Modi's Ayushman Bharat - the reality

Prabhat Patnaik

GANASHAKTI: The fraudulence of the claim made by the Modi government with regard to the “Ayushman Bharat” scheme launched recently surpasses all its previous efforts. This is hardly surprising for a government for which what matters is not what it actually does but how it creates perceptions about what it is doing.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme consists of two separate parts.

China getting keys to Haifa port may drive a wedge between US, Israel

26 Sep 2018; TASS: The United States Sixth Fleet, based in the Mediterranean Sea, may abandon the use of Israel’s major port of Haifa, Seth Cropsey, former US Assistant Secretary of Defense, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. The reason for the move is China’s permission to build and control a new port terminal in Haifa. Everyone in Israel is trying to figure out who made the decision to allow America’s major strategic adversary to take over this crucial port.

For India 2 + 2 = 0

Prakash Karat

14 Sep 2018; GANASHAKTI: The journey to becoming a subordinate ally of the United States has reached a decisive stage.

The first two-plus-two ministerial dialogue comprising the foreign and defence ministers of the United States and India, held on September 6, has given the India-US strategic alliance an institutional character.  The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and the secretary of defence, James Mattis, visited Delhi for this inaugural meeting.  The 2+2 dialogue will be an annual one.

Is Russia preparing for the next great war?

By Elena Teslova and Fatih Hafız Mehmet

MOSCOW/ANKARA, 14 Aug 2018; AA: With 300,000 military men, more than 1,000 planes, helicopters and UAVs, 36,000 tanks, and 80 naval ships Russia is showing off its military might in the largest-ever war games in the country's history.

The Vostok 2018 (East 2018) war games which started on Tuesday come on the heels of the country's first-ever military drills in the Mediterranean since the collapse of the Soviet Union, held between Sept. 1-8.

Americans refuse to live a "life of tariffs"

by Xinhua writers Sun Ding, Pan Lijun, Xu Xiaolei

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- "301 is a bed tax," "301 is a toothbrush tax," "301 is a food tax," "301 is a tax on your winter wardrobe..." said Hun Quach, the vice president for international trade at the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

To make her case, Quach, a retail industry representative, brought a basket of supermarket shelf items, and walked the 301 committee through "a day in the life of tariffs."

How should Muslims respond to The Innocent Prophet, or similar situations?

By AW Siddiqui

The Innocent Prophet is an anti-Islamic movie. It’s another addition in the long list of anti-Islamic, anti-Muslim propaganda items, created by Imran Firasat, a Pakistani married to an Indonesian Budhist, who now lives in Spain.

The movie is promoted by US pastor Terry Jones, best known for his plans to burn Quran on the ninth anniversary of 9/11, and has become notorious for anti-Islam publicity stunts [1].

Suu Kyi is most polished mouthpiece of Myanmar military

By Maung Zarni

LONDON; 25 Aug 2018; AA: Watching YouTube Myanmar State Counsellor’s 43rd Singapore lecture -- 1-hour lecture including the questions and answers – entitled, “Democratic Transition in Myanmar: Challenges and the Way Forward,” left me deeply disturbed, pained and outraged.

The degree of her delusions, distortions and concoctions made me realize that my fellow Burmese dissident has become nothing more than the most polished mouth piece for her former captors, namely the murderous military regime.

News Analysis: U.S. aims to prolong Syria's war by stirring chemical weapons threats again

DAMASCUS, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- As the Syrian army will launch a wide-scale offensive against the last major rebels' stronghold in Idlib province in northwestern Syria, analysts say that the United States and its allies want to place hurdles.

New threats come to put pressure on the Syrian forces, who are poised to launch an offensive on Idlib, or establish reconciliation to resolve the situation with the help of Russia, which is already engaged in talks with Turkey to figure out a solution regarding Idlib.

Japan official says Trump misunderstands trade

TOKYO (AP) — President Donald Trump’s tariff policies reflect a serious misunderstanding of the importance of free trade and Japanese companies’ contributions to the U.S. economy, Japan’s trade minister said Thursday.

Hiroshige Seko, the minister of economy, trade and industry, warned in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press that Tokyo might take action if the U.S. fulfills threats to levy a 25 percent tariff on Japanese auto imports. He gave no details but didn’t rule out retaliatory tariffs.

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