How Modi and Trump Treat Billionaires Differently

James Crabtree

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In April 2024, Elon Musk was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India and announce a multibillion-dollar Tesla factory investment. Instead, he canceled at the last minute and flew to China. Musk’s switch earned him a barrage of aggrieved Indian headlines. But even before his emergence as a force in Donald Trump’s second administration, the incident also served to underline Musk’s unusual role as a prized ambassador to the emerging industrial giants of Asia.

Musk embodies much of what India wants from its ties with the United States: the prospect of major investment, valuable technology transfer, and now a direct back channel to the White House. But viewed in a different way, India, with its system of close connections between billionaire industrialists and political power brokers, offers a means to understand an emerging U.S. economic model, in which tycoons such as Musk act as handmaidens of industrial policy but also conduits of political power.

The Deep Roots of Oligarchy

Priya Satia

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Late in 1774, Lord Robert Clive was found dead in his London townhouse. Rumors flew that conscience had finally compelled the rapacious conqueror to take his own life. Having just arrived in Pennsylvania from England, Thomas Paine recalled how the riches Clive wrested through “murder and rapine” and “famine and wretchedness” in India had enveloped him in the “sunshine of sovereign favor” at home, allowing him to enter into further “schemes of war … and intrigue” to amass an “unbounded fortune.” In the end, however, “guilt and melancholy” had proved “poisons of quick despatch.”

Clive was a reckless fortune-hunter in the British East India Company (EIC), the chartered monopoly company trading in the Indian Ocean region—heavily armed, to compel trade on its terms. When the British and French went to war globally in 1756, their rivalrous companies in India did, too, and Clive secured the EIC’s first major territory in Bengal in 1757. Long-held company towns at the subcontinent’s edges expanded into a company-owned state.

Bangladesh On The Brink: Army Gearing Up For All Eventualities – Analysis

P. K. Balachandran

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Chaos, power plays, and a nation’s fate hang in the balance as the region and the world watch with concern

Bangladesh is teetering on the edge of collapse. Lawlessness has unleashed a tidal wave of crime—robberies, extortion, rape, and strikes—while the Muhammad Yunus-led Interim Government, in power since August 2024, flounders helplessly.

Eight months after ousting Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League in a fiery student-led uprising, the nation is spiralling into chaos, and the army is stepping in with boots on the ground.

In Dhaka, troops from the 9th Infantry Division now patrol the streets, setting up checkpoints and raiding hotspots like the Baitul Mukarram mosque. It’s a bold move, triggered last week by a nationwide crackdown on crime ordered by a rattled Interim Government.

But the real showdown is brewing between the military and the very students who ignited the July 2024 “revolution.” The National Citizens’ Party (NCP), born from that uprising, is clashing head-on with Army Chief Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman, accusing him of plotting to resurrect a “refined Awami League” under India’s shadow.

As China Expands Global Footprint, It Gets Into More Trouble

Micah McCartney

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Niger's expulsion of several Chinese oil executives over wage and employment disputes marks a reputational setback for China as it seeks to expand its influence across the African continent.

Niger, a former French colony located in the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert, remains one of the world's least-developed nations, despite its significant resource wealth, including uranium.

Once a key U.S. counterterrorism partner, Niger's ties with the West have eroded in recent years—particularly after a 2023 military coup. The new junta expelled French peacekeepers fighting an Islamist insurgency and ordered the United States to vacate two drone bases, citing Washington's "condescending attitude."

Niger has openly embraced stronger security ties with Russia and secured heavy Chinese investment in its energy sector.

Rising Tensions

Earlier this month, Niger's junta expelled three Chinese oil executives serving as local directors of the West African Oil Pipeline Company, China National Petroleum Corporation, and the joint-venture refinery SORAZ, according to Reuters.

How the US Is Arming Allies With Missiles To Sink China's Warships

Ryan Chan

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The United States is arming major Pacific allies and partners—Australia, Japan, and Taiwan—with anti-ships missiles as China's navy expands its reach and presence.

Beijing has warned that the region should not become "an arena for geopolitical games," a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., told Newsweek in an email.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.

Why It Matters

A recent U.S. Defense Department assessment said China has the world's largest navy by hull count—more than 370 vessels, including two aircraft carriers, in service—and is attempting to challenge American naval dominance within and beyond the Indo-Pacific region.

The Chinese military has dispatched its naval fleet to stage shows of force in the region, including in daily operations around the self-governed island of Taiwan, by deploying an aircraft carrier near Japan's outlying islands, as well as in an unusual month-long circumnavigation of Australia.

China’s Capture Of Lhasa In 1959: A Turning Point Of Repression And Transformation – Analysis

Aritra Banerjee

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In March 1959, the city of Lhasa, the spiritual and political heart of Tibet, fell to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), marking a pivotal moment in the Tibetan struggle against Chinese domination. This event, known as the 1959 Tibetan Uprising or Lhasa Uprising, was the culmination of years of growing tension following China’s annexation of Tibet in 1950-51. The capture of Lhasa not only crushed a desperate rebellion but also set the stage for decades of repression, demographic shifts, and cultural erasure that continue to shape Tibet today.

The uprising began on March 10, 1959, sparked by fears that the Chinese authorities planned to abduct the 14th Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader. Thousands of Tibetans gathered around the Norbulingka Palace to protect him, defying the PLA’s presence. Initially peaceful, the protests escalated as demonstrators armed themselves and clashed with Chinese forces. By March 17, with artillery aimed at the palace, the Dalai Lama fled to India, disguised as a soldier, embarking on a perilous two-week journey across the Himalayas. Two days later, on March 19, the PLA launched a full assault on Lhasa.

The fighting was brutal and one-sided. Though poorly equipped with outdated weapons, Tibetan rebels faced a modern, well-armed PLA force. On March 21, the Chinese shelled the Norbulingka, unleashing 800 artillery rounds that reduced parts of the palace to rubble. Estimates of casualties vary widely due to restricted access to data and China’s control over information. The Tibetan Government-in-Exile claims that 87,000 Tibetans perished during the uprising and its immediate aftermath, though this figure includes deaths from subsequent repression and guerrilla warfare.

Government Built Silicon Valley

Julian E. Zelizer

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With U.S. President Donald Trump, many high-tech titans have decided that now—after their coffers overflowing—Americans don’t need much government. Leading the charge to dismantle it is Elon Musk. His role is especially jarring because Silicon Valley was built on the government’s largesse. A booming high-tech sector—one of the signature achievements of the modern economy—wouldn’t have happened without the administrative state that Trump is seeking to root out.

The history of Silicon Valley exposes the grave dangers posed by the war on government. The hazard is that as a result of this push, Trump succeeds in breaking apart the marriage between Washington and the technology industry that has helped make America great.

Is America a Kleptocracy?

Jodi Vittori

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When great changes are afoot, we look for a user manual. There will be new patterns of living and new expectations for the future. The rapidly developing corruption landscape in the United States will be no exception.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s election last November and the accelerated institutional and personnel changes since his inauguration have forced Americans into new political territory. In particular, anti-corruption institutions and norms are unraveling. Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered the Justice Department to prioritize cases related to criminal cartels and closed down Task Force KleptoCapture and the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative; Trump himself ordered a pause in new investigations or enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for six months.

Samuel Huntington Is Getting His Revenge

Nils Gilman

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We stand at the cusp of a reordering moment in international relations as significant as 1989, 1945, or 1919—a generational event. As with these previous episodes, the end of the liberal international order that coalesced in the 1990s is a moment fraught in equal measure with hope and fear, as old certainties both bad and good evaporate. Such pivotal moments are ones where charismatic opportunists rather than competent operators shine.

At each of those previous inflection points, the old order had been going bankrupt slowly, before collapsing all at once. Though it wasn’t always clear to contemporaries, in retrospect we can see that the new order that would succeed in each case had long been in the works. In 1919, for example, the outlawing of war and the establishment of a parliament of nations had been on the table for decades; in 1918, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson had proposed “national self-determination” as the basis of qualification for a state (albeit only for white-led nations). In 1945, the idea of a reformed League of Nations with an effective security council had been planned from 1942 onwards—though the advent of nuclear weapons at the end of the war would change the calculus, ushering in the Cold War. And before 1989, the idea of a universal “liberal” or “rules-based” international order as an alternative to East/West and North/South power struggles had been proposed as far back as the 1970s.

A Curriculum for Foreign Policy Expertise

Dan Spokojny

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Foreign policy is unique among fields of public policy in that there are no educational requirements necessary to become a leader in the field. There is no body of tradecraft, professional skills, or standard training regimens to prepare the next generation of leaders.

The State Department should aspire to be the most skilled policymaking institution on the planet, one obsessed with policy success. To achieve this standard, it must develop a curriculum that can clearly distinguish the expert from the amateur. Anything short of that exposes US foreign policy to ineffectiveness and marginalizes the role of diplomacy in the national security apparatus.

This article explores the idea of a core curriculum for the State Department.

As always, I would love to hear from you about concepts, articles, and books you think should be required reading for all diplomats. I’ll post some of your ideas next week.

The Insufficient Status Quo

The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) bills itself as “the U.S. government’s premier foreign affairs training provider.” It is an impressive institution in many ways, offering over 800 courses across a wide array of competencies.

Drones, Missiles, and Leverage: Why Ukraine’s Strike Capabilities Matter More Than Ever

Fabian Hoffmann

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On 18 March, following a phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the latter gave the impression that Russia would temporarily halt attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure for a period of 30 days. Just hours later, Russia launched a large-scale drone attack on critical infrastructure in Slovyansk, including hospitals, resulting in widespread blackouts, while also accusing Ukraine of having breached the ceasefire agreement first.

Despite this, reports indicate that Ukrainian and Russian delegations are preparing to meet with U.S. negotiators in Riyadh to discuss a limited ceasefire agreement focused on protecting critical infrastructure. While the situation remains unclear at the time of writing, this episode offers a timely reason to reassess the long-range strike campaigns of both Ukraine and Russia—their changing character, new developments, and which side stands to gain more from a potential “ceasefire in the sky”, should it come about.

Mass is king

Similar to tactical-level warfighting efforts—now dominated by an almost absurd proliferation of FPV drones—both Ukraine and Russia’s long-range strike campaigns are increasingly shaped by the logic of “massed precision.”

The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plan

Jeffrey Goldberg

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The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen.

I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing.

This is going to require some explaining.

The story technically begins shortly after the Hamas invasion of southern Israel, in October 2023. The Houthis—an Iran-backed terrorist organization whose motto is “God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse on the Jews, victory to Islam”—soon launched attacks on Israel and on international shipping, creating havoc for global trade. Throughout 2024, the Biden administration was ineffective in countering these Houthi attacks; the incoming Trump administration promised a tougher response.

How to Enter the US With Your Digital Privacy Intact

Andy Greenberg & Matt Burgess

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When Ryan Lackey has traveled to countries like Russia or China, he has taken certain precautions: Instead of his usual gear, the Seattle-based security researcher and chief security officer of a cryptocurrency insurance firm brings a locked-down Chromebook and an iPhone that's set up to sync with a separate, nonsensitive Apple account. He wipes both before every trip and loads only the minimum data he'll need. Lackey has gone so far as to keep separate travel sets for each country, so that he can forensically analyze the devices when he gets home to check for signs of each country's tampering.

Now, Lackey says, the countries that warrant that paranoid approach to travel might include not just Russia and China but also the United States—if not for Americans like him, then for anyone with a foreign passport who might come under the increasingly draconian and unpredictable scrutiny of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). "All of this applies to America more than it has in the past," says Lackey. "If I thought I were likely to be a targeted person, I would go through this same level of protection."

Trump Has More Than One Way Out of NATO

Ellie Cook

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Fears have rippled through Europe about whether the U.S. under its new steward, President Donald Trump, could abandon NATO. But Trump, a notorious skeptic of the U.S.-led transatlantic alliance, would not have to pull out of NATO to break it up.

The White House does, in fact, have many options, if it wishes to undermine the alliance. All it would take to effectively spell an end to NATO without a formal withdrawal, experts say, is for the Trump administration to slash away at the trust underpinning the very existence of the alliance.

For many, this process has already begun.

How Would Trump Pull the U.S. out of NATO?

To officially extricate the U.S. from NATO, the Trump administration would have to give a year's notice, according to the alliance's Article 13. In an indication of past confidence in unwavering U.S. commitment, the notice must be handed to the U.S. government, and Washington then informs other states of the move.

Trump would also need to consult with, and then notify, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, as well as the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said Edward Hunter Christie, former NATO official.

Are Ethiopia and Eritrea hurtling towards war?

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Tensions are again mounting between longtime foes Ethiopia and Eritrea over Addis Ababa’s quest for maritime access, causing fears of yet another conflict in the Horn of Africa barely seven years after the two neighbours restored ties.

Eritrea has, in recent months, called for young people to sign up for the army, while Ethiopia has reportedly deployed troops to joint border areas. Analysts say those moves could potentially see the two armies come face to face in a conflict.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in a recent statement on X, ruled out conflict with Eritrea to gain access to the Red Sea. Abiy, who has previously said gaining access to the Red Sea was “an existential issue”, stressed that his country wanted to achieve it “peacefully via dialogue”.

But Eritrea has, on its part, struck a harsher tone, and called Ethiopia “misguided” over border tensions.

Morocco Breaks Up Islamic State Cells Preparing Terror Attacks

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Moroccan authorities have arrested more than a dozen Islamic State operatives, disrupting an attempt by extremists based in the Sahel to sow terror in the North African kingdom.

The arrests in February came after raids on nine Islamic State group (IS) cell locations across the country, including in major cities such as Casablanca and Fez. Security authorities confiscated materials needed to make remotely controlled bombs along with knives, rifles and handguns with their serial numbers removed.

The arrests were the latest in a string of anti-IS operations in Morocco. Between January 2023 and February 2024, for example, Moroccan authorities broke up multiple IS cells. Authorities captured individuals planning to or attempting to travel to IS’s Sahelian center of activity, known as Wilayat Sahel, at the junction of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

“Morocco remains a major target in the agenda of all terrorist organizations operating in the Sahel,” Habboub Cherkaoui, the head of Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations, said at a news conference announcing the most recent arrests. Experts say Morocco’s success against terrorists make it a role model for African countries.

US, Ukraine Hold ‘Meaningful’ Talks In Saudi: US-Russia Up Next

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US and Ukrainian officials concluded their talks in Saudi Arabia ahead of the second crucial session of “shuttle diplomacy” in which American negotiators will on March 24 meet with Russia’s representatives in the struggle to reach a cease-fire in the Ukraine war.

Washington’s team did not immediately comment about the talks with Kyiv’s representatives, but Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said session had been “constructive and meaningful.”

“The discussion was productive and focused — we addressed key points including energy, Umerov said in a Facebook post.

“President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s goal is to secure a just and lasting peace for our country and our people — and, by extension, for all of Europe. We are working to make that goal a reality.”

The talks in Riyadh marked a milestone in the US-led efforts to bring about a cease-fire in the Ukraine war. Previously, there have been breaks of a day or more between different rounds of bilateral talks. Having everyone in the same place could speed things up.

US and Russian officials are now scheduled to meet in the Saudi city. Russian state media reported that Moscow’s delegation arrived late on March 23.

Tariff Man Doubles Down

ANNE O. KRUEGER

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US President Donald Trump has long been a staunch advocate of import tariffs, proudly calling himself “Tariff Man” and asserting that “tariff” is “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.” During his first term, Trump significantly disrupted the multilateral trading system by raising tariffs on Chinese imports and undermining the World Trade Organization. But the size and scope of the tariffs he has imposed since his return to the White House have shocked the world.

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Defenders of Trump’s trade policies argue that his tariff threats are merely a negotiating tactic and will ultimately benefit the US economy. But his recent actions – including his plan to impose “reciprocal” tariffs, matching those imposed by other countries on US goods – suggest that, unlike in his first term, he is fully committed to his protectionist trade agenda.

Trump’s ultimate goal, however, remains unclear. He seems to have embraced the deeply misguided idea that imports are inherently harmful. To paraphrase French economist Frédéric Bastiat, if exports are good and imports are bad, then the world’s freight ships should be loaded with exports and sent out to sea to dump their cargo overboard.

Ukraine’s IT Army is Waging a Crowdsourced Cyber War Against Russia

David Kirichenko

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Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, cyberattacks have become a routine part of the conflict. Helping lead Ukraine’s cyber offensives is the IT Army of Ukraine, a decentralized hacking force that has launched relentless cyber offensives against Russia’s digital infrastructure. In June 2024, the group claimed responsibility for the largest Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack in history, crippling Russian banks and disrupting financial networks. But as the war drags on, the IT Army faces a new challenge: how to scale its operations without relying on traditional recruitment methods.

Formed in response to Russia’s invasion from Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, the IT Army quickly amassed hundreds of thousands of volunteers. The attacks carried out by Ukraine’s IT Army rely on a simple tactic: DDoS attacks. These attacks work by flooding a target—such as a website, server, or network—with an overwhelming amount of traffic, rendering it slow, unresponsive, or completely offline.

On their Telegram channel, the IT Army advertises that the “IT ARMY Kit is a simple and effective tool for cyber resistance against Russian aggression.”

To execute a DDoS attack at scale, hackers typically form a botnet—a network of computers and devices that work together to bombard the target with requests. In the case of the IT Army, volunteers contribute their own computing power, effectively turning thousands of individual machines into a coordinated digital weapon. The more devices involved, the more difficult it becomes for the target to withstand the attack.

Still ‘Raging Against the Machines’: Preventive Defense in the Age of Social Media Platforms

Dr. Isaiah Wilson III

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As the global security environment grows more intricate in the context of compound security competition and hybrid warfare, the mechanization and information starvation phenomena continue to persist with near-equal intensity, albeit in evolved forms.

In today’s landscape, warfare is not defined solely by conventional military engagements but also by the convergence of state and non-state actors, cyber and physical domains, and military and civilian targets. Mechanized military approaches, while highly effective in traditional state-on-state conflicts, remain limited in addressing these new hybrid threats where insurgency, cyber warfare, and information operations blur the lines of battle.

The reliance on mechanization in such environments exacerbates information starvation, wherein state and military actors are often disconnected from the socio-political realities on the ground and in the digital sphere. As was evident in Iraq and Afghanistan, the inability of mechanized forces to engage directly with local populations led to the alienation of civilians—an error that has carried over into the cyber frontlines of today’s hybrid conflicts.

In this modern iteration, social media platforms, cyber disinformation campaigns, and algorithmic manipulation create a similar dynamic, where governments and security forces struggle to understand and counteract the narratives driving radicalization to insurgency.

Google Brings AI-Powered ‘Most Relevant’ Feature In Gmail: How It Works

S Aadeetya'

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Gmail users are getting a new AI feature that promises to help you find important emails more efficiently. The AI-powered sorting tool, called “Most Relevant,” replaces the traditional chronological search order by prioritising emails based on relevance.

The existing filter options for refining search results will remain available alongside this new feature. Additionally, Gmail recently introduced the Gemini-powered tool that can automatically generate calendar events based on email content.

Google announced the rollout in a blog post saying, the “Most Relevant” feature will be accessible on the web and via the iOS and Android apps for personal Gmail users. The company also plans to extend the service to business accounts in the future.

Easy Search With AI

According to Google, the tool aims to simplify email searches, especially in cluttered inboxes. Currently, users need to enter keywords related to an email, and Gmail either displays results in chronological order or highlights a top result followed by others.

Elon Musk's Grok AI Now Gets Deeper Search And Image Editing Tools: What It Offers

S Aadeetya

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Grok AI 3 version is available for free to X users and even those trying out the standalone Grok app. The platform owned by Elon Musk is now adding two new features that includes AI image editing for users. Grok AI goes up against ChatGPT and Gemini AI so adding new tools is crucial for its demand and interest compared to the other platforms. Grok AI now offers Deeper search feature which is the extended version of its regular deep search.

Grok AI New Tools To Play Around With

The Grok AI Deeper search addition basically gives you more granular content by scraping through the internet and also rely on more genuine sources rather than simply curating from a bunch of X accounts. When it comes to AI image editing, the platform already has the option to generate AI images using text prompts, and now you can use the same medium to tweak images that you have created using Grok AI.

How It Works

The interface is basic and easy to navigate through as you feed the text prompt to create an AI image and then click on the edit image button right below the tab. Deepersearch promises more extended support for content and using a wider range of the internet sources to give you the summarised information.

How Software Engineers Actually Use AI

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Code created AI. That much is obvious. Less obvious is the extent to which AI is now, in a snake-eats-tail way, creating code. We kept hearing conflicting accounts. This programmer used AI every day; that programmer wouldn’t touch the stuff. This company paid for AI services; that company banned them. So which is it? Are chatbots liberating human programmers—or programming them right out of their jobs? To find out, we blasted a survey to every software engineer and developer in our orbit, from casual dabblers to career vets. The results amazed and surprised us, capturing an industry at fundamental odds with itself. And did we then upload that data to ChatGPT, just to see what it might make of things? Yes. Yes we did.*

Will AI Fully Eat Programming Jobs One Day?

Almost every coder we surveyed had strong opinions on the matter. Here’s ChatGPT’s summary of the responses (with its boldface emphasis preserved):

“The coders have spoken—and they’re not packing up their keyboards just yet. While a small but vocal group insists AI will devour programming jobs in time, most dismiss full automation as a pipe dream. The doom prophets warn that corporate bosses will slash payrolls the moment AI looks capable, leaving human engineers debugging their own obsolescence. The skeptics scoff, arguing AI is more like a hyperefficient intern—useful, but clueless—that can’t handle context, edge cases, or real problem-solving. The realists see AI as a force multiplier, not a job killer—automating repetitive coding but leaving the creativity, architecture, and debugging to humans. “If AI does eat programming,” one put it, “I’ll just switch to debugging AI.”* The real verdict? AI isn’t coming for your job—but it is changing it. Adapt or get left behind.🚀”

Quantum Computing Is Dead. Long Live Quantum Computing!

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This is the year of quantum science and technology. Literally: The United Nations said so. But no amount of pomp and hype can make something true. The fact is, it’s been the year of quantum nearly every year for many, many years now. It’s always the next big thing. It’s always just about here. Well, is it? Really? Nearly a century ago, Erwin Schrödinger poked fun at quantum principles by comparing them to a cat that’s both alive and dead. Today, quantum computing finds itself in just such a state: a superposition of here and not-here, a series of world-changing breakthroughs that are, at the same time, also colossal letdowns. So what’s the real story? Let’s open the box and find out.

The Evolution of Combined Arms Warfare

Tony Stark

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“War is increasingly complex.”

So goes the line from hundreds of military writers, leaders, politicians, and that podcast bro at the bar. And yet in war, the simplest things are hardest: accurate shooting, coordinated movement, clear communication…hell, even deciding where to sleep.

Shoot, move, communicate.

These three actions lie at the heart of all warfare. For all the drones in the sky and electrons fired in anger across the internet, all of warfare can be simplified to three functions (four if you’re a logistician). But not if you listen to the endless barrage of pundits, grifters, and know-nothing staffers. A lot of people who should know better want to pick their favorite weapon of the week as a magic victory button and a lot of people who want to sound smart parrot those talking points. You’d think we’d discovered a new dimension with unknown physical laws every time we build a shiny new toy. Blood and bone still hold ground, soldiers still die in the mud, and the end game is still to close with and destroy the enemy. That’s the nature of warfare. The shape that takes as culture, tactics, and technology evolve is what’s known as the character of warfare. But what does that all mean in 2025? Well, I thought I’d take the time to lay out a 101 brief on modern warfare, our ongoing technological evolutions, and what it means for the next battlefield.

Situating Mauritius in India’s Broader Oceanic Strategy

Raghvendra Kumar

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The recent visit of Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to Mauritius on 11–12 March 2025 comes at a crucial time when the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region is witnessing heightened instability and conflict. It marks a significant milestone in India’s oceanic outreach, aimed at fostering a stable and prosperous region through holistic maritime security, which serves as an enabler for sustainable development and growth. In this context, Mauritius is central to India’s strategic maritime engagement and remains a key strategic partner, serving as a security hub, trade link, and diplomatic ally in the WIO region. It was in Mauritius that PM Modi first unveiled the maritime vision SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) in 2015, and on its 10th anniversary, the vision has evolved into MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions). This evolution underscores India’s commitment to regional stability and positions Mauritius at the heart of India’s Arc of Security and Growth fostering a holistically secure and prosperous Indian Ocean region.

With around 70% of Mauritians of Indian origin, India enjoys deep historical and cultural ties with the country, transcending geopolitical boundaries. India has consistently supported Mauritius’ claim over the Chagos Archipelago while maintaining friendly relations with both the UK and the USA, underscoring its multi-alignment and strategic autonomy in matters of core national interest. Whereas Mauritius has consistently stood with India at various international and regional forums, reflecting their shared interests, historical ties, and strategic alignment.

OpenAI, Meta in talks with Reliance for AI partnerships, The Information reports

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OpenAI and Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab have held separate discussions with India's Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), opens new tab over potential partnerships to expand their artificial intelligence offerings in the country, technology news website The Information reported on Saturday.

A possibility being discussed involved a relationship between Reliance Jio and OpenAI to distribute ChatGPT, according to The Information, which cited two sources familiar with the matter.

OpenAI also discussed with employees cutting the ChatGPT subscription price to as low as several dollars instead of $20 a month, according to the report, which added that it is not clear if OpenAI has discussed the idea of price reduction with Reliance.

Reliance has discussed selling OpenAI's models to its enterprise customers through an application programming interface or API, The Information report added, saying that the Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate also discussed hosting and running OpenAI models locally, so the data of local customers can be kept within India.

In particular, Reliance has discussed running the Meta and OpenAI models in a three-gigawatt data center that the company is planning to build, which it has said is the largest data center in the world, located in the city of Jamnagar in Gujarat.

A New Asian Bloc in the Making?

George Friedman

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Senior officials from China, South Korea and Japan will soon meet in Tokyo to try to establish a more formal relationship, replete with security and economic benefits. Informal talks had already been held between China and Japan, so it appears the two found enough to agree on in principle to proceed to the next level. In practice, it’s unclear what a partnership entails. Japan has said it wants to increase agriculture exports to China and to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear program. Naturally, the latter point brought South Korea into the talks.

Beijing is in a dangerous geopolitical position. The emerging U.S.-Russia entente leaves China in an isolated position at a time when its economy has weakened dramatically. Contrary to appearances, Russia and China have never been truly aligned. Russia has been a threat to China throughout history, and several wars have been fought between them. Not even the commonality of communism could unite them. Under Mao, China was outright hostile to Russia, which it accused of betraying communism during the Khrushchev era.

Geopolitically, Mao worried that a U.S.-Russia detente would preface a joint policy against China. So when Henry Kissinger visited China to open relations in the 1970s, heavy fighting broke out along the Russia-China border – a significant row that lasted several months. Russia meant for the attack to pose as a warning to China about what could happen if its relationship with the U.S. threatened Russian interests. China understood it as such.

Counter-Terrorism and Intellectual Co-Optation in Bangladesh - Opinion

Sazzad Siddiqui

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In fragile democracies like Bangladesh, populist regimes arguably manipulate public perception to consolidate power which exemplifies Noam Chomsky’s “manufacturing consent” theory – meaning how public opinion is shaped to serve ruling elites. Among few others, Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule epitomized this tactic that used counter-terrorism campaigns to justify and sustain her authoritarianism mainly through exploiting security crises to suppress opposition and dissent in Bangladesh. The co-optation of intellectuals and academics aligned with the ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL) was central to this strategy. The government also absorbed individuals from outside its ideological base which reflected the regime’s unique ability to manufacture passive compliance of the dissent intellectuals. This helped broadly to legitimize repressive state actions in the name of countering terrorism and religious extremism mainly exploiting the police and other security organizations. Despite her consolidated power she was ultimately ousted and fled to India on 5 August 2024 amid an unprecedented student-led mass uprising. Now, India is unwilling to extradite her.

Such co-optation can be described as an “intellectual honey trap,” where academics are subtly enticed into endorsing state narratives under the pretext of national security. In Bangladesh, research on extremism was often steered toward validating government policies rather than critically examining their implications. Scholars were encouraged to focus on ideological factors behind radicalization while avoiding systemic critiques, such as the role of state repression or structural inequalities. In Bangladesh, the infamous August 21, 2004, grenade attack on Hasina’s rally became a cornerstone of manufacturing counter-terrorism narrative. The AL flaunted the tragedy to frame the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as a terrorist organization and religious traders to consolidate political advantage.

PRC Uses Legal Warfare to Support Maritime Blockade Against Taiwan

Masayoshi Dobashi and Rena Sasaki

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On February 26, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense reported that People’s Liberation Army (PLA) fighters and warships had set up a zone 40 miles from the island’s southwestern coast to conduct “live-fire drills” (射击训练) without providing customary notification (Military News Agency, February 26). The following day, a spokesperson for the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Ministry of National Defense rebuffed this as “pure hype” (纯属炒作) but did not comment on the substance of Taiwan’s reports (MND, February 27). Part of the reason for the alarm was that it followed on the heels of a live-fire drill conducted by a PLA Navy task force in the Tasman Sea, for which the PLA also did not provide appropriate warning (China Brief, March 11). Both instances were legal under international law but constituted unusual and aggressive actions by the PRC. Military pressure on Taiwan has been acute in recent years. In the last twelve months, the PLA conducted “Joint Sword” exercises in May and October and an unprecedented large-scale winter naval training in December (China Brief, July 26, 2024, November 1, 2024, December 20, 2024). These simulated aspects of a blockade suggest that this could be Beijing’s preferred course of action in an operation against Taiwan.

Current Geopolitical Trends and Impact on South Asia

Arvind Gupta

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Introduction

International politics is never static. A new geopolitical environment, based on a new balance of power is shaping up. Stresses have been building up in the so-called rule-based order, set up by the victors of the Second World War in 1945, for a considerable time since the Cold War ended. The disintegration of the Soviet Union, 9/11 terrorist attacks, the global financial crisis of 2008 –10, COVID-19, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2014 and 2022, and the disintegration of Yugoslavia in which the West played a key role, were some of the notable seismic events that strained the older world order. The bipolar world order of the Cold War years gave way briefly to unipolarity and then multipolarity with the rise of new powers like China, India and others. The inherently undemocratic UN system of multilateralism has become increasingly dysfunctional. It failed to keep international peace and stability as multiple wars broke out with regular frequency in different parts of the world. The rise of new powers and new regional groupings has also challenged the UN system.

Globalization that began in the 80s became hyper globalization of the late 20th and the 21st century. Globalization created a lot of wealth but also acute inequity. It failed the test of sabka saath, sabka vikas or inclusive growth. Production became decentralized leading to extended supply chains. The problem was that these supply chains were concentrated in a few countries and were highly vulnerable to geopolitical and natural disruptions. This was amply demonstrated during the Covid in 2020 when the global economy almost came to a halt as millions of lives were being lost and after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 when grain and energy markets were severely disrupted. The disturbances caused by geopolitics led to the disruptions of supply chains.

What the Western Media Gets Wrong About Taiwan - Analysis

Clarissa Wei

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In September 2022, I was working as a fixer in Taipei for a U.S. news segment about cross-strait tensions, handling local logistics for a visiting producer and cameraman. Fixers are freelance staff whose role is somewhere between journalist and tour guide—they can end up doing everything from arranging interviews to translation to booking hotels. One night, we arrived at an amateur radio meetup in a park, ready to shoot, and found an eccentric crew of local radio fans. One man hunched over a tangled web of equipment at the back of his truck, tapping away in Morse code; another fidgeted with an antenna as he walked around, trying to get a signal. The producer told me that the group was learning how to operate radios in case of war with China.

President Lai holds press conference following high-level national security meeting

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On the afternoon of March 13, President Lai Ching-te convened a high-level national security meeting, following which he held a press conference. In remarks, President Lai introduced 17 major strategies to respond to five major national security and united front threats Taiwan now faces: China’s threat to national sovereignty, its threats from infiltration and espionage activities targeting Taiwan’s military, its threats aimed at obscuring the national identity of the people of Taiwan, its threats from united front infiltration into Taiwanese society through cross-strait exchanges, and its threats from using “integrated development” to attract Taiwanese businesspeople and youth.

President Lai emphasized that in the face of increasingly severe threats, the government will not stop doing its utmost to ensure that our national sovereignty is not infringed upon, and expressed hope that all citizens unite in solidarity to resist being divided. The president also expressed hope that citizens work together to increase media literacy, organize and participate in civic education activities, promptly expose concerted united front efforts, and refuse to participate in any activities that sacrifice national interests. As long as every citizen plays their part toward our nation’s goals for prosperity and security, he said, and as long as we work together, nothing can defeat us.

China’s Tech-Industrial Ecosystems: A Web Of Convergence And Ambition - Opinion

Capt MJ Augustine Vinod VSM (Retd)

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Imagine a spider weaving its web—not just across a quiet corner of a garden, but across an entire nation, stretching into the skies with drones, burrowing into the Earth with semiconductors, and racing down highways with autonomous vehicles. This isn’t some sci-fi fantasy; it’s China’s tech-industrial ecosystem in 2025, a sprawling, interconnected lattice where companies don’t just specialise but sprawl, where industries don’t just co-exist but converge.

The image you see—a Venn diagram of overlapping blue circles, each labelled with companies like Huawei, Baidu, DJI, and Xiaomi, tells a story of ambition, strategy, and a deliberate push to dominate the future. But it’s more than a diagram; it’s a blueprint for how China is redefining industrial growth, challenging global norms, and leaving the world to wonder: can anyone else build a web this intricate?

This article isn’t just about China’s tech prowess—though that’s impressive enough. It’s about how these ecosystems are growing vertically and horizontally, how Chinese firms are expanding across domains like batteries, electric vehicles (EVs), drones, semiconductors, AI, smartphones, industrial robots, humanoid robots, and autonomous vehicles, and why this convergence might be the key to their dominance.

It’s also a quiet nudge to think about other nations—like India, with its atmanirbhar (self-reliant) aspirations—grappling with similar questions but on a very different scale and speed.

PLA Factions and the Erosion of Xi’s Power Over the Military

Brandon Tran and Gerui Zhang

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A year-long anti-corruption campaign has purged major senior personnel from the ranks of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). While graft is endemic to the Chinese military, purges in Leninist regimes also serve a political purpose. Fierce internal power struggles are another feature of such regimes, with control over the military seen as vital to consolidating power. In the Chinese military system, Xi Jinping is not the only person who has power over personnel. Recently, some observers have suggested that his vice chair on the Central Military Commission (CMC), Zhang Youxia (张又侠), may have ordered recent purges in the PLA Navy. If this is true, it could suggest that Xi Jinping’s traditional bases of support in the PLA are weakened and that his authority over the PLA is far from absolute (People’s Report, October 11, 2024; X/@yanmingshiping, November 28, 2024).

Two Purges Have Targeted Two Xi Factions

The current CMC consists of five men besides Xi, according to the Ministry of National Defense website. These individuals are pulled from Xi’s two major bases of support in the PLA, the Shaanxi Gang (陕西帮) and the Fujian Clique (福建系). The former stems from Xi’s family connections as a princeling—both Zhang Youxia and Zhang Shengmin (张升民) hail from Shaanxi Province. Zhang Youxia also has close familial ties to Xi, as the two men’s fathers served in the same unit during the civil war. The latter group is composed of He Weidong (何卫东) and Miao Hua (苗华), who worked with Xi when he was an official in Fujian Province. This leaves Liu Zhenli (刘振立), who is more aligned with the Shaanxi Gang by virtue of his relationship with Zhang Youxia. Both men served in the same campaign during the Sino-Vietnamese War (VOA Chinese, October 24, 2022; MND, accessed March 3). [1]