Political

Business

Roving Periscope: SVB’s collapse makes Hindenburg a laughing stock!

March 13, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: It was as if waiting to happen. But nobody thought it would happen so soon. In what has become America’s second bank collapse after Lehman Brothers in 2008, the very foundation of the US banking system has come under the scanner globally. And, those who smelt the rat in Hindenburg […]

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Business

China: After securing a 3rd term, President Xi gets his acolyte “elected” as China’s new Premier

March 11, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: As expected, a day after Xi Jinping, 69, managed to secure for himself an unprecedented third term of five years as China’s President, his nominated acolyte Li Qiang was formally “elected” by the country’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), as the new Prime Minister on Saturday. Li Qiang, […]

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Business

Roving Periscope: SVB’s sudden crash raises fears of a Lehman Brothers 2.0 wave

March 11, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: Lehman Brothers Inc., an American global financial services firm founded in 1847, filed for bankruptcy in 2008, causing a meltdown in the banking industry and triggering a global financial crisis. At that time, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States, with about 25,000 employees worldwide. In contrast, […]

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Business

Roving Periscope: With a third term, ailing Xi may become China’s President-for-Life!

March 10, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: Utterly predictable, China never surprises anyone, not even the Chinese. Beijing listens to nobody but itself. That is why all its ambitious plans go haywire and fizzle out with clockwise precision. And that is also why it may never become a superpower—on the contrary, it has the ‘potential’ to disintegrate […]

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Business

The US Intelligence says: India’s conflict with China, Pak a ‘possibility’

March 9, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit    New Delhi:  Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US intelligence has said, India might respond with military force to “perceived or real” provocations from Pakistan. It told American lawmakers that it apprehends increased tension between India and Pakistan, and India and China could cause a conflict. This evaluation is among […]

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Business

Image makeover: A year after turmoil, China assures Colombo of IMF bailout

March 7, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: Nearly a year after Sri Lanka declared default amid widespread economic and political turmoil—which ended the China-friendly Rajapakse dynasty’s long stranglehold on the island nation—Beijing has mercifully assured Colombo to support Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring. This comes days after China similarly assured its ‘all-weather friend’ Pakistan also as a face-saver […]

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Business

Roving Periscope: Chinese FM Qin Gang warns the US of “conflict and confrontation”

March 7, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: After several American leaders, including US President Joe Biden, warned China recently on a range of issues—Taiwan, the support to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the debt-trapping of poor countries, and the hegemonic designs in the South China Sea–the new Chinese Foreign Minister has warned Washington to change its path […]

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Business

Indian economy: SBI report junks Rajan’s warning on “Hindu rate of growth”

March 7, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: “Ill-conceived, biased, and premature.” This is how a research report from the State Bank of India on Tuesday dismissed former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan’s warning that the country is “dangerously close to the Hindu rate of growth,” in view of the recent GDP numbers and the available […]

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Business

Pakistan: Imran evades arrest, media regulator bans his speeches on TV

March 6, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: Hours after controversial former Prime Minister Imran Khan dodged arrest in the Toshakhana corruption case and made ‘provocative statements’ against state institutions on Sunday, Pakistan’s electronic media watchdog banned satellite TV channels from broadcasting his live and recorded speeches with immediate effect. Evading arrest, Khan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, […]

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Business

Roving Periscope: Amid multiple challenges and lower GDP growth, China hikes defense budget

March 6, 2023 virendra pandit

Virendra Pandit   New Delhi: With US President Joe Biden and many other American leaders, cutting across party lines, warning against China’s increasing hegemony and belligerence, Beijing has increased its defense budget for 2023 by 7.2 percent despite its lowest economic growth in 25 years in a post-Covid recovery year. According to the media reports, […]

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