Before Second Foreign Ministers' Meet, India Says It Expects Quad to Understand Its Stance on Terror
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Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Kanye West blocked from entering Australia over Hitler song
American rapper Kanye West has been blocked from entering Australia over the release of his song 'Heil Hitler', which glorifies Nazism and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Australia's Home Affairs Minister confirmed on Wednesday. The controversial track came months after the rapper, also known as Ye, made several antisemitic posts online — including declaring 'I love Hitler' and calling himself 'a Nazi' on X (formerly Twitter). While those earlier remarks did not lead to immediate action, Home affairs minister Tony Burke revealed that his department had cancelled West's valid visa after the song was released in early May. 'If someone argued that anti-Semitism was rational, I would not let them come here,' Burke said, while bringing up West's case. '[West] has been coming to Australia for a long time… and he's made a lot of offensive comments. But my officials looked at it again once he released the Heil Hitler song, and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia.' 'It was a lower-level visa, and the officials still looked at the law and said if you're going to have a song and promote that sort of Nazism, we don't need that in Australia,' Burke told ABC News. 'We have enough problems in this country already without deliberately importing bigotry.' Ye has longstanding personal ties to Australia. He married Bianca Censori, an Australian architect, in December 2022, and has visited the country frequently. Burke declined to specify when exactly the visa was cancelled. Ye's team has not responded to requests for comment. It was also not clear if West has been permanently banned from Australia. This is not the first time Australia has blocked entry over controversial speech. In October 2024, US conservative influencer Candace Owens was also denied a visa. At the time, Burke remarked: 'Australia's national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else.' Despite global backlash, Heil Hitler amassed millions of views shortly after its May 8 release. Ye later attempted damage control by releasing a reworked version of the track titled Hallelujah, swapping references to Nazism with lyrics referencing Christianity.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Quad remains resilient. But everyone wants to be friends with China again
Quad took a significant step in its long journey to shed ambiguity and reveal its true purpose on Tuesday in Washington DC. The US, India, Japan, and Australia signed on to a joint statement that was more pointed and critical of Chinese actions in the maritime domain than in the past. Quad also categorically called out China's economic coercion, price manipulation, supply-chain disruptions, and use of non-market principles to concentrate production in critical minerals. In classic diplo-speak, the statement did all of this using the passive voice without attributing actions to the agent. Trump, to lend retrospective coherence to a badly thought out tariff policy, made it all about China in April. (REUTERS) To be sure, each edition of Quad has witnessed the introduction of a more critical nuance against Beijing and an additional layer of tech, economic, or security cooperation with the subtext of countering China. But this week's Quad meeting was much sharper in its focus. It also narrowed down cooperation to maritime security, economic security, critical and emerging technologies, and humanitarian assistance. The advantage of this sharp approach is that the fluff is out, and all sides are discussing real actionable items. The disadvantage is there is drastic dilution of the agenda and many valuable items of cooperation may get lost. But the Quad statement is significant because a strong diplomatic rebuke of China has become rare. Indeed, the big geopolitical picture of the moment is that China is on the geopolitical comeback trail after five years. The onset of Covid-19 in early 2020 woke the world to the dangers of opaque systems that can suppress information with globally devastating consequences. China's weaponisation of its overwhelming advantage in manufacturing awoke the world to the need for diversified supply chains. China's inroads into eastern Ladakh alerted New Delhi to the dangers of a belligerent neighbour that was willing to violate Indian sovereignty. China's continuous aggression in the East China Sea, South China Sea, and around Taiwan made the region aware of Beijing's territorial and maritime ambitions. China's predatory economics made Global South nations conscious of the downsides of Chinese development and investment flows. China's stunning technological, military, and economic strides awoke the US to its 'peer-level competitor'. Under the first Donald Trump administration, the Joe Biden administration, and under a set of Indo-Pacific leaders worried about Beijing, there was a concerted approach to take on this Chinese machine. American export controls on chips were meant to slow down China's progress. The US began building stronger countervailing coalitions in the Indo-Pacific. It encouraged plurilaterals, trilaterals, and strengthened bilaterals to shape the environment around China. The US married strategic and defence imperatives with business opportunities and innovated with new tech partnerships. It expanded its developmental, climate, and security footprint in neglected regions such as the Pacific Islands. This period saw China's internal vulnerabilities get more pronounced. Beijing's Covid-19 crackdown boomeranged. Its real estate and infrastructure-fuelled boom created a crisis. Its domestic consumption paled in comparison to its production excess. Its demographic policies generated social fissures and policy pressures. It seemed relatively friendless in the region. And theories about how China had peaked gathered traction. That 2020-2024 era of rising global estrangement with China is over. 2025 may well be the year when everyone wants to become friends with China again. The effort to construct a bridge between Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific theatres has faltered. Even as Russia and China work more closely together, the US is now doing little to bridge the gap between Nato and Indo-Pacific allies and is instead pressuring both simultaneously to step up on defence. The Australian, South Korean, and Japanese heads of government decided to stay away from the Nato summit in The Hague. European countries, both collectively and separately, are seeking to cut deals with China. To many in Europe, a closer working relationship with China seems safer than putting their eggs in the unpredictable American basket. America itself is sending signals of wanting a deal with China. Trump, to lend retrospective coherence to a badly thought out tariff policy, made it all about China in April. As soon as markets responded negatively and inflationary concerns became real, he did a deal by mid-May. When the deal showed cracks and China imposed restrictions on exports of rare earths, the US showed a willingness to lift restrictions on exports and visas. Nikkei now reports that Trump is exploring a visit to China with a major business delegation. China's dependencies are real, Beijing is far more keen to do a deal than it publicly lets on, and no one is discounting either the structural rivalry or US advantages. But, in this entire episode, China has shown it has cards too and held its own to a large extent, while American vulnerabilities have become visible. And then you have China's neighbours. Despite Japan's fundamental security contradiction with China, Trump has made life so difficult for Tokyo that it cancelled a 2+2 ministerial dialogue with the US and is engaged in a public acrimonious fight on auto tariffs — any such rift plays to China's advantage. South Korea's new government is all about a more balanced approach to foreign policy compared to its pro-US conservative predecessor. Australia is struck by the Pentagon's review of the AUKUS pact and Trump hasn't even met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. And India is sending public signals of rapprochement with China — despite China being the force behind Pakistan's military response during Operation Sindoor, India's own border tensions, the trade asymmetry that emanates from Chinese manufacturing dominance, and Beijing's efforts to construct a hostile architecture in South Asia. New Delhi's political troubles with the US due to Trump's false claims on peacemaking, mediation, and trade could only have made China happy. And in smaller countries in the region, American instruments of influence in the form of foreign aid, foreign trade, and liberal visa policy have all but gone, leaving the ground open for more Chinese presence. Neither was China about to collapse or get isolated in the past four years, nor is it about to take over the world now. But there is a shift that suits Beijing. As the next Quad chair, India's challenge is framing a credible and strong agenda that takes into account this adverse diplomatic environment. Prashant Jha is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal.
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First Post
an hour ago
- First Post
How is the Dalai Lama chosen?
The Dalai Lama has confirmed that the centuries-old Tibetan Buddhist position will continue after his death. However, the announcement is sure to irk China with the spiritual leader telling Beijing not to intervene in the selection of his successor. But how is the Dalai Lama chosen? read more Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama attends an event celebrating his 90th birthday according to a Tibetan calendar at the Tsuglakhang temple in Dharamshala, India, Monday, June 30, 2025, ahead of his birthday according to the Gregorian calendar on July 6. AP The Dalai Lama has confirmed that he will have a successor, ensuring the continuation of the centuries-old Tibetan Buddhist institution. The Tibetan spiritual leader has ended years of speculation that the sacred tradition may end with him. The announcement comes just ahead of his 90th birthday on Sunday (July 6). The Dalai Lama also emphasised that his successor should be found and identified as per Buddhist traditions, in a message to China not to interfere. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This is set to annoy the Asian giant, which wants to control the selection of the next Dalai Lama. On the Tibetan spiritual leader's declaration, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a daily news briefing on Wednesday (July 2) that 'the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama must adhere to the principles of domestic search in China' and 'approval by the central government.' Mao added the process must 'follow religious rituals and historical settings, and be handled in accordance with national laws and regulations.' But how is the Dalai Lama chosen? We explain the process through graphics.
