How a nation responds to a tragedy says much not only about the character of its people, but also the quality of its political leadership. The response of America's leaders on both sides of the political aisle to the killing of George Floyd and the looting and rioting it has sparked has been disappointing at best, outrageous at worst.

For those appalled by Floyd's death and the ensuing protests, mayhem and violence in 140 cities across the nation, consider another incendiary moment in American history.

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A century ago, Vladimir Lenin wrote a book titled, "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism." I doubt it occurred to him that imperialism might one day become the highest stage of communism. Yet that day is here.

The end of the Cold War was widely interpreted as communism's downfall. But while the Soviet Union collapsed, communism survived, most consequentially in China.

Analysts on both the left and right didn't get that. After all, China's rulers were allowing private ownership of some means of production, and some Chinese citizens, not all of them government officials or even members of the Communist Party, were getting rich. Isn't that capitalism?

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Each year, as we read the Book of Ruth on Shavuot, we are reminded of the remarkable spiritual journey undertaken by the heroine of the story, a Moabite woman who left behind everything she knew to tie her fate with the people of Israel.

In one of the Bible's most moving declarations of pure faith, Ruth expresses her desire in simple yet compelling terms, telling her mother-in-law, Naomi, "Wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people shall be my people and your G-d shall be my G-d" (Ruth 1:16).

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A different kind of conflict is taking shape in the Middle East. Unlike the long-running Syrian civil war, this one is not a pitched power struggle between an entrenched secular dictatorship and assorted Islamist forces. Nor is it a brutal political tug-of-war between rival militias, the way post-Muammar Gadhafi Libya has become. Rather, it is a further intensification of the ongoing shadow war between Israel and its regional nemesis, Iran – one that has now begun playing out in cyberspace.

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America is in a state of collective angst, one that hasn't been seen since perhaps the Second World War. Every crisis since then, whether it was war, the 9/11 attacks, flu pandemics, or financial meltdown, had left most Americans unaffected. But now, few are economically, medically, or emotionally untouched. The SARS-CoV-2 virus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, pose threats or extreme inconvenience of one sort or another to virtually everyone.

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The recent appointment of Ilana Feldman as the interim dean of George Washington University's (GWU) Elliott School of International Affairs is extremely concerning on several levels. Feldman is an active known supporter of the anti-Israel "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions" (BDS) movement through her involvement with the Palestinian American Research Center, and was part of a group that pushed a BDS initiative in the American Anthropological Association.

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Germany's Constitutional Court has issued an unprecedented ruling that directly challenges the authority of both the European Central Bank and the European Court of Justice.

The seemingly obscure ruling, which seeks to reassert national sovereignty over bond purchases by the European Central Bank, has called into question the legitimacy of the EU's supranational legal and political order.

The European Union is now engaged in a power struggle with its largest member state, Germany. The legal feud threatens to unravel not only Europe's single currency, the euro, but the EU itself.

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In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, America enjoyed a sense of unity that was, if short-lived, a dramatic reminder that we are a single people with a strong and good national spirit.

Like so many of us, I was reminded of that spirit in what so far has been one of the most hopeful and unifying public moments of the American response to the pandemic, former President George W. Bush's recent eloquent and moving plea for unity.

But the reality today is so much different. This time around, we can't seem to put away partisan vituperation during the crisis itself. Our national politics seems as toxic as ever, our divisions more deeply rooted and widespread.

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Iran, amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, is demanding sanctions relief. Lebanon, too, is looking for a financial bailout after defaulting on a Eurobond. Neither should get the financial aid they are requesting.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its terrorist proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon are undertaking a dangerous and determined campaign to field a precision-guided munitions (PGMs) arsenal across the Middle East. These weapons are as deadly as they are accurate. They can strike within a few meters of an intended target. They represent a grave threat to U.S. and allied forces stationed across the Middle East. They also pose a threat to Israel and Gulf Arab allies in the region.

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The partisan political sniping over Covid-19 is completely predictable and counter-productive. There's plenty of fault to go around, but the blame-gaming should be ignored or discounted for what it is: self-aggrandizing grandstanding.

It is, however, worthwhile to examine a tension that has been brewing in the public health world for decades. That dichotomy is: should we focus on communicable diseases, as has long been the mission of public health institutions, or do we have enough bandwidth and resources to venture out into the much more controversial area of non-communicable diseases (NCDs)?

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