1/11
Sardar Patel's letter to Jawaharlal Nehru.
On #China & #Tibet.

Stark contrast to the far-sightedness of Sardar Patel.

Doesn't also reflect well on the BJP leadership either, that chose to get fooled by China, and ignore both history & realities.

2/11
"The Chinese Government has tried to delude us by professions of peaceful intention."

#SardarPatel #Nehru #China #Tibet
3/11
"The tragedy of it is that the Tibetans put faith in us; they choose to be guided by us, and we have been unable to get them out of the meshes of Chinese diplomacy or Chinese malevolence."
#SardarPatel #Nehru #China #Tibet
4/11
"Our Ambassador has been at great pains to find an explanation or justification for Chinese policy and actions."

#SardarPatel #Nehru #China #Tibet
5/11
"This feeling, if genuinely entertained by the Chinese in spite of your [Nehru's] direct approaches to them, indicates that even though we regard ourselves as friends of China, the Chinese do not regard us as their friends."

#SardarPatel #Nehru #China #Tibet
6/11
"With the Communist mentality of “whoever is not with them being against them,” this is a significant pointer, of which we have to take due note."

#SardarPatel #Nehru #China #Tibet
7/11
"Throughout history we have seldom been worried about our north-east frontier. The Himalayas have been regarded as an impenetrable barrier against any threat from the north. We had friendly Tibet ... The Chinese were divided."
#SardarPatel #Nehru #China #Tibet
8/11
"Chinese irredentism and communist imperialism are different from the expansionism or imperialism of the western powers. The former has a cloak of ideology which makes it ten times more dangerous."
#SardarPatel #Nehru #China #Tibet
9/11
"Our defence measures have so far been based on the calculations of superiority over Pakistan. In our calculations we shall now have to reckon with communist China .. which has definite ambitions and aims and which does not, in any way, seem friendly disposed towards us."
10/11
"In my judgment, the situation is one which we cannot afford either to be complacent or to be vacillating. We must have a clear idea of what we wish to achieve and also of the methods by which we should achieve it."
#SardarPatel #Nehru #China #Tibet
11/11
"Instead of having to deal with isolated #communist pockets .. we may have to deal with communist threats to our security along our northern and north-eastern frontiers, where, for supplies of arms and ammunition, they can safely depend on communist arsenals in #China."

More from India

Reporters, pundits, activists. Before you echo the notion that Palestinians are being "corralled into small, crowded enclaves", which is in vogue in some circles, here are some facts that you won't find in @btselem's new position paper. Read and decide for yourself.

Thread:


Starting with the West Bank, specifically Area C from which allegedly Palestinians are being systematically pushed into the enclaves of Areas A and B, and replaced by Jewish settlers. If so, we should've seen the demographic balance in Area C shift in the Jews' favor. Has it? /2

Well, there's no evidence for that, certainly none in the paper. Latest UN estimate is ~ 300k Palestinians in Area C in 2013, probably >3 times their number in 1995 when the area was delineated. Jewish population growth in the same area & period was slower or similar at 2.6%./3

While good population stats for Area C are unavailable, there are construction surveys based on aerial photos. Do they support Btselem's claim? Quite the contrary. At least one shows that in recent yrs the total Palestinian residential area expanded more than the Jewish one./4


The same analysis by @RegavimIsrael found that the number of Palestinian structures in Area C increased by 28,600 during 2009-2019, nearly doubling in one decade, far more than the 18,600 built in Jewish settlements in that period, according to official statistics. /5

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