WORLD ROUNDUPThe President Needs to Lead the Cold War on China | It’s Time to Learn How to Blow Things Up Again | Countering Russia’s African Strategy, and more
· Indian Suspect in Plot to Kill Sikh Separatist Extradited to US
Nikhil Gupta has been accused by U.S. prosecutors of plotting with an Indian government official to kill a U.S. resident who advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India
· It’s Time to Learn How to Blow Things Up Again
A shortage of explosives experts is threatening Europe’s security
· The President Needs to Lead the Cold War on China
A comprehensive economic strategy can forestall Beijing
· Manipulating the Narrative: How Hamas is Retelling Historic Islamic Battles to Influence the Muslim Community and Reshape Jihadist Ideology
It is important to understanding why Hamas and Brotherhood theologians have resurrected two ancient battles as ideological touchstones amid the protracted Gaza-Israel conflict
· Countering Russia’s African Strategy
Russia’s approach to Africa is anything but haphazard. Ignoring it risks allowing the continent to become Moscow’s supply depot
· U.S. Development Finance Helped Rescue Europe from Russian Energy
U.S. development financing has gone and can go a long way in reducing global energy dependence on Russia
Indian Suspect in Plot to Kill Sikh Separatist Extradited to US (Reuters / VOA News)
An Indian man suspected by the U.S. of involvement in an unsuccessful plot to kill a Sikh separatist on American soil has been extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic, the Czech justice minister said on Monday.
Nikhil Gupta has been accused by U.S. federal prosecutors of plotting with an Indian government official to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S. resident who advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India.
Gupta traveled to Prague from India last June and was arrested by Czech authorities. Last month, a Czech court rejected his petition to avoid being sent to the U.S., clearing the way for the Czech justice minister to extradite him.
It’s Time to Learn How to Blow Things Up Again (Elizaeth Beaw, Foreign Policy)
Western governments’ rapidly growing defense spending sounds like a straightforward equation: More spending equals more weapons. But skilled weapons workers are in short supply, especially explosives experts, and without a sufficiently big bang behind them, even the most sophisticated weaponry is pointless. But blowing things up is not learned in a quick crash course. We need more explosives professors.
NATO member states’ defense spending is on an extraordinary growth spurt. This year, Poland, for example, is spending 4.1 percent of its GDP on defense, up from 2 percent five years ago. Sweden, too, has doubled its defense spending. Germany, of course, is spending not just its regular defense budget but its special 100 billion euro fund introduced in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There’s a ton of military equipment being ordered—and not nearly enough people with the skills to make it, producing massive backlogs at defense manufacturers. When it comes to the level of training needed to do a job, think tankers or bankers can’t hold a candle to submarine welders.
Amid the biggest problems: We don’t have enough people who know how to make things go boom. “In Sweden, we used to have a big explosives sector, both civilian and military—for example [explosives manufacturer] Nitro Nobel and [weapons-maker] Bofors,” Bo Janzon said. “People would graduate from university, and the companies would train people themselves, both at the manual worker level and at the academic level. But these days, the company-led explosives training barely exists anymore, nor do university courses in it.”
