9/24/2021

My Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Do you think you’re going to make the Sept. 27 deadline for the Infrastructure Bill? What happens if you don’t? I’d love to see something pass just to prove that democracy is working.

            Then VP KDH could brag about the benefits of democracy when she talks with the QUAD guys this afternoon. PM Modi (NDM) needs to hear that. As you know, he tends toward the autocratic side of the spectrum. I hope KDH can help him see the Light.

In reading Outlook, an Indian newsite, I noticed that India continues to struggle with casteism & many are demanding a caste census. I find it fascinating that NDM is a member of a family belonging to the “Other Backward Class” & yet represents a party favored by the upper class.

Anyhow, I’m sure you know that he’s not inclined to trust the US & will be asking why he can’t have the same nuclear technology that Australia is getting under the AUKUS deal. As a former colony of an Anglo country, Indians do not want to be bossed around by us. It’s a tricky relationship. I wish you luck with negotiating it.

As I pondered QUAD & mutual concerns about China’s naval expansion, I pondered our relationship with China & recalled that we sell them a lot of food. It seems to me that their dependence on us & the rest of the world to secure the health of their populace is our biggest bargaining chip. The Yangtze River, the primary water source for farmers in China, has been flooding lately, & also drying up in some places. They recently slaughtered most of their pigs. So, China expert Gordon Chang says food insecurity is a distinct possibility. Rather than positioning them as a state with growing influence that we fear, we should express our concern about their viability. This would weaken XI Jingping in the eyes of his people & win us some hearts & minds.

On a different matter, I hope you will discuss Myanmar with the QUAD guys & come up with a plan to deliver them some humanitarian aid.

BYBS,