by the meltingpot: Is it 'Bengal'?

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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, October 20, 2015

Is it 'Bengal'?

Let's start out with the obvious preface.The Chinese president is being welcomed in London and as the ceremony,befitting a State visit, is reaching its crescendo,NATO has begun the largest military exercise in 13 years in Italy.

Nearer home.they have just annoounced blockade,begining on the day 'Hand In Hand' concludes.(My last post).

The above preface is made up of news headlines of today's newspapers and it is pretty obvious that everybody would be reading them.

But one interesting aspect of the preface which most of the people are most likely to miss out is the significance of the day itself when they started a military exercise and when they announced a blockade--in short,when they announced war.

Today is Durga Puja--the official day from which India's goddess of war is being worshipped.

To be more presice,today is the official day for India's female deity of war.

This last sentence brings me a flashback.Months back,a lady was rescued just inside border into Burma from a mysterious chooper crash.As the newspaper reports go,the lady happened to be from Madhya Pradesh and there was a name mentioned in the reprts but I can't remember it.The last report said the lady was brought to Ukhrul district headquarters and the investigations were going on.Then,mysteriously,all newspaers suddenly stopped reporting on the subject.

But,what on earth,the lady in her early thirties,was doing in the thick jungles inside Burma,bordering Ukhrul? The answer remained shrouded in mystery and conspiracy theories for the last several months.

Today the shroud was opened up and the dots seems to be connecting.The lady,like India's goddess of war,single-handedly battled the supposedly insurmountable jungles of Burma.Even a frail lady can dot it!

Now,let's go a little deeper into the whole drama and try to find out if there is a meessage embedded there.

Durga Puja? Are the two words embody a riddle?

One thing is crystal clear--Durga Puja is the biggest festival for the Bengalis.Are they trying to hint at something connected with Bengal?

Now,let's return to the present day Manipur.Everybody is breathlessly waiting for the coming Indian retaliatory strike in response to Paraolon ambush,in which 18 Indian troopers were killed.Everybody is assuming that the strike will happen a few kilometers within Burma,where there are several camps of Manipuri rebels.As if to whet the appetites of the general public,the district adminsitrations of Chandel and Ukhrul have already placed night restriction along the international borders with Burma.A few days back,news reports said that the Indian Army have also established operational bases in Tusom and other secret places.

But,today only,the Bengal angle comes into play.

Are they recruiting the Bengalis of Arakan,who are being harshly treated by Burma.Besdies that,the Burmese authorities refuse to recognise them as Burmese citizen,even though they have been in Burma for several generations.

Is India forming a strike force comprising of hand-picked and specially-trained Bengalis of Arakanese descent?

Is this strike force already inside Manipur territory,along Ukhrul-Chandel sector of the international border with Burma?

With all these inputs in hand,let's try to build up a plausible scenario.

If the strike force is made up of Arakanese Bengalis,then,they won't attack the camps of the rebel groups,who took part in the Paraolon ambush.To my mind,India's strategy would be setting up an ambush of the Burmese army by their Arakanese Bengali strike force in an area very close to the Manipuri rebels' camps.

If that happens,how would the Burmese army react?Would they attack the Manipuri rebels' camps?

To my mind,we need not answer this question.

The reason is that India is waging long-term war with the Manipuri rebels.They are not interested in some quick casualty figures.

If the Arakanese Bengali strike force ambush the Burmese army,it gives just the right pretext for some of the Manipuri rebels to disband their camps and move out of the area.When they leave the area,they would unwittingly begin a new chapter in Manipuri rebels history.The present geo-political array of deployment of forces demand that they would be forced to look for someone other than Khaplang as their ally inside Burma.Who will they ally with?That's the besides the point.What's most important is that the moment will mark a turning point--Manipuri rebels splitting into two major groupings,one alligning with Khaplang and other,with some force not seen yet.

I strongly suspect that the force which we are not able to see at the present moment would be propped up by the whole might of India.

If this scenario comes true,where India succeeds in splitting the Manipuri rebels into two warring groups,then it would be an auspiciuous beginning(like a puja day) for India to start its journey of waging a long-term war with the rebellions in Manipur.

by the meltingpot

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