Australia ‘decouples’ from US China policy

“Shared values but independent thinking”:  Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne (L) & US State Secretary  Pompeo, Washington, Jul 29, 2020 The Asian chancelleries have a great deal to mull over after the extraordinary joint press conference by the US and Australia following the AUSMIN meeting of their foreign and defence ministers in Washington, DC, on …

China’s Silk Road of Health appears in South Asia

Chinese medical workers in face masks on a deployment overseas. A virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nepal on July 27 becomes the third vector of Beijing’s ‘Silk Road of Health’ diplomacy in Asia.  A Xinhua report on the event said China proposed that the four countries should “consolidate consensus …

Turkey, Russia take timeout in Libyan war

Parliament in Cairo unanimously voted on July 20, 2020 to authorise dispatch of Egyptian troops on combat missions abroad Just as the Mediterranean air is thick with talk that a military confrontation between Turkey and Egypt is brewing over control of Libya, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Versihinin  flew into Ankara for consultations with his counterpart …

Pandemic puts India in ‘precarious position’

Poonthura fishing village near Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, where community transmission of Covid-19 pandemic is reported. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan publicly acknowledged on Friday that community transmission of coronavirus has begun in certain coastal regions of the state. In essence, Pinarayi ‘declassified’ what must be a ‘top secret’ at the all-India level. The chief minister has …