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.

Quick notes: Shahed-136 | Metal charged water...

• Shahed-136 drones: Iran’s drones are cheap, plentiful and helping Russia in Ukraine. The Shahed can fly hundreds of kilometers (Iran claims in excess of 2,000 km) and loiter for hours before locking onto a target.. Israel has a near perfect record in shooting down even more sophisticated Iranian drones.



• Fisker considering India production: U.S. startup Fisker Inc will begin selling its electric SUV in India and could begin manufacturing its cars locally within a few years... Fun-fact: Dr. Geeta Gupta-Fisker co-founded Fisker Inc with husband Henrik Fisker.



• Tech Talk: Peter Rawlinson, Lucid CEO and CTO with Dr Emad Dlala - How Lucid leaps past Tesla with smaller motors.




• Apple's Tech Supply Chain Shows Difficulty of Dumping China: It will take about eight years to move just 10% of Apple’s production capacity out of China. “The region has a well-developed supply chain that will be difficult to replicate”.



• Dr MS Krishnamurthy MD (Ayu), PhD: Metal charged water for skin allergies, tiredness, energy.
  
  Benefits of eating on leaf plates and metal plates



• JioMart morphs into e-marketplace to take on Amazon and Flipkart: “As part of our commitment to India’s rich culture and heritage, we will soon start marketing quality goods produced by tribals and other communities across India. This will help preserve the incredibly rich talent, skill sets, and knowledge base of our traditional Indian artisans, especially women.”



• Decline of UK: Markets are now treating UK bonds like Greek and Italian debt



• Cambridge: Britain's Cycling Capital

Quick notes: Transit corridor | EV landscape...

• North-South Transit Corridor: Iran tests new trade corridor to ship Russian goods to India and other Asian markets. The plan will eventually build a railroad line that can transfer goods arriving at Iranian Caspian Sea ports to the southeastern port of Chabahar.



• Rise of Chinese EVs rattles Europe: Batteries are the pillar of China’s competitive advantage. China is also pushing the frontier of EV software. Today, some of China’s largest tech companies provide the digital backbone of China’s electric vehicles. . . . . . . once a non-entity in global autos, China is now threatening the mighty Germans



• China-plus-One strategy: Why more European firms are choosing Vietnam over China.. "(However) Vietnam is not yet on par with China as far as education level, skilled labor and infrastructure, and logistics are concerned.". . . just like India



• Nalanda: India's ancient university rising from the ashes




• "Agnipath": Govt announces 4-year military recruitment scheme.
  
  Colonel Anil Athale (retd): Military needs soldiers, not contract labour
  
  'Indian soldier costs minimum, delivers maximum': "Experience matters in soldiering and a contractual soldier may not have the stomach to take risks. Soldiers know that their officer will move ahead and they behind him. The officer knows that his men will never let him down. This feeling of camaraderie and trust comes after years of training in the unit".
  
  भारतीय सेना को क्या “Kindergarten Army” बनाना है?



• Jalandhar diocese: Pro-nun group appeals to Pope not to reinstate Bishop Franco



• Polluted air cuts life expectancy: India's PM2.5 levels exceed WHO guidelines by 10-fold. About 51 crore people living in north India are on track to lose 7.6 years of their life if the current air pollution levels persist. One country that has seen major improvements is China.



• Zeer pots: The coolest way to keep food cold without refrigeration



• Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan: 2020 Ashden Award Winner




• 'Toxic for teenage girls': Facebook hit with 8 lawsuits for exploiting young people for profit.



• Energy hog: Bitcoin can (theoretically) handle 7 transaction per second, at the cost of 2,500 kWh (an average home uses about 1,000 kWh per month)

The more I read about crypto, the more I realise how useless they are. Bitcoin can (theoretically) handle 7 transaction per second, at the cost of 2,500 kWh (an average home uses about 1,000 kWh per month). A transaction takes about 10 minutes to be settled.

— Pontus Rendahl (@pontus_rendahl) June 8, 2022

Quick notes: Exit tax, Friend of my enemy...

• Exit tax on fleeing millionaires: There is an exodus of millionaires from India, and the govt suspects the rich are trying to escape scrutiny and tax liability.



• Strategic loss for India? Iran invites China for Chabahar development. "Any Chinese presence at Chabahar, even if not involved in the operation of the port, could be used as a way of undermining India’s influence with local authorities".



• The Friend of My Enemy: Iran is not comfortable with India because of its strategic partnership with the US and the new India-Israel relations. Ali Khamenei mentioned the Kashmir issue in some of his sermons for the first time and comparing it to the injustice meted out to Palestinians.



• Uprising? New nationalist movement emerges from Pakistan’s Pashtun protests



• Trump flirts with re-entering TPP: “If you want to send a message to China, the best way to do that is to start doing business with their competitors”



• Death: Whatever is, is you. You are the unlimited, which is not susceptible to the senses. By limiting yourself to the body, you have closed yourself to the unlimited potential which you really are




• From Sanskrit to Macedonskrit: "Stop translating, I understand what you are saying. You are speaking here some corrupted form of Sanskrit".



• Brain drain: Taiwan battles a brain drain as China aims to woo young talent away 



• A Challenger to Silicon Valley Emerges: The U.S. approach is “We’ll build a better product and just win over all the countries”. The Chinese approach is “we’ll fund the local partner to beat off the American companies”. All the rest of the world will basically be a land grab between the U.S. and China. Chinese-led venture funding is about 15 times its size in 2013, outpacing growth in U.S.-led financing, which roughly doubled in that time period.
  

Quick notes: Gwadar's future, Iran's rise...

• China in Gwadar: Indigenous residents’ fear of becoming a minority is inevitable with Gwadar’s population expected to jump more than 15-fold in coming decades. China will receive 91% of revenues until the port is returned to Pakistan in four decades’ time.



• China's AI awakening: China’s AI push calls for homegrown AI to match that developed in the West within three years, for China’s researchers to be making “major breakthroughs” by 2025, and for Chinese AI to be the envy of the world by 2030. 



• Is Iran the Mideast's new superpower? “For stopping ISIS in Afghanistan, the best alternative is the Taliban, so it is easy for Iran to support the Taliban. The Taliban hung them, ISIS people, out on trees for weeks, and no one was allowed to take them down, When Iran hit them strongly, [the ISIS fighters] moved to the east.”  That narrative is borne out by a map used by Afghanistan’s intelligence service. It shows ISIS emerging at points along Iran’s border in 2014-15, and then shifting east toward Pakistan’s border. “It’s a smart policy, to be honest,” says a Western official in Kabul.



• France wants parental permission for kids under 16 to go on Facebook: "Exploiting human psychology by feedback loops, driven by dopamine and 'social validation'."
  



• Christian Nationalism: White Evangelicals voted en masse for Roy Moore in Alabama, to no one's surprise



• India better be cautious: Uber accused of espionage, hacking and bribery in bombshell letter



• Gabriella Burnel: Promoting Sanskrit