One of the long-term implications of global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic on outer space could be an intensification of the effort to explore new worlds for human habitation. It appears that outer space could be the only place to remain free from the pandemic threat that has been ravaging the world of late. Though …
China fought on two fronts at the just concluded virtual World Health Assembly (18-19 May 2020) in Geneva in its first open bid to dominate the post-corona world. On the one hand, it wanted to be considered a victor in the battle against the pandemic and the country, which is capable and willing to assist …
Trump apparently does not care that his newfound friends are going to once again imprison women in their homes, cut throats, and establish a Wahhabi code of law. President Donald Trump has overall been an effective leader of the US, despite unceasing pressure on him that concluded in the abortive bid to remove him …
WHO’s singular prescription, ‘Lock Down Now’, has ensured that Beijing’s principal rival is now in a much weakened state. It would be illogical to claim that the Chinese leadership intentionally released the COVID-19 virus into the global community. The damage caused to economies on which Chinese companies rely on for their profits and for …
The COVID-19 crisis has claimed unlikely victims in global politics. Apart from its catastrophic effects across the world, in the realm of interstate relations, COVID-19 has re-imposed the popular realist notion of states pursuing their own interests, leading to international cooperation taking the backseat. While a lot has been agreed on paper about cooperation in …
During the just-concluded parliamentary elections in one of the world’s most dynamic economies, South Korea, the opposition parties sought to characterise the idealistic President Moon Jae-Inn as a puppet of the Supreme Commander of North Korea, Kim Jong Un. Their calculation was that South Korean voters would turn away from President Moon because of his …
There are multiple theories about how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic began; but what no one seems to know exactly is how it will end. An earlier coronavirus, SARS-CoV, had most of the victims developing severe symptoms and virus transmission happening after the onset of symptoms; and this helped in its containment. Traditional infection control measures …
China's space ambitions are expanding, commensurate with its strategic and economic interests. One such ambition is to grasp significant shares of the international satellite manufacturing, launch and services markets, particularly communications. China has evolved a formula for this purpose by bundling indigenous satellite bus Dong Fang Hong 4 (DFH-4) and Long March 3B (LM-3B) rocket …
Jim O’Neill, a British economist, made a controversial and callous remark about India’s potential to handle a pandemic, “Thank God this didn’t start in somewhere like India, because there’s absolutely no way that the quality of Indian governance could move to react in the way that the Chinese have done.” That was on 11 March …
The COVID-19 outbreak has brought to the forefront debates surrounding Taiwan and its position in the international system. China regards Taiwan as an inalienable part of itself and has always been against Taipei asserting its individual identity. The China-Taiwan relations have become increasingly hostile after the election of Tsai Ing-wen as the President of Taiwan …
