The past few days/weeks have been especially busy for Chinese President Xi Jinping and his propaganda machinery. First, Xi ensured the Communist Party put him in the league of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. That means he can indefinitely stay in power. Then came the not-so-mysterious ‘lost and found’ episode involving tennis star Peng Shuai after she accused a senior party functionary of sexual assault. The Women’s Tennis Association responded by suspending all its tournaments in China, even if that meant a huge revenue loss. Then came China’s exclusion from Joe Biden’s democracy summit. China went to the extent of saying it didn’t need any certificate as it was a more functional democracy than the United States. And now the U.S. and some of its allies like Australia and Canada have announced a diplomatic boycott of next year’s Winter Olympics to be held in Beijing. China has warned Biden of consequences. In this podcast with StratNews Global, Michael Schuman, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub and author of the book titled ‘Superpower Interrupted: The Chinese History of the World’ shares his insights about why Xi Jinping and his party are doing what they are. Tune in for more.

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The United Nations has stated that the upcoming Libyan presidential elections is an “essential step” towards moving towards peace in this war-torn country. But 10 years on since the deposition of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and it seems that the elections though welcome will bring neither peace nor stability, to the country. Anil Trigunayat, former Indian ambassador to Libya, points out that many international players have key stakes in the country and are not willing to let them go. For instance, countries such as Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia, France, UK and Russia all have influence in the eastern part of Libya where arms, ammunition and militia groups reign under their tacit control. Opposed to them are Turkey, Italy and Qatar who have influence in the western part of the country. Not only is this international power play hurting Libya it is also ensuring that UN observation of the presidential elections is being hampered. With such a scenario it is unlikely that Libya can move towards any kind of normalcy, no matter who comes to power.

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Some countries have imposed blanket travel bans to and from South Africa and other ‘at risk’ countries over a new strain of Covid-19 called Omicron. The move is premature, says Dr Angelique Coetzee, chairperson of South African Medical Association and the first person to alert authorities in South Africa about patients showing symptoms of Covid-19 that’s different from what has been seen so far. India has adopted a strategy of not enforcing blanket travel bans but instead going in for testing of patients arriving from ‘at risk’ countries. On Wednesday, India tested nearly 3,500 people who had come in from such countries but only six people were found positive. I am in favour of what India is doing, Dr Coetzee told StratNews Global in this podcast. Tune in for more.

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In line with his election campaign pledge, Joe Biden is set to host the first summit for democracy on December 9 and 10. Invites for the virtual event have been sent to 110 participants, including Taiwan, which the United States does not recognize as an independent nation. India is on the list of invitees but Russia is not, nor is China. The U.S. is currently not well poised to host such an event, says former Indian foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal. “If you are going to have a global summit on democracy in order to send a message to authoritarian regimes, you have to do it from a position of strength in terms of your own credentials,” Ambassador Sibal told StratNews Global in this podcast. Tune in for more.

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Despite mandatory lockdowns and warnings that those still unvaccinated will not be able to avail of basic services, a section of the European public continues to refuse to get the vaccine. The results have been dire with the fourth wave of Covid cases already having hit Germany which now threatens to engulf other member countries in the continent. Velina Tchakarova, director at the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy in Vienna believes that ignorance heightened by propaganda by far-right groups along with the emergence of dangerous online groups – some of them believed to be affiliated to QAnon – who are continuing to spout conspiracy theories about the virus and vaccine, are part of the problem. However, the health dangers aside, these are also worrying times for the economy as government severance pay is running low and many small businesses are likely to be further hit, a disaster in smaller countries like Austria which runs largely on small businesses.

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The bold climate goals announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP26 in Glasgow are achievable, says Glen Peters, Research Director at the Center for International Climate Research in Oslo. The way India has rolled out solar and wind energy in the last five years has been quite impressive, Peters told StratNews Global in a podcast, adding that by 2030 India may well overdeliver the targets it has set for itself, as it has done before. Regarding fingers being pointed at India for changing the text from “phasing out” coal to “phasing down” coal, Peters says the criticism is unfair. Tune in for more.

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India will remain relevant to Afghanistan and vice-versa despite all the propaganda peddled by Pakistan, as was exemplified by the success of the Delhi Security Dialogue that was attended by seven other countries, says PS Raghavan, former Indian Ambassador to Russia. Pakistan’s intention is to show that it is actually driving events in Afghanistan but Afghanistan’s immediate needs are a far cry from what Pakistan can deliver, Ambassador Raghavan, who has also served as Chairman of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), told StratNews Global. Listen in for more.

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As the globe heats up at a pace faster than expected, India has been doing its bit under the Paris agreement, in fact, bettering it. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced enhanced targets at the Glasgow UN climate conference that’s currently underway. And in a way, nudged the so-called developed world to step up. In this podcast with StratNews Global, Ulka Kelkar, Director, Climate programme, World Resources Institute, India, talks about India being part of the solution and the international green contribution it has been making. Tune in for more.

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This week’s ASEAN summit had a notable omission—Myanmar—after the 10-member bloc barred the junta leader from attending. Frustration among some ASEAN countries has been growing after the junta accepted the five-point proposal in April but went back on it, lately refusing to allow the ASEAN envoy from meeting detained state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen who will take over as the group’s chair next year described the situation as ‘ASEAN minus one’. Cambodia’s closest relationship is with China and Cambodia taking a position sent an implicit signal that China is also not happy with Myanmar, Dr Bridget Welsh, Honorary Research Associate with the University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute Malaysia, told StratNews Global. Listen in for more.

For someone often described as an ‘army prop’, it would seem rather unusual for Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to disagree with Army chief Gen Bajwa’s decision to transfer ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed as a Corps commander. Gen Faiz is considered close to Imran and has gone out of the way to help him politically. So what’s at the heart of the tussle? The Pakistani army guards institutional autonomy over everything else, says Lt Gen Harish Thukral (Retd), who has served as defence attaché at the Indian mission in Islamabad. The ISI chief may just have crossed a red line as the Chief of Army Staff expects his officers not to be politically inclined, Lt Gen Thukral (Retd) told StratNews Global in this podcast. Listen in for more