China’s Year of Humiliation

 First there was Opera­tion Sindoor. Then there was Absolute Resolve. And then came operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion. From Pakistan through Ven­ezuela to Iran, it has been a year of humiliation for China’s defence industry which had been marketing its air defence systems as state-of-the-art yet cost-effective alternatives to US and NATO suppliers. India tore through Pakistan’s air defences. The US didn’t let Venezuela’s wake up. Since February 28, the US and Israel have destroyed Iran’s. The problem—much like the PLA which is the world’s largest military on paper but untested in real com­bat since 1979—Chinese systems were advanced only in theory. They failed in ac­tual conflict. Experts say the reason is a lack of flexibility as Chinese systems have a structural weakness that makes them reliant on top command, without the op­erational manoeuvrability needed in a rapidly changing situation. The conclusion is that Chinese platforms struggle when confronted by technologically superior, network-centric offence, as the US and Israel dem­onstrated. The JY27 radars in Venezuela, for example, could be neutralised simply through electronic and cyber warfare. Again, in Iran, apart from the JY27A, the HQ-9B systems reported­ly failed in data-link integra­tion in live combat. As one expert concluded: Chinese defence technology’s lacks “systemic resilience”. Welcome news from Taiwan to Okinawa.

Vance Wants You to Get Religious

“The story of how I regained my faith, of course, only happened because I had lost it to begin with.” That might strike the reader, with or without faith, as a cliché but US Vice Presi­dent JD Vance takes his faith very seriously. An agnostic or outright atheist when he met his wife Usha long ago, the lapsed Evangelical who converted to Catholicism kicked up a storm last year when he publicly wished his Hindu-raised wife would con­vert one day. As his boss drove the US into conflicts without clear exit strategies, Vance’s absence from the stage was read as dissent—and despair at his diminishing chances of a successful run for the Oval Office in 2028. Vance, in fact, is coming out with a new book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith. It’s been a decade since his memoir Hillbilly Elegy and, in his exploration of what it means to be a Christian as a child, husband, father, and man, Vance wants others to find faith like him. Despite his recent meeting with Pope Leo, not all Catholics seem happy. Some dismiss the new convert’s audacity of hope. Some say his actions as vice president are in conflict with Catholic teachings.

Budapest Battle

It took a Fidesz insider to seriously challenge Viktor Orbán but Péter Magyar has given Hungary a real opposition for the first time in Orbán’s 16 continuous years in power. Whether or not the Tisza party wins in a biased electoral system, it has led the polls by a sig­nificant margin. It was the struggling economy, after all, that made it possible. But the run-up to the April 12 parliamentary polls will be remembered for Russia’s alleged plot to stage a false-flag assassination attempt to boost Orbán’s chances and US Vice President’s JD Vance’s undiplomatic appearance in support of the Hungarian strongman.