China Seems to Be Proposing to Serve as the Guardian of the North Korean Regime, Which Is Under Threat of Attack From the U.s. Because of Its Defiant Nuclear Tests, Provided It Denuclearises.
FACED WITH INTENSE PRESSURE FROM THE United States to denuclearise North Korea, reinforced by effective gunboat diplomacy and other forms of coercion in the Korean waters, China is engaged in a feverish exercise to protect its core interests in North Korea and the surrounding areas in the Asia-Pacific.
Essentially, Beijing’s response to an effective show of strength by the domestically beleaguered Trump Administration has boiled down to fusing two equally important goals: ensuring that North Korea is nuclear weapons free and ensuring the preservation of the regime there.
In redefining the ground rules in North Korea, the Chinese had to ensure that they were not caught flatfooted. Speed was essential as the U.S. was doing all it could to demonstrate that the use of military force against North Korea was not an empty threat. The Tom a hawk missile attack on the Al Shayrat airfield in Syria by theU.S., carried out deliberately while Chinese President Xi Jinping was in the U.S. as President Donald Trump’s guest, conveyed a simple message: if Tomahawk cruise missiles could rain down in Syria, they could very well do so in North Korea too.
If there was any ambiguity in the message, it was clarified by the shock-and-awe “mother of all bombs” U.S. attack on Afghanistan. In Chinese minds, there was no doubt that bombing in the Achin province of Afghanistan was specifically tailored to convey a message to North Korea.
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How Not To Handle An Epidemic
The lockdowns were meant to buy time to put in place appropriate health measures and contain the coronavirus’ spread, but they have failed to achieve the objective and heaped immense misery on the marginalised sections of society. India is still in the exponential phase of the COVID-19 infection and community transmission is a reality that the government refuses to accept.
Tragedy on foot
As the COVID-19-induced lockdown cuts the ground beneath their feet in Tamil Nadu, thousands of migrant workers are trudging along the highway to the relative safety of their upcountry homes.
Sarpanchs as game changers
Odisha manages to keep COVID-19 well under control because of the strong participation of panchayati raj institutions and the community at the grass-roots level under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Scapegoating China
As the COVID-19 death rate spikes and the economy tanks in the United States, Donald Trump and his advisers target China and the World Health Organisation with an eye to winning the forthcoming presidential election.
New worries
Kerala’s measured approach to the pandemic and lockdown has yielded results. But it still has to grapple with their huge economic impact on its economy, which it feels the Centre’s special financial relief package does little to alleviate.
No love lost for labour
Taking advantage of the lockdown and the inability of workers to organise protests, many State governments introduce sweeping changes to labour laws to the detriment of workers on the pretext of reviving production and boosting the economy.
Capital's Malthusian moment
In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .
Understanding migration
When governments and their plans are found to be blatantly wanting in addressing reverse migration, exercises such as the Ekta Parishad’s survey of migrant workers throughout India can be useful to work out creative long-lasting solutions.
Waiting for Jabalpur moment
The Supreme Court’s role in ensuring executive accountability during the ongoing lockdown leaves much to be desired. Standing in shining contrast is the record of some High Courts.
An empty package
The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.
