by the meltingpot: 8 days in the life of an editor--2

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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.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

8 days in the life of an editor--2

After meeting the chairman—it was the evening of the 12th May—we found that the escort party for the following day’s return journey was already there waiting for us. I struck a conversation with a sergeant major of the escort party—‘Your senior (leaders) tell us that the route for the return journey is comparatively better. Do you know something about it?’

Pat came the reply—‘Better indeed! It will be a survival test! Tomorrow’s route will sure break the back of even Tarzan, the lord of jungle!!’

One among us asked him again—‘What about the leeches in the particular route?’

Quickly came forth the fitting reply—‘No problem. There will be no problem about the availability of leeches—we’ll be literally swarmed by them!’

His good repartee charmed us all and made us laugh a lot.

What heir senior leaders termed as the better and less exhaustive route happened to be just that—survival test. You stopped walking just for a moment then the leeches swarmed you. These we found out early in the morning of the return journey. Most of the time there was no road at all—we were traveling inside deep into gorges after gorges.

I still remembered—that’s when first came into contact with on our onward journey—one cadre speaking into his walky talky. He said—‘Sir, 13 bags of rice just arrived. It’s late now. Readying for drive up tomorrow’.

Instant later, we came to know that 13 bags 13 media men—we were code-worded as 13 bags of rice!’

For Rohit Khanna, who is 113 kgs of bulk, their code word was 2 quintals.

Still another cadre talking into his walky talky apparently to their senior officers—‘Sir, there is one 2-qtl bag. Being driven by 4 units’.

2 qtl bag meant Mr Rohit Khanna and 4 units, their 4 cadres attending him.

The cadres are all youngsters—they are undergoing the very hard life of the jungle leaving behind their sweet and comfortable homes—they are undergoing that hardship voluntarily for fighting the Indian Army. Why?—the question makes my head spin. But the answer seems to be so simple—it’s the motivation.

When on the road, just talking casually with them, another sergeant major said—‘We are undergoing all these hardships not monetary gains nor for the betterment of own families. It is for the supreme cause; we are constantly, incessantly moving towards achieving that cause’.

You cannot just enroll as a cadre of the MPA. First, he is to be tested for his good moral character and for the depth of his ideological moorings. If he passes that test, then he will be recruited—the sergeant major told us. But they are in no way involved in recruiting cadres—recruitment is the job of UNLF—they are serving as the army—he further said.

If a young man can pass that formidable initial test, he is given 12 to 18 months military training. He is to be trained in the use of all the modern and sophisticated arms, including artillery and he is to be hardened for the rough jungle life. If he comes out of the training successful, he can now become a private of the MPA.

What about the undisciplined acts committed by the cadres? A cadre told us like this—for some undisciplined acts committed by him, he was ranked down and finally disarmed. He could more or less tolerate the ranking down punishment but when his weapons were taken away from him, an active army, he felt like that was the end of the world. From day onwards, it had been his supreme effort not to get involved in any undisciplined act.

They had reached the place where they thought we were no longer in need of an escort—they were about to turn back into the jungles. At that moment, I felt that I was departing from something intangible—I was so saddened by those mellow feelings of departing something. I had to fight back my tears. I could not find words. I could not find words which measured up to the hardships they had endured when escorting us to and fro and my words—would they ever be able to bond with vibes of those fighting men? I could only managed to awkwardly hug two of them and mutter under my breath—

“ Be careful”.

When backed at home, one particular thought keeps totally engaging me. Why don’t our political leaders yet come to the term with the fact that they are readying for a fight in the jungle NOT because they are unable to find jobs or, the victims of unemployment. NOT because they belong to a disadvantageous section of the society or the victims of the proverbial third world poverty. The cadres we have met have such dedications to a cause and are so suffused with so a high morale but in total denial of these realities, they are being labeled as ‘misguided youths’ or ‘dissatisfied brothers or youths’ by our political leaders. Such labeling or caricaturing leads inevitably to empty slogans—‘come over ground/ come to the table for pursuing dialogues for peace and prosperity of the society’. Why don’t our political leaders come out of the traps of such slogans and instead initiate the formulation of a political approach for moving towards a settlement?

by the meltingpot

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Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd