The Untapped Power of South-South Trade: A New Road to Global Prosperity

The Untapped Power of South-South Trade: A New Road to Global Prosperity

For too long, global trade conversations have revolved around the traditional corridors of the Global North — between the U.S., Europe, China, and Japan. But beneath the radar, a different story is unfolding: the rise of South-South trade. This quiet revolution, fueled by shared experiences, complementary strengths, and rapidly evolving digital tools, could be the single greatest catalyst for shared prosperity in the 21st century.

Learning from Peers, Trading with Peers

In education, it's often said that students learn best from those who are just a step ahead — not from the world’s top experts. The same principle applies to trade. When countries at similar stages of development collaborate, they understand each other’s challenges better and can co-create more relevant solutions. Many Global South economies share similar development timelines, infrastructural needs, and demographic profiles. This common ground forms the perfect basis for mutual growth.

The Case for a Digital African Currency Zone

Africa, for instance, is primed to leap ahead. A continent-wide digital currency zone, powered by mobile money, blockchain, and AI, could overcome many of the problems that plagued earlier monetary unions like the Eurozone. The mistakes of the past don’t have to be repeated when today's tools allow real-time tracking, smart contracts, and decentralized risk-sharing mechanisms.

This could supercharge intra-African trade, reduce dependence on foreign currencies, and increase financial inclusion in ways that physical infrastructure never could.

India's Digital Blueprint: A Global Asset

India’s digital public infrastructure, led by Aadhaar (biometric ID) and UPI (real-time payment interface), may be one of the most exportable governance innovations of our time. Unlike China’s investment-heavy Belt and Road Initiative, India’s "code not concrete" model is lighter, faster, and cheaper to implement — especially across African and Southeast Asian nations that are eager to digitize without taking on unsustainable debt.

Much like how many nations skipped landline phones and jumped directly to mobile, developing economies can now bypass traditional financial infrastructure and leap into the digital future. Indian blockchain companies, working alongside local fintechs, could create an entirely new architecture for South-South payments and remittances.

Labor as Trade: A Forgotten Cornerstone

Trade isn’t just goods and capital — it’s also people. The Gulf-South Asia labor corridor offers a case study in how mobile labor has fueled development on both ends. South Asian workers helped build Gulf megacities; their remittances transformed villages back home. This "trade in labor" model could inspire better immigration reform in countries like the United States, where economic needs clash with nativist politics.

Rather than criminalize undocumented workers, the answer lies in documenting them. Managed migration, seasonal work visas, and bilateral agreements can formalize labor flows — respecting human dignity while boosting productivity.

Recognizing the Growth That’s Already Happened

It’s time we corrected a blind spot in the global narrative. The Global South has not merely waited for development; it has already grown — dramatically. The same three decades that saw China’s rise also witnessed explosive growth in parts of Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. But because it was dispersed and less centralized, it often went unnoticed.

This overlooked momentum is not just real — it’s ripe for acceleration.

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Conclusion: A South-South Century

We are standing at the threshold of a new economic age. The old north-south hierarchy is giving way to a horizontal network of collaboration among emerging powers. With digital tools, youthful populations, and a growing confidence in their own models, the Global South is poised not just to participate in globalization — but to redefine it.

Let us not waste this moment. The fastest path to mutual prosperity may well lie in the Global South trading with itself — building a world economy that is fairer, more human, and more in tune with the realities of the majority.

At the end of the classic 1972 film The Godfather, the new don of the family, Michael Corleone, attends a baptism while his men wipe out the heads of the other New York Mafia families—all of them Michael’s enemies, and all intending one day to do him harm. Rather than wait for their eventual attacks, Michael dispatches them himself. “Today, I settled all family business,” Michael says to his traitorous brother-in-law, before having him killed. ............. Tonight, the Israelis launched a broad, sweeping attack on Iran that seems like an attempt to settle, so to speak, all family business. The Israeli government has characterized this offensive as a “preemptive” strike on Iran: “We are now in a strategic window of opportunity and close to a point of no return, and we had no choice but to take action,” an Israeli military official told reporters. Israeli spokespeople suggest that these attacks, named Operation Rising Lion, could go on for weeks. ............ But calling this a “preemptive” strike is questionable. The Israelis, from what we know so far, are engaged in a preventive war: They are removing the source of a threat by surprise, on their own timetable and on terms they find favorable. They may be justified in doing so, but such actions carry great moral and practical risks. ........... Preemptive attacks, in both international law and the historical traditions of war, are spoiling attacks, meant to thwart an imminent attack. In both tradition and law, this form of self-defense is perfectly defensible, similar to the principle in domestic law that when a person cocks a fist or pulls a gun, the intended victim does not need to stand there and wait to get punched or shot.

Middle East airspace shut after Israel strikes Iran, airlines cancel flights Airlines steered clear of much of the Middle East on Friday after Israeli attacks on Iranian sites forced carriers to cancel or divert thousands of flights in the latest upheaval to travel in the region. ......... Proliferating conflict zones around the world are becoming an increasing burden on airline operations and profitability, and more of a safety concern. Detours add to airlines' fuel costs and lengthen journey times. ........ Israel on Friday said it targeted Iran's nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders at the start of what it warned would be a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon. .......... FlightRadar data showed airspace over Iran, Iraq and Jordan was empty, with flights directed towards Saudi Arabia and Egypt instead. ....... With Russian and Ukrainian airspace closed due to war, the Middle East region has become an even more important route for international flights between Europe and Asia.

Empty Country https://t.co/yMDHpkCSP2

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) June 13, 2025

The Untapped Power of South-South Trade: A New Road to Global Prosperity https://t.co/Tq1jdiFXN8 @haugejostein @SATravelTrade @jasonhickel

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) June 13, 2025

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The Meritocratic Governance Party (MGP)

China: Meritocracy? Autocracy?

 

Designing a new, data-driven, post-ideological, one-party meritocracy is a bold political experiment—but one that draws on the evolution of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while correcting for its authoritarian excesses. If we were to start from scratch in a new country with this goal, the resulting party—let’s call it The Meritocratic Governance Party (MGP)—would blend:

• Deep institutional competence

• Evidence-based policymaking

• Technological and social feedback loops

• Democratic responsiveness without multiparty electoral chaos

• Adaptability across economic models, from capitalism to post-capitalism

Here’s a vision of what The Meritocratic Governance Party might look like in structure, function, and philosophy:

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1. Founding Philosophy: Adaptive Pragmatism

The MGP rejects rigid ideology. Its only "ism" is pragmatism, guided by a single core principle: what works best, as verified by real-world data and continuous evaluation, should be implemented. If capitalism works, use it. If platform cooperatives or universal basic services outperform, transition.

It is not left-wing, right-wing, or centrist. It is future-facing and feedback-driven.

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2. Path to Power: An Open Ladder of Merit

Unlike populist democracies or closed-party elites, the MGP institutionalizes a transparent promotion ladder:

• Entry Level: Citizens can join local governance bodies after passing civic knowledge exams and demonstrating community involvement.

• Performance Metrics: Leaders are promoted based on quantitative KPIs (economic growth, literacy, life expectancy) and qualitative feedback (citizen satisfaction scores, peer evaluations).

• Rotation & Testing: Officials rotate across regions and departments, proving themselves across diverse policy arenas.

No one enters the national leadership without having passed through a visible track record of results.

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3. Digital Governance and Public Feedback

To avoid authoritarianism and ensure legitimacy, the MGP embeds continuous public consultation mechanisms:

• AI-powered citizen polling platforms

• Participatory budgeting apps

• Deliberative citizen assemblies chosen by lottery (sortition) for major policy reviews

• Real-time dashboards showing policy outcomes and accountability reports

Think of this as a democracy of results, not of elections. The people may not choose the leaders every 4 years, but they continuously influence decisions.

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4. Policy Labs and Controlled Experimentation

Before scaling any major policy, it must pass through sandbox zones—cities, districts, or even virtual simulations that test different options in controlled settings.

This experimental governance model reduces risk and maximizes learning, akin to:

• Shenzhen as a Special Economic Zone

• Digital twins of cities used for predictive modeling

• A/B testing at national scale

Policy decisions are evidence-validated—not opinion-driven.

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5. Checks and Balances Without Gridlock

A one-party system need not mean unchecked power. The MGP institutes:

• Independent Judiciary protected by constitutional firewall

• Ombudsman Councils with investigatory powers, independent from the party hierarchy

• Data Auditors General to verify that internal party metrics aren’t manipulated

Accountability exists—but is institutional rather than electoral.

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6. Post-Capitalist Economic Flexibility

The MGP is not capitalist or communist—it is economically agnostic.

• If UBI proves more effective than welfare bureaucracy, adopt it.

• If cooperative ownership outperforms stock markets, transition.

• If digital currencies reduce inequality and increase transparency, implement them.

• If Gross Domestic Happiness proves a better indicator than GDP, shift the metric base.

The economy is treated as a living system—not a fixed doctrine.

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7. Education and Leadership Cultivation

To ensure the meritocratic pipeline, MGP invests heavily in public education and leadership academies:

• Top-performing civil servants mentor younger cohorts

• National talent search for innovation, policy thinking, and ethics

• Blended learning of philosophy, systems thinking, data science, and moral reasoning

Think of this as a hybrid between Confucian exams, MIT Media Lab, and Harvard Kennedy School—with local inclusivity.

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8. Term Limits + Rotational Leadership

While it's a one-party system, the MGP enforces:

• Term limits for top positions

• Leadership councils that vote on successors based on peer review, public metrics, and simulated crisis decision-making

• Mandated sabbaticals for top leaders to prevent burnout and echo chambers

No strongman politics. Leadership is rotated and distributed.

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9. Information Integrity and Free Knowledge Ecosystem

While censorship is an authoritarian reflex, the MGP commits to radical transparency:

• Declassified policy evaluations

• Real-time public access to anonymized datasets

• Citizen-led investigations of corruption

• Open-source algorithms for government decision-making AI

Instead of suppressing information, the system uses trust through visibility.

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10. A Global Orientation

The MGP views its own country as a node in a planetary system. It commits to:

• Participating in international peer-review exchanges (policy benchmarking)

• Leading in climate response, peace diplomacy, and equitable tech governance

• Helping other countries adopt elements of meritocratic reform, while respecting cultural sovereignty

It’s not a nationalist one-party system. It’s planetary-minded and post-tribal.

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Conclusion: Governance for the Future, Not the Past

The Meritocratic Governance Party is not utopian—but it is post-ideological, post-charismatic, and post-polarization. It acknowledges the strengths of the Chinese system (long-term planning, technocracy, performance metrics) while correcting its blind spots (lack of dissent, censorship, personality cults).

In a world beset by democratic dysfunction and authoritarian backlash, this model offers a third way: stable, smart, adaptive governance—built for complexity, powered by data, and always accountable to results.

Why the World Needs a Meritocratic Party: A Call to the Nations in Crisis

Across the globe, dozens of countries remain trapped in cycles of poverty, corruption, political instability, or authoritarianism. Many are failed or fragile democracies, others are autocratic regimes where elites maintain power while the majority languish. In some, civil war has gutted institutions. In others, systemic corruption or economic mismanagement has prevented progress for decades.

What these nations have in common is not just suffering—but unrealized potential. It’s time for a bold new political experiment: the formation of a Meritocratic Governance Party (MGP)—a party designed not around ideology, ethnicity, or electoral theatrics, but around competence, transparency, data, and outcomes.

Let’s begin by identifying the countries that would benefit most.

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Countries That Should Consider a Meritocratic Governance Party

🛑 Authoritarian or Semi-Authoritarian Regimes

These nations lack meaningful democracy or are ruled by entrenched elites who suppress opposition:

• North Korea – Totalitarian control, no economic flexibility

• Eritrea – No elections since independence; military rule

• Turkmenistan – Closed, dynastic dictatorship

• Belarus – Longtime autocracy under Lukashenko

• Syria – Assad regime presides over a broken state

• Iran – Theocratic oligarchy, repressive towards dissent

• Russia – One-man rule with hollowed democratic institutions

• Myanmar – Military junta overthrew elected government

💸 Corrupt and Dysfunctional Democracies

These states hold elections but are crippled by institutionalized corruption and elite capture:

• Lebanon – Collapsing economy, sectarian dysfunction

• Nigeria – Massive resource wealth squandered by corruption

• South Africa – Strong institutions eroded by graft and party cronyism

• Haiti – Endless cycle of political instability and corruption

• Iraq – Corruption and sectarian politics paralyze governance

• Pakistan – Elite military-political complex, poor delivery of services

• Peru – Frequent leadership crises, weak parties

• Bangladesh – Single-party dominance with democratic façade

• Kenya – Tribal patronage politics hinder reform

⚔️ War-Torn or Fragile States

In these countries, governance has broken down under the weight of civil war or insurgency:

• Yemen – Ongoing civil war and humanitarian collapse

• Libya – Competing governments, militia rule

• Somalia – Weak central state, militant control

• Sudan – Coup-prone and currently in civil war

• DR Congo – State fails to control its own territory

• Mali – Jihadist insurgency and repeated coups

• Afghanistan – Taliban rule, lack of institutional governance

• Central African Republic – Minimal functional state

• South Sudan – Persistent ethnic conflict and economic ruin

🚧 Chronically Underperforming Economies

These are democracies or hybrid regimes with long-term stagnation and underdevelopment:

• Nepal – Dysfunctional democracy, youth outmigration, elite capture

• Zimbabwe – Once thriving, now economically shattered

• Honduras – Poverty, gang violence, and elite dysfunction

• Guatemala – Endemic poverty and corruption

• Madagascar – Resource-rich but consistently mismanaged

• Laos – Low growth, poor governance despite Chinese investment

• Chad – Military rule, extreme poverty, weak civil institutions

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Why These Countries Should Consider a Meritocratic Party

✅ 1. Beyond Elections: Competence First

Many of these countries have elections—but no real governance. A meritocratic party shifts the focus from winning votes to delivering results. It recruits capable leaders, trains them, and holds them accountable using data—not dynasties, tribes, or slogans.

✅ 2. Neutralizing Corruption with Transparency

The MGP would create a publicly auditable performance dashboard for every official. It embeds anti-corruption not as a campaign slogan but into institutional DNA: audit trails, citizen monitoring apps, open budgets, and promotion only by results.

✅ 3. Ending the Cycle of Foreign Dependence

Countries that constantly depend on IMF bailouts, foreign aid, or remittance economies need systems change, not just funding. A meritocratic government uses capital more wisely, invests in education and infrastructure, and reorients toward long-term sovereignty.

✅ 4. Building States that Survive Conflict

Where civil war has eroded trust, a neutral, performance-based party can depoliticize the state. It offers a technocratic middle path—where competence trumps ethnicity, religion, or factional loyalty.

✅ 5. Post-Capitalist, Post-Ideological Future

Most of these countries don’t need to choose between capitalism or socialism—they need functioning delivery systems. MGP is economically agnostic: if platform cooperatives work better than oligopolies, so be it. If digital land registries prevent corruption, implement them. Ideology is secondary to empirical success.

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A Political Framework for Fragile States

Key Features of the Meritocratic Governance Party:

• Open recruitment from the public, not families or elites

• Performance-based promotions with public KPIs

• AI and citizen panels to review public satisfaction

• Data-driven policymaking with local experimentation zones

• Hybrid governance: one-party control + participatory mechanisms

• Mandatory leadership training and ethical education

• Rotation of officials to prevent entrenched local power

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Conclusion: The Time Is Now

The countries listed here are not doomed. They are simply trapped in old political systems that no longer serve their people. Democracy alone does not guarantee good governance. Elections without results breed cynicism. Autocracy without accountability breeds decay.

A Meritocratic Governance Party offers an alternative—one that combines the discipline of technocracy with the wisdom of public input, and the flexibility to evolve beyond ideology.

This is not a fantasy. It is already partially visible in China’s rise, Rwanda’s technocratic state-building, Singapore’s long-term planning, and Estonia’s digital governance. The challenge is to democratize that excellence—without falling into the traps of electoral populism or centralized authoritarianism.

Let the next great political experiment be one of competence, transparency, and moral seriousness—led by those who serve not themselves, but the future.

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The $500 Billion Pivot: How the India-US Alliance Can Reshape Global Trade
Trump’s Trade War
Peace For Taiwan Is Possible
Formula For Peace In Ukraine
The Last Age of War, The First Age of Peace: Lord Kalki, Prophecies, and the Path to Global Redemption
AOC 2028: : The Future of American Progressivism

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Designing a new, data-driven, post-ideological, one-party meritocracy is a bold political experiment—but one that draws on the evolution of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while correcting for its authoritarian excesses. 🧵👇

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) June 4, 2025

The $50 Trillion Unlock: Why GovTech, Not the BRI, Will Transform the Global South

The $50 Trillion Unlock: Why GovTech, Not the BRI, Will Transform the Global South

In recent years, the world has watched China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) reshape infrastructure development across continents. Roads, railways, ports, and pipelines have sprung up across Asia, Africa, and Latin America—symbols of Beijing’s growing global influence. In response, the US and EU have tried to offer counter-narratives and limited investments. But none of these efforts, impressive as they may seem, have come close to truly meeting the infrastructure needs of the Global South.

That’s because they’re all still playing an old game.

The real revolution won’t be in who builds the most roads or who lends the most money—it will be in who unleashes the latent wealth already buried in the soil of the Global South. The key? GovTech-powered land digitization. The act of precisely mapping, recording, and registering land ownership for every plot of land in every village, town, and city. Not just on paper, but on secure digital platforms tied to national ID systems and satellite imagery.

Why This Changes Everything

The vast majority of land in the developing world today—rural and urban alike—is informally held. Families live on it. Farmers farm it. But they can’t leverage it. Without legal recognition or digitized proof of ownership, land can’t serve as collateral for loans. That locks out hundreds of millions from credit markets and entrepreneurship. It traps the economy in an informal loop of low productivity and high poverty.

Now imagine this:

• Every parcel of land is satellite-mapped.

• Ownership is clearly established through digital title deeds.

• Disputes are resolved via mobile courts or blockchain-backed records.

• This digitized land becomes bankable collateral.

Suddenly, we’re not talking about aid or debt diplomacy—we’re talking about unlocking $50 trillion in dead capital, as Hernando de Soto famously argued. That’s money that local people could borrow from local banks to build homes, start businesses, or invest in community infrastructure. It’s money that doesn’t need to come from Beijing, Washington, Brussels, or the IMF. It’s already there.

A GovTech Revolution in the Making

This is what GovTech—government technology—makes possible.

GovTech is more than digitizing services or putting tax forms online. It is about re-engineering the very operating system of a country. Think:

• Satellite-based land mapping.

• Mobile-first property registries.

• Blockchain land ledgers.

• Integration with digital ID systems like India’s Aadhaar.

• Interoperable databases between banks, courts, and land records.

This isn’t hypothetical. India has begun this journey. Rwanda has made progress. Estonia is already operating like a fully digitized state. But these are early experiments. The massive rollout—across Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and small island nations—is still ahead.

Why the BRI and the West Can’t Compete

The BRI builds things for governments. GovTech builds capabilities within governments. The former creates dependence. The latter builds sovereignty.

Western infrastructure programs, when they do exist, tend to focus on financing mega-projects, which often take years to execute and don’t always address the foundational needs of rural populations.

By contrast, land digitization is scalable, inclusive, and locally empowering. You don’t need to borrow billions from a superpower to do it. You just need satellites, software, and political will. You can map a country in months, not decades.

The Multiplier Effect

Once land is digitized, its value is activated:

• Credit expansion: Farmers and micro-entrepreneurs gain access to capital.

• Tax efficiency: Governments can collect more accurate property taxes to fund local projects.

• Corruption reduction: Transparent ownership records end elite land grabs.

• Urban development: Slums can be upgraded with real titles and services.

• Foreign investment: Investors trust a land market that’s digitally verifiable.

This is the most inclusive form of economic stimulus the world has never tried.

The Call to Action

If you want to help the Global South rise, don’t build another port. Build digital infrastructure for governance. Build systems that turn land into leverage. Build GovTech.

With the right vision and partnerships, a coalition of tech firms, philanthropists, and forward-thinking governments could roll out a global LandTech initiative in the next five years. The returns would dwarf the BRI. They would permanently alter the economic trajectory of billions.

Infrastructure starts beneath your feet. It’s time we recognized that the most valuable resource in the Global South isn’t foreign capital. It’s local land, waiting to be unlocked.

Let’s do it—with satellites, software, and sovereignty.

The $50 Trillion Unlock: Why GovTech, Not the BRI, Will Transform the Global South 🧵

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) June 2, 2025

The Silent Revolution: How the Global South Is Reshaping the World Economy

The Silent Revolution: How the Global South Is Reshaping the World Economy

For decades, the global economic conversation was dominated by a rigid dichotomy—developed versus developing, First World versus Third World. But that framing has become outdated, even misleading. The world has changed. Quietly, steadily, and profoundly. A seismic shift has occurred across the Global South that few in the West truly grasp: what happened in China did not stay in China. A similar economic miracle has been unfolding across large swaths of Asia, Africa, and Latin America—simultaneously.

From Poverty to Possibility

In 1980, most of the Global South was written off as “poor,” “undeveloped,” or “low-potential.” But in the decades since, countries once dismissed as economic backwaters have become hubs of manufacturing, innovation, digital leapfrogging, and demographic dynamism.

Take Vietnam. Once synonymous with war and poverty, it is now a critical node in the global supply chain, attracting tech giants and boasting high-speed growth. Or consider Bangladesh, home to one of the world’s most competitive garment industries and a rapidly digitizing economy. Ethiopia, once symbolic of famine, was—before recent political instability—growing faster than almost any country in the world.

The result? A tectonic expansion of the global middle class, much of it concentrated in the South. Billions have been lifted out of poverty, and millions now participate in global trade, mobile banking, and online education. The old narrative of the “Third World” no longer holds.

China Was Just the Beginning

China’s rise—lifting 800 million people out of poverty and becoming the world’s second-largest economy—was historic. But what’s equally historic is that China was not alone.

India, with its IT revolution and digital public infrastructure, is now shaping the future of financial inclusion, digital identity, and public services. Indonesia has become Southeast Asia’s tech powerhouse. Brazil’s agri-tech sector is world-class. Even small economies like Rwanda are earning reputations for innovation and governance reform.

We are witnessing a “China-sized” transformation happening simultaneously in multiple regions, though in different forms. Some are driven by manufacturing, others by services, mobile technology, or even green energy. But the trajectory is clear: economic acceleration is no longer the privilege of the West or the East Asian Tigers alone.

Leapfrogging the Old World

Perhaps most striking is how the Global South is bypassing legacy systems entirely. In parts of Africa, mobile money outpaces traditional banking. In India, digital payments are more widespread than in many Western countries. Education, healthcare, and government services are being reimagined through frugal innovation and mobile-first platforms.

This isn’t about playing catch-up. It’s about leapfrogging—skipping industrial-age infrastructure and jumping straight into the digital and post-digital age.

The New Center of Gravity

The implications are enormous. The Global South is no longer the periphery—it’s fast becoming the center. It’s where the consumers, workers, and innovators of the 21st century are emerging. It’s where the next unicorns will rise and where global growth will be concentrated for the foreseeable future.

Geopolitically, this rebalancing of economic power is already influencing trade patterns, diplomatic alignments, and multilateral institutions. The South is no longer begging for aid—it is demanding investment, partnership, and respect.

Conclusion: The World Has Changed—Have We Noticed?

The world we live in today is not the world of the Cold War era, nor even the post-9/11 world of the 2000s. It is a world shaped by the rise of the Rest. The "Third World" no longer exists—what exists is a vibrant, diverse, and upwardly mobile Global South.

It’s time we retire outdated mental maps and recognize the reality: the future is being built everywhere. And more often than not, it’s being built in places that were once ignored. The question is not whether the Global South will rise. It already has. The question is whether the world is ready to accept and adapt to this new reality.

One quarter of all startups with billion-dollar valuations have a founder who came here on a student visa. If we had eliminated student visas, Elon Musk would never have started Tesla and SpaceX. The gains to the U.S. from welcoming foreign students are immense. pic.twitter.com/B96LdkpOBU

— James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) May 24, 2025

Great. All 3rd worlders can go back to the 3rd world and help make it great.

— Zander (@zanderevropa) May 24, 2025

Then don't block immigration.

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 24, 2025

The Silent Revolution: How the Global South Is Reshaping the World Economy https://t.co/3lZVWXVdZe

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 24, 2025

Please specify what you are referring to. With links if possible.

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 24, 2025

Something extraordinary is happening in Eastern Europe: Poland is on track to overtake Japan in GDP per capita by 2026.

Here's the full story of how Poland emerged from Soviet communism as one of Europe's poorest nations to now surpassing the world's former economic powerhouse. pic.twitter.com/kuzJbIM9Fm

— Ask Perplexity (@AskPerplexity) May 24, 2025

Trump's assault on foreign students at Harvard is truly depraved. It harms thousands of the smartest people in the country for no reason, & it's based on the error of thinking they're behind campus "riots" (a cable news host said this to me last night). In fact disruptive…

— Steven Pinker (@sapinker) May 24, 2025

Some friends in IT fear AI and want to reskill by taking a 2 lakh rupee AI course.

It's funny that they're willing to spend so much on a certificate but not $20 for a ChatGPT subscription to explore LLMs.

— Dharmesh Ba (@dharmeshba) May 24, 2025

Neither Aid Nor Trade: The Hidden Cost of the US-China Trade War on the World’s Poorest

Tariffs Could Wreck What Bangladesh’s Garment Workers Have Gained In Bangladesh, the factories that make clothing for export had remade themselves and raised national incomes along the way. They never bargained for a trade war. ......... a month ago, as a new government was still working to steady Bangladesh’s economy, came the devastating news that the United States was placing a new 37 percent charge on the country’s goods. Bangladesh relies on revenue from its exports to buy fuel, food and other essentials. ........ Bangladesh, a country of 170 million people crammed onto a delta the size of Wisconsin, was derided as an economic lost cause after its violent birth in the 1970s. It has grown steadfastly since the 1980s on the back of its garment industry. Bangladeshi workers, and women in particular, made the country a seamstress to the world. In the process, the average Bangladeshi has become better off than the average citizen of even India, the giant country next door. .........

A tariff like the one Mr. Trump has planned, along with side effects like the 145 percent tariff that he applied to Chinese goods, would break the very engine of Bangladeshi growth.

....... Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, an economist at the University of Dhaka, was less deferential. He called the tariff threat “an ugly display of power.” It came just as the country, after decades of enviable growth, was facing a recession and vulnerable, he said. ......... A currency crisis in 2024 weakened the government of Sheikh Hasina, who had come to rule with an iron grip over 15 years. Her ouster caused an immediate security vacuum. Nine months later, Bangladesh has yet to come up with a plan to restore its democracy. ......... Nearly 85 percent of Bangladesh’s exported goods are garments, and more ship to the United States than to any other country. Even if Mr. Trump does not bring back the 37 percent tariff when his self-defined grace period ends in July, Bangladesh will face the 10 percent tariff that he levied on virtually the entire world. .......... Even 10 percent is hard to swallow in a low-margin business like the clothing trade. Competition is fierce from China, the only country that exports more, as well as from India, Vietnam, Cambodia and Sri Lanka. ............ Bangladesh’s political upheaval was viewed as a sign of hope by Western proponents of liberal democracy. India was annoyed at the demise of an alliance it had built with Ms. Hasina. But the administration of former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. welcomed Mr. Yunus. ........... Bangladesh is home to 230 garment factories certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, a U.S.-led protocol of best practices policed by inspectors who make periodic visits. That is more than any other country in the world. ........ Signage around the factory floors is in English first, not the local Bangla. Like other Bangladeshi factories, 4A Yarn Dyeing is used to the prying eyes of foreign inspectors. .......... “The whole economy of this country depends on this sector,” said Mohammad Monower Hossain, the company’s head of sustainability. The people’s movement that overthrew Ms. Hasina understands this, too.

As a country, he said, “we have only our labor.”

Neither Aid Nor Trade: The Hidden Cost of the US-China Trade War on the World’s Poorest

In recent decades, the rallying cry for economic progress in the Global South was "Trade, not aid." The idea was simple: developing nations didn’t want charity—they wanted access. Access to markets. Access to opportunity. Access to growth through exports. Trade, it was argued, would provide jobs, build infrastructure, reduce poverty, and accelerate development far more effectively than foreign aid ever could.

But today, under a fractured global order and escalating geopolitical tensions, even that lifeline is slipping away.

The Trump administration signaled a profound shift in U.S. policy. It didn’t just gut foreign aid; it froze the very mechanisms of multilateral trade that allowed poorer countries to plug into the global economy. By launching a trade war against China, Washington wasn’t just targeting Beijing. The ripple effects have devastated smaller, export-driven economies across Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America—countries that had built fragile but growing industries supplying intermediate goods to Chinese factories or final products to American retailers.

Textiles aren’t coming back to America. That ship has sailed. The cost of labor, compliance, and infrastructure makes large-scale reshoring of low-margin manufacturing economically unviable. So while U.S. tariffs hurt Chinese exporters, they also destroy the supply chains that connect Bangladesh’s garment workers, Ethiopia’s leather producers, and Vietnam’s electronics assemblers to the world economy.

In effect, we are witnessing a "neither aid nor trade" policy for the world’s poorest. With development assistance slashed and global markets closing, many of these nations are left in a limbo. Their domestic markets are too small for internal growth. Their populations are young, ambitious, and increasingly desperate. And yet, the doors of opportunity are quietly closing in both the West and the East.

This is not just a humanitarian crisis in the making—it’s a geopolitical powder keg. Economic desperation breeds instability. Migration surges. Authoritarianism finds new footholds. And trust in global cooperation erodes even further.

If the world is to rebuild a resilient post-pandemic, post-trade-war economic architecture, it must center the needs of the poorest. Not as an afterthought, not as passive recipients of trickle-down growth, but as essential partners in creating a more just and sustainable global economy.

Any new trade framework must include preferential access, investment in green infrastructure, capacity building, and a digital leapfrog strategy for developing nations. The WTO must be reformed to empower the weakest, not just the wealthiest. Trade finance, logistics, and climate adaptation funding must flow to those who need it most. And aid—strategic, well-targeted aid—must return, not as charity, but as global investment in shared stability and prosperity.

Because without trade or aid, the world’s poorest are not just being forgotten—they are being abandoned. And history has shown, again and again, that such abandonment never ends well. Not for them. Not for us. Not for the world.