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NatSec, Mil His & Infra. India is worth it.
flying kiwi🇮🇳🇳🇿 Profile picture 2 subscribed
Aug 15, 2023 14 tweets 3 min read
Some thoughts on Pak.

> The gen of Indians born after 1990 share next to none of the 'brothers across borders' sentiment our elders are given to.

We are the generation that saw terrs rip through cities & a political elite that refused to reply hawkishly enough. More importantly, many of us only really began engaging the news seriously in the 2000s, a decade by which India had begun to pull away from Pakistan in the economic realm.

It's why our language towards Pak is tinged with a classism & rudeness seldom seen in older gens.
Feb 25, 2023 15 tweets 3 min read
I'm going to cop some flak for this but f*ck it, a thread.

People are reading some weird takes into Punjab, Sikhs, Hindus & kinetic solutions to the problem.

Gill showed that the power of the Ks came not from their martial prowess but from their ability to intimidate. The reason his approach worked is not because on the one hand he turned Punjab into a warzone but because he degraded networks, took every opportunity to humiliate their image & went after their loved ones, 'allegedly'.

The other hand is what few talk about.
Feb 23, 2023 8 tweets 2 min read
This is a thread on the EAMs China commentary.

1. The hawkish position on CCPs salami slicing, imo, is reciprocity. It is not ripping up protocols & agreements willy nilly & kicking off a full blown conventional conflict because your gonads feel like it. 2. The EAM was very clearly responding to why India is reactive. I felt he was weak in his reasoning but that does not mean he was wrong.

Find the context here:

Jun 28, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Hold on. Let me go ask the neighbour if their dog ever beh_aded a cat over a faith dispute.

Brb. Update: When I asked him if he believed in Labradorism, he licked my face.

I'm afraid this will take some time.
Jun 28, 2022 141 tweets 45 min read
A thread on the book 85 Days in Slavyansk by Alexander Zhuchkovsky & some general thoughts on the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022

Translated by @Peter_Nimitz

Here's a link to the full article if you w
sectionready.substack.com/p/russkiy-mir-… @Peter_Nimitz “For those who criticize the militia for its weakness, I encourage you to come here and taste the situation yourself.”

Igor Girkin

Slavyansk 2014.
Jun 27, 2022 7 tweets 2 min read
That is comically untrue & a pretty big tell of classist rubbish.

The development of Hindu Nationalism is linked to the violence & suppression of Hindus & Hinduism at a societal & govt level.

It's modern incarnation can be traced to the struggle between the RSS & Raj HMS. Both of these modern incarnations have a lot to do with the ability of Hindus to have a voice when it came to control over their own faith & the policies that affect it— naturally taking the socio-political path given the development of 'Nation' in the 20th & 21st centuries.
Jun 27, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
A while ago, we had some furniture work done in our temple room. The carpenter was from Rajasthan & like us was a pretty religious.

His work remains the best part of that room to this day.

If you have the money, spend it on getting a carpenter to build you items— not on IKEA. For you, a bookshelf may not mean much. For the carpenter, it's an advertisement of his work & the source of his livelihood.

For once in our lives, let us endeavour to not make faces when a price is quoted; especially when we have the funds to spend at IKEA.
May 22, 2022 13 tweets 3 min read
This will come off as preachy but I assure you it's not meant that way.

What you describe is true to a degree but fits within what we know of societies that have just started having serious discussions on identity, history & culture in the decolonial paradigm. Broadly you can divide Hindu culture in the Subcon into three distinct epochs. They're crude but work well.

You have pre-Islamist, Islamist & Raj. Overlaps between such periods exist & within them stories of enormous consequences but this is how the zoomed out version looks.
May 20, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Hard disagree with this considering the RU forces are blunting so many of their BTGs for minor tactical success in the Ost.

They also have to contend with possible counteroffensives from (the east of) Kharkiv & Zaporizhzhia.

They're hurtling towards a forced operational pause. We can speculate with reasonable confidence that the main effort is presently to cut off Severodonetsk.

We also know that any mobilisation in RU is being done in secret so replacements will fall short of the desired number.
Apr 4, 2022 5 tweets 1 min read
Since everyone & their dads are tossing out hot takes on the yanks, here's my bit.

The current trends in America are nowhere near the scale of challenges they've previously seen. On the contrary, it's pretty calm unless you think Twitter is representative of the US. I too have close family in the States, quite a few them in fact.

They're religious Hindus, who've married other religious Hindus & who are raising religious kids.

They make their money, live peaceful lives & keep in touch with us.

Quaint lives.
Mar 1, 2022 11 tweets 2 min read
I know I sound like a broken record but what the Hon Member of Parliament did vis a vis Poland is incredibly jarring.

When you become a parliamentarian, you're a representative of this Republic & her children.

Your words carry weight. They ought to be used with utmost care. I think people are under the impression that domestic political rhetoric can be applied outside the borders of the Union.

This cannot be further from the truth.

You *must* be hyper formal, exceedingly polite & always on the lookout for a faux pax.
Mar 1, 2022 5 tweets 1 min read
The greatest cope I've ever heard is "Winning the actual war over the info war matters"

Myth making in the modern day is just as important as winning or losing. Poland has been handed Ls since the 30s.

Today their modern nation state stands on the legends & myths they created. Germany right up until the end of Prussian state in 47, was following in their footsteps.

The greatest example of this is actually modern day Russia.

Notice how they claim two contradictory traditions as their own even as a v!olent civil war was fought to decide the winner.
Feb 28, 2022 22 tweets 5 min read
Idk why the Iraq War comparison is so popular.

People, Russia is wildly different in weaponry & doctrine as compared to the US.

The US launched a full blow war post popular mobilization & established a paradigm shift with Iraq.

A small thread. I'll do Geography later. Let's just look at some other facts first.

Iraq 03 (pre insurgency) was a proper war. Justifications being false aside, at the time Bush did an amazing job of getting people in a post 9/11 world on side for a full blown conflict.
Feb 26, 2022 9 tweets 2 min read
I find it hilarious when people on Twitter start with "India should learn from Putin in Ukraine".

CCP & it's vassal are Nuke powers; the ones in our sphere of influence are kept on side through 'Carrot'.

Stop simping for Putin & love the good in your own country first. War has very real costs.

Mr Putin can afford to mass 100,000s of soldiers & equipment (courtesy USSR) on a country because it is tank country.

If favours free movement.

Try doing that in J&K. You'll get your cheeks clapped by a J£hadi in a bush.
Jan 9, 2022 66 tweets 8 min read
Last Stand at Takur Ghar: a thread. It is the 4th of March, 2002. The US, enraged by what occurred on 9/11, has committed troops in the Afghan theatre to go after those they deem responsible. The War On Terror has begun.
Jan 5, 2022 26 tweets 4 min read
May 15, 1967. Elements of the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, are ambushed in the Song Tra Cau riverbed. An almost battalion-sized force of NVA armed to the teeth with automatic weapons, MGs, mortars and Recoilless Rifles have opened fire on the US force from their fortified complex of tunnels and bunkers.
Oct 3, 2021 54 tweets 11 min read
The 9th Company of the 3rd Battalion, 345th Airborne Regiment would write their chapter in the book of history.

Fighting a ferocious battle on the 7th-8th of January, 1988; the understrength company of 39 would fight off 250+ Mujahideen & SSG.

This is their story. 1981 during the Soviet Afghan war would see the Mujahideen close off the road from Gardez to Khost. This was the main line of communication (LOC) to Khost. The other longer & more complex route to the city was also blockaded by the Mujahid's.
Oct 1, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
Why do so many retd Offcrs constantly clamour for revolution within the Fauj once they retire?

I'm curious. Do they even teach history in the IMA?

Revolutions within complex systems leads to unimaginably bl00dy consequences.

That's the first thing you learn in History 101. Napoleon's reorganisation occured after unimaginable bloodletting; the Prussians too had their pride crushed ruthlessly before they got down to reforms.

Peaceful turnarounds a la America WW2 are more gradual with an emphasis on man management.
Oct 1, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
The problem is that we seek to create heroes without ever thinking of how we can accommodate or help the family.

For a civilisation that's been at war for the better half of a 1000 years, it's odd that post independence India has this issue. The 'Fauj' isn't some 'family' as most people think. It's an institution that's evolved with time & politics.

Post Independence India saw this institution become more legalist in nature.

Suddenly the govt took precedence over community is softening the blow.
Sep 27, 2021 145 tweets 25 min read
Ambush In Punjab: Decline & Fall of the Pakistani Army.

Most Indians know of Asal Uttar as the moment in history when Pak Armour rolled into a well laid Indian trap.

Few truly grasp the enormity of the event; of the coup the Indians pulled off in 'The Punjab'

Thread: Pakistan & it's Army in 65 was very different from the country we know it to be today. It was arguably the better country by living standards, better economic prospects than it's 'Hindoo' neighbour & an Army that reflected this reality
Sep 23, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
Thread on the 1965 SSG drop.

Masala added ofc. You may find this interesting
@Manik_M_Jolly @mjavinod @Firezstarter1 @SpadeX716 @KesariDhwaj @VinodDX9