Indians observe social distancing before a pharmacy A national strategy to tackle the coronavirus pandemic has appeared, finally. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s interaction with state chief ministers on Thursday becomes the first milestone in a challenging journey ahead. PM outlined an exit strategy to get out of the “total lockdown”. It is a strategy …
Trump tiptoeing toward energy market management
Oil price war in the time of Covid-19 On Monday, the US President Donald Trump literally bit the bullet by telephoning Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the state of the energy markets, which are at a crisis point not seen in history. As of last weekend, global oil prices collapsed by over 50 percent …
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Russia quizzes US on coronavirus’ parentage
All through the recent weeks since US President Donald Trump coined the epithet “China virus” to rename Coronavirus, Moscow kept a deafening silence. Finally, on Sunday, March 29, Moscow broke that silence. That the first Russian statement came at the level of the Russian foreign ministry makes this particularly significant. In an exclusive remark, a …
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A Russian firewall for Venezuela against US sanctions
The optics of the Russian oil leviathan Rosneft’s decision to sell its subsidiary Rosneft Trading SA and sell all its assets in Venezuela after the US Treasury sanctioned its trading arm two weeks ago as part of Washington’s regime change project to oust president Nicolás Maduro, may not look good to the uninformed outside observer. It may …
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Taliban gets Khalilzad leg before wicket but won’t appeal
Prisoners in overcrowded Afghan jails. (File photo) The US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad apparently overreached by effusively welcoming the 21-member list announced in Kabul on Thursday by President Ashraf Ghani to engage with the Taliban in the format of the forthcoming intra-Afghan dialogue. Khalilzad tweeted on Thursday: “I want to congratulate Afghan …
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Coronavirus hastens an Arab rapprochement
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (L), UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed (R) held a phone conversation, March 27, 2020 The phone call by the UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Friday signifies in many ways a major development in regional politics. The official UAE news …
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Israeli politics wins — thanks to coronavirus
Bittier political rivals Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Benny Grantz (R) joins hands in forming national unity government. (File photo) Imagine, in the 2019 poll, the BJP-led alliance led by Narendra Modi just fell short of securing an absolute majority and despite all the super genius of the party to do horse trading, a majority still …
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Covid-19: Modi, Putin to coordinate efforts
Russian President Vladimir Putin donning a bright yellow full-body hazmat suit and respirator as he visited a hospital on Moscow outskirts that is treating coronavirus patients, March 24, 2020 Soon after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s address to the nation on Wednesday on the government’s coronavirus response and measures to be adopted to deal with the …
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A lockdown for ventilators and hospital beds
A man braving the coronavirus against the silhouette of Rashtrapathi Bhavan, Delhi, which was put under lockdown on March 25, 2020 Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was addressing the nation yesterday announcing “total lockdown” in the country, Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro also took to a televised address to dismiss such health measures against …
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Afghan endgame enters the home stretch
Afghans celebrating the US-Taliban agreement of 29th February 2020, Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan In an extraordinary statement titled On the Political Impasse in Afghanistan, Washington has admitted the failure of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s mission to Kabul on Monday to heal the political rift among Afghan politicians and to urge them to form an …