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 its Indian 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.
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 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.
Christian nationalist push: Trump administration pushes narrative of Christian founding at Rally. . One Nation under Yeshu.
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
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…
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.
India’s pollution is becoming an economic roadblock: The government’s inaction runs counter to its goals. The latest budget cut funding for pollution control. 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 Collapsing
One 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.
Microsoft’s Conundrum 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 European Union 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 government 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).
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 and commercial applications!
EFTA was terrible. EU FTA is worse: India gives $100B concession without any accountability mechanism implying we got no hard commitment for investment and gave market access for nothing. When CBAM starts taking effect India will be immensely disadvantaged.
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 the town.
When Dry January becomes permanent: ‘Even though I was fit and energetic the weekends were gone’. “You’d have few drinks on Friday night because you’ve worked hard all week long, and then Saturday was sluggish. You might have a few drinks on Saturday night, and Sunday was sluggish. All of a sudden it’s Monday.”
Ugly, smog filled 'bikAss' comes with a price: India is seeing dip in foreign tourists. In contrast, Vietnam became the fastest growing market for foreign tourist arrivals in south east Asia
What urban India needs: Walkaluru walkathon highlights Bengaluru’s pedestrian infrastructure, encourages walking culture
Indore tragedy: Indore, in spotlight over 20 deaths, allocated Rs 2,450 Crore for 'Clean' Water. What makes the tragedy even more disturbing is the scale of public money that has been spent on Indore's water and sanitation infrastructure over the past five years.
60% of top 1,000 stocks delivered negative returns in 2025: Even after the recent correction, the Nifty Smallcap 100 trades at a price-to-earnings multiple of 24.6 based on one-year forward earnings, well above its 10-year average of 18.3.
Why The Americans Were Opposed To Agni: 'The heat shield technology for re-entry vehicles was first mastered in DRDO for the Agni missile.' 'This is why the Americans were so opposed to Agni in the 1980s, unlike other missiles -- it was a re-entry vehicle.'
The Chinese way: Videos and photographs show how the Chinese authorities have tried to dismantle Zion Church, a Christian network with branches across the country.
The year of Chinese robotics domination: The real AI story of 2026 will be found in the boring, the mundane—and in China. Washington's fatal miscalculation was assuming its sanctions would hammer Chinese innovation. Instead, it only hampered the viability of the West's own tech.
MAGA doesn't like your skin: Sikh truckers found refuge in trucking until the Trump administration’s crackdown
The Nvidia deal says something important about the relationship between business and government under President 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 substantial 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 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,"
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
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
#SaveTheAravallis | By redefining what a "hill" is, a legal technicality has stripped protection from India’s oldest shield against desertification. Tonight’s debate asks the question – is environmental integrity being sacrificed for mining and sprawl?
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.
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.’
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.
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.
Conjoined enemies: Lessons From Op Sindoor. "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".
Beware Of China Threat In North East: China is extremely proactive in politics in Shan state (and indeed in many other parts of Myanmar) as a study about China's overt and opaque role in South Asia reveals.
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 the 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
GOP versus scholars: America is in danger of experiencing an academic brain drain. Other countries may benefit.
India must decide if it’s ready to welcome back scholars: A perceived threat to academic freedom is prompting many academicians to consider relocating. Countries in Europe have taken swift action on the perceived brain drain from the US. Emmanuel Macron extended an open invitation to the best brains to relocate to France.
Deep tech, shallow pockets: Indian deep tech startups raised only about 3.2% of the total funds funneled into Indian startups since 2014. Unlike e-commerce, ride-hailing or financial services, where revenues kick in from the beginning, startups focusing on deep tech take years to develop and commercialize their products. While Silicon Valley might have become obsessed with startups dealing in robotics, rockets, chips and other complex technologies, such deep tech companies are having a much harder time fundraising in India. . . Frugal tech.
Bharat Karnad: "The trouble lies in Modi’s inordinate desire to please America, to be in Trump’s good books, and that’s the joker in the pack".
Remittance Tax: Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill' proposes 5% remittance tax, may cost India $1.65 billion
Tenacity: Xi defiance pays off as Trump meets most China trade demands
Stand tough: China-US trade truce prompts nations to consider tougher tactics
Al-Bakistan: Afghanistan plans to build dams to cut water flow to Pakistan.. . . Pak always wished to turn into Arabia.. their wish is getting fulfilled :)
#FundKaveriEngine trending: Many called on PM Modi to allocate more funds and resources for the Kavera engine, emphasising its importance in the nation's interest. The goal is to end India's dependence on foreign engines for building fighter jets, promoting self-reliance in defence technology.
US DIA Report: China still India's 'primary adversary', Pakistan mere security problem.
Prepare for China conflict: "If India really did lose between two and five aircraft, as most outside analysts believe is the case, the explanation for that appeared to be the superior radar of the Chinese aircraft. I hope Indians are really reflecting upon what does this mean for a potential China-India conflict, not just what does this mean for future India-Pakistan conflicts".
UK gains: Because British exports are so much higher value than Indian exports of clothing, footwear, and food, this should be worth £15bn extra for British exports and £10bn for India by 2040. . . expect this to get even worse for India
Roll out the barrel: Scotch makers toast UK trade deal with India. . Our riches attracted invaders and colonizers. Today it is our dhaaru culture that is drawing them.
FTA Impact: Scotch to get cheaper, Indian liquor stocks dip
Limeys and cheating: India's exports to the UK may be impacted by Britain's decision to introduce carbon tax from 2027. “If Indian exports still face CBAM levies while UK goods enter India duty-free, it risks turning a balanced FTA into a one-sided bargain”.
Limeys and looting: Sotheby's halts Buddha Piprahwa Gems auction. The collection is described as one of the most astonishing archaeological finds of the modern era. Its sale had drawn criticism from Buddhist academics and monastic leaders.
Kill chain: While a spendthrift IAF invested in prohibitively priced weapons platforms, like the Rafale, the PAF invested in the “kill chain” inclusive of a few J-10Cs, Saab AWACS and mostly long range A2A ordnance.
The PAF has initiated a new method of air warfare — combat aircraft staying well back in their own air space, firing long range air-to-air (A2A) and air-to-ground (A2G) weapons with exceptional support. Rafales cost $250 million each. The fleet of 36 is now depleted.
The US is keen to push the far more useless and expensive F-35 on Modi’s India.
US tariffs come with a side of Starlink: The US is reportedly encouraging countries to adopt Musk’s Starlink in tariff trade talks. India, Lesotho, Bangladesh, and other countries have moved forward with Starlink adoption in recent weeks.
Woke flight? Europe launches program to lure scientists away from the US
