X.T.M – Brown Pundits

Israel, India, and the Rise of Defensive Asymmetry

June 16, 2025June 16, 2025X.T.MGeopolitics, India, Israel, Politics, Science, WarChina-Taiwan, defensive asymmetry, Eurasian strategy, Gaza conflict, global defense strategy, global deterrence, India-Israel relations, India-Pakistan, Iran conflict, Iran-Israel tensions, Israel-Iran, military technology, narrative warfare, Netanyahu, Netanyahu crisis, nuclear deterrence, regional conflicts, rules-based order, Russia-Ukraine war, SCO Iran statement, strategic doctrine, Trump foreign policy, Trump Iran policy, U.S. decline, U.S. hegemony, war of attrition3 Comments

A Pause in the Offensive:

Without getting into the ideological or emotional dimensions of current conflicts, one point stands out: both Israel and India seem quietly surprised by the defensive resilience of their adversaries.

Whether it’s Iran-Israel, India-Pakistan, or even Russia-Ukraine, a pattern is emerging: offensive campaigns that assumed rapid success are stalling against increasingly capable—and surprisingly tenacious—defensive postures.

In classic military doctrine, a successful offense requires a 3:1 superiority. That logic appears to be inverting. What we may be witnessing is a shift in the scientific and technological balance—not just in weaponry, but in surveillance, cyber, and even psychological endurance as evidenced by the Iranians on national television in this clip, IMG_0631.

Continue reading Israel, India, and the Rise of Defensive Asymmetry

Rest in Peace

June 13, 2025June 16, 2025X.T.MBlog, India, X.T.MAhmedabad, Air India crash, aviation tragedy, Blog, Diaspora, diaspora journeys, family loss, Gatwick-bound flight, grief, India, Indian diaspora, Indian doctors abroad, Komi Vyas, migration, new beginnings, plane crash victims, Prateek Joshi, Religion, remembrance, South Asian diaspora, Tragedy, Udaipur1 Comment

This is so incredibly heartbreaking; this beautiful family excited about a new life in the United Kingdom.

The picture was taken to celebrate ‘new beginnings’ as Komi Vyas, a doctor who worked in Udaipur, had quit her job and was moving to join her husband, Dr Prateek Joshi, in London, with their three children.

But, tragically, the family are among the at least 241 dead after the Gatwick-bound aircraft crashed moments after take-off from Ahmedabad Airport in the northwestern Indian state of Gujarat yesterday.

May they and the rest of the victims of the Air India crash rest in the Highest Heaven.

Everyone Western Becomes White Eventually

June 11, 2025June 11, 2025X.T.MAmerica, Blog, Civilisation, Culture, Politics, RaceAfrican-American resistance, America, Assimilation, Bhutan Lhotshampa, Blog, Civilisation, Cultural integration, Culture, diaspora dynamics, Ethnic enclaves, Global migration, Immigration, Indian diaspora, Individualism, Intergenerational change, Jewish assimilation, Politics, Race, Racial identity, Second-generation immigrants, Western civilisation, Whiteness18 Comments

brown: if the fresh inputs from india is reduced ( because of immigration laws and raising prosperity back home), how long can ‘indians in u s a’ remain an effective group? i feel that they will dissolve in next 20 years.

Nivedita: That is such an interesting take! I agree actually. Indians are pretty much white adjacent and are intermarrying with whites, so in all probability what you predict might actually happen.

That’s a sharp observation, and worth expanding. The truth is, in the West, all immigrants eventually become “white”—not in phenotype, but in assimilation, in aesthetic, in aspiration. Continue reading Everyone Western Becomes White Eventually

🕯️ Saving Adam

June 11, 2025June 11, 2025X.T.MBlog, Geopolitics, Politics, ReligionAdam al-Najjar, Alaa al-Najjar, Blog, civilian casualties, Genocide, Geopolitics Gaza, humanitarian crisis, Israel-Palestine, Israeli airstrike, Italy evacuation, Khan Younis, Middle East crisis, moral clarity, Najjar children, names of the victims, pediatrician, Politics, refugee trauma, Religion, Saving Private Ryan, war and children9 Comments

I don’t often comment on the Israel–Palestine conflict, and I try not to be reactive. But there comes a point where neutrality becomes its own kind of indulgence.

Alaa al-Najjar, a pediatrician, lost nine of her ten children, and her husband, in an airstrike on their home in Khan Younis. Her surviving son, Adam, 11, had his hand amputated and was flown out of Gaza to Italy, where he says he hopes to live in “a beautiful place… where houses are not broken and nobody dies.”

The children killed were: Sidar (7 months), Luqman (2), Sadeen (3), Rifan (5), Raslan (7), Jubran (8), Eve (9), Rakan (10), and Yahya (12). May they rest in the Highest Heaven. Continue reading 🕯️ Saving Adam

🧵Quick Moderation Note

June 11, 2025June 11, 2025X.T.MBlog, Open Thread, PoliticsBlog, Brown Pundits comments, Comment Policy, Community guidelines, Discourse norms, free speech, India-Pakistan, moderation, Moderation policy, Online discussion, Open Thread, Open threads, Podcast, Politics, Thread managementLeave a comment

Just a heads-up for everyone:

India–Pakistan threads are totally fine when the post is about India–Pakistan, or if it’s an Open Thread. Let the sparks fly there.
But on other posts—please avoid steering every conversation back to India–Pakistan. It’s not always relevant and derails useful discussion.

I won’t be actively moderating every thread. If something is genuinely offensive or disruptive, feel free to flag it—I’ll step in only if needed. Continue reading 🧵Quick Moderation Note

🇮🇳Op Sindoor: A Podcast on Pahalgam, Pakistan, and the Limits of Peace

June 10, 2025June 10, 2025X.T.MGeopolitics, History, India, Pakistan, Podcast, PoliticsBalakot, BrownCast, Civ-mil tensions, Geopolitics, Geopolitics & Security, history, History & Memory, India, India-Pakistan conflict, Indo-Pak Relations, Indus Waters Treaty, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Media & Narrative, Modi foreign policy, Nawaz Sharif, Pahalgam, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Pathankot attack, Podcast, Politics, Pulwama, South Asia, Surgical strikes, Terrorism & Militancy, Terrorism in Kashmir, TRF Kashmir101 Comments

I’ve just listened to the first half-hour of Op Sindoor, the latest Brown Pundits Browncast featuring Amey, Poulasta, and Omar. The full episode runs over 90 minutes; I’ll be reflecting on the rest in due course. For now, some thoughts on the opening segment, which focuses on the recent terror attack in Pahalgam and its aftermath.

🧨 The Attack Itself: Pahalgam as a National Trauma

The episode begins by recounting the massacre in Pahalgam, Kashmir—a tourist meadow turned execution ground. Twenty-six people, most of them honeymooning Hindus, were murdered after being identified through religious markers: circumcision, Kalma recitations, names. The hosts don’t shy away from calling it what it is: a targeted Islamist attack. The group responsible, the TRF (The Resistance Front), is introduced as a Lashkar-e-Taiba cutout, designed to launder Pakistan-backed militancy through a local Kashmiri lens.

There is a palpable sense of cumulative fatigue in how the Indian speakers describe it—not as an aberration, but as part of a 30-year continuum of such violence. The emotional register is high, but justified. The use of plain terms like terrorists over euphemisms such as militants or gunmen reflects a long-standing frustration with how such attacks are framed in international discourse.

🤝 Modi, Nawaz, and the Civ-Mil Waltz Continue reading 🇮🇳Op Sindoor: A Podcast on Pahalgam, Pakistan, and the Limits of Peace

On Moderation, Minoritization, and the Elite

June 9, 2025X.T.MCulture, India, Pakistan, Politics, Race, X.T.MBahá’í, British institutions, Brown Pundits, Brown Pundits Meta, class hierarchy, digital discourse, elite theory, global elite, Hindustani Music, Identity & Belonging, Indo-Pak, Kabir, meaning-making, minoritization, moderation, Moderation & Civility, nuance vs noise, online communities, Persian aesthetics, Power & Elites, South Asia, South Asian identity21 Comments

Pulse: The Threads We Weave —

Lately I’ve wondered whether I over-curated the threads. Things feel quieter. Maybe too quiet. But perhaps that’s the cost of raising the bar—of asking for dialogue instead of dopamine. Still, this lull has me reflecting not just on moderation but on why some arguments no longer move me.

Take the Indo-Pak conflict: once electric, now strangely inert. That shift reflects my own evolution over two decades. I no longer inhabit that binary. I carry a layered identity—a South Asian Bahá’í sensibility shaped by Persian aesthetics, grounded in British institutions, and fluently navigated through English. That complexity is my compass. It’s why I care less about flags and more about forces.

And the real force that shapes our lives? The elite. Not as a pejorative, but as a structural reality. I see it as nested tiers: Continue reading On Moderation, Minoritization, and the Elite

Request for Calm and Civility

June 6, 2025June 7, 2025X.T.MIndia, Open Thread, Pakistan, X.T.Mcivility, commentariat, community norms, discourse culture, free speech, Indo-Pak discourse, moderation, platform standards18 Comments

Dear Punditeers,

A gentle reminder to take a breath and step back. Kabir is entitled to his views—there’s no obligation to counter every provocation point-by-point.

What’s troubling isn’t disagreement—it’s the sheer volume of rage replies. This doesn’t reflect the standard we aspire to. It’s neither civil nor intellectual. The only reason I’m stepping in is because, while I generally prefer light-touch moderation, the tone of these threads now reflects poorly on the broader community. It lowers the quality of both the commentariat and the platform.

We’ve seen this play out before—Sepia Mutiny is a cautionary tale. Let’s not replicate it.

So please: engage with ideas, not just identities. Let’s not derail into yet another endless Indo-Pak back-and-forth. We’re capable of better.

Warmly,

X.T.M

✉️ [Addendum]

On Nivedita’s query, I’ve finally re-created the Brown Pundits email account. It’s hosted on Gmail, but I’ve deliberately avoided posting the full address here to prevent spam harvesters. If you’d like to get in touch privately or share something offline, feel free to reach out via:

📧 brownpundits19 [@g]

🪙 What’s in a Name? Mukesh, Not Mukash.

June 5, 2025June 5, 2025X.T.MCaste, China, Civilisation, Culture, Geopolitics, India, Pakistan, X.T.MBaniya, Brad DeLong, Brahmin, Brown billionaires, Capital & Culture, Capitalism, caste, Caste & Class, China, China strategy, civilizational politics, colonial legacy, decoloniality, Geopolitics, Identity, India, Mukesh Ambani, Pakistan, soft power, South Asia, South Asian Futures, The China Question10 Comments

While reading Brad DeLong’s fascinating newsletter on centi-billionaires and political power (I’m going to ignore Elon’s self-imploding stunt), I noticed something that jarred me more than it should have: Mukesh Ambani’s name was misspelled as “Mukash.” A minor slip, perhaps. But it was the only error in a list that included Bernard Arnault, Warren Buffett, and Michael Bloomberg—men whose names command a certain global familiarity.

What does it say that even after spending nearly half a billion dollars on a wedding for his son, India’s wealthiest man doesn’t merit a spellcheck? It says a lot.

🧠 The Chimera of Respect via Capital Continue reading 🪙 What’s in a Name? Mukesh, Not Mukash.

💔Sana Yusuf Did Not Have to Die

June 4, 2025June 4, 2025X.T.MCivilisation, Culture, India, Islam, Pakistan, Politics, Religion, X.T.MBahá’í perspective, civilizational crisis, cultural critique, elite violence, Feminism, gender violence, honor killing, Khadija Siddiqui, male entitlement, misogyny, modernity and tradition, Noor Mukadam, Pakistan, patriarchy, Qandeel Baloch, religious reform, Sana Yusuf, South Asia, TikTok, Zahir Jaffer167 Comments

The Pakistani Crisis Is Not Just Legal—It’s Civilizational

By X.T.M

As I write this, the news of Sana Yusuf’s murder is barely 48 hours old. A 17-year-old TikTok creator with over a million followers, she was gunned down in Karachi by a 22-year-old stalker. She was a rising star—funny, expressive, beloved. And now, she is dead.

We’ve been here before. Qandeel Baloch. Noor Mukadam. Khadija Siddiqui. Now Sana.

Every few years, Pakistan reels in collective shock at the killing of yet another woman by a man convinced of his right to possess, control, or erase her. And every time, some voices insist “this is not our culture.” But what if it is?

📍Not an Anomaly—But an Outcome

Sana’s murder is not an aberration. It is the predictable consequence of a society structured around honor, control, and male entitlement. Patriarchy in Pakistan isn’t just cultural—it’s systemic, generational, and fiercely defended. Continue reading 💔Sana Yusuf Did Not Have to Die