by the meltingpot: The status of the battleline--the 'box' and the two announcements

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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.

Sunday, December 07, 2014

The status of the battleline--the 'box' and the two announcements

Something nasty happened inside the 'box'(my next to last post) and we read about it in the Imphal newspapers on the 3rd of Dec.Immediately after reading it, I,in view of the quantumn of the nastiness,had this premonition that it was the beginning of a new phase,a new stage.

We did not wait for long.After just two days we had seen what the new phase was.Mr Hafiz Saeed,in a rally,openly supported by the Govt of Pakistan,announced the beginning of the Jihad to liberate Kashmir.He also openly said war is imminent in the subcontinent.

Showing off the new characteristics of the just begun phase,the Jihad was actually initiated on the same day ie the 5th of Dec,that too,on the soils of Kashmi,in which 11 Indian security personnel were killed.

To shut out the fact the Jihad had already been initiated,the Army Chief cooly travelled to J&K and said they were the attacks on democracy and the poll process currently underway there.The Prime Minister also effortlessly glided to an election rally and said they were the attacks on democracy.They are trying to cast a smokescreen around the just begun Jihad.

Mr Saeed had also shown by actual deeds that people inside the 'box' has not got the stomach for revolution,for war.

The second announcement took place in Bangkok--also on the same day ie the 5th of Dec.

General Gun Maw,the deputy Army Chief of the Kachin Independent Army,announced that they did not trust the Burmese army and openly indicatded that it's the main stumbling block in bringing about a reconcialiation withn the Burmese society.

The General was actually giving interview to Associated Press.Associated Press? Should we forget that one of our own rebel leaders gave an interview to the same news orgnisation in HK some years back?Obviosly,they are in attack mode and in an eye for an eye strategy!

What's so striking about this General's interview is that the text of it is the exact copy of what had been put out as a press release in the Imphal newspapers on the 28th of Nov 2014 by the conglomerate of the Kuki rebel groups.In fact, the General was reading out the gist of that Imphal press release to an AP newsman!

Obviously,both the General and the conglomerate were following the script(pun intended!) prepared by a mutual friend!!

And,today's Imphal newspapers also carry the news of Burmese Army.In a press staement issued by a Kuki student organisation it was stated for public consumption that four people from Churachadpur district were arrested by Burmese army on the 19th of Nov and handed them oveer to the police,which,in turn,detained them under Foreigners Act of the country.

This action of the Burmese army is also the beginning of a new phase.

It's a common knowledge along the Indo-Burma borders that the Kukis,from time immemorial,has had free movements for some kilometers insside territories of the both the coountries.This privilege is sanctified by a century old tribal customory laws,which are also generally accepted by the Burmese Army.Now,all of a sudden,Burmese Army disregarded the more or less accepted customary law along the Indo-Burma boundary and detained and formaly charged under law four Kukis from Churachandpur district.

In itself,it's a very significant development when read together with Gen Gun Maw interview in Bangkok and taking into account the fact that Manipuri rebels camps are located around New Somtal,which is mainly populated by the Kukis.We have already noted that both the Gen and the conglomerate of Kuki rebel groups are following a script prepared by India which shows that India is planning to use the Kukis to bust the Manipuri rebel camps.

It may be a little digression but it should be noted that 19th Nov 2014 is proving to be very significant date.On that day there was the massive protest in the streets of Ferguson,HK student leader was arrested for the first time,there was a huge commotion in front of my house(my next to last post),Kachin Independent Army headquartes at Laiza was attacked by Burmese Army killing 23 fighters,four Kukis from Churachadpur district were arrrested by the Burmese army.

On that day also,this blog talked about the 'box'!!

by the meltingpot

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