President Putin’s keynote speech at this year’s SPIEF was remarkable because the in-person event represented the first such large-scale international economic one since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis early last year. It therefore shows that everything is eventually normalizing across the world but that much work still remains to […]
Tag: Pandemic
Who Made „DOLLY”, The Sheep, Also Made „COVID”, The Disease?
In an article written a year ago I argued that read in Hebrew Covid’s name becomes Dybbuk, and its true meaning is demonic possession by an evil spirit. It is basically the same algorithm that I identified in “Dolly”, the first cloned animal, which in Hebrew becomes Ylud – translating […]
India’s ‘Westernism’ Is Its Undoing In Vaccine Strategy
A full week after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s extended four-day visit to the United States, the country is still in the dark as to the Biden administration’s generosity to spare some of their surplus stockpiles of Covid-19 vaccines. We leap out of the famous Samuel Becket play Waiting for […]
Suicidal Games: Tokyo’s Coronavirus Olympics
A pandemic crisis. A state of emergency. Overwhelming public opinion bristling with alarm. Notwithstanding these factors, Tokyo is still on track to host the Olympics that was cancelled last year in response to the global pandemic. The first sports team – Australia’s softball crew – has touched down. Is all […]
The Dominic Cummings Show
The former chief strategist for Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in a stroppy mood before the UK parliamentary Health and Science committee. For seven hours, Cummings unleashed salvo after salvo against his former boss and the government coronavirus response. Boiling down some points of the Cummings show: there was a […]
How It All Went Wrong: The Global Response to COVID-19
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response was never likely to hand down a rosy report with gobbets of praise. Organised by the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last May, the panel’s gloomy assessment was grim: the COVID-19 pandemic could have been avoided. Almost nothing in the […]
Coronavirus Travels And Cruising With Viking
It starts off as an exercise of anticipation. First comes the softening drinks and teasing morsels which find their mark. The audience at this promotions gig is well heeled, of an age where they have money to burn, but nowhere to burn it. They have not travelled on a luxurious […]
The Gilt Comes Off: Singapore Goes Into Lockdown
A clean, technology driven dystopia. A representation of our techno future. These were the introductory descriptions to a piece by science fiction author William Gibson on Singapore for Wired in 1993. “Imagine an Asian version of Zurich operating as an offshore capsule at the foot of Malaysia; an affluent microcosm […]
Biden’s Decision On TRIPS Waiver Is Political Theatre. India Cannot Pin Hopes On It
The India’s Ministry of External Affairs has welcomed the statement of the US government of 5th May announcing their support for a relaxation in the norms of the agreement on TRIPS, to ensure quick and affordable access to vaccines and medicines for developing countries. Delhi is “hopeful that with a […]
Boris Johnson Walks Away Laughing With India’s Serum Institute In Tow
Three cheers for the Indian Supreme Court’s suo moto intervention on the issue of distribution of essential supplies and services during the pandemic. India, the “world pharmacy”, is entering shark-infested waters, as vaccine supply is getting intertwined with the country’s opaque decision-making, its powerful corporate culture and episodic diplomacy. The […]
Going To Court: The EU Sues AstraZeneca
It has been a relationship of characterised by bitterness and misunderstanding. It began with a poorly negotiated agreement – poor, that is, from the European Union perspective – between Brussels and AstraZeneca for the supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses. Less rigorous in terms of penalties and consequences than the UK-AstraZeneca […]
Forgetting Citizenship: Australia Suspends Flights from India
As India is being devastated by COVID-19 cases that have now passed a daily rate of 400,000, affluent and callous Australia has taken the decision to suspend all flights coming into the country till mid-month. The decision was reached by the Morrison government with the blessing of the State Premiers […]
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