the virus could potentially claim up to 500,000 British lives.  It almost claimed his. Britain currently tops the table for the country with the most deaths in Europe. Germany could be considered to have handled the situation well, but they had the starting advantage of an excellent health system. In terms of models to follow Germany is probably the best in the EU.
•  Ireland has fared pretty well, although every single death is a tragedy for the individual, their family and their community. Ireland had the financial resources to cover all expenses for non-essential businesses and individuals required to lockdown and stay at home, covering 75%-85% of wages for running businesses. Compared to other EU countries Ireland has suffered less numbers of infected people. There are signs nonetheless that WHO guidelines and instructions were delayed and not appropriate at the beginning in early March. There were delayed restrictions on inbound flights and the flow of people into the state, for example Cheltenham Racing Festival. Racegoers were inadequately informed and defiant in their attitudes towards the virus. I’m alright Jack. Schools, pubs and other public gatherings were not closed until the middle of March, weeks after the first case was detected in Ireland at the end of February. There were shortages of medical personnel and personal protective equipment too. Again, Ireland turned to China to supply much needed PPE. In the heel of the hunt all victories or failures are results of proper (or not) planning and guidance from decision makers, and society’s compliance (or not) with those decisions. In general, there has been a high degree of compliance and acceptance of the guidelines from the general public in Ireland.
•  The United States surprised the world with its approach to the virus, which inevitably has led that country to have the worst death toll and by far the highest number of infections. I say the world was taken aback because the US is the world’s richest economy. Therein might lie the problem. Like nowhere else on earth the dilemma of whether to save lives or protect the economy played out in the daily press briefings in the White House. Throughout the month of February when numbers were low there was a lost opportunity to stockpile essentials such as ventilators and PPE. When numbers of infections were small the people were assured it was only the ‘flu and it would go away in April. It was even called a political hoax. When the lockdown came there were still mixed messages being given. People were encouraged to protest for their right to freedom to do as they please and if that means breaking restrictive rules then so be it. The rights of the individual Trumps the rights of society to protect itself. The reassuring messages that a cure was imminent and a vaccine would soon be found were motivated as much to steady the stock market than to comfort the people. Meanwhile thousands of people are dying daily and hundreds of thousands are already deceased, but for many Americans “It’s the economy stupid” is what matters more. One problem of coming out of lockdown prematurely negates the benefits of flattening the curve and makes a second wave of the virus unavoidable.  The mantra that the cure must not be worse than the disease means that the virus is fated to last longer, cause more hardship and in the long-term do more damage to the economy that they want so desperately to protect.
•  In contrast to expectations perhaps, Georgia has managed to handle the management of Covid-19 very well, and has limited the spread of the virus. Consequently, Georgia has a low death rate. The first cases of the virus were identified almost at the same time as Ireland and other EU countries. The central government, led by the PM, and local governments, headed by State representative “Governors”, together with a Board of Internationally recognised Georgian doctors, took strict measures very early on. Georgia is surrounded by Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and Russia. There is normally a constant flow of Iranian tourists through the mainland boarder of Azerbaijan. Yet they still managed to lock down most places as soon as the first signs of Covid-19 appeared. On March 31 a “Nationwide quarantine” was declared. Citizens were required to observe a curfew between the hours of 21:00 – 06:00. The four biggest cities were closed down and a state emergency was declared.
•  One of the Governor State representatives, Shota Rekhviashvili, visited Ireland in 2019. He is involved on daily basis, visiting each area of his governance, checking ongoing works, making sure no one is left without support, and all instructions and guidelines are being strictly adhered to. All of this work is being done with less funding available than most countries have at their disposal. The statistics for Georgia currently read: Total cases – 582, Total deaths – 8, Total recovered – 207.

 In summary then we can conclude: Despite predictions and warnings of an imminent  pandemic the world was not prepared for this novel virus. Different countries adopted different coping strategies. This indicates that there is not a co-ordinated emergency plan. Consequently, if one state underestimates or mishandles the danger then this has repercussions for the rest of the world.

 The Role of Social Media

 With the ubiquitous internet it has never been easier to access information, but just how reliable is that information? How can we verify, confirm and trust the information we are getting? You do not need to be an expert in Information Technology to successfully manage a smart phone. But can our information be controlled and manipulated? Let me give a simple example: take three of the main search engines viz. Google, Yahoo, Bing and add Facebook for good measure. If one were to spread misinformation that eating limes 3 times a day helps prevent headaches, then whenever one searches for a headache cure, this information will come up and one will be led to believe that eating limes 3 times a day helps prevent headaches, (maybe it really does I don’t know). The Chinese have very strict monitoring and control of the internet. Google and Facebook are prohibited there. Therefore, what we see online can certainly be controlled.

 When the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar addressed the Irish nation on St. Patrick’s Day, he warned people to be careful where they get their information on Covid-19 from. Schools also have an important role to play in educating people to be discerning in their choices of websites and where to find information from reliable sources. Varadkar urged the Irish to rely on Irish Government and the HSE for reliable facts. He was correct to be concerned as the internet lit up with claims and counter-claims about treatments and cures and pending vaccines. The reality is there is presently no cure and no vaccine for Covid-19 and all the claims and counterclaims are all fabrications, deception and spin. During the month of April it seemed that half the world had become expert virologists.

 Information manipulation can be used to sow the seeds of panic or to reassure and avoid panic. In Georgia some media agencies were demanding the government revoke the State Emergency as they saw no need for it.  They cited the case of Sweden where life continued on as usual and the death rate from the virus was under 200. The real situation was that the death rate there had in fact exceeded over 2,300. “Mtavari Arkhi” is a well-known fake-news agency. Formerly it happened to be one of the most popular TV Channels, Rustavi 2. The European Court of Human Right’s gave it back to lawful owners and the old crew opened “Mtavari Arkhi” as their propaganda machine. This station has lost its credibility because besides fake-news they have graduated to dangerous news. The phrase “bread and circuses” comes to mind as it implies a population's erosion or ignorance of civic duty as a priority. This superficial appeasement of the people cannot be classed as entertainment and in fact can be quite dangerous. An example of how treacherous this can be is when an organisation, affiliated to the same opposition party as “Mtavari Akrhi”s management, broadcast an alarming message. They urged hundreds of Georgians living in the west of the country to assemble in order to receive hand sanitisers. They did not have sufficient masks or hand sanitisers and their actions were far more likely to spread the virus. Luckily Health Officers and the Government managed to contain the situation which was in direct breach of assembly recommendations and regulations.

 Meanwhile in the United States of America the news channels are regularly presenting   controversial information from different sources, usually depending on which side of the political divide they find themselves on.  The  media then cuts and pastes and remakes them into social media bite size pieces as it suits them best.

 Credit has to be given to the mainstream Irish media, both broadcast and print, for the responsible way they co-operated with the authorities and tried to disseminate information honestly, be it good or bad news. This very likely influenced the high degree of co-operation and compliance of the population. Of course, there were a couple of attention seeking dissenters who had their own agendas for seeking publicity. By and large the public saw through these spurious claims and gave the malcontents little sustenance. Freedom of speech is a quality worth preserving so I will dissent from making any more comments about the media. Suffice it to say take care where you obtain your information. 

Political Overview

There is nothing certain in politics and politics by its very nature is always changing.  One of the golden rules in politics is to “expect the unexpected”. There are no lifetime friends or enemies in politics. I won’t go through detailed principles of politics either internal or global, but I will try to briefly describe the past, present and future order of the political world order.

 As we know the political ideology of socialism came about as a consequence of the Industrial revolution in England at the end of eighteenth century. It spread to much of Europe by the end of the nineteenth century.  It led to the formation and main ideology of the Soviet Union. There were four main tenets: Collectivism, Public Ownership, Central Economic planning (Where Government plans the economy and there is no free market), and Economic Equality. Socialists blame the free market for liberalism’s failings and under a capitalist system, money and means of production are measures of power. China and the Soviet Union (together with North Korea and Cuba) embodied this ideology.

• Modern society had a dilemma when the Soviet Union disintegrated.  There are still remaining People’s Republic of China, North Korea and Cuba. China and North Korea represent strong powers, especially China which boasts both Nuclear weapons and the fastest growing economy. North Korea is only left with its increasingly impotent nuclear threat. So, the world cannot label them as public enemies, and dangerous states, like they were referring to the powerful and militaristic Soviet Union. It is said that Socialism evolves in a variety of ways, (only two actually). Communism and Democratic Socialism are the two most prominent evolutions of socialism. PROBLEM SOLVED!!! The Soviet Union was a Communist regime so all negative connotations were ascribed to it. we have accepted countries like the People’s Republic of China and North Korea because they are no longer labelled as Communists, but Democratic Socialist, which is lighter and a more positive version of Communism. The question is; why did they have to change the names? The answer is: Communists argued that people can and must make the transition to socialism quickly rather than waiting for it to evolve. Authoritarian and violent measures are often required because the defenders of capitalism will fight ferociously to stop socialism from coming into being.
• Democratic Socialism is a peaceful and democratic approach to achieving socialism. As an ideology, democratic socialism also emphasizes a classless society in which all members jointly share the means and output of production, (exactly the same way as Communism). It is a fact that since October 2018 hundreds of crosses across China have been removed. This is clear evidence of 2 things: 1. Freedom of Religion is not protected & 2. China is keeping strong ties to Communism which (during the Soviet Union) sees church as the enemy because only the Communist Party and its leaders must be worshiped without question and not God.

 So, without a second thought, it is no exaggeration to say that China is following the steps of Communism, and embraces its ideology.

• The creation of the European Union was the great idea where all member states joined and shared common values such as equality between nations, respect for human dignity and human rights, freedom, democracy, and rule of law, for commonwealth, security, and prosperity. As it was established in 1993 it has not really faced big challenges to prove how strong this union is. It’s precursor, the European Economic Community, was established by the Treaty of Rome in 1957. Historically the large powers of Europe waged wars on each other on a generational cycle. The rationale was that if these neighbouring countries became trading-partners they would be less likely to attack each other. The last major conflict in Western Europe ended in 1945 and the 75 years that have elapsed since has been the longest period of peace and prosperity the continent has ever known. So, bearing in mind what it was set up to achieve, harmonious relationships between member states, the European Project has been a resounding success. Its first real challenge came in 2008 with the banking crisis and the financial crash. Ireland, Portugal and Greece were the most affected but Ireland managed to get over the crisis earlier than expected. Greece did not fare as well and had to exit its third financial bailout on August 2020. But it was big disappointment as Greece had to surrender its major state assets, including airports, railways, ports and islands. Tourism makes up more than 18 % of Greece’s GDP, but it does not now control many of its utilities, transportations systems, beaches or islands. The Greeks were not happy with their lot and there was a lot of talk of Grexit, but it hasn’t happened. Now Italy, which was a founding member of the EEC, was tending towards more right-wing nationalism because of the ongoing migration crisis in the Mediterranean. Italy was very hard hit by the Covid crisis, unlike Greece which seemed to get away relatively unscathed. Italy may have felt abandoned by its European partners and there was wide coverage of the fact that China rushed to help Italy when it needed support.
•  Overall, the EU showed no central unified defence system. The Swedish approach to the crisis was totally different from other EU member states. It seems that the EU works well when everything is going “nice and smoothly”. When there is a problem outside of the EU zone, the Eu parliaments says nothing or just makes a gentle note of the situation. The so-called  “defenders” of democracy, human rights and freedom of religion have not made any official statement against the Chinese Government removing Crosses from churches. We have to always remember that EU countries, despite their cultural differences, united and shared   values such as human rights, democracy and the right to earn a living. EU values were strong but in the course of time some political agendas diluted these values and made once strong   EU leaders less significant. In 2014, then US President Barack Obama accused Russia of breaking the INF Treaty after it allegedly tested a ground-launched cruise missile. However, Obama reportedly chose not to withdraw from the treaty under pressure from European leaders. In 2019 when President Trump started the withdrawal process, EU leaders as usual supported US. President Putin said EU leaders’ statements are nothing but “pretext” for the US to leave the pact.

 Bowing to heavy pressure from Beijing, European Union officials softened their criticism of China regarding Covid-19 in a report documenting how governments push disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, according to documents, emails, and interviews. Worried about the repercussions, European officials first delayed and then rewrote the document in ways that diluted the focus on China, a vital trading partner — taking a vastly different approach than the confrontational stance adopted by US President’s administration.

 So-saying, from a political point of view, and not from an economical point of view EU is good when there are sunny days around but if it gets cloudy you better get ready as if it rains there won’t be many of them handing you an umbrella for “cheap price”. States like Germany and France are dominant countries and policy makers for all the EU countries, while formally giving the impression that each state has a right to express its opinions and has a veto. However, they keep maintain the right to listen to other member states but still do what they want to do. The UK was used to do things their own way and as it did not work mainly because they were not team players. They hankered for the days of Empire when “Brittania ruled the waves” and they preferred to act as an independent player on international politics rather than working with their fellow Europeans whom they perceive as inferior. An example of dominance and reaching their targets by ignoring the will of a sovereign state was Lisbon Treaty ratified by Ireland in 2002 in a second referendum after the first vote rejected it in 2001. (Ireland did not quite do what they were told by EU in 2001 so they had to fix it in 2002……..Lisbon for slow learners).

 Overall, the EU cannot be considered as a politically strong Union who states the rules or changes the rules worldwide, like the US, Russia, or China and it is the result of deviation from the principles it was founded on.

 Everyone wants to know what is there for Russia or where it stands? As always Russia has several ways of political platforms and they do act at all levels, even losing in one instance they compensate by victory in a different place. Russia is duplicitous, on the one hand pulling their strings, weather that be in natural resources, playing democracy and supporting the legitimate government in Syria, while at the same time dissolving and disbanding legitimate governments from Ukraine and Georgia. The EU Parliament “whispered” their disappointments over Russia’s actions, but Russians know how to play politics in style. In 2019 the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) agreed to allow Russian representatives to return to the body, five years after Moscow was stripped of its voting rights over the annexation of Crimea. Russia threatened to quit PACE if it was barred from voting in an election of a new secretary-general to replace Norway's Thorbjorn Jagland. Exiting the Council of Europe would have meant Russians losing access to the European Court of Human Rights. So, what does it mean? They even did not get a slap on the wrist for what they did. They will continue to do it as far as it always works the way it suits them. There are many more examples of removing sanctions and bowing to the Russians.

 It is a paradox that the only way to enforce International Law is to use sanctions, whether that be economic or otherwise. It is primarily the responsibility of Security Council of the UN for the maintenance of International peace and security. But among 5 permanent members of Security Council of UN are: China, France, Russia, UK, and the USA.

•  One of the favourite tactics of Russians is to watch from the wings, play along with everyone, and then force each country or group of countries to do the things which are favourable for Russia. They seem to get active since the last elections in the US and foreign policies of US and their overall approach has dramatically changed, which seems to give card blanche to Russians.
•  The US always was considered as a counter balance to Russia with its links and roots to China. Even though the US started their own negotiations with China to set up links to make them stronger,  later on they were following this plan step by step getting in various treaties together with China and building “friendship”, but as soon as new president Donal Trump took the seat he started changes in many different ways, one of them was to start a “Trade war” which caused China’s economic slowdown.
• The U.S. withdrew from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in October 2017 and June 2018, respectively.
•  In 2019 the US withdrew from The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). The reason given reminds me of children fighting for a toy. In 2007 Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the treaty no longer served Russia's interests. That happened after the US President George W Bush, in 2002, pulled the US out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which banned weapons designed to counter ballistic nuclear missiles.
•  President Trump criticized Germany for supporting the Baltic Sea gas pipeline deal with Russia, he even called Germany (one of the biggest players in the EU) “a captive to Russia”.   To think that Trump really thought to block out Russia (economically) and wait to see how it would die and disappear seems to be surreal… but maybe the US president’s administration is losing credibility, and smaller countries (as we only have 3 big countries US, Russia and China which actually is embedded to Russia in a long run) like Germany start looking for new friends?
•  Whichever way things pan out it is obvious in this game that the US is losing its dominant position. The EU as one entity was never considered to be a major player, so individual countries look to Germany for leadership as it tries to settle with Russia. France is still trying to be nice to the US but at the same time trying to explain that you cannot be a bold child in politics and you must to be diplomatic, strong and realistic. (the French are famous for their optimistic nature so they will keep trying to persuade the US to change their approaches). And Russia is making strong moves, even stronger than China. As we could see in last few years China is gaining economic power and therefore political power too, but in one blink of an eye they seem to lose both economic and political power also. (Just why and how I will cover in my economic overview).

Economic Overview

 It is 2020, nothing seems to be impossible. We are entering into the5G era, where we already have samples of cars without drivers, automated assembly factories, progress in all aspects and fields of technology, medicine, automotive, space exploration, and 3D printing. Yet the only thing is that almost all of these are MADE IN CHINA!  All principles, basic, golden, platinum, common sense, were disregarded. According to data published by the United Nations Statistics Division, China accounted for 28 percent of global manufacturing output in 2018. That puts the country more than 10 percentage points ahead of the United States, which used to have the world's largest manufacturing sector until China overtook it in 2010.

 One may say so what if it is financially viable? Companies/organisations/countries had to fight to stay in the market. The first Principle of International Economics states “There is no such thing as a free lunch”, meaning there are always trade-offs. So what is world’s trade-off?

 1. We all became economically dependent on a country whose political belief is “people can and must make the transition to socialism quickly rather than waiting for it to evolve. Authoritarian and violent measures are often required because the defenders of capitalism will fight ferociously to stop socialism from coming into being”.

 2. As we became economically dependent on China, we helped them to grow their economy which would give them possibilities to dominate us.

 3. Whatever China does, every single state, directly or indirectly dependent, must choose their words carefully as it might reflect on their country’s economy. (this is remarkably similar to the Russian formula).

 Greed to be stronger transformed into fear not to be left out. From the beginning western countries thought cheap labour, less restrictions for environmental issues, meant more profits. If we get them to produce for us they will take our waste too in return for decades. China was the world's biggest importer of scrap plastic, taking in millions of tonnes of plastic waste as raw materials from countries like the U.S. and the U.K. to fuel a growing manufacturing sector. Political decision-makers, together with their economic advisors, lost rationalism and their decisions were not based on facts and reasons. Trade relationships are not the contest in which one side wins and one side loses, on the other hand both parties are better off In the modern world for example Ireland, Italy, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and Georgia trading with China resulted in GDP reduced for all countries other than China. Accordingly, the trade relationship between EU countries (Ireland, Italy, Germany, Poland, Lithuania) reduced unemployment in China on cost of increasing or not reducing in your own state. This empowered the Chinese economy on cost of weakening your own as one trade zone and Ukraine’s and Georgia’s too, as Georgia and Ukraine are the competitors of China, but could not compete with number of labour force but few countries can make up number and there are countries with democratic principles and stability dealing with won’t endanger our future.

 In a long run it would be more pragmatic to deal with 5-6 countries and have alternative sources rather than be dependant one country whose political ideology I have already discussed above. It is good for the market, it is good for economic stability, it is good for political stability.

It is significant that German, Japanese, French and Czech companies started moving process from China to Georgia for production in Georgia. The  Head of Regional Development Agency Mr. Gurtskaia visited Ireland several times and works very hard to attract Irish Officials and Business representatives, as Georgia exercises free trading agreement with the EU and is an associated member of the EU.

Conclusion

As I run out of all my dark shade colours so I will try to picture a future with more than dark colours, but we cannot close eyes on reality.

-         We thought we are strong and we defended in most aspects – no, we are not.

-          Covid-19 showed us that our medical systems are not up to scratch. We need to pay more attention and use available resources for more meaningful issues, especially the ones associated with protecting and saving human lives.

-         One third of the world’s economy is in one country’s hands – even it was the most democratic country in the world it is still a security risk to have it so, and it definitely “slipped away” and needs relocation and redistribution to avoid been under risk of one ideology.

-         Information sources and media went from news agency to propaganda mechanism (not in all cases but in most cases). That is why we must learn to check more, read more, ask more, research more.

-         Environmental problems, we speak words and yet we do nothing. We expect mother nature to work miracles for us. We try to sweep dust under the carpet and pretend it is not there. We are happy to ship waste to China, India and think the problem is solved? We do not have plastic on our shores?! We have just sent to other side of ocean.

-         Politics and politicians are meant to serve people and represent their people when dealing with other countries, so people’s engagement and accountability must be the highest priority and which is in quite a lot of deficit in all countries. Commonly there is the spread of nihilism that nothing will change. It will all be the same whatever we do. This must be put away and every individual in society must realise how important it is to have basic information around him/her.

-         Development and progress are the key to our future, but they must be forged from well-mixed chemicals that make the strength of steal, otherwise, they will bend and break.

-         Love, and not hate, makes world go around. There are no bad countries but there are bad individuals and they are in every nation. Blame is never a solution. Acknowledgment of mistakes and willingness and readiness to fix them is important.

The value of the truth has been lost.

We must rekindle that light which is truth.

We must guard and nurture truth

Everything will be all right

Special Thanks to Michael Fitzgerald from Barna for his revision, suggestions and comments, I am very grateful and thankful to Michael and his family to devote time and expertise to finish this publication.

-         Materials are used from official twitter and web sites of WHO, Euro parliament, EU Assembly.