The 76-day Covid-19 shutdown in Wuhan, China, was lifted on April 7, 2020. The search for the genesis of Covid-19 is developing into an epic story. Thanks to the insinuations by the US President Donald Trump — ‘China virus’, ‘Wuhan virus’, etc. — that were explosive in their political and strategic content, Beijing is now …
Continue reading “Covid-19 has a grandma, grandpa and great grandpa. Where are they?”
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech proposing a summit in September of the “founder countries of the United Nations, the five states that hold special responsibility to save civilisation,” Jerusalem, Israel, January 23, 2020 A perfect deal is where all protagonists get something out of it. All oil-producing countries stand to gain if oil …
Continue reading “Why the OPEC+ deal is a many-splendoured thing”
President Trump’s crowded White House press conferences to discuss the coronavirus have become daily events, Washington, DC, March 13, 2020 It often puzzles me what transpires during high-level visits by world leaders. The substantive content of such events laced with pomp and glory impacting inter-state relations is generally handled by sherpas, quietly and unobtrusively. (Of …
Continue reading “We desperate Indians also need ventilators, Mr. Trump”
Health workers setting out to combat Covid-19, Chennai, April 4, 2020 We got to know from the US President Donald Trump today morning that his phone call to PM Modi on Sunday was to make a demand that India should lift its export ban on the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which is being used in America …
The past week witnessed a sudden spurt of tensions in the US-Iran standoff. There was intense speculation that to divert public attention in America from his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump might order a military attack on Iran. Trump himself fuelled the speculation with the sudden outburst in a tweet on April 1: …
Continue reading “Trump’s Iran sanctions policy on the turn”
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 …
Continue reading “Trump tiptoeing toward energy market management”
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 …
Continue reading “Russia quizzes US on coronavirus’ parentage”
US President Donald Trump at the White House announced that he signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, Washington, March 18, 2020 The responses of the Trump administration and the US Congress to meet the socio-economic challenges posed by the onslaught of the coronavirus constitute a marker in American politics — how in …
Continue reading “Trump samples democratic socialism. Hmm, it’s good.”
The race for Democratic Nomination in the upcoming US presidential election in November has electrified with the huge victory by Bernie Sanders in the Nevada primary on Saturday. The race has crossed a critical milestone. The primaries so far gave us a sampling of the trend in two regions of America — the American heartland …
Continue reading “Socialism rises like a phoenix to haunt America”
An aerial view of yet-to-be-completed Motera cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where the Namaste Trump event to honour US president takes place on Feb 24, 2020 One great thing about US President Donald Trump is that he can be brutally frank. Trump recently picked up the phone and called British PM Boris Johnson to convey his displeasure …
