Sri Lanka, May 22 -- Less than two months ago the Atlantic Council, a think-tank founded half a century ago to "promote cooperation" between North America (i.e. the US and Canada) and Europe, predicted that the virus was on its way to replace the nation-state. Until the coronavirus struck, three trends were already threatening if not dislodging the (17th century) Westphalian notion of the nation-state: the internet, increased global trade, and international flows of humans and the transmission of viruses. COVID-19, the Council argued, will result in a downturn in global trade, but it will also lead to a rise in, inter alia, digitalisation. Accordingly all technological and economic trends linked to the virus could become "the collective s...