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Time of India
4 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
My take 5 (Edition 49) The week that was in international affairs: Trump's ‘U-turn' on Putin; Estonia conducts HIMARS drill
I am a Delhi-based journalist working for the Edit Page of The Times of India. Welcome back to another edition of My Take 5, your weekly round-up of top international news. This week we are covering Trump's possible U-turn on Putin, Estonia and the Baltics get ready with HIMARS, EU unveils its 18th sanctions package, Israel attacks Syria, turmoil in Bangladesh, and a bonus about the singing chief rabbi of Ukraine: Read full story Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Time of India
Cuddle…kill
Times of India's Edit Page team comprises senior journalists with wide-ranging interests who debate and opine on the news and issues of the day. Cruelty to animals in China's markets for business & pleasure is rampant, driven by rich consumers Is a lion cub a toy? This shouldn't even be a question. But, in today's world, the unnatural – wild cats cuddled by humans – is normalised in a reality that's tranquillised. So, a restaurant in north China's Taiyuan city has no qualms in offering hugs with drugged lion cubs and a four-course set menu at a grand $150, selling 20 tickets a day. Tickets to a restaurant? Food's the side dish, the real delight is the cuddles – a performance for the rich to flaunt on social media. Another Chinese hotel 'trained' red pandas to crawl into guests' beds as a wake-up call, an alarm, in every sense of the word. Chinese wealthy's fetish for close and dangerous interactions with wild animals in cities is paralleled only by Latin American drug cartels' obsession with private zoos of trafficked species, an Escobar-inspired symbol of status and power. Cruelty underpins all of it. It's brutal that a spider monkey dressed up as a drug gang mascot should be killed in a Mexican shootout. An escaped Bengal tiger found in a lane along the Pacific had had its claws and fangs removed. China's new wave of cat abuse is vicious. Cat torture videos 'popular' globally are produced mostly in China, which has no animal cruelty laws. But as horrifying as these are, China's insatiable appetite for animal parts for Chinese traditional medicine is worse – it drives the global illegal animal trade. Where there's drug trafficking, there's illegal animal trade. And all roads lead back to China. Mexican drug cartels have their claws into wildlife trafficking, supplying China's traditional medicine markets, leveraging smuggling ties with Chinese suppliers of chemicals to produce fentanyl & meth. Beijing's periodic crackdowns have little impact on animal cruelty, whether for business or pleasure. Hummingbirds are killed to make love amulets. A lion cub is made a living doll to turn a profit. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Indian drone shield
Times of India's Edit Page team comprises senior journalists with wide-ranging interests who debate and opine on the news and issues of the day. Pak-origin UAVs must be countered through huge tech investments across the board In what should worry the security establishment, there's been an uptick in Pakistani smugglers pushing drones laden with drugs, arms and ammunition deeper into India. After a brief lull during Operation Sindoor, drone-borne smuggling has resumed with greater precision, reportedly using Chinese drones that can fly higher to evade detection. This is hardly petty smuggling but part of a well-planned Pakistani ICAD (illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive) strategy to undermine India's security. The goal is to get drugs, guns and money to criminal elements on this side of the border. It's part of Pakistan's old doctrine of bleeding India with a thousand cuts. Consider this: last Sept, a police team in Punjab discovered a haul of Nato-grade guns – most likely originating in Afghanistan – from smugglers linked to Pakistani drone drops. With such weapons being also found with terrorists in Kashmir, the modus operandi is clear. Drone drops from Pakistan started after the nullification of Article 370 in 2019. To counter this BSF adopted anti-drone systems like Dronaam that neutralise Pak-origin UAVs using laser. Even specialised anti-drone teams have been set up. But the versatility of drone tech means that it is constantly evolving. Drones can be modified and adapted to evade detection, they can change modus operandi and alter application. The Ukraine war exemplifies this. Drone tech is changing every fortnight. This also means counter-drone tech has to constantly innovate in real time. That in turn means creating a large pool of expertise throughout the security establishment and linking this with R&D institutes. Drones are rapidly transforming from FPV to fibre optic to the oncoming AI versions. The only way to stay ahead of the curve is to heavily invest in drone tech in both industry and academia. India must create its own drone shield. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
Time of India
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Taliban Calling
Times of India's Edit Page team comprises senior journalists with wide-ranging interests who debate and opine on the news and issues of the day. The extremist regime wants tourists. Why shouldn't it? It's part of the normalisation of brutality Kim Jong Un last month posed on a beach, surfing on the 'wave of happiness' that North Korea's Dear Leader has promised tourists visiting the newly developed Wonsan Kalma coastal tourist zone. The dictator wants more international tourists. So far, small Russian groups are the only package deal North Korea receives. This month, it's Taliban's turn to invite tourists to Afghanistan. Wonsan Kalma and Afghanistan are beautiful places. But they are not on tourists maps for good reason. Taliban's ad is made by a tour operator. It starts with a familiar chilling scene of beheadings: men, heads covered, kneeling in front of gun-wielding, presumably, Afghans. Only here, the headcover is yanked off to reveal a grinny White male flashing a thumbs-up sign. A flower tucked in the barrel of a machine gun, a close-up of an M4 rifle with 'property of US govt' etched, the 50-second ad flits between making light of Taliban as people who terrorised to stunning footage of Afghanistan. It is as extraordinarily tone-deaf as many of Trump's Truth Social posts. Taliban meanwhile is intensifying its war against Afghan women. Banned from work and education, they're publicly flogged, refused healthcare unless a male relative's present, and their movement is fully restricted. Heavily sanctioned Taliban wants tourists to earn some hard cash. But to make a beheading scene part of a promotion targeted at Americans is a cold measure of how normalised brutality is. Will Americans go, though their govt says don't? Undoubtedly. Indifference to violence is global culture, the unthinkable is routinely normalised. So, for a certain section, what could thrill more than swinging an M4 or Kalashnikov at Afghanistan's majestic peaks? Reality and rights & wrongs can take a vacation. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
Time of India
11-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Name theory
Times of India's Edit Page team comprises senior journalists with wide-ranging interests who debate and opine on the news and issues of the day. Ferrero buying Kellogg isn't just a business story Last year, Indians abroad sent home $129bn, a record. And on Thursday, Italian candymaker Ferrero announced it would buy US cereal giant WK Kellogg for $3.1bn, which is not a record – not even close – for the acquisition of a brand. Brit firm Vodafone's $190bn acquisition of German firm Mannesmann in 2000 remains on the podium after 25 long years. And America Online's ill-advised $182bn acquisition of Time Warner the same year remains equally gasp-worthy. Both outstrip Indian remittances by an enormous margin, without factoring in inflation, or involving 35mn-plus emigrants. That is the power of brands, and a country that creates conditions for them to thrive is well on its way to becoming a winner. In the Cold War, US and USSR were evenly matched nukes-wise, but US had a phalanx of brands, from Coke to Boeing, while the Soviets said nyet to their own Lada. Let's be clear – brands aren't things. There were scooters, and there was Vespa; razors, and Gillette; denims, and Levi's. Brands have an X factor that makes them desirable beyond borders. Jaguar and Land Rover were British cars, but so desirable that American Ford bought them. And when Ford fell on hard times, India's Tata Group took over. So, a brand's value transcends not only the physical product but also the balance sheet. India has brands, of course, but they are national-level players, inter-district champions. We need some Olympians. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
