“A ‘world order which is still very, very deeply Western,’ … is being hurried out of existence by the impact of the war in Ukraine, to be replaced by a world of ‘multi-alignment’ where countries will choose their own ‘particular policies and preferences and interests.'” Roger Cohen with a really informative piece in the NYT (Gift Article): Russia’s War Could Make It India’s World. “The Ukraine war, which has provoked moral outrage in the West over Russian atrocities, has caused a different anger elsewhere, one focused on a skewed and outdated global distribution of power. As Western sanctions against Russia have driven up energy, food and fertilizer costs, causing acute economic difficulties in poorer countries, resentment of the United States and Europe has stirred in Asia and Africa.”

+ “In many ways, Vehant embodies the new India. He’s the first in his family to be born in a hospital. His parents married for love — a rarity in a country where matchmaking is a tradition. And their young family — now settled on the fast-growing edge of India’s biggest city, Mumbai — is the product of a massive wave of migration out of India’s countryside.” He also may have been the baby that pushed India past China as the world’s most populous country.