After Pak, It's Bangladesh, Myanmar: China plans new corridor that runs roughly 1,700 km from Kunming to Myanmar's coast. This is China building Indian Ocean access on India's eastern flank, mirroring what CPEC and Gwadar do on the western flank via Pakistan. Beijing intends to extend the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor to Bangladesh as part of its larger Maritime Belt and Road Initiative to boost itsIndian Ocean presence.
China's Teesta Move: Why India should be very, very alarmed about China's Teesta move in Bangladesh. The firm involved in the project is PowerChina is also part of the strategic works with the People's Liberation Army. Pakistan, in the meanwhile, reportedly proposed a 'Joint Military Command' that comes alongside offers of 16-48 JF-17 Block III fighters - together with a simulator already delivered two months ago. That's the first piece of Pakistani military equipment to enter the country since 1971
Hundreds vs Zero: If war were to break out between India and China tomorrow, one side could send hundreds of stealth fighter jets into battle, while the other may not be able to send even one. China may already have around 500 operational J-20 Mighty Dragon stealth fighters, its most advanced jet. Delhi's operational stealth fighter inventory today stands at exactly zero.
Kaveri To J-20: How China Overtook India In A 40-Year-Old Race To Build Fighter Jets. China's early efforts were disastrous. Many countries would have cancelled the programme. But China doubled down.
Between 2010 and 2020, Beijing invested approximately USD 42 billion under its "Two Engines" initiative, pouring unprecedented resources into superalloy metallurgy, manufacturing technologies, testing infrastructure, and specialised research institutes. Failures were treated not as embarrassments but as engineering data.
Security nightmare: Anthropic’s powerful Mythos AI reportedly breached ‘almost all’ NSA classified systems within a few hours during red-team test — report sheds more light on the U.S. government's sudden ban on the flagship models
China Has Matched Anthropic in Cybersecurity, Resetting AI Race: Chinese cybersecurity company 360 Security Technology released a new bug-finding tool called Tulongfeng. The company said it was comparable to Mythos in finding bugs. Those capabilities have alarmed many national-security officials and CEOs.
Top American AI execs sound alarm on Chinese models: Silicon Valley and Washington are debating a multibillion-dollar question: Should American companies be able to use Chinese artificial-intelligence models?
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei stated in a Bloomberg interview that the India AI Summit was "extremely disorganised".
About the chaos on stage: "There was Narendra Modi up there suddenly telling everyone to hold hands..." (collapses with laughter). pic.twitter.com/24lnmtCw17
Putin in trouble?Over 40% of refining capacity hit: Expert warns Russia could ‘disintegrate’ over fuel shortage. . . China's Great Betrayal? Has Russia's biggest energy gamble just collapsed?
Low cost killing machines: “The average life expectancy of a Russian recruit right now arriving on the battlefield in Ukraine is estimated to be between 20 and 30 minutes”
G2 resets India’s calculus: The emerging US-China cooperation means the marginalisation of New Delhi and other powers in Asia and Europe. First proposed by Brzezinski and implemented by Obama in 2009, G2 suggests that the US and China rule the rest of the world. The Obama-Hu Jintao joint statement of 2009 even mentioned both countries looking after South Asian security issues.
China will leverage G2 to scale up its “all-weather” friendship with Pakistan. India needs to brace for further aggression.
The Chinese use not just their navy, air force, or coast guard but even massive fishing fleets to threaten neighbours. These "maritime militia" obstruct shipping routes, forcing international shipping as well to zigzag around them.
Honeymoon: From mutual suspicion to political embrace: How the U.S. learned to stop worrying and love Pakistan.
Was Rafale a bad choice?Why IAF needs Russian Su-57 stealth fighter. Pakistan is pursuing Chinese J-35 stealth fighters while China already operates hundreds of J-20 stealth aircraft.
High cost of import dependence: Tighten belts says PM, then $43 Bn thrown at Rafale, another $10 Billion for a diesel submarine
India will pay $68 billion to US to become a nuclear dependency: Trump has moved on from India and Modi. In the region, he has found Asim Munir and the Pakistani state he runs far more congenial to augment his personal/family holdings and US interests. Because however much Modi wishes to cuddle up to Trump and accommodate the US, there is a limit beyond which he cannot. Munir faces no such systemic constraint.
As per the 2008 civilian nuclear cooperation act, the fuel for the imported American reactors will have to be periodically imported from the US, and which supply can be stopped/disrupted at will, at any time for any reason, that Washington can think up. If these reactors are owned by US power companies, however, the US govt will be more considerate in imposing sanctions, say. And with a regular supply of US fuel assured, these firms can be permitted profitably to run a chain of nuclear power plants in India in a closed loop.
India’s fertility rate falls below replacement level: India’s Total Fertility Rate has fallen below the replacement level for the first time, revealing a widening demographic divide between ageing southern states and younger northern states.
Rice bags for atrocity drama: Andhra Pradesh pastor booked for staging attack on self to trigger communal unrest
Big Subsidies for Google, Limited Water for Locals: The Dilemma of AI in India. When Google arrived last year in this sleepy coastal Indian city, the govt rolled out the welcome mat, offering billions of dollars’ worth of incentives for the U.S. company to build data centers for AI.
Lahore Is Changing Names Of Its Streets: Now, the official signboards of Islampura read Krishan Nagar, Babri Masjid Chowk has reverted to Jain Mandir Chowk, and Rehman Gali is back to being called Ram Gali.
R&D: Chinese university builds 3D chip design tool tailored to Huawei's ‘LogicFolding’ architecture — 3D design delivers increased performance and better thermal management
Impressive specs: Russian-Chinese Irtysh 32-core CPU runs The Witcher 3 at 30+ FPS
India’s energy storage crisis: The Advanced Chemistry Cell PLI scheme, launched in 2021 with an outlay of Rs 18,100 crore, targeted 50 GWh of domestic cell manufacturing by 2025. As of December, 40 GWh had been awarded across four firms, of which only 1 GWh had been commissioned, and no incentive has yet been disbursed.
Policy still treats storage as a single category. It is not. An electric vehicle battery is built around energy density — weight matters, lithium wins. A grid battery or data-centre backup has no such constraint. It needs cycle life of over 10 to 15 years, thermal safety in occupied environments.
The chemistries worth backing are the ones where India already has the upstream. Zinc is the cleanest case. India is among the world’s top five zinc producers, with an integrated mining and smelting base in Rajasthan operating at global scale. The upstream does not need to be invented; what does not yet exist is the bridge from refined zinc to battery-grade material to an Indian-manufactured cell, and that bridge is a policy choice, not a technology gap.
Sodium offers a parallel opportunity, side-stepping cobalt, nickel, and graphite — the three minerals Beijing holds most tightly. Indian institutions are already moving.
The choice is between accepting whatever the current supply chain delivers at whatever price Beijing decides, and deliberately building a storage industry where the cell is Indian, the electrolyte is Indian and the input minerals are Indian.
Trump’s Pursuit of a Partnership With China Raises Concerns in India: Rubio has a gargantuan task during his visit to Delhi: defuse tensions over Trump’s anti-India aggression and overtures to China. Trump found time to lavish praise on Xi Jinping calling him “a great leader” and “a friend.” The two men, Mr. Trump said, would “have a fantastic future together.”
Trump's comment that he would revisit arms sales to Taiwan has stirred anxiety across Asia and prompted questions about U.S. security commitments. Indian leaders are among those with concerns.
Trump-Xi Bonhomie: Should India Be Uneasy?: A former Indian foreign secretary, a leading China hawk until recently, has advised the Modi govt that a reassessment of Quad is overdue. But it is easier said than done, given the mindset of the Indian elite.
Xi Is Truly Done Falling For The Great American Bluff: China kept the upper hand during Trump's visit by, amongst other things, Xi Jinping retaining his poise and distance while Trump tried to ingratiate himself with flattery and body language.
At the opening of the formal delegation-level talks, the lining up of the top-most American corporate leaders behind Trump suggested a homage being paid to Xi's China, reminiscent of the kowtowing to the Chinese emperor in the past. Trump was messaging a willingness to explore possibilities of renewed economic interdependence with China.
Addressing Trump at the formal talks, Xi was sententious and demanding. He called on the US to be "partners, not rivals" with China. . . . amusing to see Trump kissing Xi's ass.
India’s compliance, China’s defiance: As New Delhi petitions Washington to renew the sanctions waiver expiring today so it can keep importing Russian oil, Trump says he is considering lifting U.S. sanctions on Chinese refiners buying Iranian crude. China defies American sanctions…
China Boosts Indian Ocean Ambitions: China despatches thousands of fishing boats to the region for illegal fishing, thus depleting the fish stock of the region.
During Operation Sindoor, hundreds of such boats appeared, possibly to harass the Indian Navy.
Such 'grey zone' activities are conducted to indicate China's intention to enter the region, gather intelligence, create civil-military confusion, exploit lack of preparedness by adversaries or treated as a stop-gap arrangement before full-fledged naval deployments.
Even though China had commissioned the Djibouti naval base in 2017, initially as a logistical support facility at the chokepoint of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, it is now being expanded to include submarine docking facilities.
China also initiated a number of dual-use ports or maritime facilities -- estimated to be more than a hundred across 46 countries in the region. These are considered to be a counter to the US-led maritime world order as well as to marginalise India in the region.
What Chinese Distant Water Fishing Vessels are doing inside the Exclusive Economic Zones of Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Panama and other South American nations, is surely not industrial fishing. This is a well organised plunder of marine resources, funded and facilitated by… pic.twitter.com/TZR5IRUzzc
Supreme Court of India: 'If Parents Are IAS Officers, Why Reservation For Their Children?'
Beyond just assembling phones: Lava's ₹1,100 Cr bet is to build what's inside. Aims to shift from mere assembly to producing key components domestically. . . a lot can be done even before domestic fabs go live.
Three Charts:
India Oil Consumption: 2013 to 2024:5.621M bbl/d for 2024
USD to Indian Rupee - 2013 to 2026:
Brent Crude Price - 2010 to 2026:
Uber-ize gold: For national necessity & personal prosperity. How a National Gold Library could transform household jewellery into productive capital, strengthen the rupee, and cut imports.
For Korean companies, India is a lucrative cash cow: LG India reported revenue of Rs 24,366 crore and a net profit of Rs 2,203 crore last year. Royalty payments to its Korean parent reached Rs 454.61 crore. But the real headline came with its 2025 IPO: In one stroke, LG India’s market capitalisation surpassed that of its global headquarters’. And it was purely due to generous policy environment.
Hyundai Motor India and its sibling Kia tell a similar tale of extraction masked as investment. Royalty payments stand at 3.5% of sales revenue, translating into thousands of crores annually repatriated to Seoul. Such an anomaly has left Tata Motors and Mahindra to fight an uphill battle against what many term subsidized Korean pricing power.
Samsung India completes the triumvirate of value extractors. Its revenue for the first time crossed Rs 1.11 lakh crore during 2025, making it the only consumer-electronics firm in India to cross the trillion-rupee mark. During 2024, royalty remittances to the Korean parent hit Rs 3,322 crore, roughly 40% of that year’s net profit. Retained earnings have ballooned and been diverted to Vietnam.
Profits earned from Indian consumers through high royalties, IPO cash-outs and dividend flows are effectively subsidizing Vietnamese factories that then export finished goods back into India. Why? Should Korean conglomerates plough cash extracted from India into manufacturing facilities in a smaller neighbor that then undercuts Indian industry? The optics is toxic: India as a lucrative cash cow, Vietnam as the preferred factory floor.
Decades of liberalization were sold on the promise that FDI would catalyze domestic industry, transfer technology and create balanced growth. Instead, the policy has tilted towards foreign giants who repatriate profits, royalties, special dividends and IPO proceeds liberally.
On the other hand, Indian firms struggle with higher compliance costs, delayed approvals, and a royalty burden that starves local innovation.
Part of what pushed this into the open is what Korean firms did here in the last year.
Hyundai and LG listed their Indian arms and between them sent about $4.7 billion back to Seoul through IPOs and special dividends. Samsung's royalty payments to its parent tripled. All within… pic.twitter.com/e2Nbsuxew6
Draining the economy: The proof is in the math: In just the last 12 months, Hyundai and LG repatriated $4.7 billion in royalties and profits. That is nearly ₹40,000 crore leaving our economy.
Localization of parts is not the same as localization of value. You can source 85% of a car’s weight (steel, rubber, glass) in India, but if the Intellectual Property (IP), engine architecture, and software ownership sit in Seoul, the wealth generated by Indian labor and…
Funding the Adversary: India’s trade deficit with China has nearly tripled since Modi took office. Bankrolling China's rise which in turn lays claim to vast Indian territories including an entire state.
Trump kissing Xi Jinping's ass: A quiet U.S. favor for Xi Jinping.. A U.S. quota increase at the IMF would rescue China’s bad loans.
Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing in May for a summit with Xi, and he will come bearing at least one surprising gift: A budget request to Congress to hand more money to Mr. Xi’s friends at the IMF.
Chinese satellites over Mideast battlefield put US on edge: Chinese AI company MizarVision claimed on social media to have tracked the movements of American aircraft carriers, F-22 stealth fighters and B-52 bombers by using AI to analyze satellite data.
Microwave weapon: 20-gigawatt Chinese microwave weapon touted as ‘Starlink’s worst nightmare’ by country's media — portable 5-ton device can deliver full-minute destructive bursts
Lesson for India, the GREAT consumer of imported tech: Iran claims US exploited networking equipment backdoors during strikes — says devices from Cisco and others failed despite blackout in attack that 'indicates deep sabotage'
Privacy risk: Google Chrome lacks protection against one of the most basic and common ways to track users online
It is all getting embarrassing. In December a cricket match between India and South Africa was called off because smog made it impossible to see the ball. In January one the world’s top badminton players pulled out of the India Open in Delhi citing the bad air (and getting a $5,000 fine). Those who did play sent an official complaint to International Olympic Committee.
The Price of Intelligence is CollapsingOne developer with Claude Code can now do what took a team a month. The cost of Claude Pro or ChatGPT is $20 dollars a month, while a Max subscription is $200 dollars. The median US knowledge worker costs ~350-500 dollars a day fully loaded. An agent that handles even a fraction of their workflow a day at ~6-7 dollars is a 10-30x RoI not including improvement in intelligence.
The cost collapse is destroying the seat-based software model. There has been no bigger share shift than Microsoft’s seat-based Office 365. Most of the cash today still comes from Office. The core way of how a human interacts with a computer is about to change, and Microsoft sits at the center of the old paradigm.
Why does a company need to standardize Salesforce if an agent is just going to query data on leads on your behalf? Salesforce is a form and workflow wrapper, and the form and workflow can likely be scaffolded by AI into a database and then queried as needed.
AI fears wipe out $50 billion from Indian IT stocks. . . Software ate the world. AI is eating software.
Dr Vishal Sikka: At a time when there was no ChatGPT, Gemini, or self-driving cars, Vishal Sikka gave a presentation on AI before NITI Aayog at the PM’s request, where officials of 20 Union Ministries were gathered. . . India's risk-averse capitalism has no place people like him
"India Has a Great Opportunity in AI, Period" – Dr. Vishal Sikka (Ex-Infosys)
1. TCS has partnered with him to fight its existential crisis
2. PM & officials have met him multiple times
3. Oracle, GSK, BMW, Stanford have him on their Boards for AI
Existential threat: The EU should consider either an unprecedented 30% across-the-board tariff on Chinese goods or a 30% depreciation of the euro against the renminbi to counter a flood of cheap imports, according to a French govt strategy report.
China is depleting the world's oceans of fish. Estimates are between 200,000 - 800,000 fishing vessels, going as far as Argentina.
They account for ~half of the world's fishing catch and do not respect stewardship protocols to preserve ecosystems. This is not industrial… pic.twitter.com/BfbJoGTveM
DRDO's GaN technology breakthrough: Denied access to compound chip technology by foreign powers, Indian scientists, operating in tandem from Delhi and Hyderabad, crack the code to make Gallium Nitride (GaN) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs).
+ How GaN is revolutionising key industries.
India is no longer dependent on foreign powers for these high-value, cutting-edge chips. Instead, it broke into a select group of six nations—the US, France, Russia, Germany, South Korea and China. . . . . Defense as well as commercial applications!
Major concession on Machinery/Electrical equipment. India already runs a $16 billion deficit with EU in it. 0% tariff means domestic mfg in this sector will likely never take off. One hopes that exports from labour intensive sectors go up enough to make up for it. https://t.co/Xl1ZozajOH
Foolish NRIs: The overconfidence of the Indian settler in the pre-MAGA days led to excesses. Such as the 90-foot-tall statue of Lord Hanuman, dubbed by some over-clever NRIs who installed it, as the “Statue of Union” in Sugar Land, Texas.
Besides being considered an eyesore by the enraged local Texans, it is a goad for the Christian Nationalists of the American south and southwest that make up the MAGA flock. So far they have restricted themselves to mocking the Monkey God, reviling Hindus as savages, Hinduism as satanic, and Hindu religious symbols as an affront to Christianity. Soon they may take a hammer to the statue, and run the Indians out of town.
The Nvidia deal says something important about the relationship between business and government under Trump. His regular intrusions into the boardroom—taking equity stakes, revenue slices or a “golden share”; prodding companies to lower prices or sell drugs through a federal website—are a sort of state capitalism, in which the state doesn’t necessarily own companies, but uses its leverage to steer their behavior.
Trump's biggest gift to CCP yet: Trump’s decision to let China have Nvidia chips is dangerous. . . China can accelerate science and engineering with the H200 better than any of the newer hardware from Nvidia.
Denaturalisation: Some naturalised Americans likely to lose citizenship
"De-Indianise" Call: "1 H-1B Worker Equals 10 Illegal Aliens". . . Brown MAGAs go into hiding.
Hit hard by Trump: Tata, Infosys and Cognizant to bear brunt of Trump’s $100,000 H-1B fee
Worst fears coming true: China may have reverse engineered EUV lithography tool in covert lab, report claims — employees given fake IDs to avoid secret project being detected, prototypes expected in 2028
India's Nuclear Power Push: Big goals, slow build. Nuclear energy share in total installed capacity remains limited, fluctuating between 1.9 per cent and 2.9 per cent from FY10 to FY24.
'Thar Desert Will Reach Delhi Soon': Around 90 percent of the Aravalli hills is in the height of 30 to 80 metres. Now they are in danger of perishing. . . BikAss Gando Thayo Che
The US Marine Corps is testing a Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) as a long range suicide drone. The US reverse engineered the Iranian Shahed-136 drones!
Too bad for Iran. Not only lost against Israel, got the nuclear sites hit, but also lost drone tech. #TWZpic.twitter.com/LntStsg8vG
India needs its own 'Singapore' (outside India): As global scrutiny grows, Chinese firms look to call Singapore home. "The Singapore brand is trusted worldwide. Singapore is valued for its international flavour, neutrality, and is culturally easy for Chinese firms and their expats to adapt to,"
Cover up: The UK wants Apple and Google to install “Nudity-Blocking Software” on iPhones and Android phones
Aravallis: With one legal stroke, over 90% of the Aravalli range was erased on paper, handing it over to mining mafias, real-estate sharks & profiteers.
#SaveTheAravallis | Over 1.8 billion years old, the Aravalli Hills form a natural barrier protecting North India from desertification and severe air pollution. A recent Supreme Court definition has altered how the range is identified, leaving nearly 90 per cent of the hills… pic.twitter.com/DYmPteIXCn
The most effective way to turn back China’s export onslaught would be for the U.S. to coordinate with like-minded partners. Trump has to date shown no interest in such a united front.
Canada last year copied the U.S.’s 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs. Then Trump hit Canada with auto tariffs, and China retaliated against Canadian agriculture. Caught in a two-front trade war, Canada is reviewing its tariffs on China. . . . Trump is a blessing for CCP. . . Why China’s trade surplus just keeps growing.
Automobile superpower: China beats Toyota at its own hybrid car game with 48% gas engine efficiency record
AI superpower: U.S. Investors are going big on China AI despite concerns in Congress
Silicon Valley has spent mountains of money in pursuit of AI’s holy grail: AGI. Enthusiasts say it will give the U.S. insurmountable military advantages, help cure cancer and solve climate change, and eliminate the need for people to perform routine work such as accounting and customer service.
In China, by contrast, leader Xi Jinping has recently had little to say about AGI. Instead, he is pushing the country’s tech industry to be “strongly oriented toward applications”—building practical, low-cost tools that boost China’s efficiency and can be marketed easily.
China leads research in 90% of crucial technologies — a dramatic shift this century
Deindustrializing Germany: Germany’s industrial might was built on equilibrium cheap Russian energy, Chinese technology partnerships, and an export-driven alliance with global markets. That balance has been obliterated.
Deindustrializing Germany: The Silent Coup of Brussels, Washington & the War Economy
Germany’s collapse is no longer a distant warning it is unfolding in real time on the factory floors of Wolfsburg. Volkswagen, the crown jewel of Europe’s manufacturing prowess, is preparing to…
Swami Vivekananda on China: ‘I see before me the body of an elephant. There is a foal within. But it is a lion-cub that comes out of it. It will grow in future, and China shall become great and powerful.’
KK Mohammed Slams BJP Govt: 'Dark Age for ASI'. "We had done conservation work of around 90 temples there during the Congress period.
But during the 11 years of BJP rule, only 10 temples were restored".
Pakistan’s military "success" over India in its four-day clash showcased Chinese weaponry. While characterization of this conflict as
a “proxy war” may overstate China’s role as an instigator, Beijing
opportunistically leveraged the conflict to test and advertise the
sophistication of its weapons, useful in the contexts of its ongoing
border tensions with India and its expanding defense industry goals.
As Pakistan’s largest defense supplier, China provided approximately 82 percent of the country’s arms imports from 2019 to 2023.204
This clash was the first time China’s modern weapons systems,
including the HQ-9 air defense system, PL-15 air-to-air missiles,
and J-10 fighter aircraft were used in active combat, serving as a
real-world field experiment.205 China reportedly offered to sell 40
J-35 fifth-generation fighter jets, KJ-500 aircraft, and ballistic missile defense systems to Pakistan in June 2025.206 That same month,
Pakistan announced a 20 percent increase in its 2025–2026 defense
budget, raising planned expenditures to $9 billion despite an overall
budget decrease.
In the weeks after the conflict, Chinese embassies hailed the successes of its systems in the India-Pakistan clash, seeking to bolster
weapons sales. Pakistan’s use of Chinese weapons to down French
Rafale fighter jets used by India also became a particular selling
point for Chinese Embassy defense sales efforts despite the fact that
only three jets flown by India’s military were reportedly downed and
all may not have been Rafales.
According to French intelligence,
China initiated a disinformation campaign to hinder sales of French
Rafales in favor of its own J-35s, and it used fake social media accounts to propagate AI and video game images of supposed “debris”
from the planes China’s weaponry destroyed. Chinese Embassy
officials convinced Indonesia to halt a purchase of Rafale jets already in process, furthering China’s inroads into other regional actors’ military procurements.
China Opportunistically Used Pakistan’s Military Crisis to Test and Promote Its Own Defense Capabilities
The Indian Army claimed China helped Pakistan with “live inputs” on Indian military
positions throughout the crisis and effectively used the conflict as
a testing ground for its own military capabilities.
The Jeruselam post: How Pakistan shot down India's cutting-edge fighter using Chinese gear
Prof Bharat Karnad: In retrospect, Modi made the gravest strategic error by calling the White House after the Indian missiles had been fired at the terrorist facilities in Muridke and Bahawalpur on May 7 to inform the US President that the Indian strikes were limited retaliation for the Pahalgam massacre.
Modi was telling him nothing he did not already know. But the act of Modi telling him is what marked India out in the pecking order as a subsidiary power trying to preempt Trump from lashing out. It did not work.
Not sure why Modi feels it imperative to please the US President, when Trump insults and humiliates in return. Because going strictly by his transactionalist tilt, it is Trump’s America that will be hard put strategically to replace India in the Indo-Pacific, to economically find a market as vast as India’s to sell to.
Dr Ajai Sahni: Trump has over the years made several statements which suggest that he is interested in a (mediatory) role in the Kashmir conflict. I think this is a very definitive disadvantage or loss as far as India is concerned.
"Whatever You Need": Russia Offers "5th Generation Fighter" Tech To India.
The Chinese leader views the president’s eagerness for a trade deal as an opportunity to press for his top goal.
Having set the stage for a year of high-level engagement with the Trump administration, Xi Jinping is now chasing his ultimate prize, according to people familiar with the matter: a change in U.S. policy that Beijing hopes could isolate Taiwan.
"So this is the “fart of the deal” everyone is talking about?"
Since Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, China has been, by a considerable margin, the largest international purchaser of its oil and gas. Nonetheless, despite threating rhetoric, Trump has imposed no additional tariffs or secondary sanctions on China.
In contrast — India, a clear strategic priority for Washington to constrain Beijing’s hegemonic ambitions — has been hit with 25 percent U.S. tariffs on top of 25 percent “economic” tariffs.
We have faced a 100x increase in Arattai traffic in 3 days (new sign-ups went vertical from 3K/day to 350K/day). We are adding infrastructure on an emergency basis for another potential 100x peak surge. That is how exponentials work.
Conjoined enemies: "So far we used to say that look China would assist Pakistan during operations, during a conflict, etc. But I think this time it came out loud and clear that it is more like they are conjoined". Lessons From Op Sindoor.
Beware Of China Threat In North East: China is extremely proactive in politics in Shan state (and indeed in many other parts of Myanmar). By ensuring Myanmar remains dependent on Chinese economic and military assistance, Beijing indirectly exerts pressure on India's North Eastern states
Will BRICS boom under Trump's watch?"The dollar would stay "dominant for years, but parallel settlement systems in yuan, rupee and ruble will grow. This won't dethrone the dollar but will steadily chip away at its monopoly."
There might be a campaign against H1B visas and even a gradual expulsion of persons stuck in a limbo with pending green cards and pending citizenship.
The ground beneath our feet is shifting. And for the time being, the best strategy might be to stop crowing about us becoming a large economy (we are nowhere there in per capita terms anyway) or becoming a big power. We can lie low till our time comes.
AI is eating entry-level coding and customer service roles, according to a new Stanford study — junior job listings drop 13% in three years in fields vulnerable to AI
Trump faces MAGA backlash: Trump has opened the doors of American universities to six lakh Chinese students, even as his administration continues its crackdown on International students. "We're going to allow their students to come in. It's very important, 600,000 students. It's very important. But we're going to get along with China".
Imperialist: Meta's Zuckerberg pressed Trump on digital taxes before tariff threat. . . . Trump vows export curbs, tariffs in digital tax reprisal
Era of US industrial policy: Investors worry Trump's Intel deal kicks off era of US industrial policy.. Intel did not need the money. SoftBank poured $2 billion into the chipmaker three days before the Trump announcement.
Delhi pollution cutting life expectancy by 8 years: Delhi remains the most polluted city in the world, with average fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels exceeding the WHO guideline by more than 20 times.
NITI Aayog loaded with Sinophiles: India's top think tank recommends easing investment rules for Chinese firms... My enemy is my savior
Trump, the Sinophile: As Trump courts a more assertive Beijing, China hawks are losing out in a a dramatic reversal.
In recent years, one of China's biggest requests of US officials has been that the US relax its strict controls on advanced AI chips, measures that were put in place to slow Beijing's technological and military gains. Last week, the Trump administration did just that, as it allowed Nvidia to sell its H20 chip to China... China won by calling Trump’s ‘bluff’
Microsoft, the Sinophile: Microsoft using engineers in China to help maintain cloud computing systems for U.S. Department of Defense.
I want to add that Singapore, one of the most advanced economies in the world and one of the most livable cities, relies extensively on public transport. Singapore also limits the number of private cars through the mechanism of open market trading of Certificate of Entitlement… https://t.co/ob7WjOiybJ
