Writer
Ramesh Thakur
Ramesh Thakur is a professor emeritus at the Crawford School of Public Policy, the Australian National University.
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India’s suspect ‘Quad’ credentials
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s carefully cultivated competence bubble has been punctured by his government’s ineffectiveness amid the second wave of the COVID-19 virus that has ravaged his country. Continue reading »
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India’s Coronavirus emergency tells a story poorly understood
The blanket and punitive travel ban for Australians returning from India is neither justified, nor does it make much sense in the efforts to curb the spreading of the virus. The Indian Coronavirus emergency is also raising many questions of the policies imposed around the world during the pandemic. Continue reading »
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China’s geopolitical reach extends to Iran
After an attack on its main nuclear facility in Natanz on 11 April, quite likely by Israel, President Hasan Rouhani said that Iran will begin enriching uranium to 60 per cent. From a technical point of view, that would put Iran within a short sprint to full-fledged weapon-grade (90 per cent) uranium enrichment. Continue reading »
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The Irrepressibles tame the Invincibles in their impregnable fortress
A transformative cricket series will do more to strengthen Australia–India bonds than any amount of public diplomacy. Continue reading »
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The ScoMosa Summit
The value of personal diplomacy was on display in the Morrison-Modi Summit last week – quickly dubbed ‘the ScoMosa’ summit after some culinary Twitter banter between the leaders. But the virtual dialogue had great substance, paving the way for closer bilateral relations against the backdrop of a more aggressive China and less reliable US. Continue reading »
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Lockdown mea culpa: Norway sets an example
On 5 May, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health published an important report on Norway’s experience of dealing with the Coronavirus crisis. The text that follows is a verbatim extract of the equivalent of the executive summary from the report, using Google translation. Continue reading »
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Let’s learn from this pandemic to be better prepared for the really big one
On 26 May, Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said if Australia’s mortality rate matched the UK’s, we’d have had 14,000 Covid-19 deaths. This is just tautological rubbish. It would be just as true and equally pointless to say if Australia’s mortality rate matched Vietnam’s, we’d have zero deaths. Continue reading »
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A great documentary from Canada on the Iraq War
I strongly encourage all readers of Pearls and Irritations to watch this remarkable new documentary from the National Film Board of Canada on PM Jean Chretien’s decision to say no to the Iraq War in 2003. Continue reading »
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The rise and fall of coronavirus modelling
Will the Great Lockdown’s epitaph be ‘The Greatest Mistake in History’? Continue reading »
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Coronavirus data prove Australia is in Asia
Cross-jurisdiction comparisons are notoriously difficult and it’s almost impossible to prove lockdowns have saved lives, except by falling back tautologically on the epidemiological model’s own projections of mortality figures with no lockdown. Continue reading »
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Scapegoating the WHO as the CHO (Japan Times 4.5.20)
Now is not the time to demonize and defund the WHO Continue reading »
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Sound the Trumpists: The deputy sheriff rides again – Part Three: Goading the dragon
Cockwomblette: A neologism coined to describe the lesser antipodean cousin of the cockwomble (see Monday’s Part One). Its natural habitat is the bush capital of the world; the inheritor of an obsequious line of deputy sheriffs. Continue reading »
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Sound the Trumpists: The deputy sheriff rides again – Part Two: India and Australia
Consider the case of India. What exactly does ‘social distancing’ – elegant as it is as an abstract concept – mean in practice in Indian conditions, a country of 1.3bn people with a population density of 464 per km2 compared to 153 in China? Continue reading »
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Sound the Trumpists: The deputy sheriff rides again – Part One: The global landscape
Cockwomble: A person, usually male, prone to making outrageously stupid statements and/or engaging in inappropriate behaviour while generally having a very high opinion of their own wisdom and importance. Presently exemplified by Agent Orange who dwells in the casa blanca in the geopolitical capital of the world and is the inheritor of a long line Continue reading »
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BRUCE W. JENTLESON. Compete with China, but No New Cold War
The balance to be struck is to confront China as warranted, compete as necessary, and cooperate when possible Continue reading »
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Pandemics and the G20: One last shot at relevance
The pandemic has starkly highlighted the inadequacy of current governance arrangements. In a world in which all politics is stubbornly local but most big-ticket problems are global, the G20 is uniquely placed to bridge the global governance gap. Continue reading »
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Lives vs lives: Corona without karuna
Coronavirus threatens to overwhelm the health and economies of many developing countries where a billion people subsist in a Hobbesian state of nature and life is ‘nasty, brutish and short’. Continue reading »
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HARSH MANDER. A pandemic in an unequal India (Hindu 1.4.20)
The irony is that a pandemic has been brought into India by people who can afford plane tickets, but while they will buy private health services, the virus will devastate the poor who they infect and who have little access to health care. Continue reading »
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US-India relations shape Japan’s strategic environment (Japan Times 23.3.20)
Japan’s strategic environment is shaped by the intersection of three major geopolitical story lines: the rise of China as a comprehensive national power; the Trump administration’s reset of relations with China into full-spectrum strategic competition; and the expansion, consolidation and deepening of India-U.S. ties. Continue reading »
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Coronavirus postscript
Two brief comments as a follow up to my article on coronavirus on Monday. Continue reading »
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Coronavirus pandemic: sceptical question marks make for better policy than excitable exclamation marks
When did the world’s media and politicians become collective versions of Lance Corporal Jones in the British comedy series Dad’s Army, screaming ‘Don’t panic! Don’t panic!’? Colour me contrarian, but since the 2003 Iraq war, my working motto has been: when you come across excitable exclamation marks, substitute sceptical question marks and you’ll be right. Continue reading »
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Delhi in flames
Last month’s deadly riots in Delhi were a state-sponsored pogrom. To prevent an uncontrollable mass tragedy that could destabilise the Asia–Pacific region, friendly governments must speak out now. Continue reading »
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Impeachment politics revisited
The doomed impeachment has helped Trump and damaged Biden. The election is now Trump’s to lose and the Democratic nomination is Sanders’ to lose. Continue reading »
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SUSHANT SINGH. With a flag, song and book (Indian Express 24-1-20)
As well as Australia Day, 26 January is an important day of celebration in India as Republic Day. The Constitution of India formally came into force on 26 January 1950. Continue reading »
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Modi’s threat to the idea, national unity and territorial integrity of India
China’s Communist Party never admits to mistakes but always learns from them. India’s PM Narendra Modi never admits to mistakes and seems too stubborn to learn from them. He calls to mind Barbara Tuchman’s description of Philip II of Spain: ‘No experience of the failure of his policy could shake his belief in its essential Continue reading »
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The half-century miracle of Asian resurgence (Japan Times 6-1-20)
Is Japan Asian? Geographically, this is a silly question. Yet in an age in which identity politics have become increasingly critical, by economic logic, political orientation and geopolitical alliance, Japan is Western. Continue reading »
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Australian bushfires: it’s not always about climate change (Straits Times 24-12-19)
Global warming and climate change are scientific facts, but beware of attempts to make them responsible for poor human decisions affecting the environment today. Continue reading »
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Modi’s project to make a Hindu India (East Asia Forum 30-12-19)
When Scott Morrison visits India later this month, he should temper his marketing enthusiasm. The Modi government is fast-tracking India into uncharted territory despite a forest of flashing amber signs of dangers ahead. Continue reading »
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Is India still committed to its no-first-use nuclear policy? (The Strategist 11-11-19)
On 16 August, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hinted that India might abandon its no-first-use policy: ‘Till today, our nuclear policy is “no first use”. What happens in future depends on the circumstances.’ Continue reading »
