by the meltingpot: Now,a naval blockade

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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.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Now,a naval blockade

We have just come to face to face with a naval blockade.The Suadi-led allies have started blockading the ports of Yemen using their combined navies.

I'm not quite certain of this but the last time the world had seen another naval blocakde might be during the Cuban missile crisis,way back in the Sixties.Even reckoning on the interval of the occurence of naval blockading of nations,the present naval blockading of Yemen is a very significant in human history.

More than this,Yemen has already become a very significant symbol for us as well.

With this,we must not forget that both Iran and Russia are under West-enforced blockades because econnic sanctions are just another name for economic blockade.

Sure,just the mention of the words,'economic blockades' makes me flinch.And,I bet I'm not alone in this experience.But,most interestingly,I'm forced to use these words,not because some people in the hills of Manipur announce the programme of 'economic blockade' but because of the developments around the world.So,some parts of today's world have deteriorated to a level as bad as the situation of 'econmic blockade-prone' Manipur.

To make the already moody atmosphere much more worse,India's defence minister is currently in Tokyo,talking,what else,military affairs with the Japanese.Not to be outdone,China inexplicably start talking about its army and battles.

Nearer home,Burma has just completed preparing the draft ceasefire agreement with its myriad ethnic nationalities.Now,they will present the draft agreement to all the nationalities for ratifications.

Now,we are confronted with a very interesting scenario.The scenario in which most of the nationalities more or less willingly sign on the document with the exception of Kachin Independent Army,which is most likley be persuaded(by india and its Western allies) not to ratify the agreement.If this scenario actually comes out true,then we would have a very clear picture of who are on which side of the battleline.

Today also presents us with a cruel deadline.Iran has all the time in the world until this midnight to accede to the demands of the West.Here also,we are again face with two equally cruel scenarios.

1)Iran and Western powers fail to come to an agreement.Anticipating such a scenario,Us has already stationed a squadron of its newest military toy,F-35.Would US start

bombing nuclear facilities of Iran?

2)Iran and Western powers come to an agreement.Just at this moment,would Israel hasten to bomb the nuclear facilities of Iran?

Both the scenarios are actually cruel.The West and it allies are lumbering on a war path.So,we are staring at a war encompassing whole of the Islamic world.With the

protection of the oilfields and its ally in the region,Israel,as its foremost national interst task,the Us (and its allies) would be tied down with a conduct of the

looming war.With US influend out of Asia(howsoever temporary it may be)the battleline nearer home would certainly get red hot.Would Burma's draft ceasefire agreement serve as the proverbial spark?

Is this the kind the situation which we call historic?

But one thing is quite certain--the wait for the deadline would be nerve-wrecking,in the true sense of the term.

UPDATE
10.20 pm

Just heard over the radio that 2 Indian troopers were killed in a rebel attack in Ukhrul district in early morning today.

Incidentally,I was with the radio upto 4 pm listening to the news but no news about the attack.The news only came to us on 7.30 pm news.No traces of the news in any online news aggregator ,even at the time of this update.Surprised!

As the attack happened in Ukhrul district it's almost certain that the attackers were operating out of Burma.And,this morning in Burma there was the completion of the drafting of the ceasefire agreement.

So,this morning attack is meant to challenge the Indian State not to persuade the Kachin Independent Army to ratify the ceasefire agreement!A challenge indeed!!

by the meltingpot

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