by the meltingpot: Tiger in plain sight(with an apology to Tehelka)

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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.

Now at 2nd place

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.

This is the 3rd

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.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Tiger in plain sight(with an apology to Tehelka)

We grew up amidst the heady cocktail of oral history or myths or
futurology or name it what you like it to be.

Consider this one story:

'In some futures to come, there will be one big day when a tiger, in
broad daylight and in the middle of the Keithel, will devour a pregnant
woman and then,such and such scenario would follow'.

In our childhood,we were mostly mesmerized by the stark imageries
thrown up by the story. In broad daylight! A tiger devouring a pregnant
woman!!

We did not give particular attention to the description of the scenario
that would follow the event. Normally,such stories describe the coming
event and the other half, the scenario that would follow the event.

Now, I cannot recollect the other part of the story describing the
scenario.

The edition of Poknapham dated 12th of August had a letter to the
editor mentioning the above story. Without reading the Pokanpham
letter, I might not have find another trigger to remember the story as
we had in our childhood.

As we have come this far,it's natural to be extremely curious about the
other part--the scenario thing. The Pokanpham letter mentioned the
scenario as:'the authentic clues would come up' and 'the true picture
would emerge.

I'm not sure if this is the scenario that we had heard in our
childhood.

But the line-'the true picture would emerge'-is extremely intriguing.

Of course, I have a theory!!

It's a foregone conclusion that Tehelka has neither the will nor the
resouce to get the phtographas and accompanying story by itself. So?
Well,let's put in a negative sense. If it were not something to do with
the rebel groups,there would already be claims staking laurels for
facilitating the Tehelka group to carry the story and the photos.

So the facilitator comes from the eco-system of the rebels.Let's call
the rebel group throwing up the facilitator as 'x'.

Now, there was a tumult here following the publishing of the
photographs. It's not hard to imagine all of the active cadres of the
bountiful rebel groups were all participants as the agitators in the
streets.

Here, one extremely significant development comes up. All of the cadres
who are not of the group 'x'would have participated in the agitations
with the deep feelings in their hearts that their groups' leaders were
not capable of producing the Tehelka feat. 'X' group is giving the lead
and they are following--they would have surely conscious of this fact.

Now, consider the public's likely impression. Around 23rd of July, the
group 'x' got hold of the photos and they managed to plug any leak of
the existence of them,even when the State Assembly was in session.
Now, the photos reached Delhi and the Parliament was also in session.
Here again, they managed to persuade Tehelka to carry the story and the
photos,still plugging any leak. Delhi's ruling would be very hungry for
such a leak!

Manipur State Assembly's session ended with the end of July. Still no
leaks. The Chief Minister was to lead the state delegation to meet the
officials of the Planning commission on the 2nd August. The news of the
photos was carried by the cable news in the evening of 1st of August,
thus giving the Chief Minister only the night of 1st August to react to
the development. Only when he reahed Delhi did he relaized the gravity
of the situation.

It's the masterstroke of a strategic execution.

The public is impressed by this masterstroke. And, the rebel cadres
have to admit to themselves that they are following group 'x'.

Then,isn't it the case the group 'x' getting the mandate from the
public?

So, the scenario line should run like this--'the true picture(of the
public giving the mandate to the group 'x' and all the other groups
following the lead the group 'x') would emerge'.

This theory of mine is amazing. Isn't it?

by the meltingpot

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Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd