AROUND THE WORLD
Australia
- April 17. By Charlie Barnes, East Asia Forum. On Sunday 10 April, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that the 2022 Australian federal election would be held on 21 May. In reality, the election campaign had been in full swing for weeks. Morrison’s prime ministership has been characterised more by scandals than programmatic reform and Labor has a six-point lead in published polls. His back is against the wall. (read more)
- April 16. By Sam Roggeveen, East Asia Forum. How should the relationship between domestic electoral politics and foreign policy in today’s Australia be characterised? (read more)
China
- April 16. By Kalpit A. Mankikar, ORF. China seems to be on tenterhooks with more than 70 of its top cities either under partial or complete lockdown due to the pandemic since the beginning of March. Amongst them Shanghai—China’s most populous city—that is under lockdown since March-end is under global spotlight. (read more)
G20 – India – UK
- April 16. By ORF. The G20 remains the most powerful forum for global economic governance. Given its membership, its mandate, and its influence, it has been appropriately called the ‘economic steering committee of the world’. The G20’s agenda is spread mainly across the Finance Track and the Sherpa Track. The Finance Track, led by Central Bank governors and finance ministers has remained the most crucial pillar of the G20. It covers issues related to international finance, sustainable finance, and broader global macroeconomic priorities. The Sherpa Track, led by a government-appointed official, covers issues related to development, trade, education, healthcare, digital economy, and more. Each issue is supported by ministerial meetings, working groups, task forces, and engagement groups. Both the Finance and Sherpa Track have evolved significantly over the years. Nonetheless, the G20 remains a ‘leaders-led process’, with the heads of governments shaping the agenda of the forum. (read more)
Russia – Ukraine (impact, reactions, consequences)
- April 16. By Manoj Joshi, ORF. The Ukraine war is now seemingly headed for a climax. Given how things have gone so far, it would be foolhardy to offer a prediction of the future. Russia has suffered grievous blows, but it retains a vast capacity to bring even more death and destruction in Ukraine. As for Ukraine, it has probably surprised itself by its performance. Steeled by war, it has few options but to continue the fight. (read more)
- April 16. By Muskaan Goenka, ORF. Does multipolarity create more scope for conflicts and act as an impediment to global action or does it aid in conflict resolution and act as a harbinger of concerted action? (read more)
WTO – India – South Africa
- April 16. By Nishant Sirohi, ORF. Eighteen months and counting, the World Trade Organization (WTO) members have yet to reach a resolution on the proposal submitted by South Africa and India for a temporary waiver from certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement for the prevention, containment, and treatment of COVID-19 (TRIPS waiver). A positive and meaningful TRIPS waiver would allow many countries to mass-produce life-saving COVID-19 vaccines, essential medicines, and testing kits. (read more)
CYBER
- April 16. By Pierluigi Paganini, Security Affairs. The U.S. government attributes the recent $600 million Ronin Validator cryptocurrencty heist to the North Korea-linked APT Lazarus. (read more)
- April 16. By Pierluigi Paganini, Security Affairs. This week Anonymous and other hacker groups affiliated with the collective have launched multiple attacks against Russian government agencies and organizations. (read more)
- April 16. By Pierluigi Paganini, Security Affairs. The Ukrainian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-UA) uncovered new phishing campaigns aimed at infecting systems of Ukrainian government agencies with the IcedID malware. (read more)
