EP 215 | Daily Global Insights | Jul 30, 2021 | Global News | US News | India News | Markets

Sree Iyer: Today is Aug 2nd, Monday, and Welcome to Daily Global Insights with Sri and Sree, Episode 215. We have a lot to cover and shall jump straight to Global News, Iran TV report says attack on Israeli ship was revenge for Syria raid. Israel knows with certainty, Iran attacked the Mercer Street ship and will respond to it, Prime minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday. The UK confirms that it’s highly likely that Iran was responsible for the attack on the Israeli oil tanker. The US asserts that it was the Iranian drone that was involved in the attack. Bennett’s remarks came after Iran denied involvement in Friday’s bombing of the coast of Oman, a move that the Prime Minister called cowardly. Sir, your thoughts, on how this is going to play out? What is going to be Israel’s response? And welcome to the new format where we are now streaming live across new platforms, such as LinkedIn, sir.

Sridhar Chityala: Congratulations to PGurus Team. Good morning to everybody and we kick off another week. The month of August is commenced today, it’s the 2^nd. Well, with regard to this alleged Iranian drone attack on the commercial ship that was making its voyage from Britain to Israel, which was attacked just off the Arabian Sea. Now, the US, UK, and in a set of allies are confirming and basically reaffirming that it looks like the evidence says that it’s an Iranian attack, you will see some people working. There will be some form of retaliation, what it would be, we would not know. But Israel will not let these kinds of things go away.

Sree Iyer: And America’s top Envoy for the nuclear negotiations with Iran, Rob Malley is having increasing doubts about whether are returned to the 2015 JCPOA agreement is even possible. Senators want Biden to deny visas to Iranian diplomats attending the UN session. The UN session usually takes place in September right?

Sridhar Chityala: Yes, I think they are advancing the UN session by virtue of events from the pandemic and other types of events that is confronting the world. Now, with regard to the Iranian deal, Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action, JCPOA signed by P5 plus one country in, July 2015, during the Obama years that looks like that may not, you know, fruitful given the way Iran is dragging, dragging itself plus continuing to enrich the uranium, which is beyond the threshold of what was signed in JCPOA. So, now we’re getting the news that things are not moving and things are unlikely to unlike to go in a positive direction. The US GOP senators are now raising their arms in saying, the only way you can use to block the Iranian delegates coming in to attend the UN session.

Sree Iyer: Three rocket strikes on the Kandahar Airport as Taliban intensifies strikes against the Afghan government. Disturbing videos emerging with Taliban imposing Sharia law in parts of Afghanistan. Sridharji, this was expected, so why is now coming as surprise, sir?

Sridhar Chityala: It is just a reporting of incidents that are taking place. I don’t believe there’s any surprise. I think that there was hope that the Taliban would negotiate and come up come to some kind of a negotiated power-sharing agreement, within the Constitutional framework of Afghanistan. Many countries support that but the challenge here is where the Taliban would abide by that is a question mark. But based on all these, that’s it looks like, you know, they’re on their way to do their own things.

Sree Iyer: The US Issues new sanctions on the Cuban regime and says more to come while continuing to deny access to fleeing Cuban refugees. Sir, I have a problem with this. Why isn’t the US being consistent? Either, you take in all refugees or you turn away all refugees or you apply the law and make sure that whatever it is, is being consistently applied.

Sridhar Chityala: Either a law of irrationality applies probably here. So if you happen to be coming from the southern borders doesn’t matter whether your Covid infected not go Covid-infected Etc. You know you are allowed to come from the Central American Republic’s way through. You will be given buses. You’ll be given cars, you will be charted blah, blah blah and you don’t even need to be going through any kind of affirmation program that you will turn up in courts and you moved through, whereas you have, you know, so all these people who are battling communism in Cuba and be being subjected to regressive measures are being sent back only implies that you know, they don’t want to be probably antagonistic to their comrades. That’s all I can think of, you know, the fellow comrades in Cuba, that’s all, I mean, it’s the only conclusion that one can make in. Historically, Cuban refugees have been supported, Miami itself has a lot of them, but this particular regime seems to be taking a very different approach.

Sree Iyer: Nigeria receives 4 million Covid doses from the US and proposed the US arms held Nigeria on hold due to human rights concerns. Egypt is closely following the political turmoil in Tunisia in the wake of its president’s decision to seize, exceptional Powers. Egyptian and Algerian foreign ministers met to discuss the Tunisian situation. Tunisia is where the Arab Spring started and looks like now, there’s a fair amount of churn inside Tunisia. Your thoughts, sir.

Sridhar Chityala: My thoughts are, you know, if you get a chance, you should look at the map, Tunisia is right at the epicentre in the Mediterranean. So you have Tunisia adjacent to Algeria and then, you know, Egypt is on the other side of the border. So you know anything that’s happening there has cumulative consequences into the adjacent States. And so Egypt is taking a much closer view and the foreign Ministers of the two adjacent Border States have met. And Egypt seems to be taking a much more proactive approach in resolving a number of issues, not just the Tunisia but also, you know, working on Gaza, as well as the Palestinian. And they also seem to be taking some interest in the Syrian side of the Israeli border challenges that Israel is facing. So, at least, there is a proactive engagement from Egypt. Yes, you are right, the Arab Spring started around Tunisia. And so there’s a concern that this cannot have its effects.

As far as Nigeria is concerned, the US is very concerned that Boko Haram is extremely active. While they are sympathetic to granting, the vaccines for the vaccination program, their concern stems from the fact that if you give them the arms, whether you know, there’s the excessive force used the opposite way. But either way, I think that’s another area where there’s a lot of, you know, instability caused by terrorism-related activities.

Sree Iyer: Myanmar’s military ruler Min Aung Hlaing promised new elections, six months after seizing power. He then elected himself as interim Prime minister. Covid Delta a variant continues to ravage across Asia as Thailand contemplates further restriction. Sir, first Myanmar, this person he is a General who has grab power, sir.

Sridhar Chityala: Yes, he is a General who has grab power, he’s the military General, who is responsible, who has a pretty good relationship with China, a pretty good relationship with Russia. Also is a pretty good relationship with the ASEAN members. He met with the Indonesian foreign minister in Jakarta, he is also met with the Tai. So ASEAN is insisting that they will have to do and resolve this within the framework of the ASEAN rather than external members involved. So, he says, you know, there’s a lot of corruption in the prior election. So we have assumed power will conduct the elections. Let us see how ASEAN reacts to this thing.

The Covid situation continues, for example, you know, Thailand is one, but, there’s also Vietnam and then, Tokyo, notwithstanding the fact this modest increase nothing in the Olympic Village. There were also imposed sanctions. Asia continues to battle, the Delta variant that is the latest hot spot in the world. And I think soon it will be the United States.

Sree Iyer:  Our freedom is in danger, it is not government business to decide what we should and should not do protests erupt all across Europe, over passports and mandates. Europe is still in the grip of the pandemic. And now these protests are erupting, wouldn’t that make it worse? I mean there, we know that Delta spreads even faster than the previous variance. Why is Europe doing these things? Is this synchronized, because I see some sort of synchronized thing going on, suddenly there is an activity in the 3 “I” there is activity also in the Sahel region, Mediterranean Europe and what is the game plan here? Who do you think is behind all this orchestration?

Sridhar Chityala: There seems to be what you call, unfortunately, coincidental. But at least the Sahel region and the three “I”, you know, there is a consistent pattern there, which is the battle between the terrorist forces and the appropriate elected governments in those places that one can attribute.

As far as Europe is concerned, the protester stemming from the fact that for too long, there’s been locked out, there’s no credible person who is standing up and giving, you know, what is the exact situation and how the situation is going to be resolved. It is the same as the United States because, you know, I’m sure people are aware that vaccines are not yet, fully approved. They are under still emergency approval. Every day, you have been inconsistent, you know, messages that are coming out. So that makes it makes people wonder as to when you can’t guarantee and when you can’t be very specific why are you insisting that you know, we have to do this and we have to do that. Managing risk of my life,  Okay? You want to test me and you find you want to quarantine me, I will do this. But

don’t insist on something that you cannot guarantee but you want me to be injected into my body that seems to be the overarching motive even here in the United States. And that seems to be spreading to Europe.

Sree Iyer:  Sky News Australia has been suspended by YouTube. What was the reason for this, sir?  Is Sky News right-wing Channel.

Sridhar Chityala: Yes, Sky News is a Rupert Murdoch’s channel. So I think that the issue is around is they say that inconsistent information around these vaccines. Because even in Australia, there is a lot of resistance to vaccines. So they are probably highlighting the information and which YouTube looked it as it is discrepant to what the established Norms are. So therefore they have imposed the ban. So in other words you’re trying to spread something that prevents people from getting you to know, getting mainstream. So that seems to be the motive. Whether that is the case are not is a subject of conjecture and we all have seen these Tech platforms being at the centrepiece of controversy.

Sree Iyer:  And let’s take a look at the US news now, according to an independent study, most Georgia voters did not sufficiently check their paper ballots in 2020. Pennsylvania Senator prepares to issue subpoenas after three Counties reject audit requests. Forensic audits commenced in Wisconsin. President Biden and Congressional Democratic leaders stymied by Republican opposition to their partisan voting rights bills, agreed Friday to keep pushing for legislation. The nationalization of election standards and the abolishing of voter ID. This is a step in the reverse direction that we want a voter ID, a confirmed voter ID for everyone who can vote.

Sridhar Chityala: Well, first and foremost, this whole piece reflects that this election battle continues. The fact that more and more forensic audits are being conducted is causing alarm bells in the present administrative set-up in Washington DC is obviously the government in power is Democrats, both control the House, have a tiebreaking majority with the vice president in the Senate. And then, of course, the president is from there. So they believe that the issue has to be resolved. The only way they can resolve the issue is by bringing everything under Federal control. As far as the voter ID is concerned, they believe that they have consistently maintained it. If you happen to be in this country and if you have been counted in the census, which they seem to have successfully, once Trump won, you know, who should be in the census, and then Biden came and appealed. And then, he seems to have got his consent on this. The story is that they want everybody to be counted. So in other words, if you happen to be in this country, You know, therefore you are entitled to vote. This is where this whole streams and surge of illegal aliens coming in begs the question as to why these people are being allowed to come in. There is also an amnesty program besides the DACA that they’re attempting to introduce via this infrastructure bill, all to ensure that all these guys get counted, notwithstanding the fact that they are by Constitution, not citizens, because the Citizen process takes a fair amount of time before they are given but they want these people to be included that seems to be the agenda.

Sree Iyer: Eviction moratorium to end after Congress fails to extend it. This is a big one. Illinois rental housing providers welcome the end of the eviction moratorium. Sir, your thoughts, I think it had to come to an end one day.

Sridhar Chityala: It has to come to an end, right now this morning breaking news, the amount of losses that the homeowners have been incurred is 15 billion on unpaid rent, okay? Whether it is, you know, to up to what date, we don’t know, will clarify but 15 billion, but we are willing to pay hundreds of billions of dollars for these illegal aliens coming in, but for the guys who are the citizens of this country who are, you know, renting their premises to a number of people. They are not entitled to rent and the cost of that is 15 billion dollars and there is no US program to support it. So therefore you can see the state of Illinois has basically said no the moratorium cannot go on and people cannot be denied their right to collect the rent. So it’s a very interesting situation, actually, on July 31st the moratorium ended and there is a there is progressive group is launching an agitation by sitting in Capitol Hill and so on and so forth. The story is that where this is going to go, we don’t know. Common sense, tells you that the people here cannot bear losses anymore. And, you know, there has to be if the people are not willing to pay rent because of the situation, then the government has to step in as they have done in other cases.

Sree Iyer: And three “I” stands for Israel, Iran and Iraq. And thanks for asking that question. One of our viewers wanted to know and these are all things that are coined by DGI and these are becoming popular, now, there’s another one called the Sahel, it refers to a region in Africa, where there is a lot of unrest, we’ve been covering this in extensive detail in many of our DGI Hangouts. Then, the dangerous precedent, according to Grassley on justice department ordering of the release of President Trump tax returns. This is very, very interesting sir. Now, they are asking to unseal Trump tax returns. What is the benefit out of this? I don’t know.

Sridhar Chityala: Political mileage. Simple. Okay, as to how he has filed the returns. What were the issues? where and why he filed for bankruptcy? What is the income calculated, what is the income written off? You know, a whole gamut. So there’s a thing in here is whichever way you want. We want to slice and dice President Trump. But anyway, there’s good news and bad news, the good news is that this thing will be put on the table. The bad news is now it’s only a matter of time before Republicans, repeat it, that’s it. So therefore this drama continues. So we are more into drama rather than looking at a number of challenges that the United States is confronted with geopolitical, domestically and economically.

Sree Iyer: Biden and the Department of Justice are going to sue Texas on Border Crackdown on illegal aliens. In a bipartisan letter, Graham and Cuellar, urge Biden to hire Jeh Johnson, as the borders Czar. Biden Administration not disclosing whether illegal immigrants are being tested for covid-19. The information that we have was at least an initial surge, they were are not tested and I’m sure some of the current surges that we are seeing may have had something to do with it. Remember viewers that Delta was fairly cordoned off from the United States. So now you have to look at what are the possible ways in which it could have made an entry into the United States. I’ll leave it to you the viewer to decide whether it was the influx of the illegal immigrant that may have brought this thing especially given the fact that they were not tested. Sir, your thought.

Sridhar Chityala: My thoughts are they this whole thing is, it’s going to blow up big time. Texas and Arizona but, Texas are taking a much more proactive approach which is effective to state this whole border crossing is illegal and we’re going to enforce the law and people who are impacted as a result of this are the Texans. If you recall, Mr DeSantis, the Florida governor has indicated that for his own border patrol has stated that many people who are coming and making their way through to the southern borders are making their way to Florida, which is also causing an uptick as well as a crime issue. So you have this situation by two Governor’s of two needless to say red states raising red flags. So what is the administration doing the administration says they’re going to file a case. They’re going to file an appeal and make sure that the enforcement doesn’t happen. Now, this tells you something about the administration versus the states, okay. You have illegal surges and you are enforcing and the federal says no, you cannot enforce them, what does it tell? I think people can draw their own inferences as to what exactly is the agenda of, you know, you can’t enforce, you won’t be tested. They are not detention, there is catch-and-release and they are, you know, set all across the country. And it has been funded through taxpayers money. What is this reveal in terms of what the present administration wants to do, by way of policy in dealing, with these surges that are happening? So people can draw their own conclusions, you know, beyond the political lines.

Sree Iyer: Sir, who is this individual, Jeh Johnson?

Sridhar Chityala: He was the former Department of Homeland or what you call the Homeland Security Services head in the Trump Administration.

Sree Iyer: See, when a bipartisan request of that nature comes that usually means that the current DHS is unable to handle the job. My thoughts sir, I don’t know if you see it the same way?

Sree Iyer: Mayorkas has been very clear that which is named, he doesn’t want to touch this issue, right? He is the health and Homeland Security Services Secretary, he is very clear. So, because in the absence of any clear enforcement that is coming from the Homeland Security secretary then the states have to take their own action, which is what the Texas governor said because you’re not doing it. And I’m going to do it because it’s my state, which is impacted, not you.

Sree Iyer: Biden Administration says the National vaccine Mandate is not under consideration at this stage. I mean, all these control measures are meaningless. If the Border continues to seep in people and there are no checks going on as to whether these people are suffering from Covid or not. I mean we can’t emphasize this enough. You can’t really control this pandemic when you have all these, it’s like a ship taking in water and you are trying to throw water in buckets, when you are continuing to take in the water you know, eventually, the thing is going to sink. Walt Disney and Walmart join the list of companies mandating vaccines and masks to the returning employees. Confusion and chaos prevail on vaccine mandates and masks across the country. The FDA extends the shelf life of J&J vaccines. Remember, J&J is a single shot. It is a little bit less effective than Pfizer and Moderna. But the fact that it is only one shot makes it very promising. Sir, your thoughts. Take it away and tell us how you feel this covid thing is playing out first in the US and then perhaps the rest of the world.

Sridhar Chityala: First and foremost, I think that less speech and more consistency would help the United States. Most certainly, in other words, one person says, only wear masks are needed for unvaccinated. Then, someone says masks are needed even for being fully vaccinated in certain areas both outside and inside. Then you have another vaccine company stating that even if you are fully vaccinated the efficacy comes down in six months. So, therefore, you need a booster dose. All these give a considerable amount of confusion to people. Am I to vaccinate, or am I not to vaccinate? You are vaccinated. Am I Immune? Do I still have to follow the protocols of masks and no masks? So if there is a unified message, whatever the message is, which is to say, you got to be fully vaccinated, there may be a need for the booster dose that will be assessed and everybody irrespective of fully vaccinated or vaccinated must wear masks. If you are fully vaccinated, you will be allowed to resume normal duties. If you’re not fully vaccinated then you will not be allowed to come back to work or go into public areas, etc. So, if you have one single statement of that ilk that is consistent, then you will be able to get people back online. It is the inconsistent statements that are creating more problems and more nuisance.

Now, this is the reason why we have problems in the United States and we have problems in Europe. Whereas, if you go across the world, Asia is following a consistent pattern which is everybody is getting vaccinated, whatever the government determines. The vaccines seem to be holding off in terms of the barrier to the infection rates. The active cases have come down, right across Asia and in some parts of it in Israel as well. The vaccine mandate and the general discipline is being adhered to because there’s one single message that’s coming from the Asian side of the continent.

In the United States, we have another complication which is the vaccines are only still under emergency approval, they are not fully approved and so the indemnification by the vaccine manufacturers. Today, the vaccine manufacturers are saying that they don’t take any accountability as a result of the outcome of being vaccinated. So, therefore, they are still only under emergency approval This is another rider in the start, which is effective to state, ‘ why should I get vaccinated when the guy who manufactured this is not trusting it himself as to the consequences or the collateral consequences or the outcomes. All this is causing confusion.

On Saturday, Pfizer CEO said that you need a booster dose. AstraZeneca saying we don’t need a booster. Maybe they are talking about their respective vaccines. AstraZeneca is not used in the United States. Pfizer and Moderna are in use and J&J are still in the lab.

Sree Iyer: The 1.2 trillion Infrastructure Bill is on track for Senate passage this week setting the stage for floor action. Next comes, Democrats demands a follow-up bill that would spend trillions more on childcare, education, and social welfare. The way I see it, sir, this add-on bill is not going to move. I think the Republicans are now really taking a hard line on how much money needs to be spent more. How much more debt do you want to load on the back of our younger generation? That’s how I see it. Sir, your thoughts.

Sridhar Chityala: I think, the Democratic senators will persuade their fellow house members. Let’s get this done irrespective of with or without the Republicans, we will get the Reconciliation Bill and get the 3.5 trillion-plus done. So I think that’s what is going to happen because they are not going to have 10 Republican Senators, this morning Susan Collins has stated that 10 senators from GOP are likely to vote with the Democrats to get the 1.2 trillion trough. So they’re going to use a two-step process and both of these is going to come in. Today is also the day where they have to extend the debt limits. The debt limits go from $22 trillion to $28.5 trillion with $6.5 trillion of the debt that we accrued in 2020 till now to be added. This excludes 1.2+3.5, whatever the amortisation consequences of the 3.5 trillion are.

Sree Iyer: A  law firm has taken legal action on behalf of minnesotians opposed to Critical Race Theory – CRT, who argue that they have become victims of bullying and retaliation for speaking out against what they say is divisive and discriminatory philosophy. The CRT is again dividing people and the way this is being rushed through, I don’t know why these priorities are getting mixed up by the current administration. First of all, the pandemic has to be the number one priority. Then, opening the door for God knows whose request or what checklist or laundry list to please somebody for having helped them to come to power. I don’t know what that was, but clearly, the priorities are a huge problem with the Biden Administration the way I see it. Sir, I’m trying to find something good to say about this Administration, I don’t know, please tell me there’s something good that this Administration has done thus far.

Sridhar Chityala: There are three good things they’re doing, sir. They’re piling up the debt of the United States balance sheet. So therefore they believe that they can go on adding debt to the balance sheet. Second, we can go on borrowing money to fund every type of program, so there’s money in everybody’s account, that is those who are taxpayers and those people who are streaming across the borders depending on the state they are in, are being generously rewarded for their settlement. The third thing is that they believe that they’re going to borrow at an average of $6 dollars per year for the next four years. This is Mr Biden himself. No, if you are a progressive and if you are a liberal you think that this is great because this is what they were saying which is to borrow money so that you can uplift and give us the funds. That’s the good thing. The bad thing is who is going to pay and how is it going to pay? That’s where the pain comes. The pain is that taxes. But with all these other stuff that we are talking about Critical Race Theory, voting rights discrimination, there is one more thing that we haven’t touched which we’ll touch upon another day which is The Land Rights Bill. That is going to have a lot of lands. If you are in India, probably again, land ceiling act, something similar is again to come.

So, as you rightly said, what is the good thing that you can speak about? The good thing that you can speak about is probably some of the programs like the child credit, like probably the expansion of Obamacare, care for the elderly and people who provide support to kids and the elderly and granting them additional leave. So there are several social programs that they are formalizing which are very good. One is minimum wages is another one which one can contest but at least you can say that it has a better outcome for the vast citizen. So there are some good programs but rather than knowing one after the other in a systematic manner, by lumping all these things, the good from the bad is getting lost in the din.

Sree Iyer: We’ll be right back after this brief message. Stay tuned.

We are back with India news. CCP uses United Workers Front Department against India in South Asia as per experts. So this United workers front department is a part of which government, sir.

Sridhar Chityala: No, I think this United Workers Front is some local left-wing body. For example, if you are aware that the Communist Party congratulated Mr Xi Jinping for his 70 years and they attended the events in the Chinese Embassy. It is this left-wing group that seems to have sympathy towards the Communist form and format of governance with some allegiance to the Chinese CCP. So they are likely to use the CCP affiliate to stir up or to get their messages and agenda broadly into the community. If you recall, there was some kind of an agreement signed by the Indian National Congress or the Congress party with the Chinese government. I am not aware of the exact scope of the MoU. But this was a point of critique. So you have a number of allies of CCP within India. This United Workers Front seems to be one such group.

Sree Iyer: Military delegates from India and China deliberated for almost nine hours to resolve the Border crisis on Saturday at Moldo, the Chinese side in the Ladakh region, Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang plains would be part of the discussions as India considered its an advantage in Greater Kailash heights. One needs to wait and see because many people feel that that is the case that India needlessly withdrew from a point where they had a very good view of what the Chinese were up to on their side of the LAC. China has been increasing its military infrastructure across the LAC. Looking at this, India has organized itself from defensive and deterrent posture to attack and strike back solutions. So far, the troops of 2 Himalayan Giants have disengaged from both banks of Pangong-Tso lake in February this year. Sir, your thoughts on this whole thing. Should India have voluntarily withdrawn from Kailash Heights which happened to be within its area? It’s not like it was going and stradling into the LAC. I still find that difficult to, why India gave up their bargaining chip?

Sridhar Chityala: Well, I think there is there to schools, as you rightly point out. One school believes that India is conceded ground. The other group feels that India has not conceded ground from the strategic vantage point. So, therefore, if somebody is spreading the word that it has lost its negotiating position is probably misplaced. We will know, as you rightly pointed out, we’ll probably know the truth sometime very soon? But the most important aspect here is that re-engagement has commenced. One wonders whether there will be an outcome or this is just another time-wasting ceremony that goes on. Because after a lapse of considerable time, this tenth session has been conducted. During this process, they have also opened up another hotline which PGurus has also covered in the North Sikkim area. I don’t see the way Xi Jinping has positioned himself. He toured the independent Tibetan region. He came very close to Nyingchi is adjacent to Arunachal Pradesh. He revved up the population in terms of one China etc. I just don’t see this situation getting resolved without some kind of a conflict breaking out. So I think India is equipped itself recognizing that there is likely to be a conflict. So it is prepared to fight and it is prepared to hold and it is prepared to repel and if required go in and take land that belongs to India. So we are almost all set with everything built up with 50,000 troops on either side. China is building its formidable forces and we covered earlier in their Daily Global Insights that China doesn’t have any strategic advantage by way of having in these high altitude mountains, planes carrying a heavy payload. So it seems like there’s a lot of sabre-rattling that is going on. But China is very clear that it wants to have a unilateral status quo change which India is refusing. This only means that it looks like there’s a potential conflict.

Sree Iyer: As you mentioned, sir, the Indian Army and the Chinese Army have established a sixth hotline in the north Sikkim area. This is between Kangra LA in the Sikkim area and Khamba Zong in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. BRICS counterterrorism action plan has been finalized at the working group that took place last week under the chairmanship of India. The meet took place on the 28th and 29th of July and was chaired by the joint Secretary for Counterterrorism, Ministry of External Affairs Mahaveer Singhvi. BRICS is still alive? I thought that it had been long given up.

Sridhar Chityala: BRICS is still alive by name and action. So you have BRICS, you have SCO, you have QUAD, you have QUAD plus, you have NATO, you have NATO plus, you have United Nations. Very soon, we’ll have the UN meet. I believe that QUAD was the most formidable one with four major powers with adjacent countries stretching from the Indian Ocean on one side to the Pacific on the other side. It was a single consistent body. But now you have all these groups because the QUAD again, to my belief was replaced. BRICS is no longer relevant. Because they are such asymmetric economies. South Africa is in deep trouble, both economically, socially, as well as the fast-spreading epidemic, civil unrest, etc. So, the word BRICS that was coined in terms of the emerging economies somehow has been used as a vehicle. China and India are arm wrestling with Russia to hold an advantage. So, continuing to hold these BRICS, when you have SCO where again Russia, China, and India meet doesn’t seem to add any weight or any credibility to this particular group. But it is there and people are meeting.

Sree Iyer: PM Modi to be the first prime minister to chair UNSC meeting informed Syed Akbaruddin. India is still not a permanent member of the UNSC. So what is the significance here, sir.

Sridhar Chityala: I think, by 2 years it gets its turn to be one of the permanent members of the 5 plus 10, which is 15. India also calls the chairmanship for this particular period which is very laudable and I think India is making its way to establish itself as a consensus builder in solving the issues. I think we discussed in the last week’s Daily Global Insights, what the three priorities were. Covid, terrorism and impending economic crisis plus some of the geopolitical threats would the areas of focus that they are looking at as part of the next session.

Sree Iyer: The uptick in GST revenue in June and July reflects growing momentum in GDP. 8 core sectors are up by8.9% in June and had contracted 12.4% in June 2020. So from a -12.4 to a +8.9, that is a 20% shift. According to the CEA KV Subramaniam, new inflation will moderate to 6% in July. According to Commerce Secretary Piyush Goyal, the growing services sector revenue forms the basis for Indo-US business ties. Foreign exchange reserves are down by 1.581 billion to 611 billion currently. Sir, your thoughts on ongoing trade and things that are happening in and around India.

Sridhar Chityala: India is expanding its trade using what you call opportunistic and bilateral engagement. If you recall, India is working on a deal with the EU on the trade and investment side. India is working on a deal with the UK, which they probably are close to signing. India is encouraging what they call the Indian Ocean region which is close to about $440 billion dollars of trade in the region. So they are trying to figure out and form an appropriate partnership, so they can inject the appropriate capital and build the trade momentum. One of the things that we have alluded to is that the exports have been the benchmark in terms of an uptick in the GDP when the domestic markets have been closed due to the pandemic’s second wave. This is immediately after Mr Blinken’s visit. So Mr Goyal is saying that the services sector would form the beachhead for the expansion of the US ties which is pretty good. IT is one of the good examples. India exports a significant amount of IT services to the United States.

Sree Iyer: India to bring in National Farmer’s Database and to bring in data policy for the farming sector. Let’s take a quick look at Markets. Stock markets continue to grind sideways as markets look for the next push higher. Crude oil markets continue to show strength over the weekend as a price band is in the $74 – $75 range. Any idea on how the futures are looking today, sir.

Sridhar Chityala: I haven’t seen the Futures Market but they were steady. There was no uptick in Markets. Friday was a down market as you all know. It’s continuing to be operating around that, which is the reason why we said that it is likely to move sideways until it finds the next inflexion point for the uptick. But having said that, the markets are all up 14+% today in terms of the targets. All tech companies have reported revenues, all of them look quite positive. The oil sector seems to be again on the uptick. They’re not 76 but they’re operating at 74 – 75 and that is very much reflected around the world at the gas stations when you go to fill up your cars with fuel. So that’s the market situation and but will have a lot more news on earnings, as well as what’s happening to the debt limit and the infrastructure bill. That may be another trigger point for us in seeing an uptick because it’s cash in the hands of the people.

Sree Iyer: With that, we bring an end to today’s Dail Global Insights. We will be back tomorrow bright and early, same time, same channel. Thanks for joining and do share, join and retweet our links on whichever platform it is that you are watching and thanks for your support. Namaskar. See you tomorrow, Sridharji.

Sridhar Chityala: Thank you. Namaskar and have a wonderful day, a wonderful evening wherever you are.