Quick notes: G2 | Nuclear dependency...

• 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.
  
  Why Hegseth's 'Shangri-La' Speech Should Worry India: For peace, you need strength. But that is certainly not what the US is projecting right now.
  
  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.



• Chinese Missile Likely Downed US F-15 Fighter Jet In Iran: US officials said the equipment could have improved Iran’s ability to track advanced fighter jets like the US F-15E Strike Eagle.

  Elon Musk Drops Truth Bomb: China’s Army of Brilliant, Relentless Talent Is Far More Powerful Than Most Outsiders Realize
  
  Elon Musk, speaking candidly in a recent interview, cut through the noise:
  
  “I want to emphasize the sheer number of smart, talented people in China who work… pic.twitter.com/YHkUStbn7J

  — Alvin Foo (@alvinfoo) May 25, 2026




• 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.



• Indians in MAGA land: How Trump's Visa Crackdown Triggered a Texas Housing Bust




• 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.



• America Can't Touch It: There Is A 'Shadow' Route Keeping Iran Alive.



• Tabla Cover: Shreya Bhattacharjee




• Beijing enforces policy to secure top-tier talent: Chinese AI experts in private firms now required to secure approval before international travel.



• 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



• China's New Export Rules: Will Curbs Short Circuit India's $120 Billion Electronics Dream?



• 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 abandoning Taiwan?

Xi Is Chasing a Huge Concession From Trump: Opposing Taiwan Independence

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?"



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Trump may be abandoning Taiwan to China’s tender mercies:

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.



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Swadeshi is fashionable again:

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.

As we add a lot more infrastructure, we are…

— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) September 28, 2025

'Cutting India down to size'

Is there something deeper in the US' muted response to Munir's remarks that signals strategic indifference to stability in South Asia?

I think they are actually encouraging the Pakistanis to do this because they think that the Indians have got too big for their boots.

The current American establishment thinks that we need to cut the Indians down to size, and they will pull out all stops to do that.

People think this is just about some trade deal, but why should India take GM seeds from the Americans? Why should we go into bondage with the Americans on something as basic as seeds?

Can one infer that the US is using Munir's threats against India to get even with the Modi government for not succumbing to tariff threats?
I won't say the US president is firing from Munir's shoulders, but he doesn't object if somebody is doing this. What he is probably trying to do is use Pakistan as a tool against India -- partly to negotiate, partly to cut India to size.

That's the old American game, or at least that's what has been the feeling in India -- that it's the Americans who ensure that things never settle down in this region. I would add the Brits to that, but they don't exercise the same power as they did. They just have a great ability to sabotage things and disturb things. - Sushant Sareen, Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation

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'Trump Tilting Towards Pakistan' - Max Abrahms: "What we had not heard before is this sort of nuclear threat from American soil. And if this was the only incident, I would find it rather unremarkable. But what we are currently witnessing is a trend where it appears that this second Trump administration is tilting towards Pakistan and away from India. We've actually seen it throughout this whole summer."

"I will say, however, that even if some of the tariffs are lifted, I still think that the US-India relationship may not fully recover for quite some time under this administration".

"Because the message to India is that the United States isn't reliable, and that is happening at the same time that the US is inviting the army chief of Pakistan for high-level meetings, including with the President in the United States".

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Trump's tariffs spark calls to boycott American goods

From McDonald's and Coca-Cola to Amazon and Apple, U.S.-based multinationals are facing calls for a boycott in India to protest against U.S. tariffs.

India, the world's most populous nation, is a key market for American brands that have rapidly expanded to target a growing base of affluent consumers, many of whom remain infatuated with international labels.

India, for example, is the biggest market by users for Meta's WhatsApp and Domino's has more restaurants than any other brand in the country. Beverages like Pepsi and Coca-Cola often dominate store shelves, and people still queue up when a new Apple store opens or a Starbucks cafe doles out discounts.

Rahm Shastry, CEO of India's DriveU, which provides a car driver on call service, wrote on LinkedIn: "India should have its own home-grown Twitter/Google/YouTube/WhatsApp/FB — like China has."

I am discussing USA & China collaborating to break up India and share different pieces. They will also divide the Muslim parts of South Asia to keep them from uniting into a massive Islamic power. China will want the northern parts and maybe some Marxist belts, along with access…

— Rajiv Malhotra (@RajivMessage) August 13, 2025

Pakistan, US seal trade deal

"Massive" Oil Partnership With Pak: The US struck a trade deal with Pakistan, hours after announcing 25% tariffs on imports from India.

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Fourth-largest oil and gas reserves in the world: This could be a potential game-changer in the region’s energy flows... Fictitious reserves?

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"India can take its dead economy down for all I care"

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China spared, India sanctioned: 6 Indian Companies Sanctioned By US Over Iran Petroleum Purchases

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Why Trump doesn't want Google, Microsoft to hire Indians: He wants a new "spirit of patriotism and national loyalty".

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From the archives: 'Abki Baar, Trump Sarkar': PM Modi gives tacit support for Trump's re-election in 2020

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obama the avenging angel. who failed.

I have long wondered if Obama was some sort of a kalki-figure destined to destroy america. sort of an avenging angel, of black and rop background. this essay, long and tortured as it is, says the same. and he failed, too. 

kudos to musk/twitter, and netanyahu. and trump, too.

and the Jews have finally figured out the destructive Dem anti-Jew nihilism.

https://www.tabletmag.com/feature/rapid-onset-political-enlightenment

trump says what any decent leader should say supporting oppressed hindus

whether trump means it or he is just saying this for getting hindu votes/support, this is a significant statement, and the contrast with the Biden/Harris clique couldn't be more dramatic. Kamala didn't even attend the white house Diwali event.

the fact that some white leader saying that Hindus have human rights is so unusual shows something really scary: they are out to exterminate us.

 

narrative building about #trump the fascist

trump derangement syndrome. https://www.piratewires.com/p/donald-trump-fascism-authoritarianism-wikipedia

wikipedia is fascist, overrun by shadowy editors and their puppet masters who are reliably radical-left if not Marxist. I wonder how much xinhua is investing, apart from the Vatican (I could name at least one guy who is clearly a shill for papists). 

betting markets aside, Kamala will win.

latest polymarket betting figures on #potus #election show #TrumpVance2024 handily beating #HarrisWalz2024.

however, I believe there will be... how shall I put it, 'november surprises', and Kamala will win. we better all be prepared for it.

oh joy, a brown/black female ex-hindu anti-hindu POTUS!

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Glenn Greenwald <greenwald@substack.com>
Date: Mon, Dec 28, 2020 at 9:34 PM
Subject: The Threat of Authoritarianism in the U.S. is Very Real, and Has Nothing To Do With Trump
To: 

The COVID-driven centralization of economic power and information control in the hands of a few corporate monopolies poses enduring threats to political freedom. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

	The Threat of Authoritarianism in the U.S. is Very Real, and Has Nothing To Do With Trump The COVID-driven centralization of economic power and information control in the hands of a few corporate monopolies poses enduring threats to political freedom. Glenn Greenwald Dec 28 (L-R): Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos (Photo by BERTRAND GUAY,TOBIAS SCHWARZ,ANGELA WEISS,MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images) Asserting that Donald Trump is a fascist-like dictator threatening the previously sturdy foundations of U.S. democracy has been a virtual requirement over the last four years to obtain entrance to cable news Green Rooms, sinecures as mainstream newspaper columnists, and popularity in faculty lounges. Yet it has proven to be a preposterous farce. In 2020 alone, Trump had two perfectly crafted opportunities to seize authoritarian power — a global health pandemic and sprawling protests and sustained riots throughout American cities — and yet did virtually nothing to exploit those opportunities. Actual would-be despots such as Hungary's Viktor Orbán quickly seized on the virus to declare martial law, while even prior U.S. presidents, to say nothing of foreign tyrants, have used the pretext of much less civil unrest than what we saw this summer to deploy the military in the streets to pacify their own citizenry.