Aadi and I discuss the unceremonious exit of Hu Jintao which was put on display during the 20 Party Congress. Irrespective of the reason for the exit, it was stage managed for effect.
‘Sir, will China invade us?’ ‘We hear China has increased activities on the border’. Chinese consolidation activities on the LAC have prompted such reactions and fears. Lot of such inquiries from citizens within and outside India. Why? Bodies floating down Ganga, mass graves, lack of oxygen, medicines or hospital beds, botched vaccination program, uninterrupted work on Central Vista - all these have eroded our political capital immensely and seeded such doubts. Our national institutions are being compared to ‘rottweilers’ in the media. Economy? Unemployment figures and stock markets – both rattling up. Strangest combination. Rich getting richer and poor getting poorer. An ominous divergence which bodes ill. Leadership? Kis Chidiya ka naam hai bhai? National level paralysis in responding to the second wave. Erosion in comprehensive national power. Many have never experienced India being so weak. Nor did I for that matter. This frightening experience ...
What is the average term of an absolute dictator in power? Hitler, Mussolini, Sadam Hussain, Muamer Gaddafi etc.
ReplyDeleteOther than Mao, they have all had very abbreviated reigns.
Sir, responding to your point whether China can catch up with the US on semicon - respectfully disagree.
ReplyDeleteCheck out: https://www.notebookcheck.net/New-Chinese-Biren-BR100-GPGPU-apparently-beats-Nvidia-s-Ampere-A100.639796.0.html Quoting: "Biren showed that the BR100 GPGPU is slightly faster than Nvidia's Ampere A100 thanks to advanced specs like [...], Published 08/10/2022"
I can say this (having worked in the Supercomputing environment for a while) - the nVidia A-100 is completely cutting edge and the fact that the Biren processor comes up to its capability says A LOT. The A-100 was released in mid-2020 and is just one version behind the latest (the H-100). In fact since the H-100 uses the same architecture as A-100 tells me that at least in high performance computing, China is right up there with the best out of the US.