RS

@pranaykotas PS- @matthan Tyranny of base level capabilities means a futile quest for ToT, absent moat(s) in tech & manufacturing & negligible/minimal export potential, absent surplus & deficit in capacity & current account. Time to discard labels-skeptic/pessimist. skin in the game = patriot

@pranaykotas 2/2 @matthan Domains when priortised and base capabilities fructified have not 'really' translated in higher order effects in TRL or MRL nor in proliferation of a research eco system. A debate that must happen....

@pranaykotas 1/2 Would you consider that the pessimism may be a function of optimism and experience, refined expectations & anxiety. Base level capabilities, as an outcome are useful, as a pathology?? Worthy debate-anxiety is rational and experiential..

Pessimism about India's tech power is underpinned by a simplification that if you are not in the top-two, you are toast. Just as with AI, people said the same things about railway manufacturing, space, and nuclear weapons. In each of these sectors, India was able to build base-level capabilities. We'll also likely find a 'third way' (to use @matthan's phrase) in domains that we prioritise.

@Bannons_WarRoom x.com/realiststrateg…

@Bannons_WarRoom x.com/realiststrateg…

CLEO PASKAL: When China says authoritarianism is required to govern a billion people, India is a democracy of a billion people. When China says religious freedom is too destabilizing, India has it. When China says ethnic uniformity is the only stable foundation, India is one of the most diverse societies on earth. India isn't perfect, but every excuse China uses to justify its behavior collapses the moment you look at the country next door. @CleoPaskal

@TheEconomist Exhibit 3. Stratagem in motion. 1- Numb with praise 2- Sow Doubt 3- Denigrate, Discredit Disingenous. Desperate too.

@TheEconomist x.com/realiststrateg…

The country is a prize few AI firms can ignore. Its internet user base is huge, diverse and messy—and its regulatory regime helps, too economist.com/asia/2025/09/1…

@kejimao Stratagem Exhibit 2. When 'numbing with praise' called out, sow 'doubt', au naturel yet utilitarian. Disingenous, yes. Desperate or by Design . Do contrast the two 'economic' perspectives articulated within a day. x.com/realiststrateg…

@swasrao @jnbarrot PS-Took the bait, surely @jnbarrot has a refined, more historically anchored view...

@swasrao @jnbarrot 4/4 Europe affluent & sophisticated is divided, strategically dependent & uncertain, manifest in hesitation masked as moral vocabulary. Peloponnesian War lesson-only an entity with clarity of purpose, military adaptability and political cohesion can exploit systemic transition..

@swasrao @jnbarrot 3/n Europe is embedded within the US led order NATO, USD finance, transatlantic tech dependence(y). Macedonia had strategic agency & autonomy, Europe is talking, declaring, regulating (work in progress), Macedonia was prepared & ready...

@swasrao @jnbarrot 2/n Europe today possesses wealth (still) and tech (yet) but lacks precisely those attributes (refer 1/n) that allowed Macedonia to convert systemic exhaustion into geopolitical ascent. A fractured social order is a Vulnerability and a dominant variable..

@swasrao 1/n @jnbarrot Seductive but incomplete & implausible.Macedonia was not merely a 'third actor', but a hard militarised kingdom under intrepid leadership from Philip II of Macedon to Alexander, with demographic vitality, strategic clarity, mil innovation and expansionist ambition..

@fooobar Agree. It mirrors the OS era.Our absence in core platforms ceded standards, rents, data gravity & developer mindshare.Sans sovereign AI, dependence deepens-exposed data,constrained eco,defence and industrial autonomy. Diffusion (scope) & Regulation no substitute to sovereignty

@henrysgao @MsMelChen PS- Actions are a universal language, absentism/ inaction may have nil/minimal risk exposures & even be celebrated, but the psychological impact of action on a hierarchical, aspirational, 'risen' entity cannot be understated. worthy debate....

@henrysgao @MsMelChen 2/2 PRC Decree 834 & PLA command purges indicators of 'defensive' action, fencing & cleaning the yard. Yes, PRC/Xi benefitting from overt western alliance dissonance-that could turn on a dime (pun on DIME), in TIME (no pun),unlikely as it seems now. Summitry is table stakes..