by the meltingpot: November 2009

Now Reading!

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, November 27, 2009

It's the July 23rd killings

I'll start with a lot of questions.

Is it a mere coincidence that MHA summoned the Manipur Chief Minister around the 20th of this month and made him stay there until around 24th?

Is it also another coincidence that the Prime Minister was in Washington around the 24th of this month to announce publicly his perplexity at the recent 'assertiveness' by China?

24th of this month is the birthday of Manipur's oldest rebel group.

I still have this feeling that everybody expected that China would formalize its 'interference' in India's 'internal security' by giving its support to the rebel group on its 45th birthday.

But that didn't happen.

That it didn't happen leaves us with only one stream of reasoning to make sense of the recent 'assertiveness' by China.

In my mind, the July 23rd Khwairamband Keithel killing is the provocation that lead to the 'assertiveness' by China which was mostly likley facilitated by inputs from the rebels here in Manipur.

We can see how I arrive at the above conclusion from 2 perspectives.

1) New Delhi itself is making a tactical retreat when it asked the Chief Minister to talk with the agitationists. They not only demanded the talk with the agitaionists but also struck down the NSA detentions of 10 leaders.

It's a tactical retreat in the sense that they are not now aiming for crushing of the ongoing agitation here.

They are now not aiming to crush the ongoing agitation, which New Delhi perceives to be 'engineered'by the rebels,who are again perceived to be in the periphery of the society--raoming around in remote mountains which are more or less all no man's lands. Now the rebels, by 'engineering'the agitaion,landed right at the centrestage, which is until now, is absolutely not acceptable to New Delhi.

Now, they are accepting the 'unacceptable' meaning that they are sensing that the July 23rd killing is everything to do with the recent 'assertiveness'by China.

2)The rebel group itself, in its birhtday message which was widely published ina ll the papers stated that the July 23rd killings acknowledged all over the world and international support would be forthcoming in due course.

It also mentioned in a very authoritative tone that the Zhan Lue article propounding the breaking up of 'Great Indian Federation'is a true official thinking of the Chinese state.

All these factors make me think that the July 23rd killings is the real cause of the recent 'assertiveness' by China, which was, of course, facilitated by the rebels here.

Friday, November 20, 2009

New Delhi strikes back-II

The ruling class is currently sitting on the process of reviewing/amending the Armed Forces(Special Powers)Act,1959. If anybody starts making noises about the draconian nature of the Act,they would answer that it is being 'in the process'of under active review. But they would keep sitting on the 'process'and make loud noises at appropriate times.This is totally Chanakyan!

I've written down my thought in the post entitled 'New Delhi Strikes Back'.

Just now,they have started yet 'sitting on the process'episode.They now say that they would remove the Chief Minister of Manipur at around 2nd week of December and in the meantime, a 5 member All India Congress Committee would look into it.

Ever heard of an AICC committee looking into the matters of removing a chief minister?

Something sure is afoot.

In the post entitled 'New Delhi Strikes Back',I've already written down that they are deliberately sitting on the 'process'of reviewing the Armed Forces(Special Powers)Act,1959 because they anticipate that China might start expressing concern at the draconian nature of the Act.

As they now start a new episode, it's reasonable to deduct that they start anticipating that China might start expressing concern at the incident that warrants this starting of the new episode.

The incident--the July 23rd police killing and the consequent demand for the removal of the Chief Minsiter.

Would China do that?

This a world-shaking question.

Monday, November 09, 2009

THE RIGHT QUESTION-then and now

Actually,I planned a post to appear on the 1st of this month so that the organizers of the meeting at BOAT on the 2nd by one of the powerful student body might read it and then,cancel the meeting the meeting altogether!But the power supply was shut down most of the daytime fo that day.

In my head,I even gave a name to the planned post:THE RIGHT QUESTION.

The gist of the post would be to say that that student organization failed to ask the right question as dictacted by the 'conntext'we are living with. If they don't start with the right question,there is no possibility to come to the right answer.

So, waht's the right question?

WOULD THE STOPPING OF THE ONGOING CLASS BOYCOTT EFFECTIVELY KILL THE LARGER AGITATION FOR GIVING PUNISHMENT TO THE GUILTY POLICE COMMANDOS AND THE REMOVAL OF THE CHIEF MINISTER?

The uncomfortable answer is YES.

CAN WE AFFORD TO KILL THE PRESENT AGITATION?

The answer is a big NO.

The reason why we cannot afford to discontinue the present agitation is that the July 23 police killing is not handiwork of some wayward policemen.On the contrary,it's the well-rehearsed and well thought-out plan by the Indian State to snub out our spirit to stand on the edge,our spirit to probe the uncertain,our spirit to rebel.

Once that spirit is killed off, we are finsihed as a people,as a society.

In trying to defend the attempted murder of that spirit if we were to lose a full academic year,it's not even a worthy trade off.

Then, the next question crop up.

WHY DON'T WE CONTINUE WITH OTHER FORMS OF AGITATION WHILE STILL KEEPING THE STUDENTS IN THEIR CLASS ROOMS?

In answering this question, we need to study the 'context' we are living with.

1) THE POLITICAL CLASS.

The political classes both in New Delhi and here, in Imphal are betting on the idea that the agitators,in particular and the general populace,in general,would tire down after 30-40 days of active agitation.

They are determined to shield the Police Commandos.

2) WE ARE BOTTLED UP

The Indian State has so assiduosly bottled us up that we are effectively living outside the normal gamut of humanitarian, social and political relations with other societies of the globe. That sinsiter effort has been actively continuing for the last half century.

If we read this with my (1) point,it's becoming quite clear that 'tiring down' popular agitations is an extremely potent tool in the hands of both the ruling classes.

If we consider a hypothetical scenario whereby MK Gandhi himself descended right here and take up the mantle of the agitation, he cannot sustain it for than 30-40 days. We are in such a dire strait.

3) THE INDIAN STATE IS PSYCHOTIC.

The Indian State is psychotic in the sense it not only refuse to ackwoledge the 'histories' of the other smaller societies but also actively strives to 'homogenise' them with the 'mainstream' one as derived from the Vedas and Puranas.

It is blind to the reality of the 'histories' of other smaller societies,just like ours. It's the main reason why the Indain State always sees the hands of the rebels in all the popular agitations here.

The psychosis of the Indian State has so dragged it down to such a low level that the present scenario is like this:

-if the rebels say 'punish the police commandos' we will shield them at any cost.

-if the rebles say 'the CM should resign' we will put him in the chief Minsiterial chair at any cost.

If we consider the above 'context'.it's quite clear that the ongoing class boycott is not only legitimate but also appropriate.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

China has opened a new front.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman accused the Dalai Lama of being wilfully working to hurt the Sino-Indian relationship.

Although the accusation is hardly surprising,it marked the subtle change in tactical approach by the Chinese to the already heated up Sino-Indian relationship.

But what's truly remarkable came the next breath when the same spokesman accused India of wilfully blocking movements of Chinese employees of Chinese corporate entities operating in India.

In my mind,it marks the begining of Chinese efforts to open new fronts in engaging India.

And, what's another front which is accurately anticipated by New Delhi? It's,of course,the Arm Forces(Special Powers)Act,1959(my last post). New Delhi anticipates that china may start expressing concern at the draconain nature of the Act, which is being selectively enforced in NE and JK only.

If that scenario becomes a reality,who is one person who will come to intense international spotlight?

Irom Chnau Sharmila, who is on fast for 9 years now to protest the said Act.

Then, is it only a mere coincidence that one new Civil Society Organization,named Sharmila Kanba Lup sprang up from nowhere and started relay hunger strike for the last 280-290 days?(I can't remeber the exact number of days--but it must be in the region of 300 days).

In trying to answer that question, it becomes quite clear that some very sophisticated group of people here in Imphal have been trying to project Sharmila in anticipation of the Chinese move.

UPDATE

I forgot to mention in the post about what transpired in the national meeting of sleuths in Shillongs some days back.

2 unusual voices came out of the meeting:

1) some top brass of some intelligence agencies expressed their views that Armed Forces(Special Powers)Act,1959 sort of outlived its purpose in Manipur. ( This should be read together with my post titled 'New Delhi Strikes Back')

2)The insurgency in Manipur has become a theatre for foreign interference.

4pm 7th Nov

by the meltingpot

Now Reading!

Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd