Hello to our new strategic partners: India!

[K. Eng]

CNN link

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- India will be able to buy more sophisticated fighter aircraft and other high-tech arms from the United States as part of a closer defense relationship between the two nations, the United States Department of Defense has said.

This would include state-of-the-art combat aircraft including the F-16 and F-18, the department said in a statement released Thursday.

The implications of this are pretty obvious: the US administration's nuclear deal with India and the sale of fighter planes and technology are meant to counterbalance China. Oddly, this leaves the US with India as its major strategic partner and China as its major trading partner

I have always thought that the next cold war may be between India and China. Both are Nuclear powers with big ambitions, and both are competing for scarce energy resources in the Asian arena (though the Chinese seem to be winning the energy race at the moment). By 2050 maybe there will be a relatively low level standoff between the two giants, similar to the US/USSR.

[smugiri]

You analysis is pretty correct. Let me add the economic side of this coin.

While India and China will probably not be First World Nations in the foreseeable future in the sense that the US, UK, Canada etc are mainly due to the size of their populations, significant parts of their population (the middle and upper economic classes) will enjoy First World lifestyles. The have the industry to support this in place today and the wealth is begining to slowly trickle down.

More important, while the UK and US are undergoing a transformation from being manufacturing nations to service nations, India and China (as do Korea and Japan) remain primarily manufacturing economies. So, the manufacturing capacity is all gone in the old super power economies and the service industry that was thought to be taking it's place is now leaving for same said countries, mainly India.

Think about it, when you call customer service today for almost anything, whom do you end up finally speaking to when the computers are done with asking you to press buttons? Someone in India. All your stuff, where is it made? China? Japan? India? Anywhere but the good old USA.

Long story short, the competition might not be US vs (India vs. China).

It might just be India vs. China.






As an aside, I notice that you are in the same boat that I am in K.Eng. I also have a T40p with only 29 days of warranty left. I have upgraded it until its as good as I need for right now (100gb disk and 1GB RAM) and plan to hang onto it for atleast another 2 to 3 years if it does not break down then buy an IBM factory refurbished top of the line T60 or T61/T62 if those come out.

[AIX]

..creation of the "Pacific-Indian Treaty Organisation" (PITO) ?

[sco1984]

Hmm , It's just a deal. Nothing much. Well i dont think USA is powerful anymore. 11/9 attack on twin towers proved. And if talking about Indo-China collaboration in political views, i see not much chances, but yes , remember Russia is our old friend and Mr.Putin has good reletions with India. Well to say 50-60% peoples @ NASA are Indians and asian's. And USA know very well if they go against us,
all scientists, all brillient surgeons from India who live at USA will
go back and in fact they are moving to India as they realised there is
much to do out here. In deed USA is now little affraid of us because we
know how to make nuclear weapons and how to use nuclear power for
medication. US planning to attack IRAN which could damage there economy a lot .. Ha! It was Saddam before, now Mr.Khatami ? But
IRAN have stronge support from gulf countries. Israel as usual old poor friend of US will help US to launch their army in Jerusalem ...LoL !
Mr.Bush left India 4-5 days ago, he was in Pakistan, he didnt speak much
while at Pakistan. Ha. Pakistan still takes loan from USA, we no longer
dependant on US, Coooooool .

[GomJabbar]

I don't see how the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers "Proves" how much or how little power the U.S. has. Maybe it proves they weren't as vigilant as they should have been, but that has nothing to do with "Power".

As far as the Indians working in the Tech industry, that is all well and good. But I am sure that any gap left if Indians were to leave; that gap could be filled with other qualified individuals. I don't believe the U.S. is going to cringe at the thought of their picking up their toys and going home.

I am not trying to be anti-Indian here. Just replying to one individual that is coming across with an attitude.

[BillMorrow]

Think about it, when you call customer service today for almost anything, whom do you end up finally speaking to when the computers are done with asking you to press buttons? Someone in India. All your stuff, where is it made? China? Japan? India? Anywhere but the good old USA.

FWIW, Garmin (Auto GPS Nav and more) support AND Valentine 1 Radar Detector support are BOTH in the USA..

the thing is, its not all that bad that you are speaking to india and so forth..
reason is they spend a lot of that $$ here..
AND
we here will evolve or die..
and given the past performance, we here in the USA should survive quite well..
AS LONG AS we can change the "entitled generation" into the innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs of the future..

and many US business ideas just did not exist 10 years ago..
and now these new ideas are replacing the smokestack industries with somethins cleaner..

will this be bad by making us dependant on others for basic needs (defense and other daily needs)..?

i can't answer that for certain but i think not..

[Guv'nor-K]

Hmm , It's just a deal. Nothing much. Well i dont think USA is powerful anymore. 11/9 attack on twin towers proved. And if talking about Indo-China collaboration in political views, i see not much chances, but yes , remember Russia is our old friend and Mr.Putin has good reletions with India. Well to say 50-60% peoples @ NASA are Indians and asian's. And USA know very well if they go against us,
all scientists, all brillient surgeons from India who live at USA will
go back and in fact they are moving to India as they realised there is
much to do out here. In deed USA is now little affraid of us because we
know how to make nuclear weapons and how to use nuclear power for
medication. US planning to attack IRAN which could damage there economy a lot .. Ha! It was Saddam before, now Mr.Khatami ? But
IRAN have stronge support from gulf countries. Israel as usual old poor friend of US will help US to launch their army in Jerusalem ...LoL !
Mr.Bush left India 4-5 days ago, he was in Pakistan, he didnt speak much
while at Pakistan. Ha. Pakistan still takes loan from USA, we no longer
dependant on US, Coooooool .

Not to make this sound like a vicious retaliation or anything, but we (Pakistan) have been paid off most of our loans, since President Musharraf has been around and are no longer burdened like we were under the previous 3-4 governments. How long or how "much" Mr Bush spoke in Pakistan is really not very significant. True, no new ground was broken during his trip. It was mostly a pat on the back for the support in the "war against terror" and a thanks for being an ally. In a world that is almost completely gobalized, dependancy is something no nation can run away from. the global economy hurts and benefits all. and on a personal note, governments dont make friends with each other, people like you and i do. for the establishment, its all about vested interests.

Please dont take this as a "india bashing" reply. lol, all my friends at college are from india, i have nothing against any nationality. we're all good and bad.

cheers!

[K. Eng]

Ok... this is borderline trolling.

In deed USA is now little affraid of us because we
know how to make nuclear weapons and how to use nuclear power for
medication. US planning to attack IRAN which could damage there economy a lot .. Ha! It was Saddam before, now Mr.Khatami ? But
IRAN have stronge support from gulf countries. Israel as usual old poor friend of US will help US to launch their army in Jerusalem ...LoL !
Mr.Bush left India 4-5 days ago, he was in Pakistan, he didnt speak much
while at Pakistan. Ha. Pakistan still takes loan from USA, we no longer
dependant on US, Coooooool .

First off, there are some factual errors. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is president of Iran, not Mr. Khatami.

This launching of an "Army" in Jerusalem is nonsense. The United States has no reason to build a military presence in Israel/Palestine territories.

The United States is not afraid of India having nuclear weapons. India has been a nuclear power for several decades now and by all accounts has been responsible with its nuclear technology.

The ONLY thing I can think about regarding India that Americans are afraid of is the generally lousy technical support coming out of VOIP equiped call centers.

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee ... 6009118731

Other than that, Americans seem to genuinely admire and like India.

[smugiri]

A little flame bait for all of you out there since this discussion is getting way too serious for a technical non-political forum.

Check out "Ha Ha Ha America" that won a prize at the Sundance Film Festival which is essentially a wake up call that should make all of us think about this much more seriously. The director, Jon Daniel Ligon, whose bio at his firm Improved & New Advertising, lists him as a former J Walter Thompson Senior Vice President with an MFA in creative writing from Brown University is an American.

[pundit]

A little flame bait for all of you out there since this discussion is getting way too serious for a technical non-political forum.

It was excellently crafted, and eye-opening.

Not to mention the hilariously absurd:

like lady detectives with swollen testicles

?

Not to mention I learnt something today. USB cables are made by hand---and people can actually appear happy making them!