It’s no reflection on your historical knowledge if you haven’t heard of The Great Game, played between Great Britain and Russia, for the prize of India, in the 19th century.

After all, unless the situation had something to do with America, American classrooms ignore it. That’s no crime. America has plenty of its own history, despite what folks from older civilizations say.

Let’s define The Great Game first. The Great Game was a geopolitical contest in which Britain sought to protect India, “the jewel in the crown” of its empire, from Russia. Russia pushed southward toward warm-water access and greater regional influence.

Russia has always sought warm water ports and respect, but has rarely gotten either. That looks like it’s about to change. The Great Game had it all: diplomatic pressure, espionage, and exploratory missions. Luckily, it also had limited military interventions rather than large formal wars between the two powers.

Why would some Joisey Boy know anything about this? And what’s it got to do with today?

London, 1999-2009

My good friend and former compliance officer, N, recommended The Flashman Papers to me for some fascinating reading. Harry Flashman is the bully from Tom Brown’s Schooldays, whom author George Macdonald Fraser plucks out of Schooldays to serve as the “missing man” in all the great Victorian era battles. I can’t recommend reading Flashman enough. Though it’s decadent and debauched, you’ll learn loads of history while trying not to wet your pants laughing hysterically. Fraser was a veteran and a journalist, back in the days when journalists were honorable and sticklers for good history.

My favorite book in the series is Flashman in the Great Game, which fictionalizes the event to hilarious success. 

If deeply researched historical fiction doesn’t work for you, Peter Hopkirk’s The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia is a non-fiction classic covering the same field. His book reads like Fleming’s Bond series, except it’s all true.

These books were an essential part of my informal education in England. And while I’m no expert, I’m an amateur who's well-versed in the subject. As past is prologue, this has given me the ability to call out The Donald when he’s screwed up when it comes to India.

I tell you this because, to the world, if not Americans, the British Empire never died. It merely changed flags and capitals. According to former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, the Brits became the Greeks in America’s new Roman Empire.

Of course, this fits in with the Brits’ fantasy that they were the cultivated, intellectual advisors to the more powerful but thick Americans. If anything, following British advice has been a disaster for the USG, starting with bombing Serbia through aiding the UK and France in tearing Libya apart, to other sordid geopolitical kerfuffles.

But none of that matters when India and China, two of the British Empire’s biggest victims (at least in their minds), think you’re the successor state to the one that wronged you. And pushing them both into a deeper embrace with the Russians? You can’t get dumber than that.

To review where we are in the U.S.-India relationship, let me remind you what I’ve already written.

My Criticisms (This Year)

On July 16, 2025, I explained:

India is playing its own game—balancing between the East and the West. It’s joined U.S. military exercises, but it still participates in BRICS initiatives and buys Russian oil. If we screw this up—and we’re capable of doing just that—we might push India even deeper into the arms of BRICS.

And if that happens? Game over. The bloc becomes the de facto “anti-NATO,” with economic clout to match. Eat your heart out, Warsaw Pact!

On August 5, 2025, I stated:

Trump’s antagonism toward India is a diplomatic own goal with far-reaching risks. It dismantles nascent strategic cooperation forged over the years and risks derailing ambitious trade targets. It threatens global supply chains and U.S. healthcare costs. It betrays principles of sovereign decision-making and makes it easy to accuse the U.S. of hypocrisy. It drags Indian Prime Minister Modi into political jeopardy back home. And it exacerbates geopolitical alignments in which India may feel compelled to hedge more heavily toward U.S. rivals.

On August 21, 2025, I warned:

For years, Washington’s grand strategy rested on one simple premise: India would be America’s democratic counterweight to China in Asia. Big market, growing military, shared mistrust of Beijing — perfect partner material.

Trump just torched that playbook.

Instead of deepening ties, he slapped a 25% tariff on Indian goods, threatening to double it to 50%. Why? Because India buys Russian oil. The White House line is that every Indian barrel bankrolls Putin’s war machine in Ukraine. 

Sounds tough. Looks decisive. But strategically? It’s idiotic. I wrote about how stupid this was on August 5th.

India isn’t going to stop buying Russian crude just because Washington stamps its feet. Oil is the lifeblood of India’s economy, and Modi’s government is answerable to 1.4 billion people, not to the Beltway blob. Domestic energy security comes before American grand strategy every single time.

By punishing New Delhi, Trump risks shoving India straight into Beijing’s arms. And guess what? The thaw has already begun.

I was more right than I ever wanted to be.

"A new voice from an old friend."

Reading the writings of impartial Russia watchers has been of enormous value to me since the War in Ukraine began. One of the best political analysts, Andrew Korybko, wrote up a piece that sent shivers down my spine.

Korybko is a Moscow-based American political analyst specializing in the global systemic transition to multipolarity. Multipolarity means America no longer holds global hegemony.

Korybko’s piece, titled Five Reasons Why RT India Is A Strategic Game-Changer For Russia, should give whiplash to any American political analyst.

It highlights how successful Putin’s trip was. But forget all the talk about contracts and handshakes. The big thing for me is that RT India is now operational, as of December 5, 2025. That means Russia has the ears of 1.4 billion Indians in a way the Brits and Yanks may not have.

It’s important to remember that during the Cold War, India and Russia were allies. Yes, the world’s largest democracy was allied with the Soviet Union. Surprising? It shouldn’t be.

Remember what Hans-Hermann Hoppe once wrote? “Democracy has nothing to do with freedom. Democracy is a soft variant of communism, and rarely in the history of ideas has it been taken for anything else.”

Important. In fact, RT India’s marketing campaign was called "A new voice from an old friend."

RT India will be able to penetrate the national media market, perhaps even breaking the back of their pro-Western outlets.

And one last thing….

The Silver Horse

Check out this post by good friend and silver expert Eric Yeung:

Credit: @KingKong9888

Perhaps we shouldn’t read too much into it. But to my mind, Modi's gift of a silver horse to Putin shows intent. These guys are ready to kill the dollar system and rebuild a new system, BRIC by BRIC. Will silver be the Trojan Horse inserted into the system to destroy the old world order?

Or has silver’s ascent already done the requisite damage? Or will the BRICS continue to bid silver to the moon?

It’s a fair guess they’ll continue until the job’s done.

Wrap Up

The Donald’s India policy has been an unforced catastrophe from Day One. It’s easily his most ridiculous foreign policy error. His second is not making up with Russia. Now he’s got the two of them embracing their old friendship. Next, we’ll see Emperor Pooh Bear join the celebrations.

America doesn’t have a seat at this new table. And if Europe doesn’t get its head out of its rear, it’ll be left in the cold on all sides.

I don’t think there’s a way to fix this. If I’m right, the world is about to set upon an entirely new trajectory than what patriotic Americans voted for in November 2024.