james crabtree @jamescrabtree Twitter profile

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james crabtree

1 month

🚨 LIFE UPDATE 🚨 After 5 👍 years in 🇮🇳 & now 8 👍 years in 🇸🇬we are moving to 🇬🇧 in August. We loved our time in Asia. But I'm already excited for new adventures back in the world's greatest city. More👇. Will update on my new 📚 soon too. 🙏🙏

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Last Seen Profiles

@mckenzie_ale

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

A Finnish friend says there is a typically morose joke circulating around Helsinki: "So, we now have to stay 2m away from each other? Why so close?"

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

Uncanny.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

A treat to meet @lenirobredo in Zurich yesterday. We talked over dinner about the King Maker, one of the most extraordinary political documentaries i've ever seen, set in part around her victorious 2016 vice presidential campaign. Trailer 👇

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 years

Advert spotted for music tuition in Singapore earlier this evening. You can't accuse them of sugar coating it 🎻😫

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

Matt Levine is so good he can summarise the 1MDB scandal in a perfect paragraph, when it takes most people many hours.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

Giant statues. Really really big.

Richard Rossow

@RichardRossow

4 years

If India announces a major infra spend package, what should be prioritized?

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

And today's prize for most ridiculous excuse-making goes to..... the government of Andhra Pradesh. Hard to fathom how much damage the decision unilaterally to scrap this new city project will have for India's reputation as a reliable international partner.

Rohini Mohan

@rohini_mohan

4 years

Andhra minister blames Singapore for delays in #Amaravati . Singapore says land wasn't made available to it. Project ends in civil blame game

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

As it turns, out almost exactly the same amount he sued me for. Poor chap.

Anil Ambani has to pay $100 million by end of day - Times of India

India Business News: Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani lost an attempt to appeal a UK court order that he set aside $100 million in his dispute with three Chinese banks.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 years

Wang Yi recently went to 🇮🇳 seeking better ties. But 🇨🇳's hopes that 🇮🇳might soon join 🇨🇳 & 🇷🇺 in an anti-western civilisaitonal realignment are highly unlikely. More likely: 🇮🇳 keeps links with🇷🇺 but deepens with 🇺🇸, 🇯🇵 , 🇦🇺 etc. Me for @IISS_org 👇

China signals desire to improve ties with India, but is that what New Delhi wants?

China–India ties are at their worst level in decades, but could a limited rapprochement be in sight? While small improvements are conceivable, substantial barriers remain to broader normalisation,...

www.iiss.org

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 years

Should the west play hardball with India over Ukraine? Better to recognise Modi's security dilemmas re tighter Russia / China ties, and help New Delhi reduce its arms imports, as I argue in @NikkeiAsia . 1/

Western nagging will not ease India's Russia-China dilemma

Anxiety over New Delhi's unwillingness to condemn Ukraine attack is mostly overdone

asia.nikkei.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

Protests spreading. Most severe test for Xi since taking power, and at a complex time, domestically and geopolitically CCP is stuck: having staked Xi authority on Zero Covid, it finds it impossible to take only sensible route out, namely importing MRNA vaccines. Quick 🧵 1/

Vivian Wu

@vivianwubeijing

1 year

Many Chinese journos at this moment were in tears watching the video. It’s happening. Still in Liang Ma He 亮马河 area. A girl shows “Give movies back, we want cinema freedom. We want free expression. give media back, give us journalism back”. Ppl echoed. It’s going unstoppable.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

Singaporean technocrats are pretty cold-headed in their planning. If they are shuttering a chunk of the world's best airport for the next year and a half, you get a fairly clear sense of how long they think it might be before things get remotely back to normal.

CNA

@ChannelNewsAsia

4 years

#COVID19 UPDATE: Changi Airport to suspend Terminal 2 operations for 18 months

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

This is fabulous. If only.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

Just out: new @TheEIU democracy index. India drops ten places to 51st, falling from 7.23 in 2018 to 6.90 in 2019. "The primary cause of the democratic regression was an erosion of civil liberties". Report not online that I can see, but top of the PR is below.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 month

🚨 India elections timetable out🚨 It remains astonishing to me that the betting market is now all about how many *more* seats will Modi win third time around. So a quick thread When i arrived in 2011 there was feeling that India was somehow a country destined ....

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

“Time is running out for Hong Kong and time is also running out for my safety.... It is hard for me to know when the police will storm into my home and arrest me at six in the morning.” — @joshuawongcf talking to me a few weeks ago for @WiredUK

China jailed Joshua Wong but the fight for Hong Kong is not over

The democracy campaigner has been jailed by officials. But speaking to WIRED earlier this year, Wong said the fight will go on

www.wired.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

Singapore from the 62nd floor on a clear day. Ships. Ships. More ships.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

5 years

If $9bn for India's election spending is remotely accurate, it's a genuinely stunning number. 2016 US election spending was only $6.5bn, with the presidential contest just spare change at $2.4bn.

Analysis | Somebody just put a price tag on the 2016 election. It’s a doozy.

We spend so much, and yet are so unhappy with what we get in return.

www.washingtonpost.com

Milan Vaishnav

@MilanV

5 years

This is a very inexact science, but CMS estimates that the BJP spent nearly 45% – or Rs 27,000 crore – of total expenditure for 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Total spending was on the order of US$ 9 billion.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

interesting moment - 🇮🇳 overtakes 🇨🇳 in @TheEIU global business environment rankings. 🇮🇳 🆙to 52 globally. 🇨🇳 📉 to 55, from 46 last year. EIU report notes 🇮🇳 better transport, taxes & trade regulation. welcome news for businesses looking for options to diversify away from 🇨🇳.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

6 years

Under Modi, India's democracy is getting a good deal less liberal. This graph from @nar draws on data from academic survey which tracks nearly 400 indicators of democratic health. Not encouraging.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 years

India's position on Ukraine over recent days should be a corrective for anyone who thought that because of China + Quad etc, India would tend to go along with the west. New Delhi follows its own course. Its reliance on Russian arms for any conflict vs China is part of that.

Dinakar Peri

@dperi84

2 years

A visibly disturbed #Ukraine Envoy Igor Polikha says: We are “deeply dissatisfied” by India’s position… “We are pleading for the strong voice of India in this case… Your Prime Minister can Mr. Modi address Mr. Putin, he can address our President:”

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

7 years

That's one stunning pic. Shadows of Midtown Mumbai, by photographer Robert D Stephens, taken from a commercial flight.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

Extraordinary @lancet table. China's population to half over this century, falling behind Nigeria and <2x USA. Also while China overtakes US as largest econ by 2035, USA to re-overtake by end-century, bolstered by immigration.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

Unexpectedly good gag at the top of this good as expected Krastev @ftopinion piece today. "Central European populists feel the effect of Trump’s defeat"

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

6 years

"It's amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper." - Jerry Seinfeld

PMO India

@PMOIndia

6 years

I have often heard people wonder, as to how the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper: PM @narendramodi on a lighter note.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

7 years

A wonderful story: Mumbai's Versova beach today, after one guy launched an 85 week effort to clean 5m Kg of rubbish

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

6 years

This chart is really remarkable, showing India's dramatic poverty progress. So much so, I decided to take a break from book promo, and do my @NAR column this week on it. "India's success eliminating poverty has been even greater than many believed..."

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 months

India has a strategy of building ties with European and western nations that is detailed enough to make Greece an important part of the puzzle. Shows how serious they are about bigger picture objectives, from balancing china to being a player in the gulf / Mediterranean.

Shashank Mattoo 🇮🇳

@MattooShashank

2 months

India has a new ally in Europe Its aim: establish India's presence in geopolitically vital European waters It also hopes to isolate rivals like Turkey 🧵

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

The Billionaire Raj is thriving post pandemic - extraordinary FT piece showing Adani & Ambani wealth up to $78bn and $84bn. Now Asia’s richest businesspeople - and richer than their Chinese counterparts, despite China's economy 5x larger.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 years

Lots of interest in Ava Soh, the talented 16 year old Singaporean designer who made the tshirt @ZelenskyyUa wore at @IISS_org #SLD22 yesterday. She had no idea thus was coming until Zelensky started speaking at 4pm - an inspiring story. More here 👇

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

"Modi's defenders blame global factors for India's travails. In truth its economic mess is born almost entirely of domestic neglect and incompetence." — my latest for Nikkei, on a dangerous simultaneous slowdown in China and India.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

❗️professional news alert ❗️ Delighted to be heading up @IISS_org Asia here in Singapore from April, joining fantastic & growing team built by @DrTimHuxley . Rarely a more important moment for the kind of work @chipmanj and his team do. looking forward to getting stuck in.

IISS News

@IISS_org

3 years

We are delighted to announce that @jamescrabtree will join the IISS as Executive Director of our Asia office in Singapore! James is taking over from @DrTimHuxley , who has led IISS–Asia since 2007 1/2

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

5 years

Amazing chart: 9 of the world's top 15 maths / computing universities now in Asia. None in Europe. This on China's Tsinghua esp 😳 — "In 2006-09 the university was 66th in the maths-and-computing research league table. Now it is top...." @TheEconomist

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

This economist cover isn't just right, it's also a delightfully clever design. Look closely. Congrats @zannymb and a whoever thought it up.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

Immigration at changi. Just me then.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

Most in the west don't understand how "decoupling" is likely to work in practice — and the perverse unintended consequences of moving production around the world, what I call the "decoupling delusion" A quick piece from me in @ft and a short 🧵

The west is in the grip of a decoupling delusion

Trying to move production from China is much harder than many companies and governments think

www.ft.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

Abe revealed that his phone calls with Trump would sometimes last as long as 90 minutes. “The main topic would last about 15 minutes. After that, 70% or 80% of the conversation would be about golf or criticism of other world leaders,” Abe said.

Abe memoir is instant bestseller; publisher triples print run

Former Japanese leader shares observations on Trump, Xi and Modi

asia.nikkei.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

an absolute barnstorminng performance. Good on @TurnbullMalcolm and @MrKRudd for going big guns on this.

Jay Rosen

@jayrosen_nyu

3 years

Watch this remarkable confrontation between a former Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and Paul Kelly, editor-at-large for one of Murdoch's key properties, The Australian. The subject is climate change and the Murdoch empire's disastrous legacy.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 month

FWIW I got this 100% wrong in The Billionaire Raj — cf the penultimate chapter. So this might be a moment for those of us foreigners who watch India to have a moment of humility & recall we had no clue how transformative a leader Modi would become.

Review: ‘The Billionaire Raj’ Offers Reasons for Optimism in India’s Gilded Age (Published 2018)

A new book by the journalist James Crabtree argues that the current regime of the superrich can blossom into a Progressive Era that leaves behind inequality and crony capitalism.

www.nytimes.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

The world's two mega democracies, each in their own way enduring their bleakest constitutional day in a generation. Hard to say whose outlook is worse, or whose leader is doing more to destroy the ideals of their respective founding documents.

FT India News

@ftindianews

4 years

India bans protests and shuts down mobile phone networks

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

A @ft revealing graph: clear epidemic pattern that Asian technocratic democracies (incl. Taiwin, not featured) are dealing with it better than western liberal democracies. Complex reasons why, but many lessons to be learned.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

Remember South Korea. It had superb covid record. But when controls came off, covid per capita shot up far above worst seen in the UK, US etc. Korea coped. Population well vaxed and good health system. With no vax and weak healthcare China would be in deep trouble. 6/

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

5 months

Stark Indo-Pacific reality: no regional arms race, one massive build-up, and a "chasm" between china and the rest. "In 2014, when Mr Modi took office, India’s defence budget was 23% that of China’s (see chart). It is now 28%." — @shashj

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

This blunt COVID-era checklist for visiting the Netherlands is delightfully Dutch.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

Richard Maude on excellent form explaining why China won’t engage on "guardrails" — and thus that "competition with guardrails" ain't going to work. Says AUS + SEA nations et al to call China out on this. It's behind the paywall. Some quotes 🧵

Why China relations need the guardrails on them

Beijing chafes at any constraints on its power. But it is important that other countries keep trying to persuade China to accept some rules of engagement.

www.afr.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

8 years

Just up, sign of the times: India knocks China from top of FDI league table: #FT

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

The long-term bargain of the CCP was private prosperity and a degree of personal freedom in career, consumption and life in general, in exchange for public loyalty to the CCP.. Zero Covid broke that bargain, by imposing severe restrictions on citizen's private lives. 2/

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

6 years

Walking down New Bond St, I happen accross a jewelry shop which appears to have seen better days. Shelves empty. No sign of the man himself....

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 months

Modi has 80% approval. Jokowi has about the same. Prabowo just won in a landslide. Marcos is pretty popular too. What are Asia's leaders doing right, when politicians in rich Western nations are almost universally reviled? My latest in @ForeignPolicy

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

"While the world was distracted by the drama of the U.S. election, Xi quietly unveiled an economic strategy fit for a new Cold War." My first @NoemaMag essay on "dual circulation" — China's deeply pessimistic vision of future decoupling [1]

China’s Radical New Vision Of Globalization | NOEMA

President Xi’s vision of “dual circulation” is a darkly pessimistic economic strategy, fit for a new Cold War.

www.noemamag.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

"The trend line is only going up. I would not be surprised if India overtakes Brazil soon, and at some point moves past the US too......” Piece from me on India's ongoing COVID woes in today's UK Sunday Times, quoting Harvard's @ashishkjha .

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

10 years

Economics: I'd say this chart basically nails it. http://t.co/CvlwSJSacb

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 years

I don't often disagree with the great @EdwardGLuce , but this article he quotes from Steve Biegun seems more than a little overblown. Indian foreign policy has never claimed to be part of "a fight to defend democracy from authoritarianism". 2/

Edward Luce

@EdwardGLuce

2 years

"Whatever the calculations, misplaced loyalties, or misjudgments.. India is at risk of abdicating its respect as one of the world’s leading democracies." Strong piece by @AnjaManuel1 and Steve Biegun on India's UN abstention @ThePrintIndia @ShekharGupta

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

8 years

superb from McSweeney's: nihilistic password reminders.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

Nicely put.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

From a former student of mine from Myanmar: "This is not Syria or Yemen. This is the images of Yangon today. After 44 days of #militarycoup more than 180 deaths and more than 1800 detained."

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

Forgive those of us still being sued by Anil Ambani as we rummage around in our cupboards to find the tiniest possible violin with which to great this sad, sad news.......

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

Good news: Cambodia just reopened to visitors. The catch: $3k deposit, mandatory testing, 24-hour quarantine, $50k worth of insurance. You also pay for 2-week quarantine if you get covid. & if you die you lose half your deposit :-) Happy holiday!

Cambodia has reopened – but travellers have to pay a $3,000 deposit

It’s in case you get sick while you’re away.

www.timeout.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

What horror is this? India is building a network of detention camps to house those likely to be caught out in modis new citizenship push - a state now sadly heading in a similar sinister direction to China's. Vg visual outline of what is going on here:

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

This is sad and depressing on communal tension and journalist harassment in India. "I can’t be a journalist — we are now enemies of the state. I have to keep a low profile, hide, switch off my phone — all in an attempt to protect myself against a vindictive regime...."

Rana Ayyub

@RanaAyyub

3 years

Prime Minister Modi, is Journalism a crime in your India ? I am writing this for myself and the journalism fraternity in my country after the events of the last two weeks. My latest for the Washington Post

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

6 years

Delighted to have handed in the manuscript for my book, The Billionaire Raj, out in UK / US next July, & India in Aug. Here's the cover, just finalized, for the American edition. Pretty sweet, no?

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 years

I'm good being bundled up with @Cold_Peace_ in camp 2 camp here. One minor positive from Ukraine: western govts forced to grapple more precisely and realistically with India's hard-headed calculations of its own interests, a point @d_jaishankar has made over recent days.

Krzysztof Iwanek

@Chris_Iwanek

2 years

India's neutrality on Russia's invasion of Ukraine divided Western commentators between the critics and defenders of India's position. I believe the first group can be called the normativists and the second - the realists. I summarise this debate here👇

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

Social distancing reaches the masthead — elegant idea from @DainikBhaskar , India's largest circulation daily newspaper, and the world's third largest, with 4.3m daily readers. Jai Hind.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 month

Everyone told us it was literally impossible to imagine anyone — especially someone as "divisive" as Modi — to win an outright majority. That just wasn't how India worked any more. And then — 💥 boom! 💥 — this happened:

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 years

The best route for the west is to help India out a real security dilemma to do with arms imports, not chiding or punishing, which as @ashleytownshend argued may come with unhappy consequences in the Indo-Pacific. 6/

Ashley Townshend

@ashleytownshend

2 years

Let’s get something straight: The Quad is not about Ukraine. Period. It’s about maintaining order and providing public goods in the Indo-Pacific. Fixating on its — or its members — stance on Russia’s indefensible actions is not only missing the point; it weakens the Quad agenda.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

Its not subtle, but India's courtship of France over recent days has been impressive to watch. its a partnership which certainly could grow deeper in future, esp given 🇫🇷 eastern Indian Ocean interests. FWIW India likely to keep playing a somewhat Gaullist role in the quad too.

Narendra Modi

@narendramodi

3 years

Spoke with my friend President @EmmanuelMacron on the situation in Afghanistan. We also discussed closer collaboration between India and France in the Indo-Pacific. We place great value on our Strategic Partnership with France, including in the UNSC.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 years

Now that's a gorgeous picture of Singapore, taken last week after a rainstorm by photographer Darren Soh.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 years

True, India has moved slowly / awkwardly during this crisis. Many in India's govt recognise it's close ties to Russia are no longer sustainable. But the problem of the Russian weapon imports it needs to defend against China can't just be wished away. 4/

Explained: How dependent is India on Russia’s weapons?

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has long-term implications for India, most significantly on the decades old defence trade between the two. How strong are India's ties with Russia, and what is the value...

indianexpress.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

6 years

Brilliant Michael Walton @bsindia piece on modi and the threats of crony populism. "India’s real risk is not that crony populism would fail, but that it would succeed, consolidating a path that is fundamentally a trap, both in terms of social inequalities and long-term growth."

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

6 years

@iainmarlow This story gets more enjoyable with each reading, from the use of the passive voice — the door bell "was also rung" — to the question of what other diplomatic measures India & Pakistan have been be using. Whoopee cushions?

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

10 years

Map of Britain, as served by which London train station — http://t.co/59kYrXsdVq (h/t @willperrin ) http://t.co/bl0gTH8EDj

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

14 days

From the excellent @noahbarkin on linkedin. I'm bemused by this. After 2 weeks in China I'm pretty much convinced the mainstream European car industry is likely to be killed off by Chinese EV competition. maybe even the premium end too. probably isn't much we can do. Devastating.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

Devastating infection maths. Stay at home people. Normal flu: you infect on average 1.4 people. They each infect 1.4 more. After 10 rounds, 14 people are infected. Coronavirus: you infect on average 3 people. They each infect 3 more. After 10 rounds, 59,000 people are infected

Channel 4 Dispatches

@C4Dispatches

4 years

“If you are irresponsible enough to think that you don’t mind if you get the flu, remember it’s not about you - it’s about everybody else.” Intensive care specialist Professor Hugh Montgomery explains why this coronavirus is different from the ordinary flu.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

5 years

There is something rather romantic about the lengths India goes to include people in its democracy. But its also clearly a ridiculous waste of money, and one which some kind of postal voting could easily fix.

Milan Vaishnav

@MilanV

5 years

Great piece from @scroll_in : How 6 Arunachal officials travelled 2 days to open a poll booth for only 1 vote

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

One interesting question is precisely why Xi refuses to take the MRNA import route, as @spignal was asking yesterday. @DSORennie wrote interestingly on this last year, noting a range of problems at the state and local level.

Covid shows that in China, politics matters more than pragmatism

Why officials are so strangely slow to vaccinate the elderly

www.economist.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 month

.... but still the fact we are talking about it is mind blowing 🤯. And especially in a 3rd term, where even strong governments — say like Blair in the UK in 2005 — are running out of steam. But having re-written the map in 2014, Modi seems only just to be getting started.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

China is very efficient at building these kind of facilities, but it also tells people what might be coming. After going through years of restrictions, the fact that more and worse is to come could be what is pushing people onto the streets. 4/

Shanghai to Build a 3,250-Bed Covid Facility Near City Center

Shanghai will build an isolation facility that can house thousands of people near the center of the city, adding to signs China is unlikely to shift away from Covid Zero any time soon despite the...

www.bloomberg.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 years

China recently sailed by the US to become the world's largest navy by vessels. This clever interactive before-and-after graphic in my @ftweekend Top Gun essay shows just quickly the PLAN caught up. (The US is still the largest by tonnage though.)

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

Hidden in pt 7 of yesterday's ASEAN Myanmar text - the bloc grants UK "dialogue partner" status. Might not sound like much but big aim for post brexit UK re SE asia, & a core "tilt" objective. Tricky politics too, so clever of @JonLambe et al to see a way to get it through now.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

3 years

Genius: "Associate professor lectures for 2 hours without realising he's on mute"

AsiaOne

Clicking on the mute button is like a double-edged sword. You've either said too much, or well, nothing at all, like this math teacher at the National University of Singapore (NUS), who only realised...

www.asiaone.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

So President Xi's immediate problem, beyond the unrest, is a lack of good options. A big COVID wave is coming. His population isn't properly vaccinated. It seems hard to see how he does anything but try to re-establish political control, and control of the streets. 8/8

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

5 months

Downtown Singapore, plus shipping.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

My sense this anger may also be anticipatory too, as well as accumulated frustration. If a big COVID spike is coming, people will be worried about lock-down to come that will be required to try and control this covid spike. Think family separation. 3/

Bloomberg Originals

@bbgoriginals

2 years

China is rushing to build mass testing and isolation facilities across Jilin province, the latest epicenter of Covid, state media reports

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

4 years

. @AmyKazmin — "Back in 1982, Myanmar adopted a citizenship law recognising 8 ethnic groups as “national races”. ... But Rohingya — a mostly-Muslim population reviled by Burmese as illegal migrants from Bangladesh — were excluded."

India’s citizenship bill has echoes of Myanmar’s dark path

Country has incorporated religious criteria into its naturalisation and refugee policies

www.ft.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 months

Much looking forward to reading this new @sissenberg book from @ColumbiaGR on political operatives around the world leading the "day to day fire-fighting” against an online world awash with lies. I wonder if @lenirobredo campaign in 🇵🇭 features?

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

China's per capita death rate still far, far below the west. Few in China, as with countries like Singapore, would support a western-style approach of more freedoms and higher per-capita deaths. But HK also shows what happens when you take the controls away without good vax. 7/

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

5 years

India now easily the world's most expensive democracy. estimated $9bn spent in recent election (most of it illegally) vs $6bn in 2016 in the US. Modis BJP leading the spending boom. Alarming to see how much further this could go as India grows richer.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

6 years

Just landed in LA on the way to a wedding. Slightly bowled over to hear The Billionaire Raj just made the McKinsey / @FT book of the year shortlist. Thx to the judges and huge congrats to @adwooldridge , @AnnieLowrey , @jeremyheimans et al - really amazing company to be in. 👍😁

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

5 years

Some v pleasant news - The Billionaire Raj just won @tatalitlive Business Book of the Year 2018 in Mumbai tonight. Huge thanks to the judges & award organisers, as well as @HarperCollinsIN & everyone else who helped me write the thing. 😊

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

5 months

This is probably one of the best examples of a visual / data led story i've seen from the FT. "Thousands of mosques have been altered or destroyed as Beijing’s suppression of Islamic culture spreads"

How China is tearing down Islam

Thousands of mosques have been altered or destroyed as Beijing’s suppression of Islamic culture spreads

ig.ft.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 years

Just up: op-ed from myself and @ashleytownshend in @nytimes . "As China’s armed forces grow in strength, sophistication and confidence, U.S.-led military deterrence in the Indo-Pacific is losing its bite." We suggest ideas for what might help.....

Opinion | The U.S. Is Losing Its Military Edge in Asia, and China Knows It (Published 2022)

America can no longer deter China without help from its allies.

www.nytimes.com

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

5 years

The new populist elite could badly do with an old establishment tailor.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

That said, China's ZC policy is sensible response in many ways to the failure to vaccinate — even with ho hum PRC vaccines — nearly half of your most vulnerable elderly population. If China did "freedom day" and cut restrictions, the health crisis would be severe. 5/

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

8 years

One day you're James Bond. The next you're flogging paan masala on the front of the Times of India. Life is like that only.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

8 years

A final piece from me, on Mumbai fatherhood, and how my son was named Alexander Viswanathan —

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

An odd thing just happened: the US worked hard behind the scenes over recent weeks to avert a repeat of the Pelosi visit furore, & then didn't really tell anyone — and so got no credit. My @straits_times latest on the Taiwan Straits crisis that wasn't — and a short 🧵

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

21 days

Popped into the 🇮🇳 embassy in 🇨🇳 🙃. Striking to see what an impressive cast of ambassadors New Delhi has had here in recent years, from EAM @DrSJaishankar himself to rock star diplomat-thinkers like @VGokhale59 , @NMenonRao , & @ShivshankaMenon . The best of the Indian system.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

1 year

"In Beijing’s world view, China never creates crises, other countries simply overreact. This is farcical but creates tremendous risk."

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

6 years

Tom is being modest. He was one of a few journos who revealed the giant 1MDB scandal which helped to bring down Malaysia's govt yesterday. Great stuff from @WSJ , which did great reporting. You should pre-order his book, The Billion Dollar Whale, too!

Tom Wright

@TomWrightAsia

6 years

Malaysia’s election result makes you realize journalism does still matter.

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james crabtree

@jamescrabtree

2 years

India's shift west is genuine, as are its concerns about China. Recent events may have the positive side effect of revealing India's core interests as they actually are, and not as many in the West wish them to be. cf @tanvi_madan . 5./

Tanvi Madan

@tanvi_madan

2 years

🧵 Russian military action against Ukraine will also test Indian foreign policymakers, or at least create serious complications for them – and not just for the one reason you might think (CAATSA) Here’s why… 1/

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