I AND MY WORDS

Poster hailing the friendship of the Soviet and Chinese People Two items in the past twenty four hours cycle featured on the Global Times present an interesting picture, in parts and in whole.  The first item that Global Times put out is the news story, Russia 'ready to talk' after militarily paralyzing Ukraine within hours. On reading through the article, one notices a typical pattern to the reporting line pursued. While the story tends to put the Chinese people at the centre of the story in multiple ways, the interpretation of the 'demilitarization' that was called upon by Russia's Vladimir Putin speaks for itself: "Demilitarize" could be understood to be putting down arms and surrendering, which can also be understood as incapacitating the opponent and rendering them unable to form a threat in a broader sense, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Thursday. Moreover, they carried the Russian version of th...

With the recent invasion of Ukraine undertaken by Russia, one spot of foreign policy challenges that the world needs to still wake up to is China. There are a large number of reasons why Russia has significance for China, and it is not merely about economy or increasing global isolation. Soviet Union, modern Russia's precursor, was an ideological inspiration and mentor of the Chinese Communist Party till the death of Joseph Stalin, following which they parted ways. Of course, even after the Soviet collapse, there continues to be interest in Russian affairs in a variety of ways. A 1949 Poster Hailing the Sino-Soviet Peace and Friendship Treaty. The Putonghua reads as follows: "The Sino-Soviet Alliance for Friendship and Mutual Assistance promotes enduring world peace" This is the first part of a multi-part series as to why the latest Russian - Ukrainian challenge carries multiple implications for China. PART I -   SOVIET ON THE OUTSIDE, QING ON THE INSIDE – MAKING SENSE O...

Often times, we have publication houses, journalists and supposed investigators who are so off the mark that they refuse to recognize the truth. Post-truth, pre-truth, anything but the truth – this facile attitude adopted by a handful few is not damaging the ones it is supposed to target. Rather, it is eroding the confidence and trust that people would pose in them, and their abilities. L’affaire Pegasus is turning out to be much of the same. Every few months, some ‘sensational’ discovery turns up that reveal ‘a grave threat’ to the ‘foundations of democracy’, of ‘free speech’ and ‘treasonous behaviour’ that damages reputation of a government. The latest is this interview done by The Wire that seeks to raise eyebrows. Yet, the mountain made out of a non-existent molehill continues to remain invisible to most people, perplexed by the brouhaha created for no reason. The liberal Bible also known as New York Times, whose pulpit worthy gospels posing as news deserve praise for hollow...

The fall of Kabul in Afghanistan to the Taliban, as the supposedly democratic government of the Islamic Republic concedes defeat to the Islami Emirate, was written on the wall for a bunch of reasons. The US' constant failure at building capable military and governance institutions and constant oversight of unpopular actions to pretend 'all is well' apart, the Afghans knew what was coming, and the ones with no option but staying behind chose to side with the obvious winning force. One could see that the United States has clearly started its slide downwards, behaving much like a second grade world power after showing what could only be considered cowardice, as was seen by its rather hilarious 'warnings' to Afghanistan that veered on the border of being utterly pathetic .  The Global Diplomatic Silence on Pakistan is Frustrating Ronald Reagan meeting the Mujahideen , 1983 What is extremely frustrating however is the utter silence of the world on the issue of Pakistan...

  A paper by the rather elite foreign policy think-tank Atlantic Council, authored by a person who wishes to remain anonymous, garnered a lot of attention in the American press. Titled The Longer Telegram , It is ironic though that people within India refused to discuss or deliberate the paper barring one odd video deliberating on it in a rather hallowed way.  Given the stark reality of the adversary standing next door, this paper should have certainly received more attention. Instead, what we have seen is a strangely absurd silence on the subject. Be that as it may, it is imperative that a short look at the paper is taken, and lessons are derived from it that need to be considered seriously in the defence and foreign policy circles. The Fait Accompli Approach Has Failed – US’ China Policy Remains Incoherent The paper can be seen as a wakeup call for the American diplomatic circles in all senses. Some of the wooly headed optimism regarding China had been wearing thin over ...

(Courtesy: India TV) The Indian government’s decision to put 59 applications originating from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has literally sliced through the Chinese economic propaganda of ‘interdependence and harmony’ that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its propaganda arms, especially Global Times has been boasting about since the soldiers’ clash in the Galwan valley. This hits the Chinese where it hurts them the most, since these application developers and software companies represent the high-end Chinese software and hardware prowess that was being used to project CCP’s soft power push of an advanced hi-tech society, an alternative to the democratic virtues and ideals that mean so much to countries like India. One must bear in mind that this step has not come out in isolation. Concerns about Chinese apps have been doing the rounds for months on a stretch now, with politicos and people alike raising questions on privacy concerns arising from them. Policy experts have not...