“Wars over water,” according to Kamala Harris, are the wars of the future – and she should know. Such was the war, apparently, which flared up just last week between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. A border post was taken, and for a moment it looked ominous. It has passed. For now. But wars between former republics and territories of the USSR are now erupting with monotonous regularity. To find out why, we invited Bryan MacDonald from RT in Moscow to help us understand.

The coronavirus is spreading like a famine through India, one of the world’s great civilisations. The infections rise daily, bringing the health service to its knees. Chronic shortages of oxygen, intensive care, vaccines, even PPE. To paint the picture further, political commentator Justin Podur joined Sputnik from Toronto.