Miscellaneous News

[Xiongmao]

Likely preparation to attack Iran. I believe an Israeli delegation recently came to the US to hem out the details, and rhetoric from the US has been very hawkish. There's a good chance that some sort of strike on Iran will happen soon.

Iran have recently claimed that they have the technology to detect stealth aircraft. If they can also track and them as well, this can become a very dangerous situation that can blow out of scope.

 

[tygyg1111]

Speaking of India

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Exclusive: India's $23 bln plan to rival China factories to lapse after it disappoints​

NEW DELHI, March 24 (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has decided to let lapse a $23 billion program to incentivize domestic manufacturing, just four years after it launched the effort to woo firms away from China, according to four government officials.
The scheme will not be expanded beyond the 14 pilot sectors and production deadlines will not be extended despite requests from some participating firms, two of the officials said.

Some 750 companies, including Apple supplier Foxconn and Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, signed up to the Production-Linked Initiative scheme, public records show.
Firms were promised cash payouts if they met individual production targets and deadlines. The hope was to raise the share of manufacturing in the economy to 25% by 2025.
Instead, many firms that participated in the program failed to kickstart production, while others that met manufacturing targets found India slow to pay out subsidies, according to government documents and correspondence seen by Reuters.

As of October 2024, participating firms had produced $151.93 billion worth of goods under the program, or 37% of the target that Delhi had set, according to an undated analysis of the program compiled by the commerce ministry. India had issued just $1.73 billion in incentives - or under 8% of the allocated funds, the document said.
News of the government's decision to not extend the plan and specifics about the lag in payouts are being reported by Reuters for the first time.
Modi's office and the commerce ministry, which oversees the program, did not respond to requests for comment. Since the plan's introduction, manufacturing's share of the economy has decreased from 15.4% to 14.3%.

In a separate statement on Saturday, the commerce ministry said participating firms had produced $163 billion worth of goods as of November 2024. The ministry did not say if the program would be allowed to expire but said PLIs have "incentivized domestic manufacturing, leading to increased production, job creation, and a boost in exports."
Foxconn, which now employs thousands of contract workers in India, and Reliance didn't return requests for comment.
Two of the government officials told Reuters the end of the program did not mean Delhi had abandoned its manufacturing ambitions and that alternatives were being planned.
The government

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the program's impact, particularly in pharmaceuticals and mobile-phone manufacturing, which have seen explosive growth. Some 94% of the nearly $620 million in incentives disbursed between April and October 2024 were directed to those two sectors.

In some instances, some food-sector companies that applied for subsidies weren't issued them due to factors such as "non compliance of investment thresholds" and companies "not achieving stipulated minimum growth," according to the analysis. The document did not provide specifics, though it found production in the sector had exceeded targets. Reuters could not determine which companies the analysis referred to.

But Delhi had previously

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and agreed to extend some deadlines and increase payment frequency after complaints from PLI participants. One of the Indian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential matters, said that excessive red tape and bureaucratic caution continued to stymie the scheme's effectiveness.
As an alternative, India is considering supporting certain sectors by partially reimbursing investments made to set up plants, which would allow firms to recover costs faster than having to wait for production and sale, another official said.
Trade expert Biswajit Dhar at the Delhi-based Council for Social Development think-tank, who has said Modi's government

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to attract foreign investment, said the country might have missed its moment.
The incentives program was "possibly the last chance we had to revive our manufacturing sector," he said. "If this kind of mega-scheme fails, do you have any expectation that anything is going to succeed?"
The stalling of manufacturing comes as India tries to circumvent the trade war unleashed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has criticised Delhi's protectionist policies.
Trump's threat of reciprocal tariffs on countries like India that have a trade surplus with the U.S. means the export sector is increasingly challenged, said Dhar. "There was some amount of tariff protection ... and all that is going to be slashed."

HITS AND MISSES​

The program was introduced at an opportune time for India: China, which for decades had been the world's factory floor, was struggling to

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amid Beijing's zero-COVID policy.
The U.S. was also seeking to reduce its economic reliance on an increasingly assertive Beijing, prompting many multinationals to pursue a "China plus one" policy of diversifying production lines.
With its large youthful population, lower costs and a government regarded as relatively friendly to the West, India seemed set to benefit.
India has become a global leader in pharmaceutical and mobile-phone production in recent years.
The country produced $49 billion worth of mobiles in the 2023-24 fiscal year, up 63% from 2020-21, government data show. Industry leaders like Apple now manufacture their newest and most sophisticated cellphones in India, after having started with low-cost models.
Similarly, pharmaceutical exports nearly doubled to $27.85 billion in 2023-24 from a decade ago.
But the success was not repeated in the other sectors, which include steel, textiles and solar panel manufacturing. India faces fierce competition from cheaper rivals like China in many of those fields.
In the solar industry, for instance, eight of the 12 companies that signed up to PLI are unlikely to meet their targets, according to a December 2024 analysis of the sector prepared by the renewable energy ministry and seen by Reuters. The eight firms included units of Reliance, Adani Group and the Indian conglomerate JSW.
The analysis found that the Reliance entity would only meet 50% of the production target it had been set for the end of the 2027 fiscal year, when the solar PLI scheme will expire. It also said that the Adani business had not ordered equipment it needed to manufacture the solar panels and that JSW had not "done anything yet."
JSW declined to comment, while Adani did not respond to questions.
The commerce ministry said in a January letter to the renewables ministry seen by Reuters that it would not agree to its counterpart's request to extend the scheme beyond 2027 as doing so "will result in unfair benefit for non-performers."
The renewables ministry said in response to Reuters' questions that it was committed to "fairness and accountability," as well as "ensuring that only those who meet their targets are rewarded."
In the steel sector, investment and production also lag targets. Fourteen of the 58 projects approved for PLIs have been withdrawn or removed due to lack of progress, according to the undated program-wide analysis.

This was an opportunistic reaction to a freak occurrence, rather than a well planned out strategy with clear achievable goals. It is no wonder that it failed to deliver.

 

[zyklon]

Likely preparation to attack Iran. I believe an Israeli delegation recently came to the US to hem out the details, and rhetoric from the US has been very hawkish. There's a good chance that some sort of strike on Iran will happen soon.

Trump is the most pro-Israeli president that has ever served in the White House.

So unless Trump exits the Oval Office prematurely, or unless Iran becomes a nuclear power, then in all likelihood Iran is going to get thoroughly bombed by the Americans and/or Israelis before 2029, if not this year or next year.

This classic meme perhaps best embody the conundrum in play. Except swap out Iraq for Iran, and had for will have.

Iran have recently claimed that they have the technology to detect stealth aircraft. If they can also track and them as well, this can become a very dangerous situation that can blow out of scope.

Iran does possess certain capabilities for detecting stealth aircraft, but to reasonably deter a strike conducted by B-2 bombers and F-35 fighters, and other 5th gen platforms, the Iranians are going to need a lot more resources than what's in hand.

There's obviously a reasonable chance that the USN, USAF and IAF will lose airframes and crews in an air campaign against Iran, but odds remain in their favor against Iran in terms of overall mission success.

From an American perspective, what absolutely needs to be avoided is a ground war, as no one wants another Iraq or Afghanistan.

 

[A potato]

I'm probably just revealing my ignorance of all things Canadian here, but I was surprised to find India openly characterised as a "hostile nation" in

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piece from The Guardian regarding alleged and anticipated foreign interference in Canada's upcoming election. Obviously there have been significant stressors in the Canada-India relationship, but one would typically expect more qualified or circumspect language. Does this characterisation accurately reflect the broader Canadian attitudes towards India in political or media circles?

Well Canadians do have an increase negative opinion of India mainly because of the Indian international students coming in to the country in droves (See Brampton). Naturally there's going some conflict very on.

Someone took a shit at Wasaga beach and the comment sections are very quick to blame Indians.

 

[luminary]

I remember families would spend their entire life savings on sending the parent's single kid to some bottom-tier American college. Maybe they still are, I don't know. Buy them a car, a condo to live in. Then the kids would end up with some useless major and be unable to find a job for the visa, then get promptly deported back to the mainland. The bought stuff gets left behind. Then the parents keep working to afford a house for their kid in China. Ridiculous. US college scams has harvested so many Chinese household savings.

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Since a 2017 rebuild, “every owner’s children have gone on to Harvard or Stanford, paving the way for even greater achievements,” according to the original listing, held by Wen Guo Real Estate Group.

“Now it is ready to pass on its extraordinary energy to the next family.” To drive home the point, staging photos have cardinal-red Stanford diplomas and what appears to be a framed Harvard acceptance letter prominently displayed on a living-room mantel.

 

[JohnnyD]

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[ismellcopium]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1905189992466686203

This has not escaped my notice either & also surprised me. MIC seems to have lost their hold, at least somewhat. Or at least other than that over their presstitute propagandists & congressional lackeys.

 

[ismellcopium]

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Minister al-Shaibani stresses importance of boosting Syrian relations with China​

China should simply precondition any relations on their total expulsion of all TIP from Syria. Alternatively, if they can get all the TIP to lay down their arms, renounce Islam, condemn Turkey, and swear undying allegiance to the CPC, that would be acceptable too.

 

[supersnoop]

I remember families would spend their entire life savings on sending the parent's single kid to some bottom-tier American college. Maybe they still are, I don't know. Buy them a car, a condo to live in. Then the kids would end up with some useless major and be unable to find a job for the visa, then get promptly deported back to the mainland. The bought stuff gets left behind. Then the parents keep working to afford a house for their kid in China. Ridiculous. US college scams has harvested so many Chinese household savings.

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Since a 2017 rebuild, “every owner’s children have gone on to Harvard or Stanford, paving the way for even greater achievements,” according to the original listing, held by Wen Guo Real Estate Group.

IMO most of those kids were basically scamming their parents, or their parents were delusional. Usually the preference for anyone in any country is to get into a top-tier school domestically. So these kids already didn't get into those, nor did they get into any good school internationally. Really, they were never that studious to begin with, the expectations were unrealistic. Not really America's fault.

Really, the true scam is set on the American people themselves. You have all the veterans of America's endless wars with GI bills bestowed upon them with taxpayer's money. They apply to garbage private colleges like "University" of Phoenix, etc. because of advertising and their boatload of recruiters. Then they don't get any real employment and the taxpayers' money has become privatized. Rinse and repeat for various student loan programs.

 

[siegecrossbow]

China should simply precondition any relations on their total expulsion of all TIP from Syria. Alternatively, if they can get all the TIP to lay down their arms, renounce Islam, condemn Turkey, and swear undying allegiance to the CPC, that would be acceptable too.

Deport them to the PRC where they can repent for the crimes by planting trees in the desert.