Gray Smoke

  The grand chessboard of global power has transformed dramatically in the 21st century. Where nations once measured strength through nuclear arsenals and ideological allegiance, today's geopolitical contest revolves around economic systems, supply chains, and financial infrastructure. This represents not merely a tactical shift but a fundamental redefinition of power projection on the world stage.     The Dollar Kingdom and Its Crumbling Walls   At the center of the post-war economic order stands the U.S. dollar—the world's primary reserve currency and the cornerstone of global trade. Yet this dominance contains within it a fundamental contradiction known as the Triffin dilemma . To supply the world with sufficient dollars for trade, America must maintain persistent deficits, effectively exporting currency instead of goods. This creates an impossible balancing act: simultaneously maintaining a strong dollar as a stable reserve asset while running deficits t...

  While media outlets have been extensively criticizing India's apparent lack of response to the Trump administration's new tariffs, I find the Modi government's measured approach refreshing. Rather than joining other world leaders in making immediate and potentially reactive public statements, India has chosen a path of careful deliberation. This restraint raises an interesting question: Are other global leaders genuinely interested in productive negotiations with the incoming Trump administration, or are their public pronouncements merely designed to bolster domestic and international popularity? A Strategic Economic Maneuver The Modi government has instead implemented a sophisticated economic response by increasing the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per liter. What makes this move particularly astute is that this additional tax burden will be absorbed by the oil companies rather than passed on to consumers. This timing is strategic for several reasons. Oil...

  International students in US tech face unprecedented challenges as multiple factors converge: Fed rates spiked from 0.25% to 5.5%, tech companies laid off 260K workers, VC funding plummeted from $681B to $285B, and H-1B visa rejections hit 73%. Meanwhile, capital shifted to AI ($83B in 2023) while crypto crashed from $3T to under $1T. For the Indian international CS/IT students who invested $80–120K in degrees, consider: pursuing any internship, taking a strategic gap semester in India, freelancing, or leveraging your US degree in India’s growing tech sector. The US market should stabilize in 6–12 months, but timing is everything in this economic cycle In the last 2–3 months, multiple friends have reached out to me regarding their children who are pursuing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in IT in the US. These students are finding it extremely difficult to secure internships and full-time roles. It’s a distressing situation, as these hardworking young people’s fami...