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Former Prime Minister Helen Clark says the coronavirus pandemic has landed in the world at the time of a “perfect storm” of weak leadership.
And she attributes some of the blame to the feet of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who is throwing “tantrums” to divert attention from his own failures, she says. ThingsThe Coronavirus NZ podcast.
In an extended interview, the former leader of the United Nations Development Program says that global institutions should do more to help eradicate the virus and prevent an economic catastrophe like never before seen in the world.
“Sadly, this horrible pandemic has reached a particularly low point for multilateralism, when the [United Nations] The system has been the subject of many attacks by some governments.
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“We have a president of the United States who is actively moving to underfund and even withdraw from international organizations with which he disagrees.”
“It is a perfect storm of weak leadership in places where people would normally be expected to step forward and take on this challenge head-on.”
Trump this week accused the World Health Organization of mishandling the crisis and announced that the United States will stop its funds.
NZPA
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark calls on her extensive network of contacts with people such as the former United States Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, represented in 2008, to pressure world leaders on their handling of the Covid-19 pandemic .
Clark told Coronavirus NZ that the irony is that much of the money the United States contributes to the WHO is for specific purposes, such as polio eradication.
“That tells me that he really has no idea what he is talking about when he attacks the WHO.”
“This looks like a tantrum from someone who has not handled the pandemic well in their own country and is looking for others to blame, so WHO becomes a convenient Aunt Sally in that regard.”
Trump’s only problem with the WHO was that he had not taken his advice and that of his own top advisers, she says.
Clark generally spends much of his time traveling the world attending global forums and chairing meetings, but he’s punished for now, thanks to the coronavirus travel bans.
“I am basically 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at home working night shifts with meetings and conference calls all over the world. And I must say that it is not unpleasant to be able to sit in the nice Edwardian suburb of Auckland and walk through the streets, which are quite nice at this time of year, and enjoy being at home. “
KATHRYN GEORGE / THINGS
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It has also been cooperating with other world leaders such as former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to pressure the G20 and other international groups.
Clark says that unless rich countries help poorer countries, the coronavirus “will continue to circulate.”
“This first wave will eventually disappear … but it will come and go until we decisively tackle it by supporting countries with very limited means to do so.”
“We are all in this together.
“We have not seen something like this in our world.”
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Follow the hosts Adam Dudding and Eugene Bingham on Twitter or email them at [email protected].
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