Global affairs
Thank You, Donald Trump! (And you too, Fox News)
Today, Americans are terrified of a pandemic virus whose infection rate has spiked up again. With just four percent of the world’s population, the US already has a quarter of the world’s Covid-19 deaths.
Pompeo-Espar visit to India: China and beyond
China loomed large over the in-person visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark T Esper to New Delhi on October 26-27.
Racism in America: Police Chokehold is Not the Issue
The American project was founded on rank hypocrisies. On the one hand, President Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the stirring words in the Declaration of Independence that upheld “these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal”, did not free his own slaves (not even Sally Hemings, who bore him six children).
Trump is Not Down Yet
Think about this, almost half of Americans thinks he’s handling this pandemic swimmingly according to a recent CNN poll that puts him closer to 45 percent.
Covid-19 In India: Road ahead for the world’s largest quarantine
“Extraordinary times require extraordinary solutions”—that is how Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi summed up the worldwide response to the coronavirus pandemic during a video conference on March 30 with the heads of all of India’s embassies and high commissions across the globe.
West First policies expose myths
As the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic shifts from China to the developed West, all too many rich countries are acting selfishly, invoking the “national interest”, by banning exports of vital medical supplies.
Biden, Sanders, or Trump: US policy towards the Gulf will change regardless
The fight in this week’s Democratic primaries may have been about who confronts Donald J Trump in November’s US presidential election, Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden.
Salvaging international law: The best of bad options
These are uncertain times with trade wars, regional conflicts and increased abuse of human and minority rights pockmarking the transition from a unipolar to a multipolar world.
Trade liberalisation for development?
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), all dominated by rich countries, have long promoted trade liberalisation as a “win-win” solution for “all people—rich and poor—and all countries—developed and developing countries”, arguing that “the gains are large enough to enable compensation to be provided to the losers”.
Popular protest: How effective is it?
If there is one theme, beyond corruption and a host of economic and social grievances, that have driven protests—large and small, local, sectoral and national—across the globe, it has been a call for dignity.
To end poverty, we need peace and justice first
Today we live in a world that is more divided than ever. It’s filled with hatred, double standards and hypocrisy, conflict, war, uncertainties and many other
Reasons behind Trudeau’s slim victory
A second term in office awaits the incumbent Canadian prime minister, as the centre-left Liberal Party managed to secure enough parliamentary seats to ensure that a
Lebanese and Iraqi protesters transcend sectarianism
Protests in Lebanon have evolved into more than a fight against failed and corrupt government that has long stymied development in the Middle East and North Africa.
Many uses of Al Baghdadi: Why did they kill him?
In these dark days when terrorism has become a strategic asset, to bump off a superior practitioner like Abu Bakr al Baghdadi has implications.
Vive la Canada! Three cheers for our northern neighbour
it is fair to say that given the political mess, leading Anglophone countries are drawing a mixture of horror and derision from the rest of the world. Both are richly deserved. While you’re at it, throw into the mix a queasy, disquieting feeling about a disaster waiting to happen.
Islamists march on the Pakistani capital
Pakistan, long viewed as an incubator of religious militancy, is gearing up for a battle over the future of the country’s notorious madrassas, religious seminaries accused of breeding radicalism.
Turkey and China tie themselves in knots over Syria and Xinjiang
Turkey’s ambass-ador to China, Emin Onen, didn’t mince his words this week when he took his Chinese hosts to task for failing to support Turkey’s military campaign against a Kurdish militia in Syria.
