The Arthashastri

  Communism in the Vaccine World It is finally the time to introduce communism into markets involving large-scale humanitarian crises such as these. Co-authored by:  Varish Seth &  Gautam Sodani (9 Minute Read) The vaccine race has nearly come to an end with various pharmaceutical companies across the world having developed their own version of COVID-19 vaccine. The most prominent player which emerged out of this race was the US based Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Other major players included the Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, Oxford-AstraZeneca (Covishield), Sputnik V and Covaxin vaccines. However, today, when anyone thinks about a COVID-19 vaccine, the Pfizer vaccine comes to mind. Almost anyone who has a choice chooses this vaccine as it is widely regarded to be the most reliable and effective amongst its competitors. It has now developed a hegemony, perhaps not in the market as a whole but in the minds of the vast majority of people. Former US President Donald Trump's...

Dark Side of Vaccine Development COVID-19 pandemic has already exploited economic structures and punctured health mechanisms of many countries all over the globe. But now the developed world is exploiting the pandemic itself. And these are not just the private players and companies, but governments too are looking to take advantage of this global crisis and make money out of it. As we all await an effective vaccine that many hopes will kick-start the world’s return to normalcy, geopolitics is increasingly spilling over into the vaccine race, not just with its development but also the distributional aspect, and thus complicating the matters further. This developmental race (for COVID-19) has brought   about the  ‘politicization of vaccine’. When a COVID-19 vaccine will become available, powerful leaders around the world are all likely to resort to shortsighted ‘my country first’ approaches to manage its production and distribution. In absence of an effective internation...

After Nepal, Iran too? “Enemy’s enemy is a friend” , says an old adage and very well says, especially in the Chinese case. After subjugating Nepal, China has now struck a $ 400 billion strategic deal (8 times larger than CPEC deal) with an American adversary (or another Indian ally) – ‘Iran’. Iran has finally given its approbation on the four-years long-pending Chinese proposal for an economic and security deal between the two nations. This is a twenty-five year strategic accord and an eighteen-page agreement which will enhance the reach of Chinese expansionist motives into Iran’s banking, telecommunication, port, and railway industries along with the contract of dozens of developmental projects in Iran to the Chinese companies. Apart from all this, Beijing will also get ‘Iranian oil’ at a heavily discounted rate (approximately 13%) for twenty-five straight years. And interestingly, these transactions are not going to materialize in dollars but ‘renminbi (Chinese currency)’. ...

  Why is China creating so many nuisances these days? What is the likelihood of an all-out Indo-Sino war in the near future? The whole world has closely observed the recent Indo-Sino conflict at Galwan valley in Ladakh where at least 20 Indian soldiers martyred and an undisclosed number of Chinese soldiers were killed. The incident received worldwide attention as it was a historic event for Indo-Sino relations and a check-post to scrutinize enigmatic Chinese intentions for the post-COVID world where there is a greater possibility for the augmentation of the anti-China wave all over the globe. Recently, there were media reports of growing Chinese military presence in the Indian Ocean too. China has already got Nepal under its foothold and induced anti-India sentiments there. It has also evoked the issue of Kalapani land border dispute. Recently, Nepal has claimed a piece of land in Bihar too and attacked civilians of that region. From an all-time ally, Nepal has turned into a ...

“If I were given a chance to expertise any hundred skill sets, I would choose the Chinese Diplomacy each hundred time.” People’s Republic of China (PRC) or what we call today as China is an outcome of Chinese Diplomatic prowess in 1971-72. It was the first time any US President visited the Communist China (PRC). The visit was followed by some dramatic changes in world politics which shook the whole of Europe and Asia and the consequences of which are still discernible in the present geopolitical and economic scenario. The emergence of communist China After twenty-two years-long Civil War (1927-1949) between the communists and the  nationalists, the Communist Party of China (CPC) led by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai took control over the mainland China and formed the People’s Republic of China and the nationalists fled to the island of Taiwan and formed the Republic of China. The US and its allies and the Japanese refused to recognize the communist government in mainland China. Communis...