I hope you’ll follow along and enjoy this video, which ended being my longest video to date (or at least in a while), in which I try to take stock of what Operation Sindoor revealed to India/South Asia watchers. Most of what I learned were things we already knew or suspected and which the operation brought out in stark relief. But the most important reveal was that, when push comes to shove, India will go it alone if it has to (and it will have to) as it asserts its sovereignty and power in a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape.
Sindoor’s Takeaways:
Not only does Pakistan predominantly use Chinese weaponry, but it also used Chinese satellites to gather intelligence and targeting data when striking India. Thus: China is an aider and abettor of a terrorist state.
Pakistan and China are partners in narrative warfare as social media accounts were quickly flooded with Pakistani and Chinese troll accounts spreading lies about downed Indian jets and destroyed Indian air bases. Pakistani and Chinese officials picked up on these and broadcast through their own channels. These were gradually debunked one by one but they’ve remained persistent.
The Western Media are slavish, weak, and have no journalistic credibility as they merely disseminated the above lies because their official provenance gave them editorial cover. Despite official Indian denial of downed jets and lack of forensic or satellite proof, the lie was reported as truth, citing “unnamed officials” in U.S. or French intelligence. It was all garbage, all debunked. Didn’t matter. No surprises in any of this.
Trump is a self-serving moron who presides over an administration that knows nothing about South Asia and doesn’t care. They quickly drew an equivalency between Pakistan and India (i.e. between the perpetrator and the victim) as if both parties were equally to blame for cross-border terrorism. Trump, eager to paint himself as the hero, posted he’d brokered a ceasefire between the two countries He’d done no such thing. India stopped when it had sufficiently degraded Pak’s nuclear and strike capabilities, ensuring it had made its point.
It’s obvious that U.S. politicians and media have no clue about Kashmir, its history, or the realities of fighting Pak-sponsored terrorism. Reasons for this could be India’s long history of non-alignment, its close ties to Russia, its resistance to U.S. pressure, and the media’s long history of favoring powerful China over poor India.Finally, and most importantly, I learned that, in its existential journey of self-realization as an economic and geopolitical power, India really is on its own. There has never been a proper condemnation of Pakistan from the UN as a state that harbors and abets terrorism as an instrument of state policy, not after 2001, 2008, or after 2025. Pakistan continues to enjoy IMF bailouts and the benefit of the doubt from the world media.
Meanwhile, China, Pakistan’s puppet master, got to where it is because of decades of being propped up by U.S. business interests offshoring entire industries to China. To its credit, China also benefitted from a one-party state that committed to heavily investing in infrastructure, public welfare, military advancement, and education, all areas in which India badly lags today.
But as its economic profile grows, so will—I think—a coherent national policy to invest in these essential areas of defense and public life. It will take decades, but it’s starting to pick up pace now. And there’s a growing national unity and will behind it. Operation Sindoor might’ve been the catalyst the nation needed.
Operation Sindoor Videos I Recommend:
There are many evidence- and history-backed voices examining India and South Asian geopolitics. Here is a handful of reporting and commentary seen over the past couple of weeks that I thought were very insightful and revealing.
Abhijit Chavda:
Patrick Lancaster:
I start following war journalist Patrick Lancaster during the heady days of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. Now, he’s applying his skills to learn the nuts-and-bolts of the Kashmir issue, interviewing ordinary working- and middle-class citizens of Delhi as well as retired military veterans. His goal is to interview soldiers along the LoC.
Tom Cooper:
Cooper is an Austrian analyst on defense issues. Follow his Substack. His analysis of the satellite imagery and breakdown of Operation Sindoor’s effectiveness are clinically precise and debunk all the misinformation.
Christine Fair:
Professor Fair is an incisive scholar on the India/Pakistan issue, and this video about the history of Pakistani jihadism demonstrates her acuity.
StratNewsGlobal:
If you want a deep dive into the Indus Waters Treaty and why India suspending it was the right thing to do, here you go.
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