This is a riddle that not more than 0.001% of those with an IQ of 160-and-plus can figure out. The reason is that it requires intricate, in-depth, insightful, intelligent, and possibly insidious knowledge and interpretations about national politics in several nations, diplomacy, geopolitics, transnational crime, military strategy, neoliberalism and crony capitalism, technology, global economics, national finances, culture, traditions, and more. But if you read this diary item, you can be among the rarest of the rare. You can be the one to grasp the puzzle in its entirety, and with its immense enormity.
Let us start with something that is simple, lovable, sweet, cute, family-oriented, and related to intergenerational relationships. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently hosted US Vice President J.D. Vance, and his wife, Usha, and three children at his New Delhi residence, he gave one peacock feather each to the daughter, and two sons. According to videos on social media, Modi explained to the children how the feather was used as a pen in ancient India. Obviously, the kids were more interested in playing with their feathers, rather than the history of writing.
What was interesting, and what got tongues wagging, or fingers tapping, on social media was speculation about why Vance decided to travel with his children. Not that other Prime Ministers, Presidents, or Vice Presidents have not done so in the past. But the rumour mill went hyper on whether there was something special, even secretive, about Vance’s decision. Let us add another layer: Elon Musk, the technopreneur and the closest advisor of the US President Donald Trump, is regularly seen at public places with his kids, one of the 14 daughters and sons – and still counting – on his shoulders.
If you are one of those boring persons, who sees everything in a flat, non-nuanced manner, or takes things at face value, there is a simple explanation. Musk’s philosophy is to produce many children to combat the reducing American population. Recent reports indicate that Trump’s advisor has solicited women on X (formerly Twitter), which he owns, to have kids with him, and allegedly paid other women to keep mum reportedly about illegitimate children he has had with them. The official figure is that Musk has 14 children from multiple partners. But media reports speculate that it is much higher.
Vance is a family person, who loves to spend time with his wife and children. The videos on their visit to Modi’s house show the kids sitting with their dad, and Usha playing with the trio on the plush, large sofa. Thus, it is natural for the Vice President to include his family in official visits. He is only following Master Trump who, in 2020, became the first American President to travel to India with his wife, daughter, and son-in-law. Previously, Bill Clinton came with his daughter, not the wife, and the wife too came with the daughter, not the husband. Others came with their wives, but not the kids.
Let us don the hat of a brilliant theorist. In July 2024, there was an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Trump, before he became the President for the second time, and when he was out of power. The shooter, who too was shot, was plonked on the roof of a nearby building, just like snipers, hitmen, and assassins are when they have a job to do. Trump escaped with an injured ear. The only short-term disability he possibly faced was that although he could blow his trumpet, he could not hear it properly. But do not focus on the music, or trumpet, but on the sniper, and the whizz of the bullets.
In December 2024, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a leading medical insurance company in the US, was shot dead. The investigators found bullet cases with several words inscribed on them – delay, deny, depose. Social media was abuzz with their meanings – how American healthcare insurance was a manipulative trap, and insurers tend to reject claims, rather than pay up. The American society seemed equally divided between those who described the assassin as a messiah, and those who condemned the act.
What is important for you to understand is that the killing sent a signal to several American capitalists, especially technopreneurs, that large sections were unhappy with their acts, or non-action. They were angry, desperate, and frustrated with how the neoliberal system treated them like dirt and threw them away like waste. In essence, it was a signal to Musk, who was vilified, criticized, hero-worshipped, and praised over the past few years for his commissions and omissions, and acts and opinions that were deemed both God-like, moral, and ethical, as well as satanic, devious, and devilish.
What is important for you to understand is that the killing sent a signal to several American capitalists, especially technopreneurs, that large sections were unhappy with their acts, or non-action. They were angry, desperate, and frustrated with how the neoliberal system treated them like dirt and threw them away like waste. In essence, it was a signal to Musk, who was vilified, criticized, hero-worshipped, and praised over the past few years for his commissions and omissions, and acts and opinions that were deemed both God-like, moral, and ethical, as well as satanic, devious, and devilish.
Now for the next chapter in this puzzle. Remember the hitman, Leon (Jean Reno), in the Hollywood flick, The Professional. “No women, no kids. That is the rules,” he tells Mathilda, who asks if he cleans, or kills, anyone and everyone. Among experts, and avid followers of assassins, there is a belief that paid killers have a creed, or code that most follow almost religiously, judiciously, and meticulously. They do not kill innocents, if they can avoid it, or unless they are mad, and they do not harm kids unless the boys and girls are trained killers or mercenaries. Those are the unwritten rules, plain and simple.
If this is true, and social media seems to believe it, what is the best safeguard for an individual, who fears a hit, or an attempt? You got it right. Remain close to a child, especially your own. Indeed, there are comments on Reddit that this is the reason, why Musk roams around with his children on the shoulders. Indeed, there are others that he does it to push his ‘more-children’ agenda, or to anger some of his ex-wives, whom he hates. But if the first assumption is true, can the same be applied to Vice President Vance, especially since his senior administrator, Trump, was shot at less than a year ago?
There can be several reasons for the US administrators, capitalists, and advisors to be fearful of hitmen and assassins. One of the first moves that Trump made this time was to sack people who worked for the CIA. These included those who worked on racial and diversity issues, as well as people posted on foreign lands. Clearly, the US intelligence is miffed with the new crop of US rulers, or rather furious, outraged, and wrathful. These strong emotions will overcome even other intelligence agencies that were either loyal to the CIA, worked with it, or were dependent on the Company.
Remember the hitman, Leon (Jean Reno), in the Hollywood flick, The Professional. “No women, no kids. That is the rules,” he tells Mathilda, who asks if he cleans, or kills, anyone and everyone. Among experts, and avid followers of assassins, there is a belief that paid killers have a creed, or code that most follow almost religiously, judiciously, and meticulously. They do not kill innocents, if they can avoid it, or unless they are mad, and they do not harm kids unless the boys and girls are trained killers or mercenaries. Those are the unwritten rules, plain and simple.
If this is true, and social media seems to believe it, what is the best safeguard for an individual, who fears a hit, or an attempt? You got it right. Remain close to a child, especially your own. Indeed, there are comments on Reddit that this is the reason, why Musk roams around with his children on the shoulders.
Everyone knows that Trump will get out of the Russia-Ukraine war – he has called Russia’s Putin his friend – and American arms supply to Ukraine will dry up. While this will enrage and madden NATO allies, Ukraine, and pacifists, it will infuriate and antagonize the so-called, and the most powerful global partnership, Military-Industrial Complex in the US. The members of this age-old society want to sell more US arms globally, more conveniently if their country is an active participant in the global wars. They were ecstatic during the Cold War, and the War Against Terror. Not now, not any longer.
Even the Chinese, and possibly Putin, want the Russia-Ukraine war to continue. China because it has access to cheap Russian oil and sells war-related equipment. Putin because the war has helped him mobilize large sections of Russians to either voluntarily or forcefully participate in the war, and mute growing critical decibel levels at home. Despite the crisis, challenges, and difficulties, totalitarians love wars, and the associated disruptions, as they divert attention from local, and more relevant and crucial, issues. There are others, like India, who too have a diplomatic stake in the ongoing war.
Even the Chinese, and possibly Putin, want the Russia-Ukraine war to continue. China because it has access to cheap Russian oil and sells war-related equipment. Putin because the war has helped him mobilize large sections of Russians to either voluntarily or forcefully participate in the war, and mute growing critical decibel levels at home. Despite the crisis, challenges, and difficulties, totalitarians love wars, and the associated disruptions, as they divert attention from local, and more relevant and crucial, issues. There are others, like India, who too have a diplomatic stake in the ongoing war.
Alam Srinivas is a business journalist with almost four decades of experience and has written for the Times of India, bbc.com, India Today, Outlook, and San Jose Mercury News. He has written Storms in the Sea Wind, IPL and Inside Story, Women of Vision (Nine Business Leaders in Conversation with Alam Srinivas),Cricket Czars: Two Men Who Changed the Gentleman's Game, The Indian Consumer: One Billion Myths, One Billion Realities . He can be reached at editor@gfilesindia.com
Editor, gfiles
