Bill Gates thinks the global shift towards nationalism made the coronavirus response worse

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates believes an upswing in nationalism left the world ill-positioned to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to The Times in an interview published Friday, Gates was asked whether current politicians were up to the task of responding to the crisis.

The billionaire worded his answer carefully. "You go to war with the leaders you have [...] In retrospect you get to judge how well that went," he said.

"I do think the fact that the world was moving towards nationalism and countries taking care of themselves, that framing is not helpful. We all wish we had raised the rallying cry more quickly. Very few people get an A in terms of what they've done in this situation," Gates added.

Gates was careful not to single out particular countries, but the UK, US, India, Brazil, and many other nations have moved towards nationalist politics in recent years. And the UK, US, and Brazil all initially downplayed or continue to downplay the coronavirus threat level.

https://news.yahoo.com/bill-gates-thinks-global-shift-093800752.html

Well look at the leaders of those three countries. Sad when Bo Jo is considered the most level headed.

[Wounded Bear]

1. Of course it did...

This Trumpian isolationism has hurt all international cooperation, political and medical.

[lagomorph777]

2. I hope this will remind people why we normally do a lot of cooperation.

Enlightened self-interest.

[Wounded Bear]

4. "Enlightened" is a nasty word for most Trumplodytes...

it reminds the Christo-Fascists of when the church lost absolute power to reason.

[marybourg]

3. Yes. To those of us who are not stable geniuses it seemed obvious and inevitable.

[Newest Reality]

5. All while...

The corporations remain multi-national and really have not flag that they work under. Nationalism has done little in that regards and exploitation continues across borders for maximum profit.

That's a factor that belies false political notions of isolation and separation, which, after all, are merely concepts based on labels of consensus, not actuality. Look at the globe. You don't see any names of countries, oceans or any borders drawn on it naturally. None.

[Igel]

6. Gee. I wonder if there are any other large countries that have become even more nationalist recently

Maybe the Maldives, I guess. Oh, and Hungary.

None of any importance, and certainly none larger than Hungary.

And none of the ones left out downplayed the threat or even suggested that the real origins of the pandemic weren't properly understood.