this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2024
248 points (99.2% liked)

World News

39173 readers
4061 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

(Bloomberg) -- India has surged to become the second-biggest supplier of restricted critical technologies to Russia, US and European officials said, highlighting the challenge in efforts to choke off exports fueling President Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

Indian exports of restricted items such as microchips, circuits and machine tools surpassed $60 million in both April and May, about double from earlier months this year, and leaped to $95 million in July, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified discussing private assessments. India is exceeded only by China.

Even more frustrating to Ukraine’s allies, some of them said, is that envoys who raise the issue have received little response from their Indian counterparts. India’s Ministry of External Affairs declined to comment when asked about the trend.

The most recent data means almost a fifth of the sensitive technology that goes into Russia’s military-industrial complex got there via India, the officials said.

top 12 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Evil dictators gonna evil dictate

[–] kippinitreal 26 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Sidestepping the whataboutism of US support of Iserali "invasion", the US/EU soft power is clearly waning in the East. Sanctions are only as effective as long as everyone is willing to comply.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Not that I'm going to disagree about the waning power of a dying empire, but India has historically charted its own course in regards to its international relations and dealings i.e. the Non-Aligned Movement of the Cold War.

It knows that it's a critical partner of the US Security State in regards to China, as well as being a significant regional power of its own. So it can buck US power a bit more openly and flagrantly when it comes to securing their own national interests.

It's also on average, a poorer country, relative to its size and influence. These trade deals are largely predicated upon India taking advantage of Russia's weakened position as a global energy exporter, and getting cut rate deals on Russian oil imports.

I believe India is also a huge importer of Russian grain and fertilizer, which I imagine they're also getting good deals on as well, given the current global dynamics.

You'll never catch me defending Modi, but you also won't catch me moralizing about developing, or underdeveloped, countries prioritizing their own energy and food supplies, over external concerns.

And I haven't even touched on the practical national security ties India has with Russia as one of its larger military industrial partners. Even as India is now, or planning on, moving away from Russian arms, they still rely on Russian industry for help maintaining their existing kit. That's just how arms exports works, it's why the global arms trade is so heavily linked to alliances. As an importer of a complex weapon systems, you have to trust that the source country isn't going to cut you off during a conflict, and can be relied upon to fulfill their production and service/support contracts. So for India to sever ties, or even openly embarrass Putin, could significantly weaken their national defense posture and preparedness.

Ironically, the war in Ukraine has shown Russia to be an unreliable partner because they have to redirect orders to their own front lines. This has been one of the important contributing factors for India to start moving away from Russian arms. But in the meantime, they still have a lot of Russian kit in active service.

And I say all this as an avid supporter of Ukraine, and someone who has long advocated for significantly larger, more advanced, and consistent, weapons transfers, and loosening restrictions on their use.

I included that last bit, because a lot of people tend to view acknowledging the fact that a lot of developing and poorer countries still rely on Russia for critical exports, and that shouldn't be moralized, as somehow implying an implicit personal support of Russia or the invasion.

[–] kippinitreal 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is a very insightful comment, thank you. I absolutely agree with most of your points. Though one minor disagreement I'd have: it wasn't Trump who brought on the waning of US soft power, but US's failure in Afghanistan/Iraq/Yemen during 2nd Obama term.

Ultimately the expense in forging the US influence overseas during the Bush era came at the cost of ignoring those back home. Trump capitalized on all that resentment. In fact he still is riding on it. Coinicdentally Its a lesson Modi needs to learn from his recent election result at home too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Thanks, and you're welcome. Glad it was useful.

Trump is a symptom, not the cause. And while he most likely accelerated aspects of the decline, no, he didn't trigger it.

But neither did those wars, they're just what happens during an empire's death, pointless wars, death, and violence. An angry dying man's lashing out if you will.

Again, symptoms, yes, but not the cause.

I've already written a long enough comment for one day, but there's plenty of academic writings on the subject if you're interested.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

EU soft power

Did the EU ever really have that much soft power over the East? The EU has barely any soft power in the EU itself.

I feel it's more of a US soft power collapse, also in the EU. The EU had a long-standing status quo of not really competing with the US militarily, now we're rearming.

It's Trump. It's the 2016-2020 Trump presidency that made the US demonstrate it's not a dependable ally.

[–] kippinitreal 1 points 1 month ago

Most definitely. It was purely economic than militaristic. EU companies are generally seen as superior just for being from the EU in Asia.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Chill_Dan 8 points 1 month ago

All my homies hate Modi

[–] Gigasser 5 points 1 month ago

Fuck the Hindutva movement, barely veiled Hindu nationalist fascism.

[–] sorval_the_eeter 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Its well past time the US started treating India as bad actor it is instead of turning a blind eye to it like we always do. They are not a friend or ally.