congratulations Biden: you pushed India into china's arms, and earlier Russia too

so biden/Harris must be happy that India is signaling its intent to take on china's dhritarashtra alinganam in light of relentless deep state mischief, as in Bangladesh and in the Canada khalistani imbroglio. 

from nikkei

from me, in a to be published column about a Harris presidency

 

north Koreans cannon fodder for russia. shocking! like Ukrainians for NATO, indians for brits?

I am shocked, SHOCKED! how could you use people from another country to die for your imperial ambitions, and in your wars?

of course the honorable Brits would NEVER do such a thing. 

yeah right. most of the people who died in their colonial wars were indians. 

Quick notes: Russia's real threat | Heat insurance...

• Why Russia's Biggest Threat is Actually China: The stronger China becomes, the greater the imbalance grows, and the more Beijing may prod Moscow to align its interests with China’s.




• EV dominance: Ford gets $9.2 Billion to help US catch up with China.



• Stop spam calls: WhatsApp announced a new feature, "Silence Unknown Callers", allowing users to automatically mute incoming calls if they are from an unknown number. When enabled, the app will silence all the signs of incoming calls from unknown numbers.



• The individual self is a myth: It is the process of thinking that creates the self, rather than there being a self having any independent existence separate from thought. The self is more like a verb than a noun. To take it a step further, the implication is that without thought, the self does not, in fact, exist. . . . . The 'self' here is the 'individual self' or 'separate self' or 'ego'. Not to be confused with Max Muller's 'Self', his word for Atma.



• Heat Insurance: Help for livelihood loss for outdoor workers due to extreme heat.
  Ahmedabad's Heat Action Plan: In addition to parametric insurance programs for outdoor workers, there are efforts in Ahmedabad to cover roofs with heat-reflective paint, implement early-warning systems and establish hospital heat wards in the city of more than 8.5 million people. The proactive approach has become a blueprint for other cities in developing countries who have accepted that record temperatures aren’t just freak weather: they’re the new reality as the planet continues to warm.

Quick notes: Space laser | Salami slicing...

• Space Laser Kalina: Russia is developing a new laser system that will disable foreign satellites.. Unlike anti-satellite weapons, the laser system is more of a blinding and disabling one, suppressing electro-optical systems of satellites using solid-state lasers... Gamechanger?



• 'Salami slicing' Indian territory': It was the biggest strategic blunder the Modi regime committed by agreeing to withdraw the Special Frontier Force unit from the heights in exchange for paltry returns -- the PLA's drawing back eastwards a bit from the terrain feature Finger 3 on Pangong Lake's northern shore.
  
  Indian imports in trillions of rupees from China are growing by nearly 50% annually, and the repatriation of profits in billions of dollars in hard currency by Chinese companies is keeping pace. It is among the bright spots in the current Chinese economy and something Beijing would not like to disturb. Delhi percieves Chinese exports to India as negotiating leverage.



• Chinese tech in the American heartland: FBI believes Huawei telecom equipment can capture and disrupt U.S. military communications



• Europe’s Hypocrisy: After preaching Africa about the need to move away from fossil fuels, Europe suddenly wants Africa’s natural gas.
  
  Fossil fuels are now 'green': EU parliament votes to officially move the goalposts on what constitutes green energy by simply changing the labeling of investments in gas and nuclear energy to 'green'.



• Bhagavatar: Jon B. Higgins accompanied by Trichy Sankaran.




• Sober dates: More young people are dating without drinking. Drinking gets in the way of genuine connection



• Switching off Netflix: "Netflix is losing numbers because it keeps pumping out endless shows without stopping to check if they're good".



• I am back: Cheetahs to prowl India for first time in 70 years. It is the only large mammal to become extinct in the country since independence from British rule.



• Flooding of Hampi monuments: Two unscientific bridges built downstream of the left bank canal of Tungabhadra dam are the cause of the flooding of the monuments in Hampi, with the number of inundations set to increase in the coming years as the silt further blocks the flow of water.
  
  The water that is held back by the bridge is impounded and has put Hampi monuments in danger. Hampi is now being inundated multiple times a year even when the TB dam discharges just above 1 lakh cusecs of water. In fact, the government’s move to build a hanging bridge to connect Hampi-Anegundi had prompted the Unesco to put Hampi on the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger in 1999.

The Real Negotiations - what the West won't tell you

The real negotiations, according to the sources, are happening directly between Russia and Ukraine and are much more serious than what the West has been saying. Kyiv has not shared with the West what has been going on in the negotiations since they do not want to damper the worldwide sense of emergency.

Zelensky can fortify Ukraine's independence but will have to pay a heavy price, the sources said. Assumptions are that he will be forced to give up the contested Donbas region, officially recognize the pro-Russian dissidents in Ukraine, pledge that Ukraine will not join NATO, shrink his army and declare neutrality. If he declines the proposal, the outcome may be terrible: thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of Ukrainians will die and there is a high probability that his country will completely lose its independence.

The proposal was deemed "difficult" but not "impossible," the sources said. It is worse than what Zelensky would have gotten before the invasion but "the gaps between the sides are not great."

Zelensky is torn. On the one hand, he is enjoying immense popularity and has become the perfect Che Guevara. On the other hand, he knows full well what the Argentinian revolutionary and guerrilla leader's end was.

Putin ordered his forces to halt – and the command for a ceasefire to be enacted was given – in order to wait for Zelensky's decision.

JPost: What is going on in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine?

Quick notes: Inflaming conflict | Next gen weapons...

• What happened to Russia's Air Force? Military experts have seen evidence of a lack of Russian air force coordination with ground troop formations, with multiple Russian columns of troops sent forward beyond the reach of their own air defense cover. That leaves Russian soldiers vulnerable to attack from Ukrainian forces, including those newly equipped with Turkish drones and U.S. and British anti-tank missiles.
  
  Biden supplied city-destroying weapons: Biden supplied powerful city-destroying heavy weapons to the ill-disciplined and Nazi-infected Ukrainian army. The temptation to start using them was irresistible and Kiev’s armed forces foolishly attempted to advance into and occupy Donbass.
  
  Inspired by Pakistan: NATO countries pour weapons into Ukraine, inflaming conflict. “On NATO territory, we should be the Pakistan,” he said, supplying the Ukrainians as Pakistan supplied the Taliban in Afghanistan.



• The weapons that are making a difference: Ukrainian troops have destroyed dozens of columns of Russian vehicles with anti-armor Javelin missiles and simpler Next Generation Light anti-tank weapons (NLAW). The Javelin and NLAW anti-tank weapons have become critical in a war that has seen fighting in both urban and rural areas.
  
  Bayraktar TB2: Turkish drones playing key role in Ukraine.
  
  India's national interest takes backseat to divisive politics and near-constant elections:

India MUST draft a clear policy to retain its top engineering & research talent

Give them the funding, top notch infra, gated living, grants, everything they need to succeed here

This decade has become way too crucial for (nation &) capacity building to absorb future shocks

— TheSignOfFive (@TheSignOfFive) February 28, 2022




• NATO’s dangerous expansion: In hints, in pleas, in public speeches and private approaches, Russia has begged us for years to show it the most basic respect. Our response has been to react with mistrust and abuse, and with blatant attempts to worsen the situation in Ukraine and Georgia, two incredibly dangerous flashpoints where real war might all too easily begin.
  
  As George Kennan put it, Nato expansion was an insult to Russian democrats. 'We are turning our backs on the very people who mounted the greatest bloodless revolution in history to remove that Soviet regime.' He asked why East-West relations should 'become centred on the question of who would be allied with whom – and by implication against whom – in some fanciful, totally unforeseeable and most improbable future military conflict'.




• China was right: China's distrust of western Big Tech is justified.

Big tech is proud to actively bias its digital platform. Sometimes I think China is justified in kicking all of them out, and other countries should also follow suit. pic.twitter.com/G01EMbCsWr

— Amit Thadhani (@amitsurg) March 1, 2022




China prepared for this. They kept most US-based software tech out. They have their own social media, own search engines, own payment systems. Cannot even login to Facebook from China. https://t.co/kry5m9FWU6

— Sankrant Sanu सानु संक्रान्त ਸੰਕ੍ਰਾਂਤ ਸਾਨੁ (@sankrant) March 2, 2022




• Wildlife has first right of way:

On roads around forest, wildlife has first right of way. Please drive carefully !! pic.twitter.com/LXUm8eJNrm

— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) February 27, 2022

Quick notes: Minority status, Russian link...

• Condemned by the Constitution: Minority Commission has original jurisdiction to decide on the minority status of an existing educational institution.



• One more link with Russia is cut: Indo-Russian 5th-Gen fighter is dead. Ajit Doval asks the Russia to go ahead on their own. F-35 Lightning II's prospects brighten.



• Science education in English is exclusionary: Principal Scientific Adviser K. Vijay Raghavan



•  Why Israel decided to revive Hebrew: “Reclaiming the Jewish homeland and righting the wrong of Roman imperialism that led to our exile isn't just about location, it is also about mindset. The mindset of Yiddish is the same as the mindset of willfully and passively going like sheep to the slaughter during the Holocaust and during pogroms prior. To truly stand up for ourselves and be a free people in our land, our language must truly be our own, not a bastardized mix of Hebrew and another language of our exile”.



• Suicidal obsession with cars: The social cost of congestion stands at Rs 60,000 crore annually for Delhi while the number for Bengaluru is Rs 37,000 crore.



• Electric Buses Are Hurting the Oil Industry: About 279,000 barrels a day of fuel won’t be needed this year. Every five weeks, Chinese cities add 9,500 electric buses—the equivalent of London’s entire working fleet.



• Don`t be afraid of emptiness:



• DuckDuckGo: The private search engine standing up to Google



• India cannot get what Europe can: Facebook to put 1.5 billion users out of reach of new EU privacy law

Quick notes: Amazon model, Russian moves...

• Call to split up Amazon: "Amazon has operated its retail segment at a loss for decades, subsidizing the retail portion of its business with profits from other areas, such as web services. It's anti-competitive, it's predatory, and it's not right. They're not making money in retail, and they're putting retailers out of business"..... Lesson for India!



• Russia is arming the Afghan Taliban.... Putin tightens Turkey alliance with nuclear project... Yazidis remain in fear on Iraq's Mount Sinjar after attempted genocide



• Wide-body jets from China? Can a trade war now defer the day when China makes competitive wide-body jets?




• Abhinav Seetharaman: The beauty that is Sanskrit




• Doubtful intent: A questionable new study "explains" the origins of ancient Indians



• Breakfast cereal: Why cereal is NOT your best breakfast bet



• Dumping pesticides: Ducks are the future for pesticide-free rice farms

Quick notes: Siachen survivor, Best-paid CEO...

• Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad: Survives after being buried under 25 feet of snow for six days.



• Best-paid CEO: Sundar Pichai is getting a record-setting $199 million in stock.



• Vitara Brezza: Maruti's first vehicle to be conceptualised, designed, developed and validated in India. 



• Net bad assets of govt banks a third of their net worth: 29 public sector banks wrote off a combined Rs 1.14 lakh crore of bad debt between 2013 and 2015. 



• How far can you incentivize investment? In the US, in the 1990s, many states were attracting foreign companies by exempting companies from paying education tax. In the southern states, which had given the most such incentives, the companies said that we don’t find skilled people anymore. Mind you, they weren’t looking for high skill necessarily, but even good high school-level people were hard to find because the school system had collapsed and the community colleges were out of business.
  
  So, government investment in social and physical infrastructure is good for industry in the longer run, not just in immediate demand creation.



• Shift in momentum: Russian firepower helps Syrian forces edge toward Turkey border 



• Pollution map of India:

Quick notes: Putin was right, Slaughter repeat...

• Democratic revolutions, the manufactured kind: “After the end of the Cold War, a single center of domination emerged in the world, and then those who found themselves at the top of the pyramid were tempted to think they were strong and exceptional, they knew better.  Then, adopting policies based on self-conceit and belief in one’s exceptionality and impunity this single center of domination, the United States, began to export so-called democratic revolutions".
  
  How did it all turn out? Says Putin: “An aggressive foreign interference has resulted in a brazen destruction of national institutions. … Instead of the triumph of democracy and progress, we got violence, poverty and social disaster. Nobody cares a bit about human rights, including the right to life.”



• Now imagine 700 Mandyam Iyengars slaughtered on Diwali eve by Tipu:

We are horrified by the sight of 160 dead & their grieving families; Now imagine 700 Mandyam Iyengars slaughtered on Diwali eve by Tipu;

— Marvin (@VogonPoem) November 14, 2015




• An Open Letter to Moderate Muslims:
  
  (1) A moderate Muslim states that ISIS is wrong, they aren't "true" Muslims, and Islam is a religion of peace.
  
  (2) A questioner asks: what about verses in the Quran like 4:89, saying to "seize and kill" disbelievers? Or 8:12-13, saying God sent angels to "smite the necks and fingertips" of disbelievers, foreboding a "grievous penalty" for whoever opposes Allah and his Messenger? Or 5:33, which says those who "spread corruption" (a vague phrase widely believed to include blasphemy and apostasy) should be "killed or crucified"? Or 47:4, which also prescribes beheading for disbelievers encountered in jihad?
  
  (3) The Muslim responds by defending these verses as Allah's word -- he insists that they have been quoted "out of context," have been misinterpreted, are meant as metaphor, or that they may even have been mistranslated.
  
  (4) Despite being shown multiple translations, or told that some of these passages (like similar passages in other holy books) are questionable in any context, the Muslim insists on his/her defense of the Scripture.

Quick notes: Soda rise, Sin tax...

• Guess Which Country Has The Biggest Increase In Soda Drinking -- India sees 73.4% rise in 5 years, highest among major nations. 



• Sin Tax: Mexico's Sugary Drink Tax Makes A Dent In Consumption.



• Fobbing off Facebook:  Facebook is, by and large, for the idle, attention-seeking (somewhat insecure), a bit anti-social and lazy people. It's also for those who think their every action matters - including what they put into their mouth through the day.



• Russia's Superjet: China+Russia could, some day, threaten Airbus and Boeing.



• Ions: The Body's Electrical Energy Source

Quick notes: Putin on Syria, K-Pop...

• Was Putin right about Syria? "Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria?", Putin wrote last September in NYT.



• Kicking serious butt: The Kurdish women are intimidating and fierce. They have already proven successful in helping to retake a crucial strategic site, the Mosul dam, in “the biggest blow to the radical Sunni group yet."



• The Rice Bucket Challenge: Charity that is relevant to India.. Did you know that 93% of ALS patients are Caucasian?



• You can now be arrested for sharing “objectionable” content in Karnataka



• South Korea, exporting padres and pop-culture:

Yanuckovich Wins in Ukraine

Victor Yanuckovich has won the Ukrainian elections, returning that country to a pro-Russian stance, and the Atlanticists are outraged. The Moscow Times, a Chindu-like anti-Russian newspaper, openly wails that this is all the fault of allowing the poor to vote. Taste the bile.

Russia's 5th-Gen Fighter takes to the skies

This is the Russian answer to the American F-22 Raptor. India is the only country Russia is partnering with in this program. We would see 250 of these magnificent birds in IAF colors over the next 30-40 years.

GM Reversal on Opel: Pyrrhic Victory?

Thwarting the GM sale of Opel to a German-Russian consortium was a key goal of the Atlanticist lobby, to block Russo-German industrial consolidation. They have now won a victory in accomplishing this, through the use of Whitehouse intervention in appointing boardmembers to GM. The Germans are of course quite angry, while the Russians aren't too pleased either.

It remains to be seen how long their celebration will last though, as the hard realities of the business world catch up to them. Like the Muslims, the Atlanticists aren't very savvy at business.

GM Suddenly Reneges on Opel Deal

GM suddenly backs out of its deal with the German govt on its planned sale of Opel to a German-Russian consortium of Magna and Russia's Sberbank. It seems very strange that the new boardmembers appointed by the US govt have quickly moved to scuttle such a long-awaited deal. It looks like All The President's Men were given their marching orders from above.

To Act Or Not to Act?

The Obama Whitehouse is now locked in a deep tug-of-war over whether or not it should escalate its troop deployment in Afghanistan, and by how much.




Meanwhile, the Israelis are looking to pressure Russia to act on Iran, by threatening to support Poland and Czech Republic against it in retaliation.

Ruthenia

Here's something that will give the Brzezinski types some heartburn. Russia is backing independence for Ruthenia. Let's see how much longer Atlanticists continue to carp over Kashmir, once they experience a similar situation in their own midst. If they keep trying to bring Kashmir to the UN, then we can always mention the question of Ruthenia's right to self-determination, which I'm sure they won't like to discuss at all.

I wonder what will happen when Ruthenians demand a plebiscite? I think they could benefit from a little Hurriyat-style organization, don't you? As I recall, it was Robin Raphel who helped bring about the Hurriyat to create a thorn in our side in Kashmir. I think we should find a way to return the favor.

Germans Thwart Atlanticist Agenda

With its mature behavior, Germany is showing how it has learned lessons from the long and bloody history of European rivalries, by refraining from yet another round of ganging up on Russia. Time and time again, the Germans have participated in such feuds in the past, only to find themselves left out on a limb, at daggers drawn with everyone else. They therefore may be able to appreciate more than most, a need to damp down the latest tit-for-tat cycle of confrontation being led by the Atlanticist hawks trying to demonize Russia.

We Indians should support such sober attitudes by the Germans, because it helps to reduce the influence of the Atlanticists and their irredentism. If the Atlanticist hawks can be politically marginalized on both sides of the Atlantic, then their pro-jihadist games will also be curbed. We don't need them to destabilize our subcontinent any further, and they've already had a long run in messing up Europe.

Conditions Attached by US Congress Sink 123 Deal

It may now be no longer possible for India to sign the 123 Deal, because of the extra conditions attached by the US Congress. These conditions are explicit language that requires the US not just to cut off supplies, but also to disrupt the nuclear waiver, which was not previously the case before. India can still go forward with its plans to negotiate reactor deals with France and Russia, which aren't bound by any similar conditions.