by the meltingpot: Throwing lights on the jigsaw

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Indeed, what is at work in the recent return of realism is the revenge of geography in the most old-fashioned sense. In the 18th and 19th centuries, before the arrival of political science as an academic specialty, geography was an honored, if not always formalized, discipline in which politics, culture, and economics were often conceived of in reference to the relief map. Thus, in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, mountains and the men who grow out of them were the first order of reality; ideas, however uplifting, were only the second.
And yet, to embrace geography is not to accept it as an implacable force against which humankind is powerless. Rather, it serves to qualify human freedom and choice with a modest acceptance of fate. This is all the more important today, because rather than eliminating the relevance of geography, globalization is reinforcing it. Mass communications and economic integration are weakening many states, exposing a Hobbesian world of small, fractious regions. Within them, local, ethnic, and religious sources of identity are reasserting themselves, and because they are anchored to specific terrains, they are best explained by reference to geography. Like the faults that determine earthquakes, the political future will be defined by conflict and instability with a similar geographic logic. The upheaval spawned by the ongoing economic crisis is increasing the relevance of geography even further, by weakening social orders and other creations of humankind, leaving the natural frontiers of the globe as the only restraint.
So we, too, need to return to the map, and particularly to what I call the “shatter zones” of Eurasia. We need to reclaim those thinkers who knew the landscape best. And we need to update their theories for the revenge of geography in our time.
Here is the link for the whole write up.

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My view is that relations between countries in the coming decades are most likely to reflect their cultural commitments, their cultural ties and antagonism with other countries rather than other factors. Quite obviously, power will continue to play a central role in global politics, as it always does. But usually there is something else behind conflicts. In the 18th century in Europe, the issues to a large extent involved questions of monarchy versus the emerging republican movements, first in America and then in France. In the 19th century, it involved states identifying themselves through nationalism. In the 20th century, ideology came to the fore, largely, but not exclusively, as a result of the Russian Revolution. We had fascism, communism and liberal democracy competing with each other. Well, that’s pretty much over. Liberal democracy has come to be accepted, in theory at least, around the world, if not always in practice. So the question really is what will be the central focus of global politics in the coming decades? My argument remains that cultural identities, antagonisms and affiliations will not only play a role, but play a major role in relations between states. The full interview is here.

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Every citizen in the City of Richardson will be able to access 756 Kbps of internet connectivity for free, from anywhere in the city. They will be able to access the internet from their homes, schools, restaurants and parks using standard wi-fi connections which are now installed on almost every notebook computer. That is almost as fast as many so-called high speed broadband connections that one pays dearly for today, and several times faster than the various hotspots at your local coffee shops. And I should note that the tax-payers of the City of Richardson are not paying one penny for this, and in fact are going to see additional revenues as a benefit. ... At the beginning of this letter, I suggested that this would be one of the fastest worldwide rollouts of a technology ever seen. It was just 20 years ago that the first cellular systems were being built. The rollout for mesh wireless systems is going to make that look slow. There are several reasons I make this assertion. But they all center on the facts that installing mesh systems will be cheaper and easier than any previous system and the economics in both the developed and especially the developing world will be so radically compelling. Throw in the fact the any astute politician will want to be at the front of this parade (They will all want to say, "I was the man who helped bring free internet to everyone!") and the groundwork is laid for rapid deployment. In Richardson and elsewhere, MeshLinx is offering the basic infrastructure for free. This avoids all the time consuming, political budget battles in the cities. When a service is offered for free, much of the mandated competitive process is eliminated. Next is the low cost of installation of the system. As noted above, Richardson is a city of roughly 100,000 people living in 27.4 square miles. It will "only" cost about $2,000,000 today to lay the wireless blanket I mentioned above. It will cost a great deal less in the future, as MeshLinx is building the pods at a pace of 100 a month today. The maximum output of the US pilot assembly line is 500 a month. When the demand exceeds this (and it will in a very short time) discussions have been held to move volume production to China. Of course, the world will need tens of millions of pods. The cost for a pod will be a fraction of today's cost, with that installation number for a city like Richardson soon being half (or less) the cost of today. What does that $1 or 2 million get you? The infrastructure to be an internet connection, telephone, security, entertainment provider and a whole lot more company. As noted, it will get cheaper as the number of pods being made each month rises, thus lowering their costs dramatically. This technology does have scale. The cost of physically putting up a pod is not a large part of the equation, as you simply need to run a power line, attach a few bolts to a mount on the side of a building or light pole and then off to the next point. Think about the 40,000 homes and businesses in Richardson. If and (hopefully) over time when 10% decide to pay $50 a month for 10-20 Mbps high speed internet access you could see a revenue of $2.5 million a year just from internet access. Now add in all the other income possibilities (phone, entertainment, security and don't forget advertising revenue on the free service!). Think about your town or country. What would service like this be worth? If you are a small city that does not have high speed connections available, how many businesses that could bring jobs do not come your way because they need reliable communications for their work and their employees? If you are in a developing country, where internet access is difficult and expensive, it will open whole new vistas. Couple that with the various programs which want to give cheap laptops to kids in poor countries, and you could see significant social progress in a generation. Here is the link.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Throwing lights on the jigsaw

I’m not certain what prompted it but the story of Isaac Hmar’s killing had begun to surface again in the media.

First I read a touching piece by Isaac’s sister, Ms Linda Mawii. She was writing from France and I read that in the Imphal Free Press.

What’s most touching is to hear that Isaac was planning to marry this November. So, Linda was shopping for the formal dress for her two daughters for the wedding. After buying the dresses, she returned home, only to be slapped with the news of her brother’s untimely dead.

Sometimes, life is so cruel.

You know, I had had no opportunity for knowing Isaac on a personal level. But I kept reading his articles in newspapers and online forums. So much so that he came to me as quite a familiar man.

Yesterday’s editions of both the Sa-ngai Express and the Imphal Free Press carried a letter from a gentleman named James Toulor, Haflong, North Cachar Hills, Assam. His letter has added yet another dimension to the jigsaw puzzle that Isaac’s killing was.

First, this disclaimer is called for. The writer of the letter is a completely unknown quantity and so, the best we can put to use his letter should be to treat it as yet another narrative that may (just may) throw light to, the killing of Isaac, in particular and, the present day conditions of the Hmar as a community, in general.

The letter tells us that:

>> Bairabi is crucial. It is in the North West Mizoram, bordering Cachar district of Assam and it is from this area that Isaac was planning to get supply of bamboos for his company, Zoram Carbon.

>>Zoram Carbon was planned with the logistic and financial support from his broher-in-law (Linda’s husband, a French national). On that fateful day, Isaac had scheduled to meet the officials of CP Consultant Ltd, Delhi as a first step towards the incorporation of the company.

>> Bairabi is crucial because Hindustan Paper Mills, located in Silchar, depends on the supply of bamboos from it. The Mill depends on many contractors for the supply of bamboos to reach its factory. All these contractors are rich and powerful Mizos of Mizoram. Naturally, those people do not want to share the bamboo crop of Bairabi with Isaac’s soon-to-be established company.

But the most intriguing thing that comes out of the letter is the following:

>> Any trifle (let alone the killing of a man) which have the slightest possible involvement of either Hmar Peoples’ Conventin (HPC) or HPC-democratic would attract the whole might of Mizoram Police and its intelligence apparatus. That’s not happening.

As an aside he also mentioned that Hmar have been clamouring for a Hmar Autonomous District in Northern Mizoram,with HPC going all the length to take up arms against the Mizoram Government. Their struggle started from 1987 and it’s still continuing.

So, the people of Mizoram do not like HPC in particular and Hmars, in general. In other words, the Hmar don’t feel fulfilled with the creation of State of Mizoram which is supposed to be the culmination of the aspiration of the Kuki-Mizo-Chin people, of which Hmars is thought to be a constituent.

Nearer home, the Hmars do not get fulfilled living as a part of the State of Manipur.

In such a situation, the Hmar leadership will surely feel that their salvation lies in New Delhi.

Seen in this light, it is not surprising that the Hmars have gone head over heel to please the ruling class of Delhi by helping the military in its counter insurgency drive against the rebels of Manipur who are entrenched in Tipaimukh area.

Tipaimukh which happens to have constituents like Parbung, Lungthulien etc, is the area having the main concentration of Hmar and, of course, is the only fairly contiguous piece of geography, which one day might be instrumental in fulfilling their dream of getting a self-admistered entity, like a union territory.

In seeing what’s happening in and around Parbung and Lungthulien, we can easily deduct that they are not particularly anti-anybody. Rather, they are chasing a dream, albeit with not-so-fair means.

by the meltingpot

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