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Nikki Haley urges Trump to treat India as prized free, democratic partner
Nikki Haley called a strong partnership between India and China a "no-brainer" emphasising that the rise of a democratic India does not threaten the free world, "unlike Communist-controlled China."
"India must be treated like the prized free and democratic partner that it is--not an adversary like China, which has thus far avoided sanctions for its Russian oil purchases, despite being one of Moscow's largest customers. If that disparity does not demand a closer look at U.S.-India relations, the realities of hard power should. Scuttling 25 years of momentum with the only country that can serve as a counterweight to Chinese dominance in Asia would be a strategic disaster," Nikki Haley said in her opinion piece on Newsweek.
"Unlike Communist-controlled China, the rise of a democratic India does not threaten the free world. Partnership between the U.S. and India to counter China should be a no-brainer," she added.
Nikki Haley pointed out that India has the potential to manufacture at a scale similar to China's for products that can help the US move its critical supply chains away from Beijing. She also mentioned that India's growing defence capabilities and its involvement in the Middle East are "essential" for stabilising the region.
"In the short term, India is essential in helping the United States move its critical supply chains away from China. While the Trump administration works to bring manufacturing back to our shores, India stands alone in its potential to manufacture at a China-like scale for products that can't be quickly or efficiently produced here, like textiles, inexpensive phones, and solar panels," Nikki Haley said in the opinion piece.
"India's growing clout and security involvement in the Middle East could prove essential in helping to stabilise the region as America seeks to send fewer troops and dollars there. And India's location at the centre of China's vital trade and energy flows could complicate Beijing's options in the case of a major conflict," she added.
Nikki Haley, in the Newsweek article, further pointed out that India is the world's fastest-growing major economy and will soon take over Japan. She said that India's rise is the "greatest obstacles to China's goal of reshaping the global order."
"Simply put, China's ambitions will have to shrink as India's power grows," she added.
She also highlighted India's conflicting economic interests and ongoing territorial disputes with China, mentioning the Galwan Valley skirmish in 2020. She said that the partnership with the US would serve America's interests to help India stand up to its increasingly aggressive northern neighbour, both economically and militarily.
In her opinion piece on Newsweek, Haley said that it would be a massive--and preventable--mistake to balloon a trade spat between the United States and India into an enduring rupture. She also raised concerns over China taking advantage of the situation.
She advised India to take US President Donald Trump's point on Russian Oil seriously and work with the White House to find a solution.
She urged Donald Trump to "reverse the downward spiral" and hold direct talks with PM Modi. "The sooner the better," she said.
"The administration should focus on mending the rift with India and giving the relationship more high-level attention and resources--approaching what the U.S. devotes to China or Israel," she added.
She further said that the US should not lose sight of what matters most, "our shared goals. To face China, the United States must have a friend in India."
This comes after the US levied an ad valorem duty of 25 per cent on Indian goods, but has announced an additional 25 per cent tariff that will take effect from August 27, raising the total duty to 50 per cent.
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NDTV
9 minutes ago
- NDTV
Putin Demands Donbas Surrender, No NATO, No Western Troops In Ukraine: Report
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country, three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters. The Russian president met Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday for the first Russia-U.S. summit in more than four years and spent almost all of their three-hour closed meeting discussing what a compromise on Ukraine might look like, according to the sources who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Speaking afterwards beside Trump, Putin said the meeting would hopefully open up the road to peace in Ukraine - but neither leader gave specifics about what they discussed. In the most detailed Russian-based reporting to date on Putin's offer at the summit, Reuters was able to outline the contours of what the Kremlin would like to see in a possible peace deal to end a war that has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people. In essence, the Russian sources said, Putin has compromised on territorial demands he laid out in June 2024, which required Kyiv to cede the entirety of the four provinces Moscow claims as part of Russia: Dontesk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine - which make up the Donbas - plus Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south. Kyiv rejected those terms as tantamount to surrender. In his new proposal, the Russian president has stuck to his demand that Ukraine completely withdraw from the parts of the Donbas it still controls, according to the three sources. In return, though, Moscow would halt the current front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, they added. Russia controls about 88% of the Donbas and 73% of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, according to U.S. estimates and open-source data. Moscow is also willing to hand over the small parts of the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine it controls as part of a possible deal, the sources said. Putin is sticking, too, to his previous demands that Ukraine give up its NATO ambitions and for a legally binding pledge from the U.S.-led military alliance that it will not expand further eastwards, as well as for limits on the Ukrainian army and an agreement that no Western troops will be deployed on the ground in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force, the sources said. Yet the two sides remain far apart, more than three years after Putin ordered thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine in a full-scale invasion that followed the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and prolonged fighting in the country's east between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops. Ukraine's foreign ministry had no immediate comment on the proposals. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly dismissed the idea of withdrawing from internationally recognised Ukrainian land as part of a deal, and has said the industrial Donbas region serves as a fortress holding back Russian advances deeper into Ukraine. "If we're talking about simply withdrawing from the east, we cannot do that," he told reporters in comments released by Kyiv on Thursday. "It is a matter of our country's survival, involving the strongest defensive lines." Joining NATO, meanwhile, is a strategic objective enshrined in the country's constitution and one which Kyiv sees as its most reliable security guarantee. Zelenskiy said it was not up to Russia to decide on the alliance's membership. The White House and NATO didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the Russian proposals. Political scientist Samuel Charap, chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy at RAND, a U.S.-based global policy think-tank, said any requirement for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donbas remained a non-starter for Kyiv, both politically and strategically. "Openness to 'peace' on terms categorically unacceptable to the other side could be more of a performance for Trump than a sign of a true willingness to compromise," he added. "The only way to test that proposition is to begin a serious process at the working level to hash out those details." Trump: Putin Wants To See It Ended Russian forces currently control a fifth of Ukraine, an area about the size of the American state of Ohio, according to U.S. estimates and open-source maps. The three sources close to the Kremlin said the summit in the Alaskan city of Anchorage had ushered in the best chance for peace since the war began because there had been specific discussions about Russia's terms and Putin had shown a willingness to give ground. "Putin is ready for peace - for compromise. That is the message that was conveyed to Trump," one of the people said. The sources cautioned that it was unclear to Moscow whether Ukraine would be prepared to cede the remains of the Donbas, and that if it did not then the war would continue. Also unclear was whether or not the United States would give any recognition to Russian-held Ukrainian territory, they added. A fourth source said that though economic issues were secondary for Putin, he understood the economic vulnerability of Russia and the scale of the effort needed to go far further into Ukraine. Trump has said he wants to end the "bloodbath" of the war and be remembered as a "peacemaker president". He said on Monday he had begun arranging a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, to be followed by a trilateral summit with the U.S. president. "I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it ended," Trump said beside Zelenskiy in the Oval office. "I feel confident we are going to get it solved." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Putin was prepared to meet Zelenskiy but that all issues had to be worked through first and there was a question about Zelenskiy's authority to sign a peace deal. Putin has repeatedly raised doubts about Zelenskiy's legitimacy as his term in office was due to expire in May 2024 but the war means no new presidential election has yet been held. Kyiv says Zelenskiy remains the legitimate president. The leaders of Britain, France and Germany have said they are sceptical that Putin wants to end the war. Security Guarantees For Ukraine Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff was instrumental in paving the way for the summit, and the latest drive for peace, according to two of the Russian sources. Witkoff met Putin in the Kremlin on August 6 with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. At the meeting, Putin conveyed clearly to Witkoff that he was ready to compromise and set out the contours of what he could accept for peace, according to two Russian sources. If Russia and Ukraine could reach an agreement, then there are various options for a formal deal - including a possible three-way Russia-Ukraine-U.S. deal that is recognised by the U.N. Security Council, one of the sources said. Another option is to go back to the failed 2022 Istanbul agreements, where Russia and Ukraine discussed Ukraine's permanent neutrality in return for security guarantees from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, the sources added. "There are two choices: war or peace, and if there is no peace, then there is more war," one of the people said.
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First Post
9 minutes ago
- First Post
Partner turns threat: New Zealand intelligence flags China as 'most active' security risk
New Zealand is facing the toughest national security challenges of recent times with increasing threats of foreign interference and espionage, particularly from China, according to an intelligence report released on Thursday. New Zealand's intelligence agency has issued a sharp warning about Beijing's growing influence, identifying China as the 'most active' foreign power attempting to interfere in the country's politics, society, and businesses. In its annual threat assessment released Thursday, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) said foreign states continue to target critical organisations, infrastructure, and technology to extract sensitive information, with China flagged as a particularly 'assertive and powerful' actor. The report noted that Beijing has shown both the 'willingness and capability' to carry out intelligence activity undermining New Zealand's national interests. While not all activity amounted to foreign interference, the agency stressed that China is deliberately seeking to expand its influence across New Zealand and the wider Indo-Pacific region. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Some states, including China, Russia and Iran, are willing to engage in covert or deceptive activity in order to influence discussions and decisions, or gain access to technology and information that can help them meet these goals … New Zealand has been targeted by some of these activities,' the report said. The report pointed out that the Indo-Pacific has become the main ground for strategic rivalry between global powers. In this competition, China is described as a 'particularly assertive and powerful actor,' seeking to entrench its influence across the region, as per The Straits Times. 'It has demonstrated both a willingness and capability to undertake intelligence activity that targets New Zealand's national interests,' the NZSIS said. Reacting sharply, the Chinese Embassy in Wellington dismissed the findings as 'unsubstantiated and groundless' and accused New Zealand of harbouring a 'Cold War mentality.' Beijing maintained it still regarded New Zealand as a friend and partner, but warned it would 'take firm measures' to defend its interests if faced with 'groundless attacks.' At a regular news briefing, Mao Ning, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, accused New Zealand's intelligence and security agencies of 'repeatedly spreading rumours' in recent years. 'China strongly opposes this,' she said, urging New Zealand to focus on actions in favour of the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations. The country, part of the Five Eyes intelligence and security alliance, has increasingly amped up its rhetoric over the growing influence of China in the region and a rise in geopolitical tensions, and on Thursday said it would spend NZ$2.7 billion ($1.6 billion) to beef up its defence force. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Director-General of Security Andrew Hampton said the threats need to be taken much more seriously than they are currently. 'Our threat environment is deteriorating and that has a direct impact on our safety and security,' he said in a statement released alongside the report. The report also pointed to the growing threat of violent extremism and said the most plausible attack scenario remains a lone actor who has been radicalised online. 'Grievances and polarising issues in the online information space are almost certainly driving support for a range of violent extremist ideologies within New Zealand,' the report noted. With inputs from agencies
Time of India
9 minutes ago
- Time of India
Walmart shares fall over 5% despite 8% growth in Q2 revenue, FY26 outlook raise
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel Shares of Walmart dropped over 5% in early trade on Thursday hitting a low of $97.31 after the company announced its second quarter results where it reported higher than estimated sales numbers while hiking the outlook on sales and EPS for company's revenue stood at $177.4 billion, up 4.8% or 5.6% in constant currency. However, the operating income decreased 8.2% or by $0.7 billion, affected by discrete legal & restructuring selling pressure was also on account of weak sentiments on Wall Street as all three major indices Dow 30, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were trading in the red. Dow was the worst loser, falling by 0.6% around 9:50 AM ET (7:20 India time).Over 10 million shares of Walmart changed hands around this Global eCommerce sales grew 25%, led by store-fulfilled pickup & delivery and marketplace, a company release said. Global advertising business grew 46%, including VIZIO while Walmart Connect in the U.S. was up 31%. Membership and other income was up 5.4%, including 15.3% growth in membership income globally. Gross margin rate increased by 4 bps, led by Walmart EPS of $0.68 excludes the effect, net of tax, of a net gain of $0.26 on equity and other investments, $0.05 from charges related to certain legal matters, and $0.01 from business restructuring charges. The ROA was reported at 8.3% and ROI at 15.1%.Walmart missed earnings expectations with adjusted earnings-per-share (EPS) at 68 cents, lower than anticipated, an AFP report said. US companies have been squeezed in recent months as tariffs raised the costs of importing certain foreign goods, although many mitigated the blow to consumers by bulking up on inventory before Trump introduced the new levies, the report Inc. is a tech-powered omnichannel retailer. It claims to have 10,750 stores with approximately 270 million customers and members visiting the store every week. It has eCommerce websites operating in 19 countries.
