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* Judith Bergman: US Military's Failing Deterrence Against China
* Jagdish N. Singh: India: Care for Minorities Intact


** US Military's Failing Deterrence Against China ([link removed])
'They Are Putting Capability in the Field Faster Than We Are'
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by Judith Bergman • December 26, 2022 at 5:00 am
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oneinstitute.org%2F19259%2Fus-china-failing-deterrence&pubid=ra-52f7af5809191749&ct=1&title=US+Military%27s+Failing+Deterrence+Against+China [link removed]
* In just two years since 2020, when the Pentagon wrongly estimated that it would take China a decade to double its nuclear stockpile at the time of approximately 200 nuclear warheads, China has already doubled its stockpile.
* "As I assess our level of deterrence against China, the ship is slowly sinking, It is sinking slowly, but it is sinking, as fundamentally they are putting capability in the field faster than we are. As those curves keep going, it isn't going to matter how good our [operating plan] is or how good our commanders are, or how good our forces are – we're not going to have enough of them. And that is a very near-term problem." — Admiral Charles Richard, defense.gov, November 3, 2022.
* Unfortunately, the US is facing China with a lot of outdated military hardware.
* Instead of doing all in its power to counter those adversaries, however, the Department of Defense has been focusing precious time on extremism, diversity, equity and inclusion, and climate change within the military....
* In July, the Senate Armed Services Committee called on the Pentagon to stop its programs to prevent and root out extremism within the military, most notably Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's "stand-down" directive, which the military spent 5.4 million hours on implementing, at a cost of more than $500,000.
* Overall, since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, at a time when every effort should have been geared towards countering top military threats, the Department of Defense spent nearly six million hours on extremism, diversity, equity and inclusion training, and climate change.

In just two years since 2020, when the Pentagon wrongly estimated that it would take China a decade to double its nuclear stockpile at the time of approximately 200 nuclear warheads, China has already doubled its stockpile. Unfortunately, the US is facing China with a lot of outdated military hardware. Pictured: DF-17 hypersonic missiles at a military parade in Beijing, China, on October 1, 2019. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin gave a stern warning about US competition with China earlier this month at the Reagan National Defense Forum:

"These next few years will set the terms of our competition with the People's Republic of China. And they will determine whether our children and grandchildren inherit an open world of rules and rights — or whether they face emboldened autocrats who seek to dominate by force and fear...

"The PRC is the only country with both the will and, increasingly, the power to reshape its region and the international order to suit its authoritarian preferences."

One of the Pentagon's main concerns is China's continued accelerating nuclear buildup. Every year, the Pentagon's estimates of China's nuclear buildup appear to grow exponentially.

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** India: Care for Minorities Intact ([link removed])
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by Jagdish N. Singh • December 26, 2022 at 4:00 am
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or+Minorities+Intact [link removed]
* There have been reports suggesting that the government's policies target minorities, Muslims in particular... One finds, however, that the facts are far different.
* In fact, after the Modi government took over, it launched a campaign to provide basic amenities to ensure educational opportunities for minorities.
* Until 2014, the Ministry of Minority Affairs was just a part-time portfolio in India. Modi transformed the ministry into a full-time one.
* Ironically, the people who seem to be discriminated against are the country's Hindu majority. The central government actually collects revenue from Hindu temples, but does not collect revenue from the places of worship of other religions.
* Many Hindus, therefore, might even feel a bit cheated.

There have been reports suggesting that the Indian government's policies target minorities, Muslims in particular. One finds, however, that the facts are far different. Ironically, the people who seem to be discriminated against are the country's Hindu majority. Pictured: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at a press conference on May 2, 2022 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Clemens Bilan - Pool/Getty Images)

Ever since India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in 2014, propaganda has been making the rounds in parts of the media that the government is biased against minorities in the country.

There have been reports suggesting that the government's policies target minorities, Muslims in particular, and that in the event of any clashes between Hindus and Muslims, the government's machinery backs the former.

In a letter to Modi in April this year, more than a hundred retired senior civil servants called for an end to hate and "vigilante violence."

"The administration of law," the letter said, "instead of being an instrument for maintaining peace and harmony, has become the means by which the minorities can be kept in a state of perpetual fear."

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