(Bloomberg) – India has surged to become the second-biggest supplier of restricted critical technologies to Russia, US and European officials said, highlighting the challenge in efforts to choke off exports fueling President Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

Indian exports of restricted items such as microchips, circuits and machine tools surpassed $60 million in both April and May, about double from earlier months this year, and leaped to $95 million in July, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified discussing private assessments. India is exceeded only by China.

Even more frustrating to Ukraine’s allies, some of them said, is that envoys who raise the issue have received little response from their Indian counterparts. India’s Ministry of External Affairs declined to comment when asked about the trend.

The most recent data means almost a fifth of the sensitive technology that goes into Russia’s military-industrial complex got there via India, the officials said.

  • @kippinitreal
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    14 hours ago

    This is a very insightful comment, thank you. I absolutely agree with most of your points. Though one minor disagreement I’d have: it wasn’t Trump who brought on the waning of US soft power, but US’s failure in Afghanistan/Iraq/Yemen during 2nd Obama term.

    Ultimately the expense in forging the US influence overseas during the Bush era came at the cost of ignoring those back home. Trump capitalized on all that resentment. In fact he still is riding on it. Coinicdentally Its a lesson Modi needs to learn from his recent election result at home too.

    • @[email protected]
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      3 hours ago

      Thanks, and you’re welcome. Glad it was useful.

      Trump is a symptom, not the cause. And while he most likely accelerated aspects of the decline, no, he didn’t trigger it.

      But neither did those wars, they’re just what happens during an empire’s death, pointless wars, death, and violence. An angry dying man’s lashing out if you will.

      Again, symptoms, yes, but not the cause.

      I’ve already written a long enough comment for one day, but there’s plenty of academic writings on the subject if you’re interested.