India's Solar boom: Tesla is also eyeing India and could enter the market as early as this summer.
Mexico followed Kerala model: Mexico had long been a hearty producer of corn, but its output has steadily declined over the last two decades. As heavily subsidized US corn and other staples poured into Mexico, producer prices dropped and small farmers found themselves unable to make a living. Some two million have been forced to leave their farms since Nafta. "It was after trade deals such as NAFTA and others that Mexico became more dependent on American exports".
The lowdown: HCL Tech to hire high-school students to train them as software engineers. “It is kind of a cosy internship model and catches talent young. The reality is the more time they spend on the job more value they get.”
Presstitute spin: Indian engineers are so unemployable that a tech giant will train high-school graduates itself
For the first time, Chinese and Pakistani troops are marching together in a parade in Islamabad, highlighting the sudden new deepening of cooperation between the 2 countries in support of the new China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
China is also quadrupling the size of its amphibious assault troops - India's Andaman Islands would be an obvious target, since they're at the mouth of the strategic Straits of Malacca:
Police have announced the name of the London terrorist attack perpetrator - he was 52-year old British-born Khalid Masood of Birmingham, and a former schoolteacher. Apparently, he was born non-Muslim and became a convert to Islam.
Scotland Yard's top anti-terror officer Mark Rowley says the suspects were held overnight and he revealed the killer's birth name was Adrian Russell Ajao. Also known as Adrian Elms, he was using the name Khalid Masood at the time of the attack.
A name like that might suggest Indo-Caribbean descent, later converted to Islam.
There's been another terrorist attack in London, apparently carried out by an 'Asian' man who started by mowing down multiple people on London bridge, subsequently running from his vehicle towards the British parliament to stab some policemen, at least 1 fatally, before being shot dead. Including the attacker, 5 people have dieand 40 injured in this incident, which happens on the 1-year anniversary of the Brussels terrorist attack.
The ban will apply to nonstop inbound flights from 10 airports in the Middle East and Africa. “It appears to be a Muslim ban by a thousand cuts,” a former US official said.
So some are implying that the Trump admin is achieving their Muslim ban by other means - ie. by throwing up other obstacles/impediments that will reduce the number of Muslim travelers anyway.
The US Democratic Party would love to offer some slot to Preet Bharara, but they have nothing to offer him - NYC mayor position is occupied by DeBlasio, and there's not enough time for Bharara to gain residency there to run. Governor's position is occupied by Cuomo, and the Congressional slots are occupied by Schumer and Gillebrand. These are all Democrats. Since Bharara is born in India, he can't be used to run for the US Presidency, although likely wouldn't be popular enough to succeed there anyway. (Perhaps billionaire Bloomberg may try in 2020, since he floated his name in 2016)
After the famously tough US General MacArthur was fired by President Truman, he said that "old soldiers never die, they just fade away" - perhaps Bharara will simply have to fade away. Like many sepoys, he'll likely just end up as a fat pensioner.
Making him CM is a high-risk strategy. Scrupulous attention must be paid toward avoiding any riots in the state, which the opposition/media will seize upon to revive their "Bharat Jalao Party" rhetoric to create electoral backlash. If riots and other trigger events can be avoided, then he has a chance to both rehabilitate the state by rooting out corruption and radically reforming its bloated bureaucracy while improving services, as well as intimately tying such improvements to the Hindutva brand in the public perception. Just like the famous Protestant Work Ethic or Confucian Work Ethic, there may be an opportunity to demonstrate a Hindu Work Ethic to the investment markets. Risks are of course things like riots - we now have not only ISI but also ISIS who would be fishing for trouble in the state to boost their own agenda.
The strategy may pay off - but only if trigger-events for conflagrations can be avoided. As General Zia-ul-Haq used to say, "the water must boil, but not too hot." If Adityanath moves too crudely or in a headstrong way on the Ram Temple issue, then it could create a serious trigger-event that would reward the opposition with electoral backlash. Hopefully Adityanath is a team player, and won't try to win one battle at the cost of losing the wider war. He needs to be proactive in pursuing outreach to Muslims.
The media are putting out their own theories on why Yogi Adityanath has been appointed, claiming that he's being brought in as a foil to allow Modi to look more "moderate":
Oh well, at least it's a step up from "Indira is Secular, Indira is Communal"
Pakistan's sudden new move to carve out Gilgit-Baltistan away from Kashmir to annex it as Pakistan's "5th province" may be due to Chinese pressure to help facilitate the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor)
It now remains to be seen how the great "freedom fighters" of the Valley should show how they feel about this development.
The Rupee is on a tear: A strong rupee is good news for corporate India. Many firms hold debt in foreign currencies, so a fall in the exchange rate means their interest outgo will reduce.
Counter-offensive:
India trains Vietnamese soldiers in jungle warfare. Vietnamese sailors
are also being trained to operate Russian Kilo class diesel electric
submarines at the Navy's submarine training school.
Importing international student = exports:
American colleges and universities constitute an enormous economic
engine. More international students equals stronger colleges and
universities, more productive workers, more American jobs, and higher
GDP — ad infinitum, in a virtuous cycle.
IIT Madras RISC-V International Conference April 2017: Under the auspices of the IIT Madras Computer Architecture Initiative and the SHAKTI Processor Project, the team at IIT Madras will host RIC2017 this coming April 2nd and 3rd, 2017 in Chennai India.
Dead zones: Large Sections of Australia’s Great Reef Are Now Dead, Scientists Find. Australians ask Adani to abandon project: The project involves dredging 1.1 million cubic metres of spoil near the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which will then be disposed off on land.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is warning of a possible military strike on North Korea in the future, saying that US patience towards Pyongyang has ended:
China already has North Korea and Pak as clients, and has promoted illicit weapons trade between them. Now China's more recent arms client Sri Lanka may also be joining that trade:
Meanwhile, the US SecState Tillerson is calling for a "new approach" on dealing with NorthKorea, whose progress in development of nuclear weapons and missiles have gone past all thresholds of US tolerance.
The trailer is out for Wonder Woman, the superheroine from DC Comics who comes from a Spartan-like tribe of fierce female warriors. The DC Comics mythos apocryphally inserts her into Greek mythology as a demi-goddess secretly born to Zeus and a human mother. In contrast to the original origin story which dates back to WW2, the movie sets her origin story during WW1.
Wonder Woman is played by the Israeli actress Gal Godot, whose other acting credits are mainly just the Fast & Furious racing-action movies. The movie will come out this summer.
China has taken note of Modi's election victory in UP, with an Op-Ed piece saying that it will present China with challenges and maybe some opportunities:
With allegations of foreign interference in various elections dominating headlines these days, it would be best for Indian authorities to be on guard against electoral meddling attempts by China, including hacking of servers or other actions against political parties. The Chinese are quite bold and ruthless - look at the way they've interfered in the politics of Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines, among others. Given their derisive opinions towards India, there needs to be vigilance against any interference by them.
this is what i wrote years ago about the then-existing EVMs, which i thought were a crock. things have improved with VVPATs, but still have grave doubts about them. i still don't trust computers.
the election commissioner's letter is hardly reassuring, and i don't think this is the last word on the matter. what indiresan et al said earlier was total bullshit, and i hope things have improved since then. but i have my doubts about the chips involved, the firmware, and the processes. the whole thing needs a thorough security audit.
this was (afaik) the first instance of anyone in india talking explicitly about america's omnipresent #deepstate and its baleful influence on india. i take due pride in that :-)
however, there *was* an earlier use of the term (in 2013) for the congress and its ecosystem, and so here's due credit to centerrightindia. good guys, the folks behind swarajyamag.com. the indian #deepstate is partly a creation of the US #deepstate, as seen in the obvious funding of various anti nationals and think tanks. much like a godman named caldwell invented 'dravidianism' as part of divide-and-rule.
The Lefties, including the dominant Atlanticist faction among them, are upset that Trump's national security team are taking Flynn's departure in stride, rather than altering their ideological course:
As nationalism begins to sweep Europe, the Lefties are afraid that Trump forces are linking up with European nationalist forces - and of course the always evil Russians - in order to undermine the EU and Atlanticist goals.
In a new example of judicial overreach, a court in Hawaii has blocked President Trump's travel ban against those from Muslim countries which pose a terrorist threat to US public safety:
So we can see here that the Red-Green/Leftist-Islamist combine will be using Lawfare (legal/judicial activism) to impose their will on the rest of society, like a Tail Wagging the Dog. Meanwhile, Muslim countries are totally free to impose whatever infringements they want upon anyone they please. "What's Mine is Mine, What's Yours We Share"
India is facing a water crisis, due to its ever-thirstier agrarianists - another argument in support of industrialization which can allow more people to earn better livelihoods while consuming less natural resources than farming allows:
And of course treaties like the Indus Waters Treaty are all about ensuring Pakistan's access to water, but make no effort to support India's water rights, especially as a downstream lower riparian state to rivers coming from Chinese-controlled territory.
and they're going to station a large number of them in gwadar. that's the fate for hambantota and colombo as well: all will become chinese naval bases.
As overseas ambitions expand, China plans 400 per cent increase to marine corps numbers, sources say
PLA will increase fighting force to 100,000 personnel, allowing for deployment in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and Gwadar in southwest Pakistan, military insiders say
PUBLISHED : Monday, 13 March, 2017
Minnie Chan
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BJP's dominance could turn into hubris. But what if opposition's despair turns into more timidity?
Pratap Bhanu Mehta | Published:March 13, 2017
he puts a lot of words down without actually saying anything (other than exhibiting his fondness for the congress). typical #deepstate flunkey. i am sure there's money pouring in to him from the #fordfoundation
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This is an issue that the govt should tackle before reforms on labour laws or land acquisition laws. There's obviously a cost to the treasury in absorbing the write-down losses from bad loans, but at least this burden isn't a direct hardship/threat to the voting electorate in the same way that labour reform would initially be perceived as. Actually, we should see that the longer this problem remains unaddressed, the more Opportunity Cost it inflicts on the economy. Before we can throw the ordinary (voting) common man into the water and ask them to sink-or-swim in a reformed labour market, before we can cause (voting) farmers to fret over land acquisition reforms, we need to have a healthy fully functioning financial system firing on all cylinders, that will give the helpless farmers and labourers the best chance to keep their heads above water when they're thrown into the stream of labour and land reform. So these other market distortions like the non-performing uncollectible bad loans have to be addressed first, before we further expose the little people to the Darwinistic forces of the free market.
India will have to set up a TARP program or something like it, in order to separate the bad assets from the good. This will allow the good to move on to the business of growth, while the bad assets can be put into remediation, etc. Repairing the health of the financial system first will at least give the little guy - farmer, worker (voter) - the best chances in the marketplace when reforms do reach their level. Yeah, bankers may be voters too, but their voting numbers just don't warrant making them a priority for mitigating their hardship - so they need to face reform first, ahead of everyone else.
first class charlatans, all of them. well supplied by the ford foundation, ISI, etc.
and what did them in? demonetization: it made worthless the stash of cash that #aap had readied from its sponsors. but of course, arvind will survive. he has to. he's the #deepstate's best bet.
Tata TAMO Racemo concept: Small, mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive -- all of the proper sports-car basics.Tamo Racemo is also available as a free download in Forza Horizon 3.
Study: Volkswagen's excess diesel emissions will lead to 1,200 premature deaths in Europe. After paying more than $20 billion in fines and settlements, VW is looking to ditch diesel.
Center dithers on Western Ghats:
The Environment Ministry has dithered, for the second time in three
years, from bringing into force a law that will make about 56,825 sqkm
of the ecologically-rich Western Ghats out of bounds for industrial
development. States doing their best to thwart it too.
Stealth drones: China has begun to develop military drones that can evade radar and anti-aircraft weapons.
Reader's comment in The Hindu on burkhas on campuses: Faith and culture are two separate things. For a faith like Islam which
has been exported to other lands, often without approval or consent of
the importers, it is really illogical to also expect an autonomous
concomitant travel of the culture of the deserts along with the faith to
a land of greenery and Himalayan rivers. This is because faith is
predicated on the inner self while culture is for the outer self. The
outer self can be very different in different lands despite the same
faith ruling the inner self. An example being the diversity of cultures
in India while people endorsing the Hindu faith.
It is sheer
illogicality to argue that outer self needs to also be the same much as
the inner self across individuals, unless it's an argument based not on
faith, but rather on something that is non-religious but presumed to be
universal, viz., ''modesty of the woman''. When it's a matter of 'modesty of the woman', then please don't be dishonest and bring in a 'cultural' twist -- Ashwini Sharma.
Preet Bharara's self-proclaimed martyrdom at the hands of Trump is attracting sympathetic rhetoric from his fellow Democrats, and indifference from Republicans.
Bharara's theatrics may have gotten him momentary sympathy, but he's unlikely to be able to convert it into further political momentum to launch a career in politics. Previous US attorneys for Manhattan like Rudy Giuliani and James Comey have managed to parlay their stints as a springboard into higher political office - Giuliani was subsequently elected Mayor of New York, while James Comey went on to become Director of the FBI. Bharara lacks the political base to pursue a career in politics, nor has he cultivated the connections to get a higher appointment. Perhaps he thought he was going out in a blaze of glory, but in the end he only made himself look narcissistic and unprofessional.
Looks like the demonetisation gambit reaped strong returns - and this may pave the way for further such jolts. There's now an opportunity to turn India's most populous and sickliest state into a growth engine. Given how bad its past track record has been, it won't be too hard to improve over the current situation. The BJP also won in Uttarkhand as well.
This victory puts the govt on solid footing for the 2019 elections.
The Trump Whitehouse has abruptly asked for the resignation of 46 US federal prosecutors appointed by the Obama Whitehouse, including US federal attorney for Manhattan-South Preet Bharara:
Trump had in previous weeks expressed admiration for Bharara and wanted him to stay on. But this abrupt 180 turnabout comes as opponents of Trump in the US Congress have called for Bharara to lead an investigation into the Trump Whitehouse over ties to Russia as well as Trump's financial dealings.
The idea is to have a new form of transportation to remote areas which lack efficient road access and other infrastructure. This would permit such remote areas to be built up and better served.
Deep State is trying to destroy Trump by attacking his ties to Russia and also dragging in his old tax returns into the fray. They are pushing for Congressional investigation into these, to eventually pursue impeachment against Trump. Pro-Trump forces are preparing to counter-attack by calling for Congressional investigation into the Deep State itself.
Wikileaks has again published a trove of information exposing tools and techniques of the CIA and other affiliated intelligence agencies.
Fact: Behind Charade Of Charity, Compassion International Was Conducting Religious Conversions
Aravindan Neelakandan
- Mar 08, 2017
Compassion International, a US organisation leading and funding Christian proselytisation in India, has recently declared that it would shut down its operations in the country after facing tough restrictions related to foreign funding.
Here is an account of how the Christian organisation has been secretly pursuing its missionary work in India under the pretence of "releasing children from poverty".
The publication of pro-China articles by the India media raises two questions: First, why are Indian journalists propagating stories planted by Beijing? Second, can the Chinese be trusted even after they have signed a deal?
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This relates the invasions, challenges, massacres, and struggles of India's people and heroes against the criminals who tried to destroy India and its culture. This is presented to preserve the real history of India.
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The paper is about how Indians were using methods to memorize the large data. Prof. Narasimha has used the example of 12th Shloka in Aryabhatiya where Aryabhata has explained the whole sine table in just 4 lines shloka. Its amazing. It will be really great if Prof. Narasimha will be invited for BVS.
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even the economist that loves to mock india is forced to 'damn him with faint praise' :-)
at the time we compared samsung's habit of making big bets and investing heavily with ambani's. now samsung is in a bit of trouble after a strong run. it remains to be seen how jio will do. but full marks to mukesh ambani for audacity.
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this is the kind of thing that shows such a negative and in fact bibhatsa (disgusting) and grossly untrue picture of hinduism that it leads to aversion and then shootings of hindus.
imagine if we do a 'drain inspector' type report on american christianity: "they worship the mutilated corpse of a dead arab stuck on a stick" and "they speak in tongues" and "handle poisonous snakes in an orgy of blind faith. many are bitten and killed". others "don't believe in modern medicine, and instead pray. many of their members die from lack of medical attention. but that does not seem to help the cause of rationality".
"there are strange cults that believe bizarre things. for instance, mormons believe in polygamy". other cults, such as the branch davidians, put up armed resistance to the US government, and are then pulverized with tanks. "the jim jones cult made its members drink poisoned kool-aid in a mass suicide".
"various christian preachers indulge in strange rituals on sunday morning tv, and the gullible among their followers part with their life savings. one preacher named oral roberts said god had told him to that unless he raised $10 million, 'god would call him home'. his flock promptly sent him $10 million".
"several prominent priests have been caught with prostitutes. one particularly fierce preacher, who preached morality and so on, was caught having sex with a prostitute in a car."
all absolutely true, but selected for maximum disgust. and not a proper picture, is it?
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is there a pattern? is it that handicapped people are angry at god and the world for their handicap and thus turn extremely bitter?
or is it that all the pity that others show makes them anti-social? or is it just coincidence?
i'd have thought that a handicapped guy would have more problems to worry about than waging war on the country or inducing people to be suicide bombers.
but then, plenty of perfectly healthy guys are leading terrorists, too.
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Both the left wing MSM and right wing media, such as it is in the U.S have let us down.
The "liberal" MSM would have set the country on fire had a single hair on the head of a single Muslim, African American or Latino illegal immigrant been touched!
On the other hand, Fox News would have waged a relentless war for weeks had the Kansas shooting perpetrator been a Muslim, an African American or a Latino illegal immigrant!
Neither the victim nor the perpetrator fits the political narrative of either side.
The victim was *only* an Indian, a law abiding, successful, legal immigrant -
a *mere* Hindu to be precise, which doesn't even elicit coverage of the tragedy!
Whatever happened to "liberalism"?
Whatever happened to "compassionate conservatism"?
Finland's first private satellite Aalto-1 was going to travel to space on SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket, but due to delays in SpaceX's launch schedule, it has been shifted over to the PSLV-C38 flight.
The move shows how ISRO is proving itself to be a close competitor with leading launchers like SpaceX, offering a reliable alternative when situations require it.
Trump is now on the warpath against the Deep State which is targeting him, now calling for an investigation into former president Barack Obama for requesting wiretapping of Trump Tower during the election campaign. This follows the announcement by Trump's Attorney General Jeff Sessions in recusing himself from handling any investigation into allegations of Trump ties with Russia. Mr Sessions had recused himself following Deep State leaks against him which exposed that he too had met with the Russian ambassador, albeit as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Like the ISI, the American security apparatus seems to be acting like an independent rogue entity, systematically using its surveillance powers to selectively gather and expose information on those it deems to be a threat to its vested interests. Because Trump is strong-willed, rather than being cowed he is instead gearing up for counter-attack against Deep State forces, and preparing to take his case to the American people.
Spaceflight Industries, a US-based small satellite manufacturer, is urging the US govt to end its restriction against Indian rockets, so that small satellite makers can put their products into orbit using Indian launch vehicles:
Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon who also founded rocket company Blue Origin, has announced his intention to provide transportation/delivery service to the Moon, as a way of extending and supporting broader commercial activity in space:
India should also think along these lines, given our natural cost advantages and leadership in space technology. Wouldn't it be great if India's Antrix Corporation could likewise similarly offer delivery services to a place like the Moon? In fact, 2 paying customers have contracted with ISRO to have their individual rovers delivered to the Moon's surface - they are Team Indus and Hakuto of Japan - these 2 privately-financed rovers are scheduled to be sent to the Moon by the end of this year, putting them ahead of ISRO's own direct moon-rover landing mission, Chandrayaan-2, which will happen in late 2018.
But Bezos and Blue Origin are thinking about more than a logistics service to the Moon - their plans are to provide human beings access to space via manned space tourist flights. India's own LVM3 medium/heavy-lift rocket will become newly available this year, with its first developmental flight occurring in about 6 weeks. This heavier launcher will be much better suited for supporting manned spaceflight activities as compared to the lighter PSLV. India too should then consider going after the space tourism market, rather than being left behind. Just as the recent record-setting launch of 104 satellites gave a lot of pride to the country, likewise manned space activities would be an even bigger source of inspiration and motivation in the right direction, given the unavoidable growing importance of space in our destiny.
Recently, ISRO was forced to reject 68 applicants for being overqualified, as engineering people had even applied for lower administrative/clerical positions at ISRO - that's how strongly attractive and appealing the pull is towards India's budding space future.
Given the growing passion among Indians for space technology, motivated by ISRO's track record of successes, and given the natural importance of space for humanity's future, India needs to step up its investment in space access and infrastructure. Antrix Corporation already exists as a commercial arm for ISRO to market its existing space capabilities, and is administered by the Dept of Space. Perhaps there should be consideration towards expanding Antrix, or even creating a new parallel entity alongside it, for the purpose of promoting and offering manned spaceflight and space tourism. This could help expand India's space industry sector, allowing it to absorb more talent and capital, and speed overall development and innovation in the field. Perhaps this new parallel entity could even issue bonds to raise funds to pay for the upfront development costs of the requisite technologies for this goal.
5G: China's Huawei battles to own the next generation of wireless technology
Coal losing to renewable energy: The first victim to the rise of renewable energy is coal. Investment in
new coal power plants faces challenges of swelling capital costs, coal
availability, price risk and long execution period. “With the emergence of renewables as an alternative source of
electricity, further investments into coal-based power plants are
uncertain”.
Man-made earthquakes: Human-induced earthquakes are caused primarily by wastewater from oil and gas drilling operations being injected deep into the ground.
Is Iodized salt harmful? The petitioner has said that additive chemicals are presently used in artificially iodized salts such as E535 – sodium ferrocyanide, E536 – potassium ferrocyanide, E538 – calcium ferrocyanide and other anti-caking agents which are said to be very dangerous to health.
Chicken farming: After years of designing fatter birds, food companies are finally realizing chickens shouldn’t grow so fast
Seismic shift: Norway Looks to Eliminate Gas and Diesel Auto Sales by 2025.
