Protecting hydrocarbons.

"Donald Trump's sanctions on Russian crude majors may have the effect of India's oil imports from Russia dropping to a four year low in January 2026." "While the 50% tariffs don't seem to have impacted India's imports of Russian crude, the sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil announced in October have forced Indian refiners to look for alternative sources." TOI. "In H1 FY26 (April-September), India's crude imports from Russia declined 14% year-on-year to about $23.1 billion." But, "In October 2025, the US emerged as India's fourth-largest crude supplier, overtaking the UAE, with deliveries of about 647,000 bpd." FE. As one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement (Britannica), we Indians are experts at balancing the superpowers. As a result, "In the first 10 months of 2025, Russian spirits producers shipped approximately 520 tonnes of spirits, including vodka, gin, whiskey, and liqueurs, worth USD 900,000 to India, this is three times higher in weight and four times higher in monetary terms than the same period last year," wrote Vedomosti. The chemical formula of ethyl alcohol or ethanol, which is consumed for celebration, is C2H5OH. wikipedia. We have just substituted one hydrocarbon for another. We do not take orders from the US. Especially after a few. Speaking of shipping, "India will commission the third indigenous nuclear-powered submarine, INS Aridaman, soon, the Navy Chief said." INS Arihant was the first home-made nuclear submarine under the SSBN project. INS Arighat was the second. SSBN stands for 'ship submersible ballistic nuclear'. This Week. In July, "India and the United Kingdom have signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a bilateral free trade agreement marking a major milestone in their long-standing partnership." pib. gov.in. Sadly, the import duty on Scotch will not come down soon. "While import duty will come down from 150% to 75%, it is unlikely to happen until at least the second half of 2035." TOI. To contain their disappointment Indians drank more than 440 million 9-liter cases, a commendable 7% rise in consumption of total beverage alcohol (TBA) during the January-June 2025 period. Within spirits whisky grew 7% to 130 million 9-liter cases, vodka grew 10%, rum 2% and gin 3%. ET. "India and the European Union (EU) reaffirmed their shared ambition to conclude negotiations on the much-awaited free trade by the end of this year." ET. "The EU wants India to lower import duties on cars, wine and spirits to boost trade." India Today. We can look forward to increasing supplies of famous brands and have the submarines to guard them. "All animals are strictly dry, They sinless live and swiftly die. But sinful, ginful, rum-soaked men, Survive for three score years and ten," wrote the late Khushwant Singh. With butter chicken. Bliss.