by the meltingpot: The 4th of June--patterns and memories

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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.

Thursday, June 04, 2015

The 4th of June--patterns and memories

When more than 40 Burmese army were killed,the result was border tension between China and Burma.

Now,China started a live ammunition military drill near Burmese border(rmeinding us that the border is still tense) and then,suddenly,17 Indian armymen were killed and more 16 injured in an ambush in Chandel district.

I'm more interested in the emerging pattern than the comparative statement of the casualities of the two attacks.

The pattern does not stop here.

When the Burmese soldiers were killed,Mr Rajnath Singh was in Imphal on an official visit.

When the Indian soldiers were killed today,Mr Ashton Carter,the US defence secretary,is still in New Delhi on an official visit.

Looking back,it's clear that it takes 130 days to discern the pattern emerging out of the two ambushes.The pattern makers in the first ambush are Burmese army,ethnic Chinese and one Indian Dignitary,Mr Rajnath Singh.And,today's pattern makers are Indian army,Chinese army(in the form of live ammunittion drill) and one US dignitaty,Mr Ashton Carter.

In our scheme of things,the first two pattern makers of the ambushes may be considered to be the constants.So,the two variables are Mr Rajnath Singh and Mr Ashton Carter.If we look back,it would be clear that Mr Rajnath Singh brought the news of the ambush here at Imphal.Looking at today's ambush with the same logic but traversing in the opposite direction,could it be inferred that Mr Carter is being asked to bring further 'patterns' in the near future?

Would Mr Carter accept the challenge?

The last but not the least.I would be acused of being wifully overlooking the significance of the day the Mnipur ambush ttok place.Today is 4th of June which coomemorates the culmination of the students protest in Tiannemain Square.Is there any pattern out of the Tiannemian Square bloodshed and today's ambush?

This is a profound question and I have not the time to read up further into the Tiannemian Square students protest.So,I'll try my best by depending on my memories.

Was Hua Gua Feng accused of being a revisionist?Was the huge blood shed at the Tiannemian Square a result of steady creeping in of revisionist thoughts within the revolutionary cadres of China?

As far as my memories go,the word 'revisionsm' seems to be the main theme of the 4th of June blood shed in the Tiannemian Squeare.Gooing with this logic,does today's ambush trying to hint at the emegence of revisionist thought amongst the revolutionay cadres of Manipur?

I have no means of answering this question because I can only utilize the information culled from the newsreports.Would Manipur's newspapers ever talk about the terms like 'revisionsm?

Knowing my own limitatioms,I think I have tried my best.

by the meltingpot

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