LyrArc Article Gist
India under the leadership of prime minister Modi hosting the G20 meeting of world leaders may have for the world passed the test of the ages on November 16, 2023. On that day the G20 with China, India, (and Russia's Lavrov), and the US issued the statement saying-  "The use of threat of using nuclear weapons is inadmissible. The peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue, are vital. Today's era must not be of war." The words "Today's era must not be of war," were words Modi had stated repeatedly to the Russian president.  In dire situations that it can be conceived that small nuclear weapons with half the destructive capacity as Hiroshima bomb that could be put on a small missile could be used is a new threat. Hennigan in the NYT reports that as Ukrainian forces moved towards Kharkiv and other Russian held territory and were seen as a threat to Russian held Crimea, on October 23, 2023 the Russian minister of defense Sergei Shoigu, contacted the Defense ministers of US, Britain, France and Turkey about Ukrainian fighters it believed planning to launch a dirty bomb -a conventional explosive wrapped in radioactive material- on their own territory to frame Moscow. Hennigan in this NYT report says US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin and Jt. Chief of Staff General Mark Milley, held 3 phone calls in 4 days during this time around October 23, 2023, with their Russian counterparts. By November 16 Indian prime minister Modi and Chinese president Xi had their discussions with the Russian president to prevent accidental nuclear escalation. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
On Gandhi Jayanti a look at American president FDR's contribution for Hind Swaraj. It could be said that Cordell Hull's speech (full text here) on July 23, 1942 on Roosevelt's clear direction was a form of declaration of independence for India by the US in 1943. This is also why there was nothing different Clement Attlee could do after winning the British election in 1945 except send Mountbatten to India to prepare for a Free India. 

LyrArc Article Gist
French president Macron calls the leadership of G20 by his "dear friend" Mr. Modi of India a good step to tackle global issues of climate change, wars, and food insecurity.

LyrArc Article Gist
In this interview in The Hindu with Public Health Foundation of India president Srinath Reddy, the importance of safe behaviours including masks and social distancing, public discipline to tackle a potential third wave. This was also pointed out separately by the Director AIIMS.  Mr. Reddy says study by Public Health England shows just one dose of Astra Zeneca vaccine is not very effective against the Delta variant- about 30% effective. As a result he suggests the need to reduce the spacing intervals which are at 8-12 weeks to a shorter interval now that adequate supplies of vaccine will be available starting in July and August till the end of the year. The initial spacing was 4 weeks when Astra Zeneca vaccine was first introduced and at which time the variants had not emerged. The Indian federal government affidavit to the Supreme Court shows that 1880 million doses of vaccine will be available by the end of the year 2021 to vaccinate fully with 2 doses the population of India over 18 years using 5 locally manufactured Made in India vaccines. This does not include the mRNA vaccines that will be made available from Moderna and Pfizer for which cold storage facilities are being prepared by the federal government.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Caste discrimination laws passed in the California legislature with little opposition. Opponents lobbied the governor to veto the legislation as state law already prohibits discrimination in California. Bharat (India) perspective on caste is for integration of the country and looking back at the lessons of colonization by the British. Caste divided the country and made it easier to colonize for Europeans who extracted capital for the East India Company and later Britain and creating backwardness and poverty. Bharat (India) goal was to create opportunities for integration of tribal communities lower castes Dalits and tribal Santhals into education economic mainstream. A Santhal from Jharkhand/Orissa was made president of India by PM Modi.

LyrArc Article Gist
President Biden has praise for William Burns for good intelligence delivered with honesty and integrity on China, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and emerging technologies. For three decades Burns has served in the US Foreign Service and performed work that is similar to that of another veteran diplomat Mr. Jaishankar of India. America turned to Burns to end the war in Afghanistan under president Biden, and now faces the Ukraine conflict with "clear straightforward analysis" given to the president, in the words Biden used for Bill Burns.

LyrArc Article Gist
Iran Proposal that asks $2 million per ship to be split with Oman for opening the Hormuz Straits- April 6 2026. China, Japan can pay this amount to get the 90% of the oil they need from Hormuz, which would go to reconstruction of war damage in Iran. India would shift some of its purchase of oil and gas to the US and so will Japan over 2027-2028. This would result in a shift away from the Persian Gulf dependence to renewable energy and to buying oil and gas from US+Venezuela as more reliable sources. European Union and Britain would also make this shift as shown in the adjoining article by Prof Geoffron of Universite Paris Dauphine in Le Monde. The proposal also requires US and Israel to commit to no future attack on Iran, and Israel to stop its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. The US and DJT call the new regime under a Speaker of the Iranian parliament, an elected president who had to respond to people sentiment in the election, and a grandson of Khomeini, one that is easier to talk with than the earlier regime. The problem remains nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles development that the US has as its sole objective which is what the war is about than Hormuz as the US and DJT say Hormuz is China and Japan's problem where for some strange reason these industrial powers import 90% of their oil from Hormuz and have done this after 40 years of disruptions, a mystery they can solve on their own. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The $17 discount for Russian oil to Brent crude is a result of the president's efforts with sanctions plus tariffs on China and India to cut oil purchases from Russia. This puts a strain on Russia in financing the war with Ukraine. Bothe China and India have cut purchases of Russian oil in recent weeks and the Indian refinery at Jamnagar no longer gets Russian oil, according to recent reports. DJT was criticized for his stance on Indian tariffs as inconsistent with the agreement with China on rare earths. It now appears that China and India have both agreed to stop financing the Russian war effort with big oil purchases and are shifting it to other places such as Brazil, Guyana and Canada. India plans large oil purchases and arms purchases from the US and this is part of the trade agreement being negotiated with India. About one third of the additional 240 million barrels of oil on the seas in tankers is Russian oil being stored for lack of buyers with total oil on waters at 1.4 billion barrels. This has led to a 48% increase in tanker costs to $125,000 a day. All this makes it harder for the Russian economy to sustain the war effort as the US pushes both sides to settle the Ukraine conflict in the 28 Points Peace Plan negotiated with important Russian negotiators in Washington DC over 3 days last week. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
In a remarkable statement of how he sees India in 2022 US president Biden goes all out- "There's so much that our countries can and will do together, and I am committed to making the US-India parnership among the closest we have on Earth." "The closest we have on Earth" is a statement of how the US and India partnership should be given the work of Mohandas Gandhi and its leaders in the nineteenth and twentieth century including Vivekananda, and India's history as the home of Buddhism and the Vedanta. No one has ever put it in such words till Biden in his outspoken way and style. 

LyrArc Article Gist
War in Ukraine after failed Alaska effort by US to end the war. In September 2025 Russia holds out, spurning peace efforts from the US president, to see if the economy holds out over the next 24 months and Russia can get Ukraine to abandon it's efforts to join the EU and Western European alliances. The baffling aspect of this war is that the neutral aspect adopted by Finland before the war, by Sweden, by the Swiss, was never considered as a realistic option by Ukraine, looking beyond the problems of the 1930's and having awareness that there were weaknesses in both the capitalist and the Soviet systems, to take the broad larger view. And with that being realistic that a better effort would be to reflect on the corruption and lack of clean government, the need to build the healthy institutions that would serve the people best. The approach taken by Gandhi in India in its relations with Britain, to preserve the best and improve on what failed the Indian people, and reflect on the integrity, the right attitude needed for India in the Modern World. From the Russian side the failure to use the period before the shift to renewable energy to invest the capital used in the war of $200 billion a year for a stronger economy and industrial base in 2022- 2027- an investment of a trillion dollars that would make it the industrial power and support its position as the preeminent power in Northern Europe. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry is interviewed by The Hindu. Ali Sabry says he is "very, very confident" about the Adani Group's investments in Sri Lanka's renewable energy potential, and any drop in Adani stock value is not affecting the projects. Sabry says the Adani Group is already investing in its projects, which include the $700 million Colombo West Container Port Project. He met with India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi at the Raisina Dialogue Conference. He was asked about his role as Foreign Minister after working as Finance Minister.  "It is still a mix of both, as I still have to carry out some of the responsibilities in debt restructuring and economic diplomacy, because the President is the finance minister, and naturally he cannot travel as often as we would like." "We are not out of the woods but stabilized right now, and what we are looking at next is recovery, for which we need investment. So right now, what we are interested in with India is how to collaborate and how to integrate with the Indian economy, particularly with South India, in terms of investment, people to people connection, more tourists coming in. So that's the kind of thing it is it's a win win situation for all." ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Mark Landler's interview with Hussain Haqqani in Oct. 2013 provides insights into the misperceptions on both sides of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship since 1947. Particularly the way Pakistan cannot shake free from seeing everything through the prism of India. He points out that Ambassador Holbrooke had a forward looking approach to the South Asian region, but failed to get the support of president Obama and the weak leadership of president Zardari, resulting in a squandered opportunity for the region to look beyond the twentieth century's conflicts towards a brighter future.

LyrArc Article Gist
Apple relies on Chinese suppliers for about 90% of its products. So reliant is Apple on China that it is slow to make changes to adapt to president Biden's policies for a new US Asian Economic Framework that builds new supply chains. By contrast Samsung has largely stayed out of China using supply chain manufacturing in Vietnam and other countries. India and Vietnam are major alternatives and only India can offer the well trained workforce and supplies of land, labour, incentives and facilities that China offers. This makes Apple a laggard in the changes that are happening today to supply chains bringing manufacturing closer to home and making products in countries allied to the US in Asia. This includes South Korea, Japan, India and Vietnam as production hubs for parts and assembly of advanced technology products. Apple is only now beginning the task of building supply chains outside China and returning manufacturing to the US which will bring back US technological leadership by 2030, American policy set by president Biden. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
President Biden launches the US Asian Economic Framework during his visit to Tokyo. Biden's main achievement on his Asian trip is to lay the foundations for the economic framework of the free world democratic countries drawing in India, Indonesia, Vietnam, countries from ASEAN, in addition to the core of Japan and South Korea. India, Australia and New Zealand are now seen as part of the core group in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. By 2030 and 2040 this trip will be remembered for laying the foundations for the new economic relationships and supply chains in Asia, policies similar to that of Harry Truman after the Second World War that set the policies of US for the rest of the twentieth century. It is similar to the US EU Trade and Technology Council in setting a economic union of friendly free world countries in trade, technology, capital and supply chains. Four pillars are set by president Biden- digital policies, climate change action, supply chain renewal action, and transparency plus good governance. These are also the policies pursued by the Modi administration in India, which has set priorities in these four areas. The other aspects of the policies of president Biden are to set policies friendly to working families and set to promote worker incomes and conditions. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
More than a retreat it gives the US, EU, India, China and the nations in Asia and Africa, Latin America most affected by higher oil prices and lower economic growth a time to pause and rethink dependence on the Gulf region for oil supplies. It is not mentioned in the media yet there has to be a link between the US president's visit to Beijing and Beijing's support for a normalized US China relationship, and offering its support for a settlement. This gives EU, China, India, Japan, and poorer nations in Africa, Asia, such as Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia and Brazil, some relief from reduced access to oil supplies. US is also planning a supply from Venezuela to India to take pressure off oil supplies in Asia by offering Venezuela as an alternative source. China is in many ways joining the US to bring about a denuclearized Middle East, doing it in a quieter way with Iranian public opinion making a shift to put its economic development ahead of missile development. As the two sides have different interpretations and it is still only a Memorandum of Understanding it is not a situation where the US is sending billions of dollars to support the military in Iran as Obama had done. Attention will shift to the Iranian economy over the next 12 months.  US conveys that it has nothing to gain from wrecking the Iranian economy or nation as the Iranian people if avote were held today would clearly choose putting the economy first by huge margins considering the widespread protests in Iran in 2025 that started this crisis. The US naval blockade was effective and is always an option, with US and partners having greater experience in the situation presented by the narrow straits in Hormuz. Arab partners also acted with restraint and is itself an opportunity for Iran to change direction. China's making cuts of 3 million barrels a day in oil supplies from Hormuz is itself along with acceleration of renewable energy in both China and India is one of the dividends of this crisi. Another is the gradual shift to alternative supplies from other regions of the world so that Hromuz region can no longer dictate oil prices in the world. Accelerating Venezuelan and UAE, US, other oil and gas  supply growth will also put increase supply and renewables reduce  demand growth as a result of the crisis to break the hold on oil prices of the oil cartels of Qatar, and Saudis. As a transition fuel oil can be be kept below $50 a barrel, not at prices at the whims of the princes in the Middle East at the expense of the people of the Arab world from Egypt the most populous and Tunisia, Morocco, to the Muslim nations such as Turkey and Pakistan,Iran itself which bore the brunt of this Hormuz crisis. The US has several priorities including in its relations with oil cartels dominated Mexico that  brings drugs and people across US borders, with other nations in EU and Asia that have benefitted through deindustrialization in the US leaving it poorer across a vast part of America. Advancing objectives in one area such as denuclearization does not mean not addressing priorities at home and in relations with other regions. China shares American interest in denuclearization of the Middle East this should now be put to the test. It is an entirely different situation in 2026 than what weak leaders from Bush to Obama allowed to happen by  wars in the Middle East - the US naval blockades of 2025/2026 are entirely different in cost in terms of men and dollar investment and used to convey America's determination not to waste vital resources of the Nation. The best policy is not to pursue policy for absolute wins but make intelligent choices and in some situations pause to reflect on the best course of action and other ways to reach goals. By getting China and the US as world powers for denuclearization even though this is not vocally said, both gain and both will come up with solutions. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
German chancellor Scholz is making a 2 day trip to the US to meet president Biden. There is a surge in discussion on looking for a way out of the Ukraine war after meeting between US's Blinken and Russia's Lavrov at the G20 meeting in India. India is pushing for both sides to engage in talks to end the war. Brazil has also offered to mediate to bring an end to the conflict. 

LyrArc Article Gist
Indian foreign minister Jaishankar describes the highly eccentric situation of lack of US India close economic and defense cooperation for over 50 years, when the natural flow of cooperation one would expect between the land of Washington and Lincoln and the land of Vivekananda and Gandhi was interrupted. The current form of cooperation has existed for about 14 years and accelerated after prime minister Modi was elected in 2016. This was a turning point in the US India relationship and in India US economic partnership. After president Trump was elected Mr. Modi and Mr. Trump held a huge public gathering in stadiums at Houston and Ahmedabad, in a way that was never seen before between an Asian country and America. What changed? For one thing India had a great weight lifted from its shoulders with the removal of the erratic Nehru policies of post independence India of forming a non aligned bloc with countries like Egypt and Yugoslavia. These were policies that had no connection to India and its history as the civilization where the East has its roots in Vedanta and Buddhism. It also resulted in alienating the Dwight Eisenhower administration and administrations that followed after John F. Kennedy, as the Cold War intensified and most of Eastern Europe came under Soviet domination. India never gauged the effect this had on America after the Berlin crisis in 1948, the Hungarian revolution of 1956 and similar uprisings in East Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Britain was no help even with the British Commonwealth, as the British perpetuated the idea that India was too divided to make up one country, having failed to grasp India's ancient civilization and  culture, and having built the Empire in India by using the division in the country. Mohandas Gandhi described this in Hind Swaraj in 1910 and told Indians that it was they who had invited the British into India, with rulers using military garrisons of the British commercial East India Company for help in their internal wars. Americans still unfamiliar with India till after 2000 simply accepted British colonial ideas about India. The new administrations in the US, the Trump and Biden administration, and the Modi administration in India have shaken this up and changed perceptions all around. Biden recently during the Modi visit to Washington DC said India US relations as he sees it would be "the closest on earth." So that today we have an ancient civilization roused to its depths in its youth for modernization, that extends from India to Indonesia all the way to Japan rooted in India's ancient civilization of Vedanta and Buddhism, with a population of about 2 billion people. That faces the US on its Pacific coast, united in its determination to build a new and common future with ideas of parliamentary democracy, participation of the people, and of modernization with science and technology, contributing to the betterment of all peoples. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
President Trump says he is going to delay this year's G-7 summit. He plans to call India, South Korea, Australia and Russia to a new summit talks. Instead of September he would call the meeting of the new G-10 or G-11 with the new countries added after the election, as he says the old set of countries is now outdated. The old set of countries put Canada and Italy ahead of India and Australia, and recently left out Russia.

LyrArc Article Gist
India makes the largest deal for commercial aircraft in aviation history by buying 470 planes from Airbus and Boeing. 250 Airbus jets and 220 Boeing airplanes. American Airlines ordered 460 planes in 2011. WSJ says based on list prices the Boeing orders is for $45.9 billion and the total order is for $85 billion. The White House announced the Boeing deal. The Airbus deal was announced by pm Modi and France's president Macron. The purchase was made by Air India. India is now the fastest growing aviation market in the world.

Airbus increased deliveries by 6%, and Boeing by 41% in 2022, as air travel and aircraft sales increased following the pandemic.

LyrArc Article Gist
Indian trade with Latin America 2025 of $40 billion sees a catchup effort to China's $480 billion trade. Efforts by Brazil's Petrobras and Argentina's YPF to increase exports of oil and LNG to India and increase imports of pharmaceuticals, automobiles and textiles.

Sabrina Olivera from the Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI) says-

"The fact that India is the only democracy in Asia gives it an advantage in Latin America, where most countries in the region are democracies, trust in India is stronger than in China."

Brazil's president Lula and Indian PM Modi worked closely for G20 Summits in New Delhi and Rio de Janeiro. This cooperation and a need for Latin America to diversify from concentration of trade with China, increasing potential with India, can lead to a doubling or tripling of trade with India in a few years.

LyrArc Article Gist
Could S. Jaishankar borker a peace in the Ukraine Russia war. Mr. Macron thinks India's Jaishankar and Modi could help set up a peace agreement. Germany's chancellor Scholz visited Beijing and called for an end to the war with president Xi of China. Jaishankar India's most experienced diplomat with long periods as a diplomat in China, is expected to visit Russia for setting up the groundwork for a peace settlement even though its outlines are not evident at this time.

LyrArc Article Gist
President Murmu addresses the first session at the new parliament building in New Delhi, India. In the tradition of British parliamentary democracy followed by India the opening speech of parliament is done by the president outlining the government's plans for the coming years. Murmu describes the achievements in providing basic infrastructure, water, cooking gas, rail and transport, food, healthcare to over 1 billion people in the last ten years, and controlling the cost of living. Making new investments in digital and other technologies, in infrastructure development to build an advanced economy under Vikshit Bharat by 2047, the 100th anniversary of independence from British rule. It also reflects women's empowerment and diversity in a democracy in Asia as Murmu was a schoolteacher in Orissa in the northeast and the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is a woman from the Chennai area in the south.

LyrArc Article Gist
LNG and other deals signed during president Trump's visit to India. Exxon and Chart Industries signed agreements to increase India's gas network. India has huge energy needs and the U.S. with large energy supplies is a natural partner for LNG imports.

LyrArc Article Gist
US president Biden's State of the Union address comes at a new inflection point in history for the US, the European Union and India. The Ukraine crisis and setting the US response, as well as US response to the neglect of infrastructure, healthcare, social cohesion during the last two decades.