NEWS WRAP

The power of four

• Quad call coming | In one of the most substantial foreign policy actions from the Biden administration to date, the US-Australia-Japan-India Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad) has now scheduled a virtual meeting this week. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has welcomed the meeting, saying the four countries will be "working together constructively for the peace, prosperity and stability of the Indo-Pacific." READ MORE HERE
   

• Prime time Biden | President Joe Biden is set to make his first prime time national address since taking office on Thursday, 11 March, to mark the first anniversary of United States' coronavirus lockdowns. When announcing the address, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the president would discuss the "many sacrifices the American people have made over the last year and the grave loss communities and families across the country have suffered." READ MORE HERE
   

• Hack-attack taskforce | A multi-agency emergency taskforce is being launched after what has been described as an "unusually aggressive" cyber attack on tech giant Microsoft and its customers on 5 March. The incident saw hackers gain access to the email accounts of at least 30,000 organisations in the United States. The taskforce, initiated by the National Security Council, will include the joint efforts of the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and other official bodies to determine who has been hacked and next steps to patching potential vulnerabilities. READ MORE HERE
   

• A stimulating vote | A vote in the House of Representatives on the $US1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package is expected to go ahead on Wednesday in the United States after the Senate passed the plan 50-49 on Saturday, 7 March. President Biden said he plans to sign the relief bill into law "as soon as I can get it". The current unemployment benefits are set to expire on 14 March. READ MORE HERE

VIDEO

The Quad: Will it ever work?

As representatives from the US, Australia, Japan, and India prepare to take the next steps for peace, prosperity and stability in the Indo-Pacific with the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, tune in to our 2020 webinar The Quad: Will it ever work?. 

For this special event we were honoured to be joined by Lt General H.R. McMaster, former White House national security advisor and Japan Chair at the Hudson Institute, Washington DC; as well as Dr Charles Edel, Senior Fellow at the US Studies Centre; Dr John Lee, Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the US Studies Centre, and Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, Washington DC; and Dr Lavina Lee, Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University. Watch the full event HERE.

Catch this and other recent webinars on the USSC YouTube channel!

ANALYSIS

Big data for liberal democracy

Dr John Lee
Non-Resident Senior Fellow

The brinkmanship between the Morrison government and two tech giants was unmissable viewing for Australians and many across the world.

That the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code was passed by the parliament on the last sitting day last month speaks to the mettle of Josh Frydenberg and the willingness of politicians from all sides to serve the national interest.

But these are still early days in terms of Australia and other liberal democratic governments redefining their relationship with big tech. There is no appetite to allow giant firms to write their own rules.

At the same time, governments are growing ever more dependent on big tech to execute policy and achieve core objectives, meaning the need to collaborate with firms they cannot completely control. Done well or poorly, the implications for sovereignty, national security and geopolitics will be immense. The top five big tech American firms — Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet (Google) and Facebook — have a market value of about $9.5 trillion and earned revenues of just under $1.2 trillion last year. The combined market capitalisation is more than five times the size of Australia’s gross domestic product and their revenues more than twice what Canberra received in fiscal revenue in the same year.

For most of this century the emergence and dominance of these innovative and profitable behemoths represented the triumph of liberal democracy and the American way of capitalism.

Chinese blueprints such as Made in China 2025, which aims to guide the upgrading of national industry, production and innovation during the next few years, began with the realisation a decade ago that American and other advanced economy companies were pulling away from the rest of the world in the sectors that would create value and underpin national power into the future.

Chinese successes such as Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei took their inspiration — and in many instances acquired or stole intellectual property and know-how — from mainly American firms.

This is an excerpt from Dr Lee's latest in The Australian.
Click below to read the full article.

BY THE NUMBERS

US deaths in 2020

Expected count vs observed count

Sarah Hamilton
Research Associate for Data Insights

More than 3.3 million Americans died in 2020, making it the highest single year mortality increase in the United States since 1918. The number of deaths in 2020 surpassed Centers for Disease Control (CDC) projections by 460,000 and were at an increase of 17 per cent from 2019. Of those deaths, COVID-19 accounted for just under 354 thousand and made up the majority of the year's excess deaths (represents of the difference between the number of deaths that were expected to occur, and those that actually occurred).

However, there were a number of other deaths which were caused indirectly by the pandemic. The impact of unemployment alone was estimated to have been the cause of 30,000 due to a loss of access to medical care, suicide and substance abuse. The immense strain on the healthcare system also meant higher numbers of death from diabetes, dementia and certain heart diseases.

THE WEEK IN TWEETS

#TheFantasticFour?