Comments by "M Shastri" (@libshastra) on "Pyotr Kurzin | Geopolitics" channel.

I think it would be useful to look at Early American history to understand why India wants to stay independent. Right after the US became independent, it had a very hostile relationship with the UK up until after 1900s. By that time America became a pretty vibrant and rich country. Also America was never subservient to British interests, so it is surprising that many Westerns think tank that India should be similarly subservient. I wish they looked at their own history beyond WW2.
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UK Tories are saying it's a win for China. The real winner here is India. Mauritius and India have defense cooperation agreements. Mauritius recently signed agreement to build logistics base and expand current facilities. I can see Mauritius lobbying for increased Indian involvement.
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Blame those who let it happen and invited problems in Canada.
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I think Average Infantryman Cappy is the wrong person to ask a political question of Western hypocrisy. Middle powers like Indonesia and India have LOT of issues with State Department, not Pentagon. Cappy, (rightly so) did not give a satisfactory answer.
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Many will look at BRICS members and the constant tension between them and simply dismiss it. But that’s the wrong way to look at it, India and Indian diplomacy is extremely flexible and led primarily by India’s interests. India will collaborate where it needs to and use its bureaucracy to stall where it must. The question we should be asking is on which issues is India going to collaborate with other BRICS members? Trade is definitely one of them, India has collaborated with China on trade before.
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Europe would need to spend about $800 Billion/year for 2 decades before it can match American capabilities. The question everyone should be asking is, is it sustainable? Can Europe spend $800 billion every year for at least a decade?
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Also speaker needs to open their perspective and include India as part of the free world. Western analyst often exclude real democracies like India because it doesn't follow their diktats. Also Koreans, Japanese and Taiwanese are not one people. They have their own indigenous cultures. Culture matters. You can't go to Poland and say Germans and Poles are one people, they'll laugh at you.
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You should invite John Helmer (dances_with_bears) and get some fresh perspectives. What does peace settlement mean, what will Europe (and US) do with frozen Russian assets? Is the West going to go against IMF to pay reparations to Ukraine with Russian assets? Are the European really that emotional (and stupid) to do that?
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Harris will make the same mistakes as Biden did in her first year. Right now, she is concerned about showing her progressiveness and that will create problems with the way she is perceived by Non-NATO allies/partners. Using pronouns as part of your introduction will be seen as cringey and neocolonialism by Asian countries. Harris's Indian background is actually a liability for her, apart from a few proud moments in her Village, it won't help her improve ties in Chanakyapuri (Delhi's diplomatic enclave). Her sister and niece are perceived as harbouring neocolonialist agendas and they have lobbied against the Indian American community in the US. These things increasingly matter in New Delhi.
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SAIS Alumni! No wonder the quality of analysis is pretty darn good.
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UN has become a talk shop. Decisions are slowly being taken outside of UN and it's associate agencies, security decisions are made in forums like Quad, economic discussions are conducted in G20, regional multilateral agencies are African Unions are making decisions for their own region. The world is relying less and less on the UN. The UN's function is slowly getting superceded by other agencies.
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Yes. Canada has been complicit and facilitating terrorism in other countries. It is time for Canada to clean up it's act.
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Nice to see coverage of countries that doesn't usually get covered.
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Let's not forget, Canada shielded Tahawwur Hussain Rana (planner and financiers) from getting extradited to India to get prosecuted for Terrorism for 2008 Mumbai Terror attacks. The Americans had to get him extradited to the US and the extradited him to India in May last year. Canada has always been complicit with terror activities and funding coming from within Canada.
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The speaker's fundamental basis for defending democracy is flawed. You can't ask a person who lives paycheck to paycheck to sacrifice more for the sake of democracy. The best defense for democracy is to ensure people have access to good food, shelter and employment. You fix those basics, people will listen, otherwise, they will not hesitate to burn the system. Weimar Republic didn't became Nazi because of lack of sacrifice by the German people, it was quite the opposite.
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@theglobalgambit your beautiful chest hair adds to the immersion of content. ;)
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Is the US-led Order Really Over? No. The West still has a LOT of leverage in their hands. Is the West willing to burn bridges to use that leverage? I strongly doubt it. The asymmetric leverage the West used to enjoy is now becoming more and more symmetric each passing day. Case in points: - You can't have a G7 without India or one of the large G20 economies but you can have a discussion in G7 without Canada. - Europe's problems are the world's problem but rest of the world can't be coerced to sacrifice for Europe's problems. That decline can be felt in the West's "Liberal International Order". P.S.: Before 2019, the US led Order used to be called "Liberal International Order", today that's become "Rules based International Order". Liberal values as defined by the West are no longer unidirectionally global.
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@theglobalgambit yes and you know "Liberal" has become a dirty word in International Diplomacy when someone like Ikenberry redefines Liberal Internationalism in terms of interests rather than values. He redefines it as "(Democracies) committed to openness as well as the belief that they are better off through cooperation, exchange, and trade". Human right is missing *cough *cough. The last time ECPR wrote about "Liberal International Order" was back in 2023 and they defined it in terms of interests rather than values so that Brussels can find the justification to bend over backwards to bring Turkey into the EU. Thank God for the internet, we can make fun of mental gymnastics of Western IR scholars and share it Globally.
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@theglobalgambit and Youtube deletes my follow up comments. Anyway, Ikenberry redefines Liberal Internationalism in terms of interests instead of values. ECPR calls for a revamp of Liberal Internationalism in terms of interest rather than values (all of that for including Turkey into the EU). Ikenberry calls Liberal democracies as "countries are committed to openness as well as the belief that they are better off through cooperation, exchange, and trade." Notice there's no talk of values. Ya, Liberal has become a dirty word in International Diplomacy.
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Your discord invite has expired.
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I knew there was increasing pressure on the UK to return the Islands. India was becoming increasingly vocal about it and was providing more public support to Mauritius' claim. So it was a matter of time. I thought, the handover was 5-6 years away, did not expect it to happen this soon though.
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Trump's tarriff, if it stay for more than a couple of years will drive investment in the US. It will. deindustrialize US's traditional allies. US will become stronger but at the expense of allies.
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@thegreatdane3627 US capacity to attract, retain and work around workforce issues. But first, money will move then workforce will come.
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@theglobalgambit it’s Hopkins, folks are usually pretty surprised when you tell them there are things apart from the Medical School.
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It will be performative - she's going to use those pronouns for the first couple of months before she realizes it is ridiculous and drop it entirely. A Eurocentric NSA would likely make Asian powers question US ability to commit to Indo Pacific. Biden went thru similar problems - Harris would likely encounter similar problems.
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