West Asia & North Africa Digest by Ambassador Mahesh Sachdev | November 2020
I) Political Developments Regional Impact of Covid-19: Second Wave Persists The second wave of Covid-19 pandemic continued to roil the region during October 2020, with unchanged growth in confirmed cases and slightly higher death rate. The total number of affected cases in the WANA region on Oct 31 crossed 3.45 million with over 85,000 fatalities. The region […]
West Asia & North Africa Digest by Ambassador Mahesh Sachdev | October 2020
I) Political Developments Regional Impact of Covid-19: Second Wave LingersThe second wave of Covid-19 pandemic had a mixed impact on various countries of the WANA region which saw nearly 31% increase in confirmed cases and 25% increase in cumulative deaths during September 2020. (For comparison, India’s two figures were up 71% and 51% respectively.) Some states, such as […]
West Asia & North Africa Digest by Ambassador Mahesh Sachdev | September 2020
I) Political Developments Regional Impact of Covid-19: Second Wave tapers offThough the region was, once again, afflicted by Covid-19 pandemic during August 2020, the worst fears were not realised in most countries. As the result, the pecking order of the affected countries (see table below) remained largely stable, albeit at a level higher by around a third. […]
West Asia & North Africa Digest by Ambassador Mahesh Sachdev | August 2020
I) Political Developments Regional Impact of Covid-19: Second Wave hits with a vengeance After a deceptive lull of few weeks, the region was, once again, afflicted by Covid-19 pandemic during July 2020. While this second wave was still ongoing, the number of daily cases rose dramatically – in some countries, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, surpassing […]
West Asia & North Africa Digest by Ambassador Mahesh Sachdev | July 2020
I) Political Developments Regional Impact of Covid-19:Even as the WANA region continued to be ravaged by the Covid-19, the pandemic gradually became part of the “new normal” for most of these countries. A number of factors pushed for this normalisation: gradual lifting of the local lockdown restriction and concomitant economic activity, the revival of the global economic […]
West Asia & North Africa Digest by Ambassador Mahesh Sachdev | June 2020
I) Political Developments Regional Impact of Covid-19: Waiting for the Second Shoe to Fall By end of May 2020, a modicum of usual disorder and instability began returning to the WANA region after three month long tryst with Covid-19 pandemic. While the uptick in infections and deaths continued in most countries, the issues concerning macro-economy and survival through oil […]
West Asia & North Africa Digest by Ambassador Mahesh Sachdev | May 2020
I) Political Developments Regional Impact of Covid-19: During April 2020 the WANA region continued to be plagued by Covid-19 pandemic, stretching the regional countries’ socio-political systems to face an enormous and multi-dimensional challenge. It brutally exposed the region’s countries’ various inadequacies such as governance failings, incompetent healthcare systems and haphazard social mobilisation. It also laid […]
West Asia & North Africa Digest by Ambassador Mahesh Sachdev | April 2020
I) Political Developments Regional Impact of Covid-19: By end of March almost all countries of WANA region were affected by Covid-19 pandemic albeit to varying measure. The impact was both direct – with increasing number of patients with concomitant human despair, as well as indirect, with mounting collateral economic and political costs. Further, while the […]
West Asia & North Africa Digest by Ambassador Mahesh Sachdev | March 2020
I) Political Developments Regional Impact of COVID-19:By February end, most of the region had been afflicted with incidence of Novel Corona Virus disease (COVID-19). First death from the diseased in the region was reported on Feb 19 in Iran – and the country soon earned the dubious distinction of being world’s most afflicted after China. The disease […]
West Asia & North Africa Digest | February 2020
I)Political Developments Trump’s “Deal of the Century” US President Donald Trump launched his Middle East Peace Plan on January 28 at the White House in presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but in conspicuous absence of any Palestinian representative. It was essentially the political proposal complimenting the economic component of the plan released earlier on June […]