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This is the 103rd anniversary of the Battle of Haifa which led to the liberation of Haifa from Ottoman rule. The battle was fought by the British with the help of the Mysore, Hyderabad and Jodhpur Lancers who played a critical role in the battle. Little is known about this role even though it is an important contribution to the India-Israel relationship as it evolved over the last 200 years. The battle to liberate the port city of Haifa was fought during the British efforts to free people under Ottoman rule in 1940-1945.

This is only one aspect of the Indian army's role in two world wars in which it played a significant role stretching from North Africa to Asia. This is also significant as part of India's relationship with the democratic countries of the world and the Indian effort to fight Nazi and Japanese imperialist expansion under American and British leadership.

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Washington Post Editorial Board says DJT policy of "trade not aid," hand up not handout, is right for Africa- good example the $3 billion US puts in railroad from Congo/Zambia to Lobito port Angola on Atlantic coastline to get critical minerals in exchange for infrastructure building. A loan of $533 million from US IDFC (International Development Finance Corporation) is the right thing says the Washington Post for US to build infrastructure in the Lobito Corridor in Angola that will extend from Congo and Zambia with large critical mineral deposits to the port of Lobito on the Angola coast. Overall investment is $3 billion. This will loosen China's critical minerals control through its investments in Africa on the eastern coastline. The new railroad will take critical minerals of cobalt and copper, other critical minerals needed for electric car batteries and energy infrastructure, from the center of Africa to its western coastline in Angola at Lobito port. Angola will not need to take on ruinous -debt in this kind of deal as other African and Asian nations have in deals with China. Its win-win Africa gets infrastructure and supplies key commodities metals to the US. The interesting thing about this is that for a long time US policy was stuck with USAID and other agencies and needed to change. US government under DJT took much criticism for reducing that funding of bureaucracy and old ways. The Washington Post now says it is the right approach- it is not as presented a US withdrawal from Africa, but in the Posts' words an "overdue upgrade" to a mutually profitable relationship with Africa. For Africa to move to next level as Asia has done as Hong Kong did from the 1950's and 1960's  to trade and investment.  For a long time Republicans were not associated with infrastructure development in Africa or in the US. Under DJT the situation has changed and Democrats like Biden have taken up DJT's approach so that the US now regardless of administration is rebuilding infrastructure. Doing this in Africa makes sense. Investment in infrastructure at home makes sense. The Post is right to say this. ...

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Much of India's relations with Britain as a colonial power, and the US as the first real democracy (defined in a new way without colonial interests) after Britain in the modern world, were set in the period when Gandhi mentored by Gokhale and Tilak in 1900 set the independence struggle of the 1930's and 1940's. Modi merely restored the Gandhian spirit with a development focus and honest administration. This enormous contribution of Gandhi revered by all leaders including Modi is a benevolent one recognizing the important and one might say virtuous role played by the US under Wilson and Roosevelt to colonized nations such as China and India as can be seen in the personal letter to FDR written in the 1940's by Gandhi. There are two defining relations of the US, the first related to its founding as a British colony and a war of independence fought with the help of the French. And the other related to Asia, to Japan, China, and India as they modernized in 1900-2000. Of this the relationship with the most ancient of ancient civilizations in India is the dominant US relationship in 2025, because it unlocks the mysteries of westernization without the religious ethos of Buddhism in an imperialist Japan and now expanding Communist China. This religious ethos of China, Japan and Vietnam lies in Indian soil and in the ethos of the Indian people, and where Gandhi drew his inspiration. From this ethos comes the idea that India as a true friend of America and a Europe (that includes Russia) cannot ignore the devastation of Ukraine and inadvertently find itself a participant through its purchase of Russian oil at $119 billion a year (even when China under a expanding Communist government purchases Russian oil at $136 billion a year). The cost of the war is about $213 billion in a Russian wartime economy which also hurts the Russian economy and the cost of living through inflation for the Russian people. India will seek to do some soul searching and find the right path Gandhi would hold on to for Britain, America, and rest of Europe including the Russian people. ...

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This report  by Joshua Partlow in the Washington Post shows frequent and extensive contacts between Mexican officials and the Trump administration. Skeptical experts say this is mostly damage control. Yet it has helped defuse tensions on NAFTA and other issues, in some situations having president Trump reverse his stance. Mexico sends 80% of exports to the U.S., making this relationship crucial. Yet the scaling down of plans for a border wall, the emergence of a solution to NAFTA through changes without canceling NAFTA with support from Wilbur Ross, the Commerce Secretary, show the dialogue has preserved relations. Uncertainties loom such as the trade stance of president Trump, and the potential of front runner Lopez Obrador from the opposition party to emerge in upcoming elections as the new president of Mexico. Obrador, a former mayor of Mexico who was a close contendor in previous elections, says he will take a different stand than the current government in negotiations. Mexico's Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray made 12 trips to Washington in 2017 as part of the effort by the Mexican government to preserve NAFTA with some changes. He has relationships with John Kelly and Jared Kushner in the Trump administration that have facilitated his efforts.  ...

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The U.S. Australia, China, India, Canada Britain, Sweden and other countries in Europe have growing trade and other tensions with China. Gradually a new situation is evolving for world trade as each country looks at its own interests in the trading relationship with China.

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French president Macron assures PM Modi of "France's commitment to building India's strategic autonomy, including its technology and industry base, as part of a close relationship based on mutual respect and trust." This follows the French fallout with Australia following the cancellation of a $26 billion submarine deal that was shifted to the US for the purpose of advanced nuclear technologies.

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In the meeting in the Oval Office Biden and Modi had this to say about India US relations. Modi called it a "transformative" decade. Mr. Biden called it a "new chapter" in ties, taking on tough challenges in coronavirus vaccines for the rest of Asia outside India and China, tackling climate change, and ensuring rule of law in the Indo-Pacific region.  Biden's view- "I think that the relationship between India and the US, two of the largest democracies in the world, is destined to be stronger, closer, tighter, and I think it can benefit the whole world." A look at the US under the Biden administration shows a US that is very different from that of the US in the period of presidents since Harry Truman when he met Jawaharlal Nehru at the White House in October 1949. Biden sees the US needing renewal of its infrastructure, reviving worker incomes and families, regaining its leadership of the free world, for its role and place in the world. Throughout the period 1949 to 2020 for 70 years India was never seen as a modernizing nation of 1.2 billion people. For most of this period it lacked the good governance and speedy implementation of modernization of economy that is essential for a truly good relationship. By releasing the potential of the younger generation in a country where people under 35 years form the major part of the population, with good governance and development agenda, the Indian prime minister has changed the entire dynamics of the India US relationship. This is happening in the way China had done in its relationship with the US after 2000 by modernizing the country. India is now the country with huge potential and the country the US sees as helping it build its own role and place in the world. The sheer size of India and its population with countries around it in the east such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam with shared values in south and southeast Asia bring together a population of close to 2 billion people much larger than China, to determine the direction of Asia.  This is the new chapter that president Biden has in mind, and it is also the "transformative decade" in the eyes of prime minister Modi as India finally puts behind it years of bad governance, and speeds up modernizing its economy.   ...

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The new data security law that went into effect Sept 1, 2021, limits the amount of sensitive information China will share with foreign companies, and investors. All data related activities are subject to government oversight says this report in WSJ, including collection, storage, use and transmission. Companies in China now are reluctant to share information.  Because the law is ambiguous about what is sensitive information this makes companies more reluctant. The result is a China that is more opaque than before. It is driven by antagonism in the US over the effect on American workers of manufacturing and supply chains shifted to China. The response of the Chinese government is to turn the country inward, looking to self sufficiency, data security, and an environment that looks at foreigners with suspicion, says this report in WSJ. The pandemic has increased this view of foreigners in China, after China's experience with a deteriorating trade relationship with the US. Xi Jinping has not left the country since the pandemic started in January 2020. China has also seen an alarming drop in passengers going overseas or coming into China from 50 million in the first 8 months of 2019, to 1 million in the first 8 months of 2021, a drop of 49 million passengers, according to data from the Civil Aviation Administration. Government directives are to minimize foreign travel as a result of the pandemic. People in the US see the operations in China of companies such as Apple and now Tesla as a sign of how well the system of international cooperation is functioning without realizing that these companies never had the understanding of the history and culture of the country after two centuries of struggle against colonialism. When the situation takes a different turn as it has after Mr. Trump raised the issue of American workers and loss of manufacturing, and after the pandemic created unexpected distrust, there is very little these companies have to offer to keep the relationship between two of the world's population blocs, between North America and the closely related population of South America, with the people of China, a billion people on each side. This shows that the relationship cannot be left only to the business and private sector driven by profit and business interests, that all sections of the population in China and in the US need to be involved for a stable relationship with ongoing human and cultural contacts at all levels. ...

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This editorial in the Economist looks at China's relationship with Russia. It says the Ukraine conflict and western sanctions have resulted in Russia moving closer to China. Yet the two countries have competing interests in central Asia, and different relations with India and Vietnam, in the Asian region. Russia is also wary of China copying designs of Sukhoi aircraft in sales to China of advanced military technology. The major oil and gas deal signed in 2014 provides Russia with a new outlet for oil and gas with the cooling of the relationship with Europe. Yet Russia has strong ties built with Germany over the entire post war period, and differences have emerged in U.S.- German relations. Germany's relationship with Russia- cooled by sanctions and German wariness over Russian intervention in Ukraine and Russian wariness over NATO close to its borders- spans 7 decades and is likely to remain strong in the long term. This comes from the shared sense of awareness of the terrible conflicts of an earlier period, just as it has for French-German relations, and from the strong efforts made by Germany to preserve the relationship and peace in Europe. Chinese president Xi's visit to Moscow on May 9, for celebrations of victory over Nazi Germany, will be followed by a visit May 10 by Chancellor Merkel of Germany. A factor in German-Russian relations is the close trade links, cultural exchanges, and history going back to the GDR where Chancellor Merkel is from, built up over many years, that are likely to set the long term future of relations. China's dominant partner relationship in the China- Russia relations does not bode well for the future of relations, compared to the equal partner relations with its European neighbor, Germany. In this different light Ukraine is a temporary pause, in German-Russian relations and peace in Europe, a situation which is in China's long term interest as it focusses on its economy and the next phase of development for a modernized economy. Especially as China continues to build on its own vital trade relations with Germany and the European Union, the latest example being Germany, other EU nations, and India, joining the China sponsored Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. ...

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Just 2 weeks before president Xi's arrival in New Delhi for a G-20 Summit, Xi meets prime minister Modi at the Johannesburg BRICS summit. Modi and Xi agree on an expeditious disengagement of forces at the Line of Actual Control after Modi tells Xi that maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas and respecting the LAC is essential for a normal India China relationship.  

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This WSJ report looks at US-Russia relations under different administrations with US presidents failing to understand the intentions of the Russian president as Eastern European countries sought a new relationship with the US and western Europe. The view of western leaders was events such as the 1956 Hungarian revolution and the 1968 Czech revolution and the entry of Soviet Russian tanks into Budapest and Prague were a thing of the distant past. 

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With the change in U.S. position on climate change, carbon emissions, and the move to raise tariffs on China's exports to the U.S. China faces a new dimension in its global relationships. Against this background China is shifting to a long term view of its relationship with India. China's new foreign policy leaders after the recent party Congress, vice president Wang Qishan and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, now see the need for new partners in a multipolar global world for the long term as China and India countries with large populations and a need for stable world trade share common interests. Wang steers the Central Foreign Affairs Commission with Yang Jiechi as director. China now sees " a lot of shared interests, concerns and positions," in the words of China's Representative Lu, in the long term issues of globalisation, urbanization, pollution, and concern for achieving stable development with high growth rates.  China now takes the long view looking back at the unprecedented change of the last 100 years, as it maps out its plans for the future. The U.S. has challenged the ideas in the blueprint for development of "Made in China 2025," particularly as it relates to western transfer of technology to China. This has created a new situation for which China is still looking for answers, and ways to come up with new strategies for development without the nearly unrestricted access to western technology of the last 2 decades.  Shared positions on world trade with India and India's close relations with the U.S. add credibility in China's  negotiating positions with the U.S.                  ...

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This opinion in the Economist magazine says Britain's position in the world has never been this low since the Suez crisis in 1956. With its volatile politics and no sense of direction Britain it says has lost its place in the world. During the Suez crisis Anthony Eden's efforts to restore Britain's position in Egypt was torn down by America. The U.S. pursues its own interests first- so much for the special relationship with America. It is only when the three pillars that sustained Britain operate together does Britain have a role- its relationship with America gives it a special place in the EU, and its relationship with the EU gives it a special place with America and acts as a counterbalance to Germany and France inside the EU. The third pillar is Britain's place with the emerging world which is supported by its being a member of the EU, a 500 million people market. The Economist counts as mere deceptions the idea that British industry is handicapped by being in the EU. It says the Mittelstand has done well with the EU market, so has British industry.     ...

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How some aspects of tech company including Google's dominance was achieved is shown here in this investigation by the WSJ. WSJ points to how Google and others tech companies kept regulators away and handled challenges when inappropriate relationships were involved. In this report WSJ looks at the role of Joshua Wright, a law professor at a major university.

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The need for institutions that promote cultural contact between the US, Europe and the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America particularly during and after the pandemic. This is something that cannot be outsourced to the private for profit sector. The Guardian calls "bizarre" and "self-sabotaging" the British governments outsourcing of some of the important work of the British Council that was founded in 1934 in an effort to begin the hard work of building relationships with the rest of the world. The Goethe Institut of Germany is also doing this work of building relationships with better funding, better funding, and good leadership, an effort to reverse flow the direction so that the German public gets a better understanding of Africa and other developing countries in the world. The reverse flow is a vital and necessary concept because of the ignorance or lack of knowledge in US and Europe of rapidly developing countries in the rest of the world during a period of great technological change and youthful populations. ...

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Harvard loss of all federal funds for violation of Student civil rights. In a letter to Harvard's president the administration lawyers said the results of it's investigation shows Harvard violated the civil rights of students with it's indifference to the plight of Jewish students. 

“Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government. Harvard may of course continue to operate free of federal privileges, and perhaps such an opportunity will spur a commitment to excellence that will help Harvard thrive once again.”