Bharat Rakshak

madhu wrote:

uskumar wrote:China making it's first move in India post corona.
HDFC China Stake: China's central bank buys 1% stake in HDFC

Cant we stop this?

Some new perspective .......

China's central bank, People's Bank of China (PBOC), has bought a 1.1 percent stake in housing finance major HDFC Ltd on behalf of the Chinese sovereign wealth fund SAFE. The transaction is not for the Chinese Central bank itself, said HDFC Chairman, Deepak Parekh, in an exclusive interaction with Moneycontrol.

Similarly, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) has also picked up a 0.7 percent stake in HDFC on behalf of Saudi sovereign wealth fund, Parekh said. SAMA’s name isn’t reflected in the names of major shareholders as the holding in the company is less than one percent.

Of late, HDFC has seen significant interest from institutional investors. For instance, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) increased its holding in HDFC Ltd to 4.67 percent from 4.21 percent in December quarter.

HDFC's Vice Chairman and CEO Keki Mistry had informed Moneycontrol that PBOC has been an existing shareholder and had owned 0.8 percent in the company as of March 2019. The disclosure has been made now since the stake has hit the 1 percent regulatory threshold, Mistry said.

Like PBOC, the Saudi Arabian central bank too has been raking up stake in HDFC over the last few years. It now has a 0.7 percent stake in the company, Parekh said. Other major holders include the government of Singapore which holds a 3.23 percent stake in HDFC.

Read Full Article Here:----

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/busin ... 36431.html

Trump bankrupts CHO, virtually dissolving it.

"Leaked" US diplomatic cables clearly call out that COVID escaped the Wuhan lab.

IMF predicts potentially worst economic recession on record.

Ehsanullah Ehsan "escapes" Pak custody.

US deploys B-52s in Guam.

NoKo Sukhois (!) test A2S missiles

Oil tanker is hijacked (later released) by Iran.

The world is crunching 3/6 months worth of geo-pol developments into 24 hours. We all know what's coming but no one could've guessed it'd be so fast.

Lohit wrote:Trump bankrupts CHO, virtually dissolving it.

"Leaked" US diplomatic cables clearly call out that COVID escaped the Wuhan lab.

IMF predicts potentially worst economic recession on record.

Ehsanullah Ehsan "escapes" Pak custody.

US deploys B-52s in Guam.

NoKo Sukhois (!) test A2S missiles

Oil tanker is hijacked (later released) by Iran.

The world is crunching 3/6 months worth of geo-pol developments into 24 hours. We all know what's coming but no one could've guessed it'd be so fast.

Lohit, the above are all news items I presume. Any links to #2 about the diplomatic cables.

Ehsanullah Ehsan was let out by ISI on R&R more than a month ago.

Slightly older article from NYT. I apologize if already posted:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/worl ... ative.html
China's Coronavirus Battle Is Waning. Its Propaganda Fight Is Not
By Vivian Wang, April 8, 2020
HONG KONG — For months the Chinese government’s propaganda machine had been fending off criticism of Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, and finally, it seemed to be finding an audience. Voices from the World Health Organization to the Serbian government to the rapper Cardi B hailed China’s approach as decisive and responsible. But China could not savor the praise for long. In recent days, foreign leaders, even in friendly nations like Iran, have questioned China’s reported infections and deaths. A top European diplomat warned that China’s aid to the continent was a mask for its geopolitical ambitions, while a Brazilian official suggested the pandemic was part of China’s plan to “dominate the world."
As the pandemic unleashes the worst global crisis in decades, China has been locked in a public relations tug-of-war on the international stage.
China’s critics, including the Trump administration, have blamed the Communist Party’s authoritarian leadership for exacerbating the outbreak by initially trying to conceal it. But China is trying to rewrite its role, leveraging its increasingly sophisticated global propaganda machine to cast itself as the munificent, responsible leader that triumphed where others have stumbled. What narrative prevails has implications far beyond an international blame game. When the outbreak subsides, governments worldwide will confront crippled economies, unknown death tolls and a profound loss of trust among many of their people. Whether Beijing can step into that void, or is pilloried for it, may determine the fate of its ambitions for global leadership.
“I think that the Chinese remain very fearful about what will happen when we finally all get on top of this virus, and there is going to be an investigation of how it started,” said Bonnie Glaser, the director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “They’re just trying to repair the damage that was done very early on to China’s reputation.”
The crux of China’s narrative is its numbers. Since late March, the country has consistently reported zero or single-digit new local infections, and on Wednesday, it lifted its lockdown in Wuhan, where the outbreak began. In all, the country has reported nearly 84,000 infections and about 3,300 deaths — a stark contrast to the United States, which has reported more than 399,000 infections, and Spain and Italy, each with more than 135,000.
The numbers prove, China insists, that its response was quick and responsible, and its tactics a model for the rest of the world. During a visit last month to Wuhan, China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, said that “daring to fight and daring to win is the Chinese Communist Party’s distinct political character, and our distinct political advantage.”
.....
Gautam

Given that railways has been moving goods across India unhindred by passenger traffic. Do we have a good understanding now on what happens if a very large percent of goods traffic move to rail. I had this notion that passenger traffic should be on air/road whereas goods traffic should be essentially on rail. Any comments or insights?

The US and India Should lead the Defense of Democracy in the COVID–19 Crisis

The world’s oldest and largest democracies must come together amid this pandemic.

https://thediplomat.com/2020/04/the-us- ... 19-crisis/

Don't want to look like a vulture (being a Dharmic and seeing the loss of life all over world ) but still I would like to say following points.

1. We all know that after 2008 financial crisis, China took very good advantage of that recession period and in next few years bought several (big/ medium /small) top quality western companies gaining immediate access to some niche & critical technology. It saved China at least a decade of R&D efforts, plus easy access to captive markets of those acquired companies. Two names that comes immediately to my mind is:-

XCMG (Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group) bought German manufacturer Schwing Group (Makes civil construction equipments like concrete pumps, batching plants and ready mix trucks) in the year 2012.

& KUKA a top of the line German robotic company has gone to Chinese hands in year 2016.

2. Current financial crisis due to ChinaVirus19 will accelerate fall of many western companies in next 3-5 years. Even though our industry itself is suffering of high corporate debt and now the demand side problems due to ChinaVirus19 but still our recovery track will be in better than many western countries.

2. As BRF has people from wide range of background starting from medical to armed forces to IT and core engineering , I think we should be ahead of curve and put our collective thoughts on identifying such niche technology which India needs badly for a import free/ or less import living as well as for strategic reasons and self reliance too.

Then we can identify companies which Indian companies may & should grab or say opt for merger or TOT for just a previous generation product and assembly line of which can be lifted lock stock and barrel to india.


3. The list can be a
3A. Plain Jingo's wish list (with no publicly available new of company in financial distress & up for sell) and just a simple wish list
3B. Some publicly available info based name of company which is is available for grab.

4. Other than pure manufacturing companies we may look for few service sectors like mining, farming rights of some critical corps leasing of aircrafts for IAF, some media houses, design and manufacturing consultancy providers for etc


To begin with a rough skeleton of sector/ component wise list , this comes in to my mind.............


INDUSTRY SECTOR

1. Robotics & Automation.
2. Actuators.
3. Industrial Pumps.
4. Industrial valves.
5. Construction Equipments (High capacity Crawler Cranes, Concrete Boom Placers, Piling Rigs)
6. Material Handling & Building solution providers (Fork lifts, escalators, sky climbers)
7. Airport security system like baggage scanners.
8. Desalination Tech.


MEDICAL SECTOR

1. Full Ventilators , or critical components of ventilators like sensors, flow plumps, display units etc
2. API & Intermediaries.
3. Some Vaccination TOT
4. X-ray, MRI, UT etc machines
5. Drug R&D and Clinical Trial certification consultancy


SERVICES

1. Rare Earth Mineral Mining
2. Media Houses (Online or Print )
3. Aircrafts on lease for IAF or Indian logistical sector.
4. Automobile design, R&D and certification consultancy
5. Aviation design, R&D and certification consultancy
6. IOT Machine learning
7. Image Processing
8. Big Data & Machine Learning...


AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

1. Pesticide.
2. Incesticide
3. GM Seeds
4. Irrigation Solution


It literally bleeds my heart when i see that so many products in all sectors which we still import even though we have a huge domestic market and we are not using it strategically. China have reduced or stopped completely its import and tech dependency on west on many of those segments.


We can make an editable google docs also, and keep it open for collaboration for next few years.

No love for semiconductor/IC device fabrication??

Just to reinforce the points you are making, Europe is at advanced stages of such self-sufficiency.

Infineon (Germany) to acquire Cypress (US), strengthening and accelerating its path of profitable growth

https://theprint.in/opinion/global-prin ... ll/401126/
China is feeling the heat over Covid-19 — from Japan to Australia. But India’s hands are full
As US and China trade barbs, battle-lines are being drawn. Traditional US allies like Australia and Japan have taken a tone Beijing won’t appreciate.
JYOTI MALHOTRA 14 April, 2020
The news of 22,000 Americans dying from the coronavirus over the Easter weekend has given way to a crescendo of international criticism against the “Chinese virus”. But only days before, China announced it was going to exclude dogs from its list of animals that could be consumed because “dogs have changed from (being) domestic animals to companion animals.”
According to the Chinese Communist Party’s English news website Global Times, China’s ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs published a document on 8 April, seeking feedback on its draft National Catalogue of Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources. The draft suggests removing dogs from the official livestock and poultry management list of 31 animals, which also includes chicken, buffalo and cows.
The ministry cited the “progress of human civilisation” and “prevention of disease transmission from animals to humans” as reasons for its rethink. Perhaps the global attack, led by US president Donald Trump, seems to have somewhat shaken China’s composure.
As far back as February, as the novel coronavirus spread across the world, China’s National People’s Congress banned the trade of wild terrestrial animals. It, however, refused to ban the trade in exotic animals, like the endangered pangolins, which are reported to have played a key role in the virus jumping species. With Wuhan reopening after 76 days of lockdown last week, concerns are that its infamous wet markets, like the ones in Baishazhou and Huanan, will once again become the breeding ground of unknown diseases. So far the Huanan wet market, where Patient Zero is believed to have contracted the virus from, remains shut.
China’s growing criticism
US comedian Bill Maher in in his take-no-prisoners video, which went viral over the Easter weekend, asked why it was impolite to describe the virus as the “Chinese” virus, as it had originated from the wet markets of Wuhan. He also questioned why the all-powerful Communist Party couldn’t ban the country’s wet markets, considering China’s taste of eating exotic meats had ravaged large parts of the world.
As the rest of the world watches the US and China trade barbs, battle-lines are being drawn. Traditional US allies like Australia, who had stacked up large economic relationships with China are looking askance, wondering if a weakened US will leave them at China’s mercy in the Indo-Pacific.
Sometimes the Australians are using humour to prove the point about the democratic imperative, like this point-by-point rebuttal in the The Daily Telegraph of the Chinese consul-general’s criticism over the paper’s coverage of the epidemic. The article is one of the most-read pieces in recent times in Australia and elsewhere. Australia is not alone. Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun published a piece from its Beijing bureau, saying China should be held responsible for the Covid-19 epidemic, and “parties which refused to apologise will shoot themselves in the foot.” China’s Global Times was quick to respond.
And as Guangzhou allegedly orders that people of “African” origin not be served in restaurants amid coronavirus fears, chairperson of the African Union (AU) Moussa Faki Mahamat summoned the Chinese ambassador to the AU Liu Yuxi to express “extreme concern.”
Certainly, seismic changes are already taking place in the global landscape in the struggle for supremacy in a post-Covid world. Japan, noted the geopolitical watchdog, The Spectator Index, noted in early April, was planning to spend $2 billion to help its companies move out of China. Considering the China-Japan economic relationship is only second to the US-China relationship, Japan’s rethink definitely seems influenced by what Trump has been doing.
......
Gautam

Possible Chinese nuclear testing stirs U.S. concern

(Are the Chins prepping tactical nukes?)

http://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/possibl ... 1586970435

China might be secretly conducting nuclear tests with very low explosive power despite Beijing’s assertions that it is strictly adhering to an international accord banning all nuclear tests, according to a new arms-control report to be made public by the State Department.

The coming report doesn’t present proof that China is violating its promise to uphold the agreement, but it cites an array of activities that “raise concerns” that Beijing might not be complying with the “zero-yield” nuclear-weapons testing ban.

The concerns stem from the high tempo of activity at China’s Lop Nur test site, extensive excavations at the site, and Beijing’s purported use of special chambers to contain explosions.

Another factor feeding U.S. suspicions is the interruption in past years of data transmissions from monitoring stations on Chinese territory that are designed to detect radioactive emissions and seismic tremors.

https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/chin ... more_links
China is Africa's top creditor, but will it lead debt relief?
African nations battling coronavirus need broad debt restructuring but China is unlikely to lead that charge - analysts.
13 Apr 2020
Support is growing for debt relief to help the world's poorest, indebted nations - most of them in Africa - confront the economic havoc wreaked by COVID-19. But there is one big question mark: China.
A two-decade lending spree has propelled China to the top of Africa's creditor list and any comprehensive debt deal, including write-offs, would require Beijing to take a leading role and swallow losses, analysts say.
"China is in the driver's seat," said Scott Morris, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD), a think-tank in Washington, DC in the United States. "But this is going to require real pain for creditors, and I'm not sure they've come to terms with that."
Beijing is likely to endorse a temporary freeze on debt payments by African countries as part of an expected agreement by the Group of 20 (G20) major economies this week, two sources familiar with the process told Reuters.
Broader debt relief is the obvious next step, but China is unlikely to lead that charge, analysts say, despite the potential opportunity to burnish its soft power credentials.
"The origin of Africa's debt problem is complex, and the debt profile of each country varies," China's foreign ministry said in a response to Reuters news agency questions.
"We are aware that some countries and international organisations have called for debt relief programmes for African countries, and we are willing to study the possibility of it jointly with the international community."
.....
Gautam

Tragic: the first sailor death of the crew of the USN Teddy Roosevelt carrier now anchored at Guam.Approx. 600 of the crew aboard have been contracted CV. Condolences to the USN.
This underscores the great danger to crews of naval vessels and subs since crews live in confined quarters and physical distancing in virtually impossible. The IN will immediately evacuate any crew member suspected of having CV.

Hope the army steps up vigilance and preparedness on NE, Bhutan borders. Incident is highly likely with NDTV, Wire etc harping on how China has occupied 1 Bn kms of Indian territory and how Modiji has failed.

Latest news,700 tested +ve aboard the French CV the CDG!
This brings me to an important point.All modern warships are designed to fight in a WMD environment- nuclear or biological war,etc.We often see ships in " washdown" mode in exercises,simulating such eventualities,but the internal air-conditioning/ air circulation design aboard these carriers seems to be flawed somehow,as in battle mode,hatches are closed/ sealed to limit battle damge,fires,etc. from spreading.Ships in future will have to have extra large quarantine and medical facilities and improved internal air- circulation methods to prevent contamination spread.

PS: What's happening along the border with the perfidious PRC?
In another report,the navy chief has just warned us about deliberate Chin provocation in the IOR ,sending in 8 naval vessels.The location of its CV is also being carefully monitored .
Is China testing our defences at this time of crisis to spot weaknesses or planning a " Wuhan gambit" against India?

NBC fighting warships have positive pressure in rooms which ensures that outside air doesn't enter the room and only filtered air is pumped in; however this also causes the virus to disperse outwards. Rooms designed to house virus victims have negative pressure to pull in air from outside.

I hope we make every effort possible to supplant the sh!theads in China in manufacturing.

Karan M wrote:Oldies amongst you might remember my efforts to point out Chinese quality even in their mil-gear sucked.

Here you go with further proof about what China's "massive capacity" really entails. Sub-par junk passed off to desperate customers.

https://swarajyamag.com/insta/coronavir ... t-drdo-lab

Coronavirus: Around 50,000 China-Made PPE Kits Fail Safety Test At DRDO Lab

And this OTOH is what DRDO, Ministry of Textiles and Pvt sector efforts have achieved.

China is already facing criticism from European countries over the quality of PPE kits and other equipment made in the country.

The person further states,“Domestic PPE production has increased to 30,000 kits a day, hitting the target a week earlier than scheduled, and is expected to touch 50,000 by the end of the month. Cumulatively, we have produced over 150,000 suits and should be able to manufacture an additional 100,000 by the weekend.”

Karan M wrote:I hope we make every effort possible to supplant the sh!theads in China in manufacturing.

Karan M wrote:Oldies amongst you might remember my efforts to point out Chinese quality even in their mil-gear sucked.

Here you go with further proof about what China's "massive capacity" really entails. Sub-par junk passed off to desperate customers.

https://swarajyamag.com/insta/coronavir ... t-drdo-lab



And this OTOH is what DRDO, Ministry of Textiles and Pvt sector efforts have achieved.

Yes, we should. But why the f$&$ did the GOI approve 40 chini companies for supplying test kits to only three for Indian firms?

Should be the other way around.

We currently don't have 40 Indian co.s producing testing kits. The list of companies that applied and those that were approved after validation was posted in this thread some days ago.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a U.S. ally, recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela

https://trib.al/lMSK94y

Considering Venez is moderately key CCP rook, this is significant.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/15/politics ... index.html
US explores possibility that coronavirus started in Chinese lab, not a market
By Josh Campbell, Kylie Atwood and Evan Perez, CNN
Updated 12:38 AM ET, Thu April 16, 2020
Here's how the novel coronavirus outbreak unfolded
CNN)US intelligence and national security officials say the United States government is looking into the possibility that the novel coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory rather than a market, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter who caution it is premature to draw any conclusions.
The theory is one of multiple being pursued by investigators as they attempt to determine the origin of the coronavirus that has resulted in a pandemic and killed hundreds of thousands. The US does not believe the virus was associated with bioweapons research, and officials noted that the intelligence community is also exploring a range of other theories regarding the origination of the virus, as would typically be the case for high-profile incidents, according to an intelligence source.
The theory has been pushed by supporters of the President, including some congressional Republicans, who are eager to deflect criticisms of Trump's handling of the pandemic.
An intelligence official familiar with the government analysis said a theory US intelligence officials are investigating is that the virus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, and was accidentally released to the public. Other sources told CNN that US intelligence hasn't been able to corroborate the theory but is trying to discern whether someone was infected in the lab through an accident or poor handling of materials and may have then infected others.
US intelligence is reviewing sensitive intelligence collection aimed at the Chinese government, according to the intelligence source, as they pursue the theory. But some intelligence officials say it is possible the actual cause may never be known.
Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Mark Milley acknowledged this week that US intelligence is taking "a hard look" at the question of whether the novel coronavirus originated in a lab.
"I would just say, at this point, it's inconclusive although the weight of evidence seems to indicate natural (origin). But we don't know for certain," Milley told reporters on Tuesday.
.....
Gautam

amar_p wrote:We currently don't have 40 Indian co.s producing testing kits. The list of companies that applied and those that were approved after validation was posted in this thread some days ago.

Then we had better expand the approvals to a hell of a lot more than 3 goddam companies.

The Modi is importing 650000 dubious test kits from Cheen that will be arriving or had arrived just today.

https://theprint.in/diplomacy/india-set ... ay/402755/

IMHO, it is just meaningless complaining unless you are allowing more Indian firms to help out in the situation. In times like these why put such constraints on Indian companies -- just f&@!ing three are approved? Why? If we are bringing lakhs of chitty tests from Cheen anyways then why not a looser standard for Indian firms. It can't be worse.

If we can't get 40 then at least 10 or 15 Indian companies ASAP. I cannot believe there are no less than dozens of Indian companies in medical, chemical and related industries that can help out here if approved. Just 3 is license-raj stupidity in a time of crisis.

How China might be exacerbating Covid with a well planned strategy to crown itself the King

A large cluster of Covid patients has come up at Jubliant pharma plant, Mysuru.

https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/india/sto ... ns-mystery

Its interesting, to say the least, that there is no human link of transmission, which authorities are able to unearth.

There is speculation that it may have been caused by a consignment recieved from China.

However this is ruled out because viruses cant survive for the 3-4 weeks it takes for them to reach India from China.

What makes this "curioser" is that there have been cases globally of testing kits, ppes and equipment received after weeks of shipment, but found to be "infected" with Covid.

Question is, how is the virus surviving on surfaces for so long without a live host?

Well, viruses can actually survive indefinitely provided they have access to the right medium, such as certain types of Agar or bacterial mediums.

Perhaps if the packaging of such shipments is carefully coated with such a "medium", it might actually enable the virus to make this journey.

From a CCP perspective, this would be perfect, a crippling second strike, hitting healthcare workers or critical pharma industries. Such outbreaks might then be blamed on untraceable contacts to asymptomatic carriers and might be lost in the fog of war/pandemic.

It is therefore critical that countries which have suffered from such "goods related transmissions", more than the virus, look for such tell tale medium traces that could have enabled the virus to make the hop.

Now those of us who have been following this very closely may have come across a firm with a (wildish conspiracy) link to outbreak - Shanghai Ruilan Bao Hu San Biotech Limited.

Now the link with the Wuhan lab is extremely flimsy. Unfortunately there is 0 info on any employees/owners or founders - which while suspicious on it's own, doesn't help establish any linkages with Wuhan, CCP or PLA. The entity also seems to have been set up very recently with no estd date on its website either - suspicious but nothing beyond that (http://en.ruichubio.com/pages/4.html).

However interesting products this firm makes include, niche RT PCR test kits - the most in use Covid testing, bacterial other niche mediums (used as a supplement for Covid testing - for test collection).

Such manufacturers don't just get a huge demand windfall. They could also have been manufacturing bio weapon components that were then used by China to fire the virus across the world.

We are already seeing many instances of how China is making a windfall (the motive - follow the money),

1. The great gold robbery: China dumped treasuries and bought a ~12k tonnes of gold in the past year. Given the almost $500 jump in gold prices/Oz (only going to go higher), this translates to a $200 Bn windfall!

2. Zoom went from 10 to 200 million subscribers in the past few months. TikTok subscribers have surged in the past few months, now adding to almost 2 Bn!

3. It is reasonably clear to all and sundry that Russia with the backing of China, orchestrated the oil price collapse. At a conservative reduction of $30/barrel and even with a reduced demand of 10 mbpd vs 13-14, China still gains a whopping $3-400 million per day!

4. China will soon be on a shopping spree, spoilt for choice in a global fire sale. We already saw an example in its stake pickup in HDFC

And this is to say nothing of the money it is already minting as part of the plethora of things needed to fight Covid.

It is also my belief that all this is being done with the full backing of US Deep state - afterall Joe Biden's son is a director and owns a stake at BHR, a supposedly billion dollar Chinese PE firm.

This was a conspiracy being cooked by China and the deep state affiliates, a long time in the making. All key actors such as WHO, critical US agencies and global media were on CCP payroll to act as enablers.

The only thing that has changed for a bit is - Trump
whi actually dared to call their bluff. Let's not forget, CNN, the network which is all to eager to publish leaked cables and claims, was almost the last media house on earth to give its readers a hint that US govt considers Wuhan labs to be suspect.

No wonder Trump is so paranoid of even US agencies and office holders.

Let's remeber, no other global leaders has even dared to whisper "Wuhan Lab" other than Trump. It would have passed smoothly had he been brow beaten into submission.

I sincerely hope that agencies where countries, or at least some of them, where these "goods contamination" were uncovered, also closely check for mediums that are more tell tale evidence than the virus itself.

However the question remains - even if we prove China did use a bio weapon on RoW - so what? Who has the guts to take the CCP on, even as it readies for war and tests tactical nukes to send a signal to the US that it is raring to go for an all out war?

We already hear Macron, unsurprisingly the Frenchman, calling for a "truce". Let's remeber it was the French and Canadian govts that actively helped build the Wuhan lab infra.

As far as Canada goes - well they are literally funding the Wuhan lab a million dollars, bang in the middle of the pandemic! There are CTs which say that the virus was originally supplied to China by Canada.

So the quadrillion dollar question remains - even if we prove CCP did this, so what?

Lohit wrote:Hope the army steps up vigilance and preparedness on NE, Bhutan borders. Incident is highly likely with NDTV, Wire etc harping on how China has occupied 1 Bn kms of Indian territory and how Modiji has failed.

Bit relieved to see this - Special trains to move Army troops to sensitive northern, eastern command in lockdown

https://theprint.in/defence/army-to-run ... -lockdown/

New Delhi: Two special military trains will run this week to meet Army’s operational requirements at the northern and the eastern command amid the lockdown.

Sources told ThePrint that five trains had initially been requested to facilitate troop movement. They added that pan-India routes were being worked out based on the number of troops travelling from various locations.

Of the two trains sanctioned, one will begin operations from Friday and head to Jammu from Bengaluru. The train will run through Belgaum, Secunderabad and Ambala.

The second train leaves Saturday from Bengaluru and will head to Guwahati through Belgaum, Secunderabad, Gopalpur, and Howrah and New Jalpaiguri Station in West Bengal.

Army sources said these two trains will enable decongestion of the Category A and B training establishments at Bengaluru, Belgaum, Secunderabad and Gopalpur as well as assist in operational preparedness of active formations deployed at the northern and eastern borders.

The defence service typically sees a constant movement of lakhs of troops across the country who are returning from or going on training or leave. The Army usually requests for military special trains when units move from one location to the other, either on deployment or training.

The Army is also considering moving key appointments back to sensitive locations, who would be given special permissions to travel either by road or special aircraft. Sources said the Army is also looking into charter flight options to move troops from Delhi and Chandigarh. (there is a real sense of urgency, it seems)

Something going on?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... aincontent
China may have conducted low-level nuclear test, US claims
State Department report points to activities at China’s Lop Nur test site last year, though it does not have proof
Julian Borger in Washington and agencies, Thu 16 Apr 2020
The US state department has claimed China may have secretly conducted a low-yield underground nuclear test, in an accusation likely to further inflame already poor relations between Washington and Beijing.
A report on arms control compliance does not offer proof, but points to circumstantial evidence, of excavations and other stepped-up activity at China’s Lop Nur test site. “China’s possible preparation to operate its Lop Nur test site year-round, its use of explosive containment chambers, extensive excavation activities at Lop Nur and a lack of transparency on its nuclear testing activities ... raise concerns regarding its adherence to the zero yield standard,” the state department report, first revealed by the Wall Street Journal, said.
Both the US and China signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), concluded in 1996, but neither country has ratified it, and – partly as a result – the agreement has not come into force. However, China has sworn to adhere to CTBT terms and the US has been observing a moratorium on nuclear testing. If the treaty were in force, it would include a mechanism for on-site inspections of suspect sites.
The US defence intelligence agency leveled similar accusations against Russia in May last year, which were never confirmed. US hawks have been urging the Trump administration to formally break from the CTBT, leaving it free to conduct new nuclear tests of its own. “Beijing is modernising its nuclear arsenal while the United States handcuffs itself with one-sided arms-control,” Republican Senator Tom Cotton said on Twitter. “China has proven it can’t work with us honestly.”
.....
Gautam

That's completely the wrong way to do things. The Chinese claim to have met the ICMR standards - we wont and shouldnt compromise on domestic standards merely because the PRC has a tendency to do con jobs. We will end up falling down to their standard.

I remain skeptical about the Chinese test kits. They will likely be sub-standard judging by what's happened in Europe, where many PRC test kits turned out to be crap.

chola wrote:

amar_p wrote:We currently don't have 40 Indian co.s producing testing kits. The list of companies that applied and those that were approved after validation was posted in this thread some days ago.

Then we had better expand the approvals to a hell of a lot more than 3 goddam companies.

The Modi is importing 650000 dubious test kits from Cheen that will be arriving or had arrived just today.

https://theprint.in/diplomacy/india-set ... ay/402755/

IMHO, it is just meaningless complaining unless you are allowing more Indian firms to help out in the situation. In times like these why put such constraints on Indian companies -- just f&@!ing three are approved? Why? If we are bringing lakhs of chitty tests from Cheen anyways then why not a looser standard for Indian firms. It can't be worse.

If we can't get 40 then at least 10 or 15 Indian companies ASAP. I cannot believe there are no less than dozens of Indian companies in medical, chemical and related industries that can help out here if approved. Just 3 is license-raj stupidity in a time of crisis.

Yesterday or day before yesterday evening I remember hearing news of a 2.x minor earthquake being registered in northern states in India - could this be linked to Chinese nuclear test ?? Also was the test done to send a message to US and NATO on their aggressive posturing against PRC squarely blaming it and almost calling for retribution for its CoVid bio warfare ? What's the burning need for PRC to conduct nuclear test in midst of its own CoVid recovery

Larry Walker wrote:Yesterday or day before yesterday evening I remember hearing news of a 2.x minor earthquake being registered in northern states in India - could this be linked to Chinese nuclear test ??

Doubt that, Lop Nur is thousands of mile away and Nuke as per yanks was tactical. They infer this nuke was tested basis elint, not seismic studies.

Also was the test done to send a message to US and NATO on their aggressive posturing against PRC squarely blaming it and almost calling for retribution for its CoVid bio warfare ?

Most likely, imo, difficult to explain the timing otherwise.

What's the burning need for PRC to conduct nuclear test in midst of its own CoVid recovery

CCP always has plans B and C, ready to execute. Otherwise how would they have pulled off WW-C19

Larry Walker wrote:Yesterday or day before yesterday evening I remember hearing news of a 2.x minor earthquake being registered in northern states in India - could this be linked to Chinese nuclear test ?? Also was the test done to send a message to US and NATO on their aggressive posturing against PRC squarely blaming it and almost calling for retribution for its CoVid bio warfare ? What's the burning need for PRC to conduct nuclear test in midst of its own CoVid recovery

Exactly that. Pooh Bear is scared sh1tless about regime change ala Saddam Hussein. They want to state clearly that their weapons of mass destruction are real.

US rolled dice that Saddam didn't have any that he was willing to use on Amreeki forces preparing to invade him. Cheen with a tactical device will signal it is willing go nuke locally without a full MAD exchange?

Karan M wrote:That's completely the wrong way to do things. The Chinese claim to have met the ICMR standards - we wont and shouldnt compromise on domestic standards merely because the PRC has a tendency to do con jobs. We will end up falling down to their standard.

I remain skeptical about the Chinese test kits. They will likely be sub-standard judging by what's happened in Europe, where many PRC test kits turned out to be crap.

But knowing they are substandard and still buying from them is nuts. If some stranger is known to be conning you then why go to him at all? Why not use a family member?

I would trust the family member without the known poor track record even if he were a neophyte.

50K PPE kits from China found defective.We should punish them for such atrocious behaviour.Why on earth are we continuing to have an dealings with them?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/busi ... onomy.html
China’s Economy Shrinks, Ending a Nearly Half Century of Growth
The contraction comes at a time when the rest of the world needs an economic boost, underscoring how momentous the task of reviving the global economy will be.
By Keith Bradsher, April 16, 2020
BEIJING — The coronavirus outbreak has brought China’s extraordinary, nearly half-century-long run of growth to an end — a stark reminder of the enormous task ahead for world leaders trying to restart the global economy.
Chinese officials on Friday said that the world’s second-largest economy shrank 6.8 percent in the first three months of the year compared with a year ago, ending a streak of untrammeled growth that survived the Tiananmen Square crackdown, the SARS epidemic and even the global financial crisis. The data reflects China’s drastic efforts to stamp out the coronavirus, which included shutting down most factories and offices in January and February as the outbreak sickened tens of thousands of people.
The stark numbers make clear how monumental the challenge of getting the global economy back on its feet will be. Since it emerged from abject poverty and isolation more than 40 years ago, China has become perhaps the world’s single most important growth engine, one that lifted fortunes during previous times of trouble, like the financial crisis.
Now China is trying to restart its vast, $14 trillion economy, an effort that could give the rest of the world a much-needed shot in the arm. The coronavirus’s spread to the United States and Europe, which froze the economies there, has led to forecasts that the world’s output could shrink far more this year than it did even during the financial crisis.
That global halt will, conversely, hurt China’s efforts to get back on track, creating a difficult economic puzzle for top leaders in Beijing. The pandemic and attempts to contain it have sharply cut the world’s appetite for China’s goods, which could lead to factory shutdowns and worker furloughs even as the country tries to get back to business. China has gradually lifted many of its limits on work and travel in recent weeks. But businesspeople across China say that times remain difficult. Families say their incomes have fallen.
.....
Gautam

^^^ As much as we despise Cheen, we need them to revive their economy.

But I think it is futile. They are already getting their second wave of infections.

Prepare for the Great Depression Part II:

1. Economies are in deep contraction because of lockdowns everywhere,

2. Everyone is re-shoring even after the Chinese virus go away; so trade which usually leads global growth will not take hold.

The ones with large internal economies will do better than those with smaller ones but it will be no or slow growth for everyone in the coming few years.

Since we can't do much to the virus and the infected more than what we are already doing, I have plan for rebooting the economy.

We have to divide the society into two groups based on the resistance to the virus. one group which is less vulnerable to virus will run the economy. other group which is more vulnerable to the virus will live in quarantine places.

Basically we are building a big database of people who are fit to work. There should be some sort of license for each person to get back into active society. If he doesn't meet the criteria, he will live outside the active society.

yeah, very similar to what bill gates proposed. but without the costly vaccine part. imo, we have to reboot the society and at the same time also do the lock down part. if chini bots indexing this post, please consider it. you have many ghost cities. can easily shift the vulnerable folks there.

key part of the plan is, to find the less vulnerable people from the huge data base. I bet chinis have full data regarding the disease. I am sure they can make list of such people.

syam wrote: We have to divide the society into two groups based on the resistance to the virus. one group which is less vulnerable to virus will run the economy. other group which is more vulnerable to the virus will live in quarantine places.

Basically we are building a big database of people who are fit to work. There should be some sort of license for each person to get back into active society. If he doesn't meet the criteria, he will live outside the active society.

Sir does that mean we wait for the virus to infect someone, before knowing whether it kills him/her or not? If not killed, get back to field jobs. Or do we just classify everyone over 50 as high risk and those below without co-morbidities as less risk and take it from there?
If not yet infected/unproven, continue to self isolate but shift your work to backend management, like book-keeping, support and other related jobs.

Lohit wrote:CCP always has plans B and C, ready to execute. Otherwise how would they have pulled off WW-C19

Post the Chinese virus pandemic, I am now convinced, CCP is a total clueless bunch. Rather a delusion bunch.

If they had even plan B, they would have warned the world asap. Locking down an entire city is an never before event. Any person with a bit of brain matter would have known, China just created a biggest bulls-eye for the world to blame China, if the virus infects the world.

That's exactly what happened. Even if you give them a benefit of doubt, CCP behavior post the breakout made it even worse.

All they had to do was publicly apologies to the world and say we tried our best, but we could not contain it and promise the world it will help in every form possible. They would have gained massive amount of symptoms. They are not short of money.

Instead the lot went of propaganda overdrive, thinking the world will suck it up like their citizens..

Just becoz CCP with support of US desire for cheap goods, made money by the taking the world for a ride, it thinks, world is dazzled by their success. Really delusion lot.

sajo wrote: Sir does that mean we wait for the virus to infect someone, before knowing whether it kills him/her or not? If not killed, get back to field jobs. Or do we just classify everyone over 50 as high risk and those below without co-morbidities as less risk and take it from there?
If not yet infected/unproven, continue to self isolate but shift your work to backend management, like book-keeping, support and other related jobs.

No, we won't make anyone to meet certain death. it's more like, we record each infected case and record every minute details about the patient and the progress he made/didn't make under the treatment. once we have GBs of data, we can find patterns and stuff. after he meets the requirement, he will go to work.
even if the person who is permitted to work gets infected, he will make quick recovery. very little chance of losing him.

Covid-19 is a man made crisit=s by China to decapitate world and take over Taiwan and expand influence in South China Sea.
look at the events.
- Due to World opinion going against China and US taking anti china actions, there unfettered growth was threatened, and there is economic contraction
- China tested Virus and spread it over the world. making sure world is lockdown or cannot respond with same speed as needed to interfere or come to aid of Taiwan.
- China has control and stake in Major media - liberals, sickulars, many islamic state, were in its pocket.
- The opportunity was ripe
- While the world was in lockdown China increased military activity, it has presence in India, its lone AC is in pacific, it is trying to block India and threatening Vietnam, In current situation US could not response, those In EU with US influence decapitated and their resources tied up in fighting COVID
This news about China again going for lockdown is another Drama to hide the failure in implementing its plan, it is probably infecting its own people with Virus.

In short we just escaped and pushed WW3 for few more years.