I’m uploading my backlog of podcasts to my YouTube Channel. Please subscribe.
This blog is more than ten years old. When it began it was mostly “Diasporic,” but now it’s mostly a subcontinental focused blog.
I’m uploading my backlog of podcasts to my YouTube Channel. Please subscribe.
This blog is more than ten years old. When it began it was mostly “Diasporic,” but now it’s mostly a subcontinental focused blog.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/pakistan%E2%80%99s-worst-nightmare-indian-kashmir-thrives-205316
Beautiful to see progress
The President of the New York Stock Exchange, a White American woman named Lynn Martin, looks completely like a NW South Asian; she would fit among Kambojas/Rors/Khatris/Pashtuns/Jats/Sindhis:
https://youtu.be/4GVkJCEzHOs
While this South Asian man interviewing her wouldn’t be out of place among non White Latin Americans, looks indigenous to South Asia/America:
https://youtu.be/4GVkJCEzHOs
They both look like members of different races and ethnicities. The difference is akin to that between White/Caucasian Americans and Indigenous Latin Americans. For Americans and for people outside of South Asia they are members of vastly different racial groups. This is how vast South Asia’s diversity is.
A good analogy in the South Asian context would be the difference between generic Gujaratis and NW South Asian Caucasians. Tamils would not even figure in the comparison due to a having different AASI strain and possessing Onge—like admixture.
South Asians span the range from indigenous South American to White South Americans and everything in between. Then there’s the East and SE Asian looking/admixed South Asians, ranging from Chinese/Thai looking all the way to Hazara and Uzbek and Turkmen and Tajik looking. While AASI is a form of an ancient SE Asian element, it’s best approximation are the natives of the Americas.
The Hoabinhian admixed Southern and Eastern Indians are unique as well, different from all other South Asians, and have their own AASI strain and unique appearance indigenous to South Asia.
To think that all South Asians belong in one box or color (Brown) is a laughable notion. It is an impossibly absurd sentiment, one that isn’t supported by science or indeed, by social and cultural norms. Or by anyone with two eyes and a functioning brain. The genetic PCA spans the entire range from almost purely West Eurasian to almost purely East Eurasian.
The genetic and phenotypic differences between South Asian groups just within the Indian subcontinent are mind boggling.
You have midcaste Gujarati Vanias at 60-65% West Eurasian and Kambojas and Khatris and some Sindhis at 85-88% West Eurasian and Jaats and Rors and Pashtuns at 88-90% West Eurasian.
That’s a difference of 25-30% West Eurasian between Gujarati Vanias and NW South Asian Caucasians, akin to the difference between Amhara/Eastern Africans/Ethiopian Jews and the average Saudi man, or akin to the difference between the average Uzbek and the average Iranian. Or the difference between the average Turkmen and the average Russian.
And when you look at the difference between most generic South Asians, who are around 50-55% West Eurasian, and NW South Asians, the difference is laughably absurd. A continental difference.
We can never be one people. It would make a mockery of identity and science and biological realities the world over.
Since AASI has additional West Eurasian in it, this means these NW South Asians are >>90% West Eurasian in many cases, which would only inflate these distances even more.
We’re also all mixed with different AASI strains and most of us lack Hoabinhian admixture and SE Asian admixture found in Bengalis and South Indians as well. This makes us all extremely different from each other.
Even to outsiders, Castizos like Hrithik Roshan, Freddy Mercury, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Nikki Haley are White passing, and the furthest thing from Indian or South Asian, not even to speak of Criollos, that are essentially White being Caucasians.
India can never make it unless it Balkanizes.
Jaat ji the remarkable thing is individual villages in India have greater diversity than between Haryanvi Jaats and Gujarati Vanias. (Say for eg between jaats and valmikis in Haryana)
Do you in propose we ethnically Pakistanize each village?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistanization
. For a race based balkanization, we would literally have to gather all the upper castes and brahmins in one area, all the indigenous adivasis in another, dalits, SC’s and the rest in other states. Heck even among brahmins, there’s significant variation in the steppe genes across various subcastes and regions.
If a balkanization were to ever happen, it would most likely be on a linguistic basis, not racial, with states like TN being the prime candidate.
Thanks for uploading, Razib!
One feedback – would it be possible to put the original broadcast date of the podcasts in the name or in the thumbnail image?
UPA vs Modi econ perf
https://theprint.in/opinion/despite-moderate-performance-over-40-yrs-indias-economic-growth-set-to-be-substantial-in-2023/1168527/
“When one looks at comparative economic growth, tracked using current US dollars, four countries feature as the best performers of the 2011-21 decade: Bangladesh, China, Vietnam and India — in that order. (For India, 2021 means the financial year 2021-22, its last completed year.)
Only two of these four countries figured among the top performers of the previous decade, with China in the lead and Vietnam in fifth place (tying with Turkey). Remember that this period (2001-11) saw India’s best ever decadal growth performance, by far. But, as is rarely recognised, the country’s growth in that period was marginally slower than the average for all emerging markets and developing countries (EMs), a grouping that includes all but some 40 “advanced” economies.”
Frontiers for freedom, george landrith. They took a wsj ad against modi, calling for sanctions against Indian ministers. Tunku vardarajan called for similar maginsky or something sanctions. Our guesses are working are on the spot. India should Ignore and grow for next 40 yrs/ 50 yrs. And only then, do the talking and acting. Also, biden gave a statement against pakistan. there is a motion to recognize 1971 genocide, which is the real darkspot of usa and as usual trying to cover that record with this “recognition”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itUfB94EZrg
The Media & India’s Democracy Today
Some relief that SG tried to draw distinction between traditional reporting/journalism and advocacy/activist based journalism. There was a dig about regime change operation.
shekar gupta is true to himself and this is seen by his rolled sleeves,albeit with a jacket on!!!
The brouhaha over the Germany based “Global Hunger Index” is overflowing on Indian twitter. Had to dive into the methodology to understand what their “method” is. The top countries, that is the “least hungry” on their rankings are –
Belarus, Bosnia, Chile, China, Croatia, Hungary, Kuwait, Latvia Lithuania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey and Uruguay.
Unusual suspects, to say the least!
They use 4 parameters to drive their index – child stunting, child wasting, undernourishment and child mortality. These parameters are drawn from other published sources (UN, FAO, UNICEF, WHO) and normalized.
The primary sources themselves have been normalized from governmental sources. So this is a double-normalized comparison.
From what statistical knowledge I have, normalisation favors the mean and skews the outliers even further outward. This could be one of the outcomes of having super-large countries and extremely tiny states in the same ranked score.
I also think that there is some amount of ex-communist zone data that is crowding out all other countries from the left tail. The “least hungry” countries are predominantly in the Eastern Europe/Slavic zone. There is no adequate temporal explanation for this “good performance”.
Because the curve ranking is force fitted, “managed” data will always crowd out good data.
I can see how underemployed people and their dependents can be more food insecure in a very high mean income country vs a middle income one with very low food prices, housing cost and ethnic homogeneity. As an analogy, consider how within countries we see the most struggling people in the richest cities. Once you run out of cash and don’t have access to a kitchen and utensils, one can’t even take advantage of the low cost of preparing “survival” food, like daal-rice, roti, or mac n cheese where a meal can cost <$1. You go out in any US city and are set back $3 at a bare minimum and in the demoralising company of junkies and other folks scraping by. Not going to get out of that rut anytime soon.
There could be multiple lines of reasoning to substantiate the results. I am more interested in the methodology itself.
Another little factoid buried inside – they interviewed 3000 people in India for a questionnaire related to consumption trends. If i remember correctly, the stat sample sizing must be at least 390 people per million pop to achieve scaling. That means that the pan-India sample size should have been 500k people at least (half a million people).
The German excel-incels settled for a 3000 sample size! These folks should regress to using Roman numerals. No competence in handling big numbers.
Following “The Wire”‘s travails on Meta now. It is a hot fire, the steel beams are buckling and Tunku is going to collapse inward.
Whoever did this to them is a top notch saboteur. All the good liberal ideologues of India are getting massacred in the big bad tech world.
Can’t blame them – they became “social science intellectuals” in the first place because their intellect wasn’t enough for STEM.
Professor at Harvard
Nobel Peace Prize frontrunners
And now, to top it all, the Wire-Meta drama
More often than not, occam’s razor works quite well and will get you to truth or the meat of the issue.I could have saved 8 yrs, but then again. I was a liberal and self deluded and refused to see what reality really was about.
https://twitter.com/suryakane/status/1581614388452392960
Fascinating background: Omidyar, US State Department, NGO work in India, religious studies degree, work on conversion, caste, gender, and “human rights.”
on emma, a person working for omidyar network. she is chief of staff omidyar network, supporting wire.
The india stack is pretty impressive. Not sure which sarkari babu to give credit to for this, but good job.
https://indiastack.org
It is more open than the china stack (social credit system, WeChat mega app)
And more transparent, less duplicitous in nature than the America stack (snowden, big tech, slowly eroding illusion of privacy)
https://twitter.com/Faytuks/status/1581650441016086530
dont say anything against allah in the middle of a war, even by accident or you get your people murdered. In russia, 3 muslim soldiers kill their superior officer and 29 others.
https://www.eurasiareview.com/15102022-chechnyas-ramzan-kadyrov-now-voice-of-the-russian-people-oped/
What a situation
https://twitter.com/indiainpixels/status/1581678295774826496?s=20&t=gapwIPz4OLBy4oJQdq7SXg
India. States by height above 6’0. Key seems to be nutrition. Gujarat actually not too bad, despite very bad stunting stats relative to its gdp per capita. More of a West to East Cline.
This nutrition trend is consistent with the Secular Heights Survey data which showed Jains and Sikhs as tallest men. Also consistent with average height data.
Have some 6’0+ people in my family in India. Closest is maternal uncle, maternal grandpa, and maternal great grandpa (he was considered a giant back then).
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.eu/article/indias-stance-on-the-ukraine-war-makes-little-sense/amp/
Absolute trash take
Whoever did this to them is a top notch saboteur. All the good liberal ideologues of India are getting massacred in the big bad tech world.
Can’t blame them – they became “social science intellectuals” in the first place because their intellect wasn’t enough for STEM.
Made me really question who their tech guy even is.
If I’m not wrong, it looks like he went to BITS Mesra. And he claims on his blog that he’s friends with Postman’s founder.
Also looks very different in a recent video, when compared to all his profile pics.
His resume is in the description-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahCyYsxxgMM&ab_channel=TEDxTalks
I don’t think he’s clueless about what he’s doing, and I’m not sure what prompted this whole “tech-journalism” phase.
Also went and read the whole ‘Tek Fog’ story, because I didn’t care about it when it came out.
Even that looks equally suspicious, zero proof and extremely shaky evidence. It’s all just “source: trust me bro”. Other tech folks called it out too.
They don’t seem to understand the ‘Sagan standard’.
If I had to guess, I’d say they wrote the whole bogus Tek Fog story, received good reception, and thought they could write another piece that involves Meta, and take another shot at BJP.
However when some American journo shared the tweet, Meta’s comm. guy took notice and responded, and everything spiraled out of control from there on.
I’d say that the Wire isn’t entirely being Nidhi’d, at least one or more of their employees are in on this.
The Indian RW bellyaching about “how the West is out to get us”/”The west is against Hindus”/”unholy Islamist-Woke nexus against India” seems very hyperbolic. It must be nice for them to inhabit a world where everything revolves around India, but that’s not the case. Not saying there isn’t a grain of truth to these sort of statements but if anything it’s a minor irritant in the wider scheme of things.
One often points to how often Modi has been “demonised”, India’s falling democratic ratings, etc. but do these actually matter? To those who have been observing these things in the west, the demonisation against Erdogan/Putin/Xi/Orban/Bolsonaro etc. have been orders of magnitude worse, no one cares.
As for the unholy nexus the west and the islamists, methinks that this is entirely symbolic and it will end the moment the west stops having any interest in the oil rich regions of the middle east. If anything the modern age of pax-americana has been very harsh on muslims globally. Uncounted millions of muslims have died directly or indrectly from western action in Iraq/Afpak/Libya/Somalia etc. Post 9/11, muslim immigrants suffered horrific racism in the west. Enture mosques full of worshippers have been shot up as in NZ, and there are entire political parties in Europe that run on explicit anti-muslim agendas. The recent uptick of anti-hindu/anti-hindutva rhetoric in the west doesn’t really compare yet but the trend does seem disturbing in itself.
The recent months have shown that the US-led west is entering a gloves-off phase against its rivals. Senior US politicians have openly taunted China by visiting Taiwan. Efforts have been taken to openly block China’s chip industry from developing. And after the recent CCP conference the number of anti-Xi hitpieces have proliferated everywhere. As for Russia, the US is openly pushing its European allies into economic wilderness, a fate which ironically is being cheered on by these countries themselves as a cost they’re willing to bear. No wonder that India’s opportunistic increasing of trade with Russia (something I personally support btw, this isn’t our war) is seen as a stab in the back and is raising questions, something that will only get worse as the this uncertain age drags on.
Nevertheless it seems clear to me that India does not feature anywhere in the west’s crosshairs, if that were the case then there would be way, way more hostility against the country and Indian immigrants. India has done quite well for itself using western tech to get ahead, and Indian immigrants have done better than any other group in the west. Hindu immigrants should definitely mobilise and organise against targeted campaigns, spread indic culture and act as ambassadors but this isn’t a time to feel sorry for ourselves.
Delusional. Anti-Indian hit pieces have exploded in the past 5 years in the Western media. The reason why it isn’t going up even more is because the West is cynically using India as a wedge against China.
As for immigrants, why would the West block access to smart Indians? It makes sense to brain drain weaker countries. Moreover, many Indians in the 2nd and 3rd gen become very whitewashed and are useful “native informants”. Many can be used to deal with Indian matters. Indians will always inherently trust a brown face over a white one. Very useful to have an ever-growing comprador class at your disposal.
With all due respect, most of “Hindu activism” in the West is utterly pathetic. Even Audrey Truschke still has a job. This is not just a problem for Indians. Asians as a whole are economically highly successful but politically they are pygmies at best.
This shows the clear limits of going all in on STEM but ignoring the humanities. Jews on the other hand understood early on that media and entertainment industry are critical to reinforce political power. Asians still haven’t gotten this lesson. See Ugra’s deluded rants that only STEM counts in this very thread for reference. Very dumb take but also very typical for many Asians.
India is a rising and more relevant country. It has a lot of disagreements with the West. So yes there will be many Westerners who criticize India. Heck there are “hit pieces” against Western countries by other Western countries all the time. Pretty much all of Western(including the US) media against the US itself in 2017-2020 or US media against Germany nowadays. If you can’t handle criticism(even the one you think is baseless) then the country shouldn’t try to become more relevant. No one on Earth gives a shit about what Laos does.
Indophobia of the West is a result of their orientalist narratives, it goes hand-in-hand with their current tryst with Islam. As far the West is concerned, Hinduism is a religion of Caste, Widow burning and snake charmers, an archaic pagan culture that needs to be dragged by the neck into the 21st Century. When India becomes economically stronger, we’ll get into West’s crosshairs eventually.
The colonialist notion that India needed to be colonized to become “Civilized” isn’t even challenged in India because RW “intellectuals” are preoccupied with their hindu-muslim culture wars.
“Indophobia of the West is a result of their orientalist narratives…”
Dude, this isn’t the 18th century. The “West” that we’re talking about here is not an old Iberian-style christian empire but a narrow cabal of arms dealing war profiteers and financiers that stand against all proud nations trying to develop an independent socio-financial system. So their Indophobia is way down the list, they’re way more Sinophobic, Russophobic, Magyar-ophobic (?)…and against sections of their own populations that dont agree with this worldview such as white christians at home.
“….it goes hand-in-hand with their current tryst with Islam”
Again, their ‘tryst’ with Islam is cynical and temporary. The West has reduced large parts of the muslim world to post-apocalyptic warscapes or aid-dependant failed states such as Pakistan. There isn’t a single successful muslim country with an independant outlook except maybe Iran, which the west is actively trying to break down. And Turkey’s steps towards forging its own path are being met with the same (if not more) alarm as India’s.
“The colonialist notion that India needed to be colonized to become “Civilized” isn’t even challenged in India…”
Again, not true. Especially not since 2014. I do sense that the inferiority complex versus the west has come down albeit it does still persist in patches. The RW media and pop culture ecosystem seems to be taking baby steps towards coming into its own, but there are miles and miles yet to go.
The recent months have shown that the US-led west is entering a gloves-off phase against its rivals.
Well worth repeating often.
The US would be well minded to recall
“I do not like war. It is costly and the outcome uncertain”
Queen Elizabeth I
https://twitter.com/alexstamos/status/1581357059949309953
To me the whole Wire-Meta fiasco has shown how much of BJP/Modi use of social media (mostly in 2014) has permanently damaged the liberal/opposition commentariat.
The BJP game on social media is just a part of overall advantage it has over its opponents. And i would argue a very small part. Its no substitute for ground game. Unlike the West where elections can be swinged on FB or other social media platforms, a minuscule percentage of India is on social media platforms.
There is no advantage to be had by BJP using tactics to take down posts on Instagram (lol) . But somehow the entire liberal commentariat including the opposition feels this is big deal. Suits BJP though.
US gameplan in India is same as everywhere else, it is this regimechange operations. Regimechange wars. This is their long term ploy. They keep doing this repeatedly.
To those who have been observing these things in the west, the demonisation against Erdogan/Putin/Xi/Orban/Bolsonaro etc. have been orders of magnitude worse, no one cares.
I don’t follow most American newspapers on a regular basis, but is it normal for them to dedicate an entire page to take a shot at these leaders and their cabinet? Saw some pics of full-page newspaper ads taking a shot at BJP.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thefridaytimes.com/2022/10/16/maula-jutt-immortalises-an-era-when-women-held-power/%3famp=1
Nice message but unfortunately wrong about the Era
https://twitter.com/ujaanghosh/status/1582370878360125440
‘Never understood why some people hate the word. I have more in common with probably every Bangladeshi than I have with a single Rajasthani. South Asian captures my identity more in that sense than “Indian” does. Let people identify with what they want! Pretty simple really.’
Less Hindu–>Less Indian
The “Dismantling Hindutva” conference is back.
This time they call it “Hinduism against Hindutva”
So now these hateful bigots are appropriating the Hindu religion to spread their hateful messaging against the Hindu religion.
A religion which these same people will also claim doesn’t even exist.
I on the other hand, welcome more of these conferences.
It really doesn;’t have any proposed material impact on the ground, while having the opposite effect of galvanizing Hindutva, with the whole ‘Western liberals’ vs ‘Indigenous Hindus’ on the commentariat.
These things start like that. This BS woke stuff started that way too. You have to take it very seriously. It has strong deracinated, Khalistani, and radical Islam sympathizer allies
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3195976/uk-mob-violence-exposes-deep-disturbing-reach-indias-hindutva
‘UK mob violence exposes deep, disturbing reach of India’s Hindutva agenda in diaspora’
https://twitter.com/suryakane/status/1582492079229632513
“The Wire is alleged to have forged evidence. So, impartiality demands they investigate themselves. BJP has curtailed press freedom. The toxic politics of seeking accountability forced gutsy media outlets to waste valuable time which should instead be spent on regime change.”
wapo. regime change is openly said. It is what it is.
https://twitter.com/BDUTT/status/1582398006808100864
” The Wire saga is a sad & instructive moment for a media dangerously divided into sycophants & activists or what I call Chamcha ya Morcha. Western media must also reflect on its own Saviour complex as it pushes pet projects of dodgy activism in India instead of actual reportage
”
media divided into “activists” instead of reportage. western media is pushing pet projects of dodgy activism in India instead of reportage.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pEWqOAcYgpQ
Comments mostly wholesome, except for usual suspects. I hear movie is good. I have to watch RRR and this
A war Russia set to win; MK Bhadrakumar Tribune India.
Brutal. For instance:
Plainly put, the Europeans have been nicely played by the Americans. India should take note of the US’ sense of entitlement. Basically, the Biden administration created a contrived energy crisis whose real aim is war profiteering….
India should expect the defeat of the US and NATO, which completes the transition to a multipolar world order.
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/a-war-russia-set-to-win-441926
Russia doesn’t seem to be winning. On the other hand, inability to occupy territory just 50km from its border makes it look quite pathetic. As I have said before, my sympathies are with Russia but you cant just wish Russia into victory. Things can change, but the way I see it now, both Russia and Europe are losers. Russia will just become a vassal state of China, Europe has become even more of an American vassal than before. US Empire is much stronger than a year ago.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Kerala/comments/xngp58/popular_front_conducted_a_meeting_at_erattupetta/
Mallus in Kerala finally starting to hit the panic button? Or is there some more “Onam is a secular festival bro” left in the tank?
i feel that shashi tharoor getting 1020 votes out of 6500 votes should be considered as a victory for him. officially 1 in 6 voters are not with the official nominee???
‘Moral victory’
bhadrakumar is a leftwing gasbag, stop wasting your time on him. saving you time.
South Asians are so different from each other that even when marrying Europeans, their kids look non-White after two generations (or as much as three generations), whereas NW South Asians look like Europeans without mixing with them in many cases, or like Northwestern Europeans after 1 generation of mixing.
Liza Koshy is half White and half Keralite yet looks fully Indigenous Latino.
Mona Arshis (a famous author) daughters look like British women with blonde hair and blue eyes after marrying a British man (one generation of mixing) despite the fact that she is a Castizo Sikh Jatt.
Shashi Kapoors children look like regular Northern Europeans after marrying a British woman. One generation.
I know a woman from India who is a Dalit, her daughter is half White yet she still looks like an indigenous Dalit, and her daughter married a White guy again, so two generations of marrying White men, and yet her 3/4 White 1/4 Dalit children look like Latin Harnizos.
Imagine that.
There are South Asians that look fully White from birth, like Mediterraneans and Slavics, whereas they look Nordic after 1 generation of marrying NW Europeans, and there are South Asians that look like Dalits and Chamars after one or two generations of marrying Europeans.
We can never be the same. It would make a mockery of identity and biological realities and genetics.
Of course it is not a coincidence that such biological outcomes are observed with progeny. After all, South Asians range from close to 0% West Eurasian (NE India/Nepal/Adivasi Tribals) to close to 95% West Eurasian (Yaghnobi Tajiks, certain Baloch tribes, certain Kalash and related tribes and some recent Irani immigrants from Yazd) and everything in between.
Therefore, when marrying West Eurasians, different outcomes will be observed with progeny. Simple math. If you’re already 86-90%+ West Eurasian like NW South Asian tribes (Jaats/Rors, Pashtuns, Kambojas etc) then your progeny with a fellow West Eurasian like a European will also be racially fully Caucasian and West Eurasian. And if you’re a Dalit from Tamil Nadu with 15% West Eurasian then your progeny will be super mixed and non Caucasian.
Just common sense really. And now with the first release of an Asian American on US currency, we must ask ourselves, are we really Asian? Apart from NE Indians, Nepalis and Afghans that look Mongoloid? In the conventional sense of being racialized as Asian? Or are we best described as a region with a mix of different racial groups, ranging from Caucasian to Asian to Negroid, like Latin America? The answer is obvious.
Our representation is not Mongoloid Asians who define conventional Asian terminology, but Latin and Hispanic Americans and Central Asians, who are also equally diverse and have all racial groups represented. We would feel represented based on our own racial group, so for 98% of South Asians it would mean being represented by non White Hispanics and Latinos while for the 2% that are fully Caucasian it would mean being represented by White Americans.
We already talked about how Lynn Martin, the White American President of the NYSE, looks like a NW South Asian. Whereas the South Asian Bengali interviewing her looks like an indigenous Latin American or a non-White Hispanic American. We’ve also seen how Karl Rocks’ father looks like a NW South Asian and how Ron DeSantis and his Lt. Governor have their doppelgängers among NW South Asians. This shows just how wide the gulf is, both genetically and phenotypically, among South Asians. From non-White to White.
Let’s examine some more examples that illustrate the difference among South Asians in detail.
This is a vlog of the famous Gem Palace in Jaipur.
https://youtu.be/alKv5sopJDA
The owner of the establishment, Siddharth Kasliwal, who is seen in this video, is a Marwari (a Chamar/low caste) and looks like an indigenous Latino of some sort, like Tenoch Huerta. He looks like a migrant from the East/South of the subcontinent.
Whereas the European tourist in the same video above, seen first at 2:48 and then at 4:36, Erik Nachtrieb, looks exactly like a NW South Asian, like Onkar Kanwar or Raj Kapoor. He fits like a glove among NW South Asians. So again the range in South Asia is from indigenous Hispanic and Dravidian looking (the Dravidian look, stereotyped as the Indian look, is conspicuous owing to Onge- like admix and a different AASI strain among South Indians and some Bengalis) to Slavic and Mediterranean looking among NW South Asians. That is how vast the difference is among South Asians.
Even the half Italian proprietor of the second branch of the Gem Palace, Samir Kasliwal, looks like a Latin American Harnizo, or a Punjabi Tarkhan/middle caste, owing to the fact that his father, who being a Marwari was akin to an indigenous Latin American, married an Italian woman. On the other hand, NW South Asians like Sanjay Gandhi and Rahul Dev look fully Mediterranean without mixing with Europeans.
Samir Kasliwal looks a bit like Destiny (the streamer) to me. He’s white though his family is from Cuba (whites from cuba probably aren’t as European as those in North America
China’s zero covid policy seems bizarre.
But if you were to take a shot at giving a reasonable explanation for it, what would you say?
(No “Xi is suppressing dissent” etc)
My argument:
China is a taking a long term approach.
Climate change will lead to the melting of Siberian permafrost. This will release ancient viruses that humanity has not encountered in millennia.
China understands that covid-19 was not the last pandemic of this century.
It is building technology, infrastructure, and muscle memory among its citizens to be able to withstand future such shocks.
China made a big deal about having contained COVID in 2020 while it was burning through the US and Europe. Those societies have generally moved on after the widespread availability of vaccines. Chinese vaccines on the other hand are not as good so if it opens up, there will be millions of cases. China is not mentally prepared for this. The maximum new cases ever in China was about 20K while in the US it was about a million. East Asians in particular seem to be uniquely afraid of COVID. In my area, only East Asians still wear masks, even wearing while walking or running outside. I would imagine the Chinese in China are even more afraid than Chinese Americans. If there are millions of new cases everyday, there will be mass panic in the country. Having made a big deal about containing COVID two years ago, if COVID now gets out of control, the Xi government will lose international prestige and more importantly domestic legitimacy.
This makes more sense to me than Xi locking down the entire country because he is worried about a potential outbreak from melting Siberian permafrost.
TBH I think most interpretations on why Xi is doing what he is are just Kremlinology, including the idea that he fears losing domestic legitimacy.
No one really knows what goes on in his head.
Political reasons are more reasonable than scientific.
But if i had to think of a science based reason, I would say it is overcautiousness about risk and reward.
Part of it is a desire to save face by overdoing pandemic response, so that people don’t blame China for covid. It may have originated in China but now they can point at their Covid response which went above and beyond vs the rest of the world.
https://twitter.com/vjgtweets/status/1582846452589424642
‘The South Asianification of Diwali is going strong. I am not parochial about who celebrates what, but it is exceedingly strange to write a whole article about the festival without mentioning its religious significance’
i feel that the tory grandees who deposed boris johnson should take blame for the strange situation their country and party is in now. did they not know the lack of talent in their ranks to have a leader and pm. to blame the very average liz truss for the spectacle now being seen is bit rich.
oh! god, she has resigned!!. will the “indian” now gets the chance??
Bojo is gonna make the greatest comeback in history
I dont get why he was replaced in the first place.
I guess we are not going to have a UK-India FTA by Diwali.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/shaheen-afridi-s-deadly-yorker-dismisses-afghanistan-opener-rahmanullah-gurbaz-sends-him-to-hospital-for-scans-watch-video-101666152047037-amp.html
Crazy stuff. Legendary potential
Came across this map of 25 year old guys taller than 6′ by state in India.
https://twitter.com/indiainpixels/status/1581678295774826496
Something I found interesting – Bihar has a higher %age than any of its neighbours. Bihar is the poorest state in India with one of the highest malnutrition rates.
What could explain this?
Some guesses:
1. Higher meat eating than UP
2. Higher genetic potential than Bengal (less East Asian) and Jharkhand (tribal pop)
3. Higher inequality – Bihari upper castes are better fed and this only captures the extreme of the distribution
4. Some artefact of data
Also these numbers are from NFHS in 2008 so I am assuming the %ages would only have increased in recent times.
Looking at the table in the methodology section the SD is higher for Bihar even though UP has a higher mean height.
Not sure what the explanation would be. For higher SD.
It all comes down to Nutrition.
Filter the sampling further to include only Western Bihar districts only it will cross 1.5%.
Zoom it further to Rajputs, Brahmins and Bhumihars in Western Bihar, it may well cross 2.0% due to the higher than average meat consumption and genetics.
Gujarat is also more than expected. Gujarat does quite badly on malnourished data despite high gdp per capita. It was even worse in 2008.
The diet is terrible. Abundant protein in the form of seafood nearby yet the Gujaratis refuse to touch it. Yes, I know you said the Muslims and some of the Rajputs do consume it but the vast majority of the population have willingly locked themselves out of it.
The point is that Gujarat does OK despite deficiency, relative to much of the country. It shows genetics are there for better height. Also Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana are quite vegetarian. Key is protein and calories. I agree. Meat isn’t a requisite for that. The diet does suck. All fried and sweet foods.
Major Abhay Sapru on LTTE (Tamil Tigers) – Explained In 18 minutes by Indian Commando
1:32 shattered the myth of the Martial Races, Gurkhas , Sikhs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLuzM7iHm8U
Apparently 76 is the new 82.
https://twitter.com/NoahCarl90/status/1583080944751169536/photo/1
(For the record, I think India’s IQ is vastly understated due to environmental factors, but progress in eliminating malnutrition seems to have become slower than expected over the past decade)
Kharge is the new Congress President. Shashi Tharoor lives on (will see what happens to him!). RaGa moved South long ago to fight MP elections.
Modi, Shah & Nagpur complete the picture.
The whole political HQ of India has moved lock, stock and barrel to the South and the West.
The only viable pan-Indian political force left in the North is AAP/Kejriwal.
Political bankruptcy is almost always a symptom of intellectual and cultural bankruptcy.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/10/20/india-nepal-military-gurkha-recruitment-agnipath/
interestin take
https://www.dailypioneer.com/2022/columnists/agniveer-is-killing-regiment-traditions.html
even maj.gen. ashok mehta doesn’t want the change.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63344059.amp
Bajwa is the true Maula Jatt
Absolutely disturbing
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.firstpost.com/world/abducted-converted-married-hindu-girl-runs-crying-to-parents-as-pakistan-court-sent-her-back-to-kidnapper-11488041.html/amp
https://www.news18.com/news/india/sc-refuses-to-lift-cracker-ban-punjab-stubble-burning-on-amid-no-option-political-firework-on-display-before-diwali-as-poor-air-keeps-delhi-in-fear-6210487.html
sad.
i) pakistan off grey list.
ii) america is giving them upgrades for f 16s.
iii) germany is giving them money.
i feel it is the ability of the punjabi army to make deals with the americans by diverting arms to ukraine, and the elite mohajers in the foreign affairs ministry winning with their slick talk.
naturally in this state of affairs pashtoon imran khan has no role and has been made officially one so.
I think the US these days sees India less as a partner in countering China and more as just another challenger down the line. Geopolitics changes all the time, but this describes the current mood of the foreign policy establishment well. Especially after the Ukraine war which has turned into a moral crusade for all American liberals these days.
If China gets too aggressive, then the US will come knocking(and India will go knocking to the US as well), if China maintains its course, then the US will maintain this somewhat cool relationship with India. Pakistan is a very useful country for both the US and China to periodically remind India, who is the boss in the world and the region. India should aim to get stronger so this is no longer as concerning but it will never completely go away.
There is a small chance that Pakistan will see the light and make peace with India. India and Bangladesh have excellent relations at the state level, despite the usual Hindu-Muslim animosity at the popular level. Hindus and Muslims in the subcontinent can make peace, if separated by a border. In this sense, Jinnah was perspicacious.
Beyond the histrionics and posturing, Pakistanis know that Indian Muslims are doing ok and that they are not getting Kashmir. They could still do something crazy like let terrorists take over a nuke and blackmail India. But this would set a precedent for groups fighting the Pak state.
1) Pakistan is suffering from an accelerating brain drain. Long term effects are only going to be bad to worse.
2) Pakistani economy is in the gutter, and there is no political will to make any hard decisions to correct the course. Situation is going to be stagnant for next 2-3 years or perhaps next 5.
3) In this state, Pakistan is not going to be challenging or provoking India. US will always provide toys for the boys but this at best will keep a deterrent against any future Indian misadventures like 2019. Boyz and other Pakistani politicians will always fall into the Western camp and do Western bidding, as the West is easy to get money out of.
4) Muhajirs, Sindhis, Baluch, and significant portion of Pasthuns are disenfranchised, perhaps more than they have been in the past
as depleted state resources not enough to pacify them. However social fabric of the country is still stronger than ever as shown in the recent floods, all credit given to perhaps a good policy of making Urdu as national language and teaching lies to young minds in Pak Studies. It created a nation out of many.
I give credit to Jinnah for unity. Smart guy.
‘ Muhajirs, Sindhis, Baluch, and significant portion of Pasthuns are disenfranchised, ‘
Qureishi Bhai, quite a grim take (even for u), dont u think?
Has the recent Imran Khan disqualification made u despondent?
The disqualification does not matter much since it doesn’t really affect IK’s ability to contest in the future. However I think the future elections will be rigged, if they happen anytime soon and groundwork is already prepared for it (and rigging tested on a few seats in recent by-elections). Both status quo politicians and Army are in bed together, their usually show of conflict is just to fool the peasants. Unfortunately, the same politicians are in the ranks of IK’s party as well, so I doubt anything is changing much even if IK comes back into power although he alone is the wild card.
Pak is winning big with removal from Grey list. Bajwa is saving Pak. China is an inferior daddy.
The Imran khan disqualification is making a lot of news. IMO at least at the surface level IK coming back will be a huge disaster for Pak, their problems are too big – it’s WAY over his head. He’s also proven himself to be an egotistical moron. He’ll try his best to come back, But things are looking bad for him, the Pak army has figured this out and will never let him return. Most likely they’ll put him under house arrest. Worst case scenario is assassination, best case scenario they’ll probably tell him to seek asylum in UK and never come back.
Bajwa and army are definitely in a damage control mode trying their best to repair the relationship with the US/West, cuz Uncle sam still calls the shots at global lending bodies like IMF, WB etc. I think he realizes the precarious situation that Pakistan is in and the folly of putting all their eggs in the chinese basket and all their white elephant projects.
For now, Big daddy is just doling out some candies in exchange for access to Afghan airspace. The relationship is definitely back on track but most likely will never reach the level it used to be in 80’s, 90’s and 00’s. Pak isn’t that important to uncle sam anymore.
Imran Khan has a lot of popular support among the Pakistani awam. I wouldn’t count him out just yet.
Unbiased journalists concerned about Human Rights should be doing some reporting here about American backed military establishment of Pakistan is interfering in the democratic process of Pakistan.
But I haven’t seen any articles on this issue. Instead they will talk about how it is imperative for America to keep engaging in nuclear brinkmanship in Ukraine.
Bawja will get US back on Pak side fully. Khan will still obtain power after.
Things are looking good for Pak actually. US support will be critical to getting financial assistance from international institutions.
Once out of crisis, Pak will stabilize. Then China can restart CPEC projects. Main thorn will be Taliban. But Pak army is much stronger than Taliban and Baloch insurgents. I am not sure why there is this sense of despondency. Things are going the right direction.