Is an Ideological Clash a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

Amid the recurrence of the COVID-19 contagion across the globe, prospects for forging coordinated and coherent multilateral cooperation remain abysmal. While the blame game over the virus origin still rages on, a new dimension of schism along ideologi-cal seams is becoming increasingly pronounced. Jingoistic drum beats accompanying abrasive geopolitical rhetoric have been gaining traction at the expense of international cooperation.