Quick notes: Gulags in Tibet | Chinese tech...

• Gulags are thriving: China is pushing Tibetans off their lands and turning them into factory workers . 500K Tibetans were forced into labor camps this year and quotas were set for transfers outside the region.
  
  Xinjiang’s system of militarized vocational training comes to Tibet.
  
  Himalayan villagers support Indian troops: “We want to help the Indian army to secure their positions immediately. We are carrying supplies to them, doing multiple rounds in a day, to ensure that the army doesn’t face too many problems.”.... The Tibet factor.
  



• China's tech prowess: Increasingly, China is supplying the kind of sophisticated machinery that German manufacturers once dominated, like high-end tunnel borers and hydraulic valves and pumps used in wind turbines. “It’s only a matter of time until Chinese firms are No. 1,” says Ulrich Ackermann of German Engineering Association. 



• State Media: Chinese tech companies going abroad are ‘spreading China’s influence’



• Good riddance: Facebook may leave Europe if Ireland enforces ban on data sharing with US



• China’s 40-Year, Billion-Tree Project: Launched in 1978 to protect the north, northwest, and northeast, three regions affected by sandstorms sweeping out of the Gobi Desert, the so-called Three-North Shelter Forest Program aimed to grow 87 million acres of new trees—a forest the size of Germany—across the country’s north by 2050.



• Turning Gray into Green: Meishe River Greenway and Fengxiang Park, Haikou, China




• Pakistan begins phase-3 trial of Chinese vaccine: It was an “honor” for Pakistan to be among the few countries participating in “the biggest and relatively difficult” phase-3 study of a vaccine.
  
  Irony: China struggling to convince citizens to take Chinese-made flu shots

Quick notes: Hybrid warfare | Hollywood's silence...

• Dependent on China: Modi sarkar has no plans to exclude Chinese firms from 5G network infrastructure contracts
  
  Chinese intel: A Chinese company has compiled a database on millions in India and their children and families for the use of the country's intelligence agencies.
  
  Explainer: What is hybrid warfare and how has China used it?



• Deploy troops all along LAC: “The deployment pattern will change not just in eastern Ladakh but will be seen all across the LAC for a minimum of two years. . . ”Even while the LAC tension was prevailing, China in June had claimed 3,300 sq km of Bhutanese territory saying it was ‘disputed territory’.



• India's Semiconductor Quagmire: “Having a land bank is the least important requirement for setting up a fab. It costs billions of dollars to set up a cutting edge CMOS fab and there are only 2-3 companies in the world having that technology and there is no strong motivation or reason for them to set up their fabs in India. In addition, they can’t just rely only on the local market to fill up the capacity in the fab”.




• How China bought Hollywood's silence: “Instead of us doing business with China and that leading to China becoming more free, what has happened is a place like China has bought our silence with their money.”



• Chinese-made flu shots: China is struggling to convince citizens to receive influenza vaccinations to protect them in the upcoming flu season after years of corruption scandals involving faulty, watered-down, or otherwise useless vaccines



• C-virus effect: With  the Work-From-Home culture catching on, many companies are looking at setting up shop in tier-2 cities.
  
  The Zoho experiment: Sridhar Vembu dabbles with village offices as employees move home.



• Aparna Rajagopal: A lawyer-turned-organic farmer who has created a business from the dung of native Indian cow breeds
  

Quick notes: Tech exports | Bird menace...

• Forget China, can India match Vietnam in manufacturing?  Vietnam has been quick to realize the importance of hi-tech exports amounting to 40%, whereas India’s share stands at 9%. In comparison to Vietnam's technology-oriented exports, India’s top exports comprised largely low-tech manufacturing products like mineral fuels, pearls and organic chemicals. 

If it were this easy to grow your economy, every tin pot dictator would hire a consultant and get rich overnight. In most sensible places, consultants peddling instant cures seen as little better than snake oil hucksters. In India, they advise NITI and the UP government. pic.twitter.com/BFFazgIWq9

— Rupa Subramanya (@rupasubramanya) September 10, 2020




• How Communist China weaponized the waters of Asia: Nine great rivers of Asia descend from the Tibetan plateau. After the Chinese Communist Party occupied Tibet, it has essentially monopolized these waters  




• Threat to Rafale: Bird menace due to garbage dump danger to Rafale in Ambala, IAF tells Haryana govt. The IAF has sought the immediate implementation of Solid Waste Management scheme to reduce the activity of large birds like black kites in the aerodrome zone of 10 km around Ambala airfield. “This would involve instituting of littering penalty, improvement in garbage collection and setting up of a suitable SWM plant at a suitable distance from the airfield,” the letter states. 



• Rahul Baba's failed attempt to create rift in Army ranks: The defence ministry officials clarified that there is no difference in the quality and quantity of the items served, except that the officers are served different items than those served to the jawans.
  

Spare a thought for commanders and soldiers on the ground. Difficult terrain, harsh weather, faced with the enemy barely 300-400 metres away. Its a tinder box out there. One small tactical incident going out hand will have strategic ramifications.

— Nitin A. Gokhale (@nitingokhale) September 8, 2020




• The enemy within: How Indo-China border dispute once split the Communist Party of India.. “A Communist Party statement praised the Chinese for leading the Tibetans from ‘medieval darkness’ and blamed the rebellion on Tibetan ‘serf owners’ backed by Indian reactionaries and Western imperialists”.



• Sexualization of girls: #CancelNetflix trends on social media after preteen twerking film ‘Cuties’ debuts



• Huawei's Android OS rival: Huawei to shift phones to its own Harmony operating system from 2021



• Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu:

Gee, Hindutva folk are a hopeless lot. They misdirect their energy to illusory goals like "unity" or "declaring Hindu Rashtra" -- a verbal gain that increases the quotum of hostility you'll have to deal with but won't yield anything tangible. Instead, abolish the discriminations. https://t.co/A1twp98bgT

— Koenraad Elst (@Koenraad_Elst) September 9, 2020

Quick notes: Tibet advantage | Urban farming...

• Claude Arpi: Is the ‘Tibet card’ in play? A dramatic Indian Army operation last week has given India tactical advantage in the 4-month-long confrontation with China. It was the first time in those four months that the Indian Army could ‘pre-empt’ the Chinese grabbing more Indian territory. For India, this is the first real good news since the beginning of the bitter conflict. The best bet for India and the exiled Tibetans is to work closely together; it could pay rich dividends.



• PLA failures: Xi Jinping plans to purge Chinese military after failures on Indian border. Xi is pushing China to the brink of military confrontations in several theaters by personally taking a hand in provocative actions like the August 26 launch of “aircraft carrier killer” ballistic missiles into the South China Sea. 



• Peaceful fall: Decoupling with U.S. would cut China’s growth to 3.5%. China would face even more disastrous consequences if the U.S. can coordinate its key allies, such as Japan, South Korea, Germany and France, to also decouple. In that case, China’s growth potential could fall to 1.6% in 2030.



• Dr D Nageshwar Reddy: Initially, people were talking about the importance of handwashing but now we know they are less important than wearing masks. One study has said that if masks are put on properly and if physical distancing is followed, it is equivalent to 90% effect of lockdown. Instead of lockdown, the same effect can be achieved by people wearing masks and maintaining distance.



• Urban farming is catching on: It can make us healthier and more resilient: Getting out into nature and gardening can improve your mental health and physical fitness.