by the meltingpot: Boris Nemtsov,Burmese students and flight MH 370(updated)

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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.

Saturday, March 07, 2015

Boris Nemtsov,Burmese students and flight MH 370(updated)

As we were reading the news of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov,it was clearly a news born out of Russia's internal dynamics.But within days of the assassination,the uncharacteristically defiant students protest suddenly surfaced in Burma.

The juxtaposition of the two apparently unrelated events is making my mind racing,itching to find out more and,if possible,to connect the dots.

Adding fuels to my already pumped up mind is the fact that we are only two hours away from the first anniversary of the fateful take off of the Malaysian airlines MH 370.Eight and half hours from now,the pilot would cooly switch off all communication devices onboard the plane.

So,was Boris Nemtsov assassinated because of another Malaysia airlines flight,MH17?

So far,nobody is saying that downing of MH17 is,in any way, related with MH370.But we know that MH17 was hit by a missile over an area held by Russian rebels.So,are some agencies trying to link up the two airplanes by assassinating Boris Nemtsov?

By the same logic,the same agencies are trying to link up the two Malaysia airline flights,MH 370 And MH17,with Burma.

WHY?

I know it's becoming rather too bizarre.So,I hasten to clarify that I'm not doing logical deductions.Rather it's the case of what writers of spy thrillers call the 'gazing at the mosaic' of apparently unrelated information,data.Viewed from this angle the assassination of Boris Nemtsov,Burmese students protest,flights MH 370 and Mh17,at the least,form such a mosaic.

Right at the moment,we are witnessing the curfew clamped on a town,following the bizzarest of a mob fury.We must not fail to note that the town houses the headquarters of the 3rd Corp of Indian Army.

Does this latest event also form the part of our mosaic?

UPDATE
09-03-15(6 pm)

The beauty of tirelessly putting in apparently unrelated information,data in a mosaic is that,with some luck,we might see some patterns developed in it.

In our mosaic let's put in this piece of easily overlooked information.The part of the reason why it's so easily overlooked is that it's so near us--so near,in fact,that we almost fail to notice it.

Here is the information in the form of a question.

Why was the current session of Manipur Legislative Assembly set to reconvene on 13th and 16th of March,skipping as many as four working days?

Before answering this(meaning before properly starting to insert it in the mosaic) it would be proper to see what they are trying to achieve on this two working days.They are trying to protect the indigenous people Manipur by an act of law under the constitution of India.To achieve this they would try to regulate the free movement and settlement of Indian citizens in the state of Manipur.In a sense,it's like testing the 'elasticity' of the constitution of India.It's really interesting here to note that New Delhi has already demonstrated that they can make it as 'elastic' as the 'accommodation'' given to the likes of Mr Masarat Alam.Seen in this light,the whole Masarat Alam episode might have been wholly stage-managed.In other words,it's another way of saying that Indian Constitution is so in-exhaustively full of carrots.

They are going to dangle the carrots on the 13th and 16th.

They are also trying to say that if the carrots are not accepted, there are also sticks as well(as explained below by way of answering our question).

Now is the right moment to answer our question and thus start inserting the information in our mosaic.

The reason why the Assembly session was reconvened on the 13th March is that Mr Narendra Modi,the prime minister of India would be in Sri Lanka on this particular day on the last leg of his three nation official visit.

Doesn't the name Sri Lanka instantly remind us the most effective 'stick' administered to an insurgent group in recent history?

Besides this, the Indian prime minister has this irresistible glee to show off his most recent 'victory' over China--how he so subtly snatched Sri Lanka away from the 'clutch' of China.What better option is there than to show off his 'trophy' by administering an equally effective stick to the rebels of Manipur,widely believed to be supported by China.

So,besides the carrots being dangled in the floor of the state Assembly,the 13th of March 2015 might be the day on which we are most likely to witness the sticks of the 'nazi' Indian state.(Or,is it the 10th March,the day the Indian prime minister starts his three nations tour?The 10th March '15 is the 56th anniversary day of Tibetan uprising way back in 1959.So, which one is the decoy date--10th or 13th?)

This must be reason why we are seeing the assassination of Boris Nemtsov linking flights MH370 and MH 17 which,then,points towards Burma.And when we talk of Burma we instantly remember Manipuri rebels.

by the meltingpot

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