Modi crosses the Himalayas

India, China, Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Yemen, Indonesia, and Australia.

A gift from India, Liu Danzhai, 1954, poster, Landsberger Collection, Amsterdam.

Hello,

Here are the five things you need to know today:

• INDIA. CHINA. By bringing two foes together, Trump should claim his Nobel.

• UKRAINE. RUSSIA. To appease Washington, Brussels demurs on Kyiv.

• ISRAEL. YEMEN. The Houthis lose their functionaries, not their leaders.

• INDONESIA. By bowing to the streets, Prabowo can constrain his real opponents.

• AUSTRALIA. Protests go to the heart of a fiscal, not cultural, dilemma.

And don’t forget to connect with me on LinkedIn.

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INDIA. CHINA. Howdy neighbour

By bringing two foes together, Trump should claim his Nobel.

Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi said they were partners, not rivals, Sunday, as India's prime minister visited China. The New York Times said Donald Trump introduced tariffs due to Modi's refusal to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize.

INTELLIGENCE. Trump may feel he saved the world when declaring a truce between India and Pakistan in May, but Delhi, which has always taken pains to have the world see Kashmir as a bilateral issue, was both stunned and annoyed by the intervention. It may never be known what really motivated Trump to subsequently place 50% tariffs on Indian goods, but the impact has been a thawing of ties between India and China. And for that, at least, he deserves credit.

FOR BUSINESS. Closer Sino-Indian relations may seem an own-goal for the US, but if better Sino-US relations are also Trump’s goal, then losing India as a strategic hedge is no real shame. More trade between India and China will less crowd-out US firms than reduce the flood of cheap Chinese goods that can now be sent to Indian consumers. That, at least, is the generous view of a knee-jerk move by Trump that’s upended decades of careful bipartisan policy.

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UKRAINE. RUSSIA. All plans, no attack

To appease Washington, Brussels demurs on Kyiv.

The EU was working on "pretty precise plans" for sending troops to Ukraine should a peace deal occur, Ursula von der Leyen said. Confiscating frozen Russian assets was not "politically realistic", Brussels’ chief diplomat Kaja Kallas said.

INTELLIGENCE. The EU lacks nothing if not plans, but beyond buying US weapons