In order to fight the coronavirus pandemic governments around the world, including in Western countries, have been forced to declare a state of emergency. Quarantines and social distancing have been imposed, with severe penalties for violations. Freedom of movement and of assembly have been suppressed, along with political rights and democratic procedures. Total surveillance of the population is being introduced. These measures are formally temporary, but will gradually become permanent. This means the end of liberal democracies and the establishments of dictatorships throughout the world.
A new kind of dictatorship, whose top priority will be to fight the coronavirus and other pandemics, is emerging: harsh, radical political regimes led by military and medical elites (virologists), perhaps even harsher than Nazi and Soviet concentration camps.