by the meltingpot: The one and the only correct path.

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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.

Friday, September 11, 2015

The one and the only correct path.

The one and only correct path available to Manipuri society in this crucial juncture is to boycott the visit of the Indo-Naga Peace Talk interlocutor,Mr RN Ravi--totally and equivocally.

Somebody can retort back like this--If some forms of interactions with Mr Ravi brings about the likelihood of the non-disturbance in the political boundary of Manipur,they are highly desirable things to undertake.

This line of deduction belies the inability to understand the metamorphosis wrought upon the soul of the Indo-Naga Peace Talk on the 3rd of August 2015.The Indo-Naga Peace Talk pre-August 3 and post-August 3 are already two and completely different things.It's really a matter of life or death for us to take note of the crucial changes taken place on the 3rd of August 2015.

Let's bulid up our arguments slowly.

Besides Nagaland,there are sizeable Naga populations in Manipur,Arunachal Pradesh and Burma.All of them have been clamouring for a peace accord with New Delhi since last several decades.Their movement for the demand of this peace accord is still a work-in-progress stuff,even though they have not been able to achieve it for such a long time.In such a work-in-progress movement,did anybody notice any remarkable development around the 3rd of August 2015?Any remarkable development in Nagaland?In Manipur?In Arunachal or Burma?

The answer is a big NO.Around 3rd of August 205 or to the run up to it,around the last part of July 2015,the Naga's work-in-progress movement is emphatically quite placid.

But bizarre it might sound,the hurried 'framework agreement' between the Government of India and NSCN(IM) did actually happened in New Delhi,in a ceremony attended by none other the vibrant,Mr Narendra Modi,the prime minister of India.

So,what can we deduct from the above premises?

The hurried 'framework agreement' of the 3rd August 2015 was solely dictated by factors not related with Nagas,Naga Society or Naga's movement.

As if to emphasize the mysterious factors behind the 'framework agreement',New Delhi is still keeping the contents of the agreement totally secret.Even when the Chief Minsiter of Manipur himself went to New Delhi to get some hints about the contents,he had to return empty-handed.Such a level of secrecy.

So,the Indo-Naga Peace Talk has metamorphosed itself into a mysterious entity,securely stationed inside a twilight zone.

Now,let's return to MrRN Ravi's Imphal visit.If we are in mood for some one-liners,it can be something like this--Mr Ravi's sole purpose of Imphal vist is to lead everybody concerned into this twilight zone.

Even a common man would not willingly associate himself with any entity which is mysterious,undefined,less so,he himself be allowed to be led inside a twilight zone,even though,the person who is leading there is being deputed from the place of high and mighty--New Delhi.

Now,let's move away from the common man and see how the political class Of Manipur should react to Mr Ravi's visit.

1)In my humble opinion,the political class of Manipur should not proclaimed itself to the whole world to be unbelievably naive by failing to note that the honourable Mr Ravi had managed to get himself descended on Imphal on the same day the Pakistani Maj Gen,heading the regional border force, arrived in New Delhi for talks with his Indian counterpart.We also should not also fail to note that the meeting materialized after the abandoning of the scheduled NSA level talks of the two countries.This tortured talk is also preceded by the public proclamation of the India's army chief that it should be readying for a short war as the India-Pakistan border has been so frequently becoming live.Sure enough,his Pakistani counterpart retaliated,in a public pronouncement,that they are more than ready for a war with India.To top it all,as the border para-military forces of the two countries were sitting down in New Delhi for official discussion,machine gun firing across their border is continuing abated.

So,what's the point of this meeting in New Delhi?Something stage managed solely for Mr Ravi's Imphal visit?

2)Even if it's stagemanaged,some players have no liking for it.As the Pakistan Maj Gen was crossing the India-Pakistan border by road,Russian troops,all of a sudden,started combat operation in Syria.A combat operation by the Russian troops in the Middle East is a huge development.The war in Syria have already displaced half of 22 millions of its population,which,in part,results in huge influx of migrants to the middle of Europe.The Russian army combat operation there is sure to aggravate the already critical situation there and Europe.

After conidering all the above developments,this blogger humbly put forward his idea that the Indo-Naga Peace Talk has already become a Geo-Political weapon.New Delhi is readying itself to harness this weapon and Mr Ravi's Imphal visit is a part of this process.Anything less than boycotting the visit by Mr Ravi would tantamount to assisting New Delhi in sharpening this weapon.

by the meltingpot

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Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd