2020 Strategic and Political Analysis-1

[schinnas]

A huge campaign has been started on EIA 2020. It was originally started by some welleaning environmentalists. But now PFI, church orgs, BIF and virulent anti BJP elements (commies, congis) have joined.

Since everyone loves to virtue signal without any research, lot of youth seem to be signing petitions, etc.

[Theeran]

A huge campaign has been started on EIA 2020. It was originally started by some welleaning environmentalists. But now PFI, church orgs, BIF and virulent anti BJP elements (commies, congis) have joined.

Since everyone loves to virtue signal without any research, lot of youth seem to be signing petitions, etc.

Mostly lies and half truths are being spread through Youtube and Whatsapp. Hair stylists are the new environmentalists. I got a few requests to sign petitions. It is also probable that this is used to divert the Karuppar Kootam fiasco.

The new political entrant, former IPS, Annamalai had spoken in favor of Modi. WhatsApp messages have started discrediting him.

[chetak]

the game is hotting up in RAJ.

the congis, already on a wafer thin majority are skating on thin ice

ANI@ANI·2h

BSP issues whip to its 6 MLAs- R Gudha, Lakhan Singh, Deep Chand, JS Awana, Sandeep Kumar & Wajib Ali, who are elected to Rajasthan Assembly, directing them to vote against Congress in any "No Confidence Motion" or any proceedings to be held during Rajasthan Assembly Session.

[chetak]

how shampoo boy's career was kickstarted and it was by nepotism and thel maalish.

this explains many things

Those who failed to understand :- he is talking about Sulekha menon, wife of chandran tharoor and mother of Shashi tharoor.

So.....Sashi Tharoor was allowed to represent India in the Young Professionals Programme of the UN because of the service done by the so called escort to Nehru.....that is a big gratitude move by the Gandhis....

धर्म सर्वप्रथम@ThinkersPad·5h

My God!!! Chandran Tharoor worked at Statesman in Calcutta, escort visiting PM means J L Nehru. PM’s daughter means Indira. History grad & son of escort indicated Shashi Tharoor who started his career in 1970s at UN.

Ecosystem is made in many ways. This is one.

RV Subramani @RudraVS

Talking about wives please recall Calcutta days. A wife of Statesman journalist was the Escort of PM on his Calcutta visits. Well repaid by PM'daughter PM repaying by ensuring entry into YPP of UN in 70s to a History grad & son of the escort.

[chetak]

This is even more intriguing!

And talking of wives....Oh well.....

[chetak]

not able to get enough votes though worrisome is understandable

but not enough roughage..........

[Dumal]

a blast from the past

k. m. panikkar, India's ambassador to China who Patel described as behaving often like China's ambassador to India worried that his daughter would become a Communist, and wanted to stop the reconstruction of the Somnath Temple.
...

Made me dig deeper on google. Found this https://maddy06.blogspot.com/2009/06/sa ... y.html?m=1 interesting long blog article. Overall, it sounds to me like the Macauley infliction was what made these kind of folks lose balance. Otherwise an interesting character.

[chetak]

the sheer venality of freeloading politicians habituated to a lifetime of feeding adroitly and sumptuously from the public trough is unbelievable.

this is a property "owned" by a notorious and controversial character

does anyone realize that our lives, for the longest time, was controlled and governed by anglo Indians, furriners, and the likes, the very embodiment and representatives of the remnants of the colonial raj which yoke we had "successfully" overthrown



Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shifted to an eight-room penthouse at DLF Aralia in Sector 42, Gurugram, on Friday night. For the next few months, she will be staying in the 10,000-sq ft penthouse which has an exclusive lift, double kitchen, terrace and a swimming pool.

[chetak]

What about Rafael

And the career has gone to hell !

pallavi ghosh@_pallavighosh

“ I won’t lie to my people .. I won’t lie if my whole career goes to hell “ @RahulGandhi

10:19 AM · Jul 27, 2020

[SRajesh]

What about Rafael

And the career has gone to hell !

pallavi ghosh@_pallavighosh

“ I won’t lie to my people .. I won’t lie if my whole career goes to hell “ @RahulGandhi

10:19 AM · Jul 27, 2020

Chetakji
In that interview he says as an 'Indian' it makes his blood boil
Questions for the RaGa;
1. Is he really indian or at anytime he held another 'passport'
2. He should then come clean about the rumours of his arrest in US, and who know if he shows 'Paschayatap' people may forgive him (as he says career doesn't matter anymore or maybe he know it has reached hell already )
3. At the same time he should come clean on the financial irregularities of the RGF and the Familia

[SRajesh]

how shampoo boy's career was kickstarted and it was by nepotism and thel maalish.

this explains many things

Those who failed to understand :- he is talking about Sulekha menon, wife of chandran tharoor and mother of Shashi tharoor.

So.....Sashi Tharoor was allowed to represent India in the Young Professionals Programme of the UN because of the service done by the so called escort to Nehru.....that is a big gratitude move by the Gandhis....

Chetakji
People should publish more of 'Chacha Banditji's' Peccadillos!!

[darshan]

One would think that fake human rights groups and urban naxals in media would be all over this but they aren't. Why don't they want him out of jail or care that he's out?

Rajiv Gandhi assassination case: AG Perarivalan approaches Mumbai HC seeking details on Sanjay Dutt’s release
https://www.wionews.com/india-news/raji ... ase-316248
Although Perarivalan (at the age of 19) was convicted under the grounds of having provided two 9-volt batteries which were used in the bomb that killed Rajiv Gandhi, it has been established later that he merely procured the batteries without knowing about the conspiracy or what the batteries would be used for.

It is notable that, despite the President of India having rejected actor Dutt’s clemency petition and his conviction under a law that falls under Central government’s jurisdiction, the Maharashtra state government had used its legal powers, rights to grant permission for the actor’s early release.

In March 2016, Perarivalan had sought details under the Right to Information Act (RTI), regarding the legal procedures that led to Dutt’s early release on compassionate grounds. However, it is stated that the response from the Yervada Jail Information Officer and higher authority- Pune district Information office was lax. Hence Perarivalan’s lawyers have approached the Mumbai High court requesting action against the erring officials and also seeking more details on Dutt’s release.

“When Dutt and Arivu are punished under the same Arms act, how did the Maharashtra government decide on releasing Dutt on their own, without discussing with the Central government. If we get the documents and procedures leading to Dutt’s release by the State government, we could get more clarity” K.Sivakumar Arivu’s lawyer told WION, expressing hope.

The Mumbai High Court has agreed to take up this case and the hearing date is expected to be revealed in the following week.

[chetak]

x posted from the defanging chinese thread


the pakis have well and truly hobbled themselves, with plenty more of the same to come in the near future

now one seriously wonders what the cheeni congi MOU is really all about and OBOR/BRI could be cleverly tucked away in it

Chinese Dream: Xi’s attempted coup against Pakistan

Chinese Dream: Xi’s attempted coup against Pakistan

China's Communist leader has managed the creation of a supra-constitutional CPEC Authority

ALI SALMAN ANDANI
JULY 25, 2020


Xi Jinping is all set to sideline the democratically elected representatives and civil servants of the people of Pakistan so as to expand his direct influence over the political and economic processes of the country.

Since 2016, Xi, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China has been forcing the Pakistani establishment to put pressure on the government (it was Nawaz Sharif’s government back then) to sideline the Planning Ministry’s role in the implementation and monitoring of the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Xi pushed for the creation of a supra-constitutional CPEC Authority that would freelance the management of the predatory infrastructure and power-generation projects under his direct command.

The proposal was rejected then, but last year it was again presented before the prime minister of the country – now Imran Khan. The reason given was timely completion of the projects.

This time the prime minister is a full-fledged puppet of the military establishment, and therefore it was easier than before to manipulate the law to fulfill Xi’s desire to take over the Planning Ministry of Pakistan, and in future the country itself.

I consider Pakistan’s Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives one of the most crucial state institutions, whose senior bureaucrats could implicitly scrutinize and resist Xi’s draconian CPEC scheme, as they had access to all of the secret documents on the agreement and were involved, directly and indirectly, in the decision-making process.

So long as the reins were under the control of civilian institutions led by representatives of the people and civil servants, thorough accountability of Xi’s master plan at least at some level and at some point in time – if not at once – was possible. Sidelining the civil institutions altogether would allow Xi to play on both sides of the board.

The agreement was so highly confidential that even the secretary of maritime affairs once refused to show it to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance. So one can imagine what an above-the-law sort of deal it must be.

The CPEC Authority was established in October last year using a presidential ordinance (without parliament’s approval) for four months and then was given another four-month extension. But Xi wants permanent control. And now that the establishment has its puppet in the Prime Minister’s House, it is putting all of its efforts into making the Authority more powerful and a permanent part of the constitution by pushing it through parliament.




CPEC Authority Ordinance 2019. -Source: Pakistan Planning Commission website

Since the Authority has come into existence, its chairman has been a retired lieutenant-general.

Xi doesn’t want the Belt and Road Initiative or any of its components to be held accountable or face resistance. He knows that his Chinese Dream of indoctrination of a majority of free people of the world by 2050 will not be fulfilled if the people of the countries victimized by the BRI come to know about his strategy to destroy their futures and those of their future generations.

The truth is that he is burdening those countries in debt traps while they are already suffering from intense balance-of-payments crises. Xi will slowly poison Pakistan and other poor economies by creating extreme shortages of foreign-exchange reserves. In the end, these countries will have to accept the invasion of their political and economic systems by the Communist Party of China.

Four months ago, an inquiry into the workings of independent power producers (IPPs) took place in which two major coal-fired power-plant projects that were built under the CPEC – Huaneng Shandong Ruyi Energy and Port Qasim Electric Power Company – were found involved in corruption as they had misrepresented interest during construction to loot almost US$226 million from the dollar-strapped Pakistani economy.

The supra-constitutional CPEC Authority will act as the CPC’s subsidiary in Pakistan and will be responsible for conceiving, implementing, expanding, enforcing, controlling, regulating, coordinating, monitoring, evaluating and carrying out all activities related to the CPEC.

Furthermore, it will have the constitutional power to initiate an investigation and impose penalties against any public office holder (including the prime minister and president of Pakistan) or any other person who is directly or indirectly engaged in CPEC-related activities who willfully resist directions, instructions or specified orders of the CPEC Authority.

Even the prime minister’s powers will be limited to what is specified in the CPEC Authority Bill 2020. So he too will have to obey Xi’s commands.

According to a news report (that soon after its publication was mysteriously taken down), the chairman of the Authority – who, as noted above, is a retired lieutenant-general – will co-chair the Joint Cooperation Committee as the democratically elected planning minister will be removed from this position.

The JCC is the main decision-making body of CPEC. It has members from both Pakistan and China. But every year the Chinese officials at the JCC meetings browbeat the Pakistani officials as they review the making of Xi’s version of the East India Company.

As the world moves toward 2050, Xi’s plan of China’s ultimate control of the majority of the emerging-market economies is becoming crystal clear. At the cost of its sovereignty, territorial integrity and freedom of its people, the “selected” government of Pakistan is finding a permanent place in Xi’s basket.

Today he will attempt coup against the Ministry of Planning; next in his playbook could be its Defense Ministry, IT Ministry, Human Rights Ministry, Petroleum Ministry and many more.

[chetak]

why, because rigging has become very difficult now


Omar Abdullah writes: While Jammu and Kashmir remains UT, will not contest Assembly elections

[chetak]

Bhim Bhurtel is visiting faculty for a master's in international relations and diplomacy, Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, and faculty for a master's program of Development Economics, Nepal Open University.

his writings have a distinct anti India flavor but nevertheless, do read what he has to say

BTW, banning of illegal palm oil exports from BD to India has also upset them. they seem to have assumed that it is their islamic and sovereign right to palm off malayasian palm imports as beedi produce and expect India to lump it.

everyone wants a piece of India on their own sweet terms, else we are the bad guys. India clamping down on the beedi border has seriously hampered paki drugs, fake paki made Indian currency from entering India, and Indian cows being illegally exported to beedi land via begum mumtaz's bengal.

It's high time that we started to treat all neighbours as equals and and keep our terms strictly business instead of beingnly trying to curry favor with them. For a start complete the border fencing, completely shut down the beedi border and make all cross border movements conditional and strictly legal.



Bangladesh’s snub another blow for India

Bangladesh’s snub another blow for India

The BJP's failure to learn from past mistakes is damaging its prestige and influence in its South Asian neighborhood

BHIM BHURTEL
JULY 27, 2020


One of India’s most read and oldest English-language dailies, The Hindu, posted an article by foreign-policy journalist Kallol Bhattacherjee early on Saturday about Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s fourth consecutive snub of India’s high commissioner to Dhaka, Riva Ganguly Das.

The article reflected the outcry of the Indian foreign-policy realm on Bangladesh’s recent “tilt” toward China and Pakistan, countries they consider to be India’s “adversaries.”

The story also represents the mindset of Indian Foreign Service officials and foreign affairs journalists on how they see their small and weak neighbors in South Asia. Indian external-affairs mandarins consider themselves viceroys and their neighbors as Indian colonies.

India has been facing one foreign-policy debacle to another in the neighborhood after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party won the 2014 general election. Although India’s strategists, politicians, many strategic analysts, and foreign-policy journalists who are cheerleaders of the BJP’s Hindu nationalist agenda, noting that India has gained support from the US and the Quad countries, none of the South Asian countries except Bhutan, an Indian protectorate, have supported New Delhi.

Indo-Pakistani relations can be best described as a belligerent since the Uri attacks on September 18, 2016. At that time, New Delhi accused Islamabad of involvement in exporting terrorism against India. There is no sign of normalizing their relationship soon.


AT Premium
India on August 5, 2019, revoked Article 370 of its constitution that had granted Jammu and Kashmir special status. It issued a new political map of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, including Pakistan-administered Kashmir’s three districts, after designating the territory as administrated by the Indian federal government on November 2.

The Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have been facing off in Ladakh since May 15 this year. Chinese strategists believe that India stabbed China in the back while the latter was temporarily vulnerable to allegations of mishandling the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nepal protested India’s issuance of the new political map, which also included Lipidhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani, territories claimed by Kathmandu. Nepal-India relations have been at a record low since May 15.

Relations had normalized in early 2016, having deteriorated when India imposed an economic blockade against Nepal in September 2015 as Kathmandu refused to succumb to New Delhi’s pressure to declare the country a Hindu state in the new constitution that was promulgated that month.

As for Bangladesh, it has refused Indian requests for talks several times since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration passed the Citizenship Amendment Act on December 11, 2019. The CAA allows granting of Indian citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered Indian territory before December 31, 2014.

Although the Indian government had praised the Bangladeshi government for taking measures to protect religious minorities, the CAA allows non-Muslim migrants who entered India before December 2014 from Bangladesh to apply for citizenship by claiming they had been persecuted. Hasina has been in power since January 2009.

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen canceled his trip at the time of boarding the aircraft for New Delhi that was scheduled for December 12-14, 2019.

Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Anurag Srivastava tweeted that Momen had canceled his India trip because of his busy schedule coinciding with Martyred Intellectuals Day and Victory Day in Bangladesh, adding that the Bangladeshi state minister for foreign affairs, Shahriar Alam, and the foreign secretary were also out of the country.

However, it was widely believed that Momen and his cabinet colleague Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan canceled their India trip over their dissatisfaction with the situation developing out of BJP government’s passing of the controversial CAA.

Speaking on a motion to thank the president of India for his speech at a joint session of the Indian Parliament, Viplove Thakur, a member from the Indian National Congress of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house, said that four Bangladeshi ministers had rejected New Delhi’s invitation to visit India on February 7, 2020, over the CAA row.

Although she didn’t mention the names of any of those Bangladeshi ministers or their portfolios, it seems clear that the BJP’s nationalist agenda has been diminishing India’s sphere of influence sharply in the neighborhood.

The timing of The Hindu report matters a lot to Indians. The Sino-Indian military standoff in Ladakh has been dragging on. Amid New Delhi’s tense relationship with Beijing, Bangladesh and China signed a duty-free agreement on June 19. Under that pact, China provides duty-free access to 97% of Bangladeshi products.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh is expediting the strengthening of its ties with China. It awarded a contract for construction of a new terminal at Osmani International Airport in Sylhet to a Chinese company, Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUCG). The airport is near the border between Bangladesh and the northeastern Indian state of Assam.

Referring to Bhorer Kagoj, a prominent Bangladeshi daily, The Hindu reported that Sheikh Hasina had refused to meet with the Indian high commissioner despite repeated requests during the last four months.

The Hindu quoted Shyamal Dutta, the editor of Bhorer Kagoj, as saying, “Despite India’s concern, Bangladesh has given the contract of building an airport terminal in Sylhet to a Chinese company. Indian High Commissioner Riva Ganguly Das tried for four months to get an appointment with the prime minister of Bangladesh but did not get it.


ATF
“Bangladesh has not even sent a note of appreciation to India in response to Indian assistance for the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The Hindu also reported that all Indian projects in Bangladesh have slowed down since Sheikh Hasina was re-elected as prime minister for a third time in 2019 while speeding up Chinese infrastructure projects.

Dhaka’s snub came after a similar move by Iran recently. Tehran has decided to implement the Chabahar Port Railway Project without India’s investment after the two countries had signed an agreement to undertake the project jointly. The Hindu’s story of new development in Dhaka depicts how Bangladesh hit India’s nose hard after Iran had done so.

What happened in the past matters for the future to a person or a country because they can learn from past mistakes and avoid repeating them. But in India, the opposite is true. The BJP government is not learning from the past and is committing the same mistakes one after another.

The events after the BJP was re-elected for a second term in May 2019 have taken India nowhere on the global stage. India has not been able to maintain its vanguard position on the South Asian regional stage either. The BJP’s re-election looks like an albatross hung on India’s neck, not only in domestic affairs but also in foreign affairs, particularly in the neighborhood.

[suryag]

I dont know what to say about this Chetak ji, basically if you start acting confident everyone will go away, they want us to act wimp and limp. I dont think the above person understands that this is a new chapter in India's progression and it will be like this going forward under this dispensation.

[pankajs]

Bhim Bhurtel 's previous uvvach ... Everyone and his father except the blind or ideologically inclined knows the below is not true. Bhim babu seems to be on a trip of how own.

https://asiatimes.com/2020/07/ladakh-st ... free-fall/
Ladakh standoff pushes Modi’s popularity into free-fall

Gandhi asked Modi to prove his strongman image in the Ladakh standoff. Interestingly, Gandhi’s allegation came just as US President Donald Trump hinted at a change in his China policy.

Modi failed to take into sufficient consideration that Trump wants above all to be re-elected this November. He wants to use all possible domestic and foreign actors who can help to his re-election bid. Modi looks foolish because he was unable to calculate that Trump was using him to win the presidential election. {Wonlee Bhim babu knows that leaders use their meeting to bolster their image amongst the own electorate. Modi, sadly, does not understand this }

Instead, Modi calculated that the US really wanted to support him to contain China at a time when China was briefly vulnerable because of its alleged mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Modi over-relied on his strategic aides and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strategists who suggested that China was in a weak moment and that India could take revenge for its defeat in the 1962 Sino-Indian war. {Not even Rafool has suggested this The author farter is high on some potent stuff or perhaps his Modi hate has taken control of his senses}

Despite instigating harsh anti-Chinese rhetoric, Trump has failed to prevent a decline in his popularity as compared with his opponent, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Biden leads Trump by a double-digit margin as the gross failure to combat Covid-19 takes a toll on the president in the most recent opinion polls. The latest polls paint a gloomy picture for Trump, and it is not likely he will win re-election merely on anti-Chinese rhetoric. As a result, Trump is under pressure to alter his China strategy. {Given the way the para starts and ends, one would expect Trump to go easy on China! But alas for our friend Bhim, Trump admin has turned the screws on China further. }

Overall, this guy is inventing facts and writing ideological stuff. I would have zero trust on both his facts and analysis on any issue related to India/BJP/Modi.

I would also have zero trust on this facts and analysis on Bangladesh. Can we go easy on our neighbors based on such 3rd rate analyst? There is no point on getting angsty based on such 3rd rate piece.

Finally, I think more than Bangladesh, it is Nepal's elites that have lost the Indian market and are feeling the pain. Plus Nepal's trade deficit with India is going to increase putting further pressure on Nepal. The guy cannot bring himself to admit the pain bu want's India to backoff. Bangladesh is just a convenient should to fire on India where as the real pain in in Kathmandu.

[chetak]

I dont know what to say about this Chetak ji, basically if you start acting confident everyone will go away, they want us to act wimp and limp. I dont think the above person understands that this is a new chapter in India's progression and it will be like this going forward under this dispensation.

suryag saar,

we have trained our "neighbors" to exhibit such pavlovian behavior over the past 70 odd years by our own needless export of sickular policies and extrapolating our social anxieties over minority vote banks.

we did the same in SL but were severely constrained by TN politics, same again in beediland but constrained again by bengal politics, fiddled with nepal regime change because Hindu's never mattered and finally, we dealt with the pakis constrained for decades by UP politics.

no one to blame but ourselves for willingly accepting dynastic blood leadership with gaddar western genes and traitors greatly amenable to BIF demands.

but we also tend to forget that in a post truth world the regional/global dynamics of disinformation regins supreme

[pankajs]

https://twitter.com/news18dotcom/status ... 9500627968

#OPINION: Some leaders belonging to Congress want Rahul to team up with ally Udhav Thackeray to pay a visit to Ayodhya and keep Prime Minister Narendra Modi from walking away with all credit for construction of Ram temple, writes @rasheedkidwai

[chetak]

https://twitter.com/news18dotcom/status ... 9500627968

#OPINION: Some leaders belonging to Congress want Rahul to team up with ally Udhav Thackeray to pay a visit to Ayodhya and keep Prime Minister Narendra Modi from walking away with all credit for construction of Ram temple, writes @rasheedkidwai

this is a sharpened but rusty knife slyly being placed at the throat of these two guys by by pawarful peoples interested in making decisive headway into their traditional votebanks and consolidating the ummah

[pankajs]

https://twitter.com/nitingokhale/status ... 9278760961

Nitin A. Gokhale @nitingokhale

Am I the only one to feel that the Rafale story is being overhyped? Let’s be realistic: Only when the entire 36 aircraft get inducted and integrated into the IAF one can say they will make a difference.

we need to rid ourselves of the silver bullet complex and the savior complex.

[chetak]

https://twitter.com/nitingokhale/status ... 9278760961

Nitin A. Gokhale @nitingokhale

Am I the only one to feel that the Rafale story is being overhyped? Let’s be realistic: Only when the entire 36 aircraft get inducted and integrated into the IAF one can say they will make a difference.

we need to rid ourselves of the silver bullet complex and the savior complex.

5 aircraft make a fairly serious difference but obviously not as much as 36 would and 36 could open up many other options for us

[SRajesh]

x posted from the defanging chinese thread


the pakis have well and truly hobbled themselves, with plenty more of the same to come in the near future

now one seriously wonders what the cheeni congi MOU is really all about and OBOR/BRI could be cleverly tucked away in it

Chinese Dream: Xi’s attempted coup against Pakistan

Chinese Dream: Xi’s attempted coup against Pakistan

China's Communist leader has managed the creation of a supra-constitutional CPEC Authority

ALI SALMAN ANDANI
JULY 25, 2020


Xi Jinping is all set to sideline the democratically elected representatives and civil servants of the people of Pakistan so as to expand his direct influence over the political and economic processes of the country.

Since 2016, Xi, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China has been forcing the Pakistani establishment to put pressure on the government (it was Nawaz Sharif’s government back then) to sideline the Planning Ministry’s role in the implementation and monitoring of the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Xi pushed for the creation of a supra-constitutional CPEC Authority that would freelance the management of the predatory infrastructure and power-generation projects under his direct command.

The proposal was rejected then, but last year it was again presented before the prime minister of the country – now Imran Khan. The reason given was timely completion of the projects.

This time the prime minister is a full-fledged puppet of the military establishment, and therefore it was easier than before to manipulate the law to fulfill Xi’s desire to take over the Planning Ministry of Pakistan, and in future the country itself.

I consider Pakistan’s Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives one of the most crucial state institutions, whose senior bureaucrats could implicitly scrutinize and resist Xi’s draconian CPEC scheme, as they had access to all of the secret documents on the agreement and were involved, directly and indirectly, in the decision-making process.

So long as the reins were under the control of civilian institutions led by representatives of the people and civil servants, thorough accountability of Xi’s master plan at least at some level and at some point in time – if not at once – was possible. Sidelining the civil institutions altogether would allow Xi to play on both sides of the board.

The agreement was so highly confidential that even the secretary of maritime affairs once refused to show it to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance. So one can imagine what an above-the-law sort of deal it must be.

The CPEC Authority was established in October last year using a presidential ordinance (without parliament’s approval) for four months and then was given another four-month extension. But Xi wants permanent control. And now that the establishment has its puppet in the Prime Minister’s House, it is putting all of its efforts into making the Authority more powerful and a permanent part of the constitution by pushing it through parliament.




CPEC Authority Ordinance 2019. -Source: Pakistan Planning Commission website

Since the Authority has come into existence, its chairman has been a retired lieutenant-general.

Xi doesn’t want the Belt and Road Initiative or any of its components to be held accountable or face resistance. He knows that his Chinese Dream of indoctrination of a majority of free people of the world by 2050 will not be fulfilled if the people of the countries victimized by the BRI come to know about his strategy to destroy their futures and those of their future generations.

The truth is that he is burdening those countries in debt traps while they are already suffering from intense balance-of-payments crises. Xi will slowly poison Pakistan and other poor economies by creating extreme shortages of foreign-exchange reserves. In the end, these countries will have to accept the invasion of their political and economic systems by the Communist Party of China.

Four months ago, an inquiry into the workings of independent power producers (IPPs) took place in which two major coal-fired power-plant projects that were built under the CPEC – Huaneng Shandong Ruyi Energy and Port Qasim Electric Power Company – were found involved in corruption as they had misrepresented interest during construction to loot almost US$226 million from the dollar-strapped Pakistani economy.

The supra-constitutional CPEC Authority will act as the CPC’s subsidiary in Pakistan and will be responsible for conceiving, implementing, expanding, enforcing, controlling, regulating, coordinating, monitoring, evaluating and carrying out all activities related to the CPEC.

Furthermore, it will have the constitutional power to initiate an investigation and impose penalties against any public office holder (including the prime minister and president of Pakistan) or any other person who is directly or indirectly engaged in CPEC-related activities who willfully resist directions, instructions or specified orders of the CPEC Authority.

Even the prime minister’s powers will be limited to what is specified in the CPEC Authority Bill 2020. So he too will have to obey Xi’s commands.

According to a news report (that soon after its publication was mysteriously taken down), the chairman of the Authority – who, as noted above, is a retired lieutenant-general – will co-chair the Joint Cooperation Committee as the democratically elected planning minister will be removed from this position.

The JCC is the main decision-making body of CPEC. It has members from both Pakistan and China. But every year the Chinese officials at the JCC meetings browbeat the Pakistani officials as they review the making of Xi’s version of the East India Company.

As the world moves toward 2050, Xi’s plan of China’s ultimate control of the majority of the emerging-market economies is becoming crystal clear. At the cost of its sovereignty, territorial integrity and freedom of its people, the “selected” government of Pakistan is finding a permanent place in Xi’s basket.

Today he will attempt coup against the Ministry of Planning; next in his playbook could be its Defense Ministry, IT Ministry, Human Rights Ministry, Petroleum Ministry and many more.

Chetakji
This reminds me of : National Advisory Council (the Supra constitutional authority set up by the Familia)
The 'Familia' are too dumb to come up with such a plan.
Even Snake-oil S and Chiddu have too much of constitution in them to suggest this.
I wonder if the CCP have been grooming the 'Familia' for longer than we reckon.
This must be Xi's plan all along
NAC and RGF, no wonder we were in such a bind and Xi could do pretty much what he wanted.
Another 10 yrs of UPA India as it is today would have ceased to exist?

[sanjayc]

I think National Advisory Council was an operation thought up in the US, not by China

[chetak]

I think National Advisory Council was an operation thought up in the US, not by China

the NAC was minority heavy and as is la famiglia.

it was also when YSR flourished as did people in TN.

[schinnas]

Union minister Javadekar continues to astonish everyone with his incompetence. After wasting years as HRD minister with very little to show for it, with the new educational policy still not ready and not considered a comprehensive reform by educationist amongst BJP, he is repeating it with EIA 2020.

There is no positive communication as to why some changes are made or proposed makes everyone concerned with environment look suspiciously at EIA 2020. Except for NaMo, Jaishankar, Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, Goel and Gadkari, the rest are yet to prove themselves. Sitaraman atleast tries hard.

[chetak]

Union minister Javadekar continues to astonish everyone with his incompetence. After wasting years as HRD minister with very little to show for it, with the new educational policy still not ready and not considered a comprehensive reform by educationist amongst BJP, he is repeating it with EIA 2020.

There is no positive communication as to why some changes are made or proposed makes everyone concerned with environment look suspiciously at EIA 2020. Except for NaMo, Jaishankar, Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, Goel and Gadkari, the rest are yet to prove themselves. Sitaraman atleast tries hard.

check it out but it appears that they had a site in the beginning of the new govt's term asking for suggestions to formulate the new educational curriculum and there was a massive storm of opposition to it so it appears to have been momentarily shelved and low hanging fruit gathered first before venturing to controversial subjects that would require huge expenditure of political capital with very little ROI.

why do you think that renaming of roads and cities have completely slowed down and attention diverted to handling other less controversial topics.

historically and for centuries now, the educational space has been rigged and contaminated purposely and purposefully, more so after independence, so as to aid the massive conversion mafia and the BIF fronted FFNGO networks. There is massive opposition to any changes here and they all want to maintain status quo so that they can operate unhindered. As it is, the FCRA has hit them real bad and surely more will follow.

At some stage, the govt will surely circle back but it may be a while before they actually get around to it.

take it easy, they have the same objectives but the order of preference in tackling them may be a tad bit different from yours.

the overall bucket list seems to be the same.

the job needs to get done and local & national elections/international relations also have to simultaneously managed.

MAD are juggling multiple balls at the same time so give them some space

smriti irani is a heavy hitter with her heart in the right place. Recall what happened to her when she ventured into the educational space and curriculum quagmire and how the national and international press and SM ganged up on her.

Now see how she has handled the covid crisis using her textile ministry as the nodal point to almost single-handedly ramp up PPE production from zero to making India one of the largest PPE producers in the world in so short a time.

Also, did she not single-handedly wipe the floor with the mythically "invincible" famiglia during the elections in amethi, exactly as she said years before that she would.

the vindictive press has stayed completely silent on her solo stellar performances while constantly kissing the backside of a 50 year old "youth" with a history of bizarre behavior and desperately fighting to stay politically relevant.

even bollywood doesn't speak of her but at the same time nor do they dare to criticize her in any way.

[KL Dubey]

Except for NaMo, Jaishankar, Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, Goel and Gadkari, the rest are yet to prove themselves. Sitaraman atleast tries hard.

Pradhan seems to have done a very good job with petroleum. Puri seems to be running a tight ship.

Of the other cabinet ministers (25 total), nobody seems to be royally screwing things up.

I'll be very interested to see the performance of the new Jal Shakti ministry.

I think Javadekar is doing a decent job. The EIA 2020 is just a draft, which can be revised based upon public comment/criticisms. Not sure why people are getting jittery about it now.

Hard to measure the performance of ministers of state through open source information. But RK Singh (renewable energy) seems quite active.

[suryag]

In this Govt, you have to pick up the non performing ministers instead of picking the performing ministers(as they are quite a lot of them).

My list of NPMs
1. JAvadekar Sir
2. RS Prasad Sir
3. Paswan Sir(borderline) - need to see how the nationwide ration card works out before i can comment

[chetak]

Except for NaMo, Jaishankar, Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, Goel and Gadkari, the rest are yet to prove themselves. Sitaraman atleast tries hard.

Pradhan seems to have done a very good job with petroleum. Puri seems to be running a tight ship.

Of the other cabinet ministers (25 total), nobody seems to be royally screwing things up.

I'll be very interested to see the performance of the new Jal Shakti ministry.

I think Javadekar is doing a decent job. The EIA 2020 is just a draft, which can be revised based upon public comment/criticisms. Not sure why people are getting jittery about it now.

Hard to measure the performance of ministers of state through open source information. But RK Singh (renewable energy) seems quite active.

the environment, land issues, especially for acquisition to benefit the industry, the sham banking system, humungous NPAs, non procurement of essential defence equipment, allowing the chinese BOP and the huge subsidy issues to rise unchecked and many other items as well, they were all landmines carefully undisclosed and hidden wantonly left behind so as to ensure that the new govt failed just from the sheer weight of the inherited load of pending problems that was artfully foisted on it at the very minute it came to power.

considering all of these circumstances, this govt has done reasonably well. Couldn't have expected any thing better unless one were seriously hell bent on nitpicking for the sake of it

unfortunately, for the still stunned opposition, it was a political black swan, with Modi getting an unbreakable majority on his own in both elections.

[Srutayus]

https://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor/statu ... 3834178561

In case anyone missed it, Shashi Tharoor endorsed a view that Hindus have less claim to India since they are not buried in the land.
He then brazenly abused those who took umbrage at this by throwing his insult of choice at them: "Sanghis"

Here is the background from Opindia: https://www.opindia.com/2020/07/badri-r ... am-hindus/

[ranjbe]

This gentleman is one of the many Marxist/Leninist Nepalis educated in our JNU and similar institutions and is now firmly on the CCP payroll. Ignore him.
Like some of the Marxists ruling Nepal today he hates India and cannot be redeemed.

Bhim Bhurtel 's previous uvvach ... Everyone and his father except the blind or ideologically inclined knows the below is not true. Bhim babu seems to be on a trip of how own.

https://asiatimes.com/2020/07/ladakh-st ... free-fall/
Ladakh standoff pushes Modi’s popularity into free-fall

Gandhi asked Modi to prove his strongman image in the Ladakh standoff. Interestingly, Gandhi’s allegation came just as US President Donald Trump hinted at a change in his China policy.

Modi failed to take into sufficient consideration that Trump wants above all to be re-elected this November. He wants to use all possible domestic and foreign actors who can help to his re-election bid. Modi looks foolish because he was unable to calculate that Trump was using him to win the presidential election. {Wonlee Bhim babu knows that leaders use their meeting to bolster their image amongst the own electorate. Modi, sadly, does not understand this }

Instead, Modi calculated that the US really wanted to support him to contain China at a time when China was briefly vulnerable because of its alleged mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Modi over-relied on his strategic aides and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strategists who suggested that China was in a weak moment and that India could take revenge for its defeat in the 1962 Sino-Indian war. {Not even Rafool has suggested this The author farter is high on some potent stuff or perhaps his Modi hate has taken control of his senses}

Despite instigating harsh anti-Chinese rhetoric, Trump has failed to prevent a decline in his popularity as compared with his opponent, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Biden leads Trump by a double-digit margin as the gross failure to combat Covid-19 takes a toll on the president in the most recent opinion polls. The latest polls paint a gloomy picture for Trump, and it is not likely he will win re-election merely on anti-Chinese rhetoric. As a result, Trump is under pressure to alter his China strategy. {Given the way the para starts and ends, one would expect Trump to go easy on China! But alas for our friend Bhim, Trump admin has turned the screws on China further. }

Overall, this guy is inventing facts and writing ideological stuff. I would have zero trust on both his facts and analysis on any issue related to India/BJP/Modi.

I would also have zero trust on this facts and analysis on Bangladesh. Can we go easy on our neighbors based on such 3rd rate analyst? There is no point on getting angsty based on such 3rd rate piece.

Finally, I think more than Bangladesh, it is Nepal's elites that have lost the Indian market and are feeling the pain. Plus Nepal's trade deficit with India is going to increase putting further pressure on Nepal. The guy cannot bring himself to admit the pain bu want's India to backoff. Bangladesh is just a convenient should to fire on India where as the real pain in in Kathmandu.

[vimal]

Saw the trailer of Mahabharata today and felt like puking when I saw Aamir Khan as Krishna. My hate for Bollywood is up 100 notches.

[Jarita]

^^^^ Are you serious? Is this set in stone? Why?

[schinnas]

In this Govt, you have to pick up the non performing ministers instead of picking the performing ministers(as they are quite a lot of them).

My list of NPMs
1. JAvadekar Sir
2. RS Prasad Sir
3. Paswan Sir(borderline) - need to see how the nationwide ration card works out before i can comment

RS Prasad and Javadekar are easily the worst performing ministers. But if we count the uninspired ministers in the cabinet, it is still well above 50%. A cabinet minister for a large country like India needs to be visionary in that area and be able to unleash a long term impact. A visionary technologist like Nandan Nilakeni could have done lot more good for our IT industry than a fellow like RS Prasad, who is a lawyer with very little clue on IT, forget having a vision for technology.

Even Puri who is an ex IFS and possible a decent administrator is not a city planner or has a vision on urbanisation, planned development, etc., other than speak babugiri. For a country with 1.3 billion population and handling huge urbanisation crisis, dont we need a competent housing minister?

Out of 25 odd ministers, not even 50% make the bar. The bench strength of competent cabinet minister level talent in BJP is concerning. India cannot be propelling into a superpower with cabinet under performing except for a few. Currently things are being managed by over centralisation from PMO to avoid corruption and to keep these ministers from committing stupid blunders. This has the negative effect of babus running the country rather than visionary civilian leaders.

[schinnas]

There is no need to get defensive about every well intentioned criticism. Also, comparing NDA against UPA is a very low bar. Die hard NaMo fans didn't fight for him so we can have a govt marginally better than UPA in its execution. With NaMo, there are very high expectations and a real opportunity to fast track India's growth. So it is critical to fire on all cylinders. No saying what next govt / leader will be capable of.

Unfortunate fact is that NaMo does not have competent ministers for many key ministries. Even within CCS, we don't have a visionary and competent defence minister who can build MIC in India by breaking through babudom and lobbies. Parikkar was the last competent defence minister with a vision.

Those arguing that NDA already has great cabinet bench strength, should look at the difference Amit Shah and Jaishankar are making in their ministries in such a short time. Or Parrikar's impact on defence ministry despite his ill health and short tenure. The need for competent, visionary cabinet ministers is super critical so that the govt can fire on all cylinders when it has majority in both houses.

For defence, education, IT, health care and I&B, I hope Modi brings in visionary leaders (either domain experts like Jaishankar or those who can pick up quickly like Parikkar) within next 12 months.

[Suraj]

I don't think India has any shortage of visionary leaders. We have a long history of people who are visionary, who see things that don't even exist, and also hear things in their heads. We have had a visionary starry eyed young PM who who used to talk with gusto about 'humko yeh banana hai, humko wo banana hai' so much that India Today had a cartoon that he wanted to make a banana republic. He won ~420 seats in Lok Sabha yet failed to finished a single term. However his son is an expert on the orbital mechanics of Jupiter.

Personally I would rather take someone who knows how to get the bureaucracy to do his bidding even if he lacks the kind of visionaryness that's the stuff of IIM or Wharton. Execution >> thought leadership in my book. Academia and talk circuit is best for thought leadership exhibition. Things rarely get done because the bureaucracy is in awe of the sheer genius of ideas, but because minister has career experience to know how to get babus to do their jobs, and the work ethic to focus on long gestation tasks.

[Yagnasri]

The problem from what I hear is not lack of vision but lack of ability to get the things done. That is the most problematic thing in GoI Ministers now.

[george]

A visionary technologist like Nandan Nilakeni could have done lot more good for our IT industry.

Sir, apologies for my impertinence, but I am curious to know what visionary technology Mr Nilekani unleashed on the world. Or for that matter any Indian who climbed aboard the IT gravy train. Actually, it does not even have to be visionary, as long as it qualifies as a technology product.

[chetak]

The problem from what I hear is not lack of vision but lack of ability to get the things done. That is the most problematic thing in GoI Ministers now.

unfortunately, a lot of those with "ability" will chose first to help themselves, their coterie and their ecosystem.

a lot of them are fellow travellers obliged in one way or another to the pervious regime and or ideology or consumed by visions of post retirement opportunity to own and run FFNGOs and luxuriating in all the material benefits that such outfits bring in their wake

the babooze do not listen to the BJP because their lifetime guaranteed jobs with automatic and unstoppable promotions and perks are "iron rice bowls" to borrow a phrase from the chinese. They are mostly waiting to ride it out.

what really drives them is the chance to acquire material and tangible gains that will cover them for the next 4-5 generations and for this to happen they need politicos of a similiar ilk and mentality.

such politicos are there in every party, sniffing around, lurking and prowling, which is why there are repeated demands for several ATM ministeries by many of the BJP's so called allies.

during the recent crisis in MAH, one notable went straight for the jugular by demanding the central agri ministry for his protege and numerous other juicy portfolios in the state govt for his favorites

The BJP is justifiably wary and gun shy of such politicos who exhibit a rabid manifestation of the chandra babu naidu and DMK syndromes. The immediate blowback from such criminal entrepreneurs plying their trade will be entirely on the BJP with the aftermath having the potential to permanently taint the BJP top leadership and put paid to any hopes of a political revival or consolidation of forces that should legitimately have gained political ascendancy immediately post independence but for the machinations and the skulduggery of the britshits