by the meltingpot: The Burmese 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.

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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.

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.

Monday, November 09, 2015

The Burmese path.

While we were waiting for the D-day,two significant developments took place.

1)US Secretary of Defence,Mr Ashton Carter,openly proclaims that Russia and China are challenging the existing world order.In short,he is publicly acknowledging the battle line.

2)The Government of India,through its agent,Mr RN Ravi,makes everybody concerned understand its official stand that the Nagas has a geniune problem and everybody,especially,the Meeteis,should contribute to help solve the problem.

We can readily accept that the Nagas has a real problem.But,before asking its neighbours for help,the Naga leaders should have a deeper look at the genesis of their problem.Isn't their problem an outcome of the existing world order?What will be the perceptible change in the complexion of their problem in a new world order?

If they ask the above questions,they should not stay bounded withn the contours set by New Delhi,which,by now,has become the ally of the US.They are the important propnents of the saving of architecture of the existing world order.

Now,let's turn our attention to another actor in the whole drama--the Kuki-Chin-Mizo community.

As the leaders of these community are preparing to meet the ministers of the Government of Manipur this afternoon,the Indian Army test-fired Agni-4 missile.The much anticipated beginning of a dialogue process actually becomes the symbol of an act of offence.New Delhi is saying that those Kuki-Chin-Mizo community is their ally and they are making attacking moves by using them.It also turned out that the leaders did not come to start a dialogue process.Instead,they produced a charter of Demand and left.The charter of demand is actually a ultimatum.

What might be the thought of the leaders of the Kuki-Chin-Mizo community on the existing world order?Do they think that they can happily within the existing world order?Don't they like a new world order?

Now,it's just the right moment to make a checklist of the major actors who would work for a new world order.

1)It's definite the Maoists in India would go the new world order.

2)Did they anticipate that the constituent led by Hardik Patel would go for the new world order when they put behind bars in sedition charge?Charging Hardik Patel with sedition is a still a huge surprise.

3)Our own anti-Pakhangba constituent.Would this constituent stick with the existing world order?Won't they like a 'revolution' demolishing this existing world order?

So far,we have listed three actors.We have no time for listing further actors in anticipation of a breathless question--how would these different actors,across different state boundaries, would react to an active battleline?Would some constituents within Manipuri society makes friends with the Nagas because they both love the existing world order despite the fact the Nagas laso want a Nagalim,besides the existing world order?Is there a possibilty that they would make friends with the Kuki-Chin-Mizo community as well?

In asking myself all these question,I am tempted to discuss an important development that happened only a few days back.That development is a symptom of the simmering tussle amonst various constituents within Manipuri society.Why should we postponed discussing it?The reason is that there is still time for all the leaders of these constituents to look towards Burma for their answers.

The two bitterly opposed constituents within the Burmese society come to a working arrangement in anticipation of the coming war of the new world order.The one constituent,led by Aung Sang Suu kyi and the other,by the Burmese army,came to that understanding which led to the historic election yesterday.

I firmly believe that all the leaders of the various contituents within Manipuri society should follow lead provided by Aung Sang Suu Kyi and the Burmese Army.

by the meltingpot

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