<random> Went for monthly haircut today at my regular place. The paki barber was on holiday so got chatting with the new guy. He's a Kurd (from eastern Turkey), still seething about how the Turks harass the Kurds and lock em up/detain them illegally. We both bitched about how the UK is also going to the dogs. </random>
Few thoughts:
- CDS interviews in S'pore were avoidable. We're worse off after these were aired because of the cheif's vague responses. (1) any such media interactions should have been with Indian media on Indian soil as a matter of principle. (2) what Bloomberg/Reuters aired was clearly edited or at least snipped from a longer conversation i.e. they were acting in bad faith and never wanted to show the full picture - this should have been obvious to MEA and MoD so why acquiesce their interview requests in the first place? (3) talking about birds 'down' / 'tactical mistakes' without, in the same sentence, bringing up how many PAF birds were shot down gives the inbred goatshaggers the credit they do not deserve (and secretly crave) and allows them to claim their jazba >>> evil hindu baniya's jazba.
- The key point here is you don't just need to defeat porkis militarily but to demonstrate - beyond reasonable doubt - to the average jehadi that they've been had. The '6-0' psyops gives them enough false bragging rights that their awaam will not learn the lesson we wanted to deliver.
- We need to work on our BVR a2a game. If PL15Es indeed scored hit(s) then it shows (1) spectra may not be as much of a game changer as we'd hoped and (2) the PAF did well with their 2-way datalinks and ability to use the SAAB awacs to steer their missiles. I'm not an expert but think this means we either need to buy loads of meteors for our Rafale and Mirage fleet and r37s for our Su30s as a quick-fix and get them to talk with our Netra and IACCS and Astra 2 + Astra 3 need to be developed and inducted on mission mode.
- With the caveat that IACCS and army/air force AD systems did a great job, the nation seriously needs to invest big bucks on our air force fleet - this is now a strategic priority. Need PMO to directly monitor Kaveri program (same as ATV of yore) and we need LCA Mk2 to take to the skies in the next 12 months. The GE 404/414 clusterfuck needs to be solved somehow - even if that means pouring a few $$billions into Trump's corrupt crypto ponzis - just get the damn engines. I refuse to believe the evil hindus can't find the right levers to pull in Washington to get this done. Thing is, it won't be that difficult to buy 300-400 engines off the shelf if we stop asking for unobtanium ToT like an idiot. Nobody's going to share the crown jewels of aerospace metallurgy. Not GE, not Safran.
- I was initially irritated about the abrupt ceasefire but now that I think about it, we never intended to broaden the scope of our response and were quite happy to agree to stop bombing when field marshal sued for peace. There's obviously a bigger game going on and Leader Ji thinks it is important to be seen as a 'good guy' / 'not an era of war' in the eyes of P5. You may disagree with Leader Ji, but that messaging is clear.
- Think our game is to bide our time for foreseeable future (waiting for $10T probably). Reading betwene the lines, desh needs to roll up its sleeves as there's a LOT of work to be done in offensive aircrafts and aerospace manufacturing generally, drones, surveillance satellites and a lot more. New Delhi does not think its facing a bhooka-nanga adversary on the Western borders but the jihadi wing of our Northern foe. Expect Pakistan to deploy more Chinese equipment over the next decade. They will also harden their C2 infrastructure with Chinese help.
1. people do share keystone crowning jewel war technologies, but they **MUST** face existential threat to do so. Eg: UK gave USA radar technology, jet engine research and advanced propeller design to suppress sonar waves - as THAT was the price USA demanded to enter ww2.
2. leaderji understands what 99% people dont understand : we live in UN world. Where P5 are the only real mard, rest are all tawaif nations who must dance to the tune of UN General Assembly and at the Kotha of the P5. **THAT** is reality that none can avoid - be it India, Brazil, Japan, Canada, Germany - NOBODY can avoid this rule of thumb : if not P5, do mujra dance to earn your keep.
EVERYONE in the diplo community knows this. And the reason is, precedent is set by Apartheid South Africa : a world power, with nukes (undeclared but confirmed, which they gave up so blacks dont have nukes), with two countries as colonies ( Namibia + Botswana) that put together are comparable to its own size and a nation where the citizen population ( whites) had living standard of western europe.
Yet, in span of a WEEK, apartheid south Africa disappeared from the map. We made passports that said 'valid for all countries except RSA' on front page - as the whole world !! Why ? Coz RSA pissed off USA & UK was never friendly with Russia, France & China and the whole world pretty much voted in UNGA to ban RSA till they undo apartheid and nobody vetoed in UNSC.
So full chudaai of RSA via UNGA+UNSC route.
And STILL, RSA held out for over 20 years, maintaining its colonies. So conclusion is clear: if RSA can be made to disappear, anyone can be made to disappear, so if you are not P5 to use veto and say 'go to hell UN, jo ukharna haye ukhar lo' , you are a tawaif and you must do mujra dance to please the P5.
As long as UN exists, this is the final boss layer of what matters. leaderji knows this, hence why we are doing our mujra dance.