by the meltingpot: December 2012

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.

Monday, December 31, 2012

Geo-politics,the charade and the blogger

Blogging is all about enthusiasm.

But I hate publishing this post.That's why I'm doing this on 31st Dec--like the last day of the year,this must be the last of such posts.

As a matter of fact,I've been debating with myself whether to write this post or not since the middle of Oct.Because I know anybody who happens to read this post would surely term me as megalomaniac.

The story began on the 15th of Oct 2012.

The strangest news on that day was that they were announcing the near fruitiion of their 15-years running peace talk by ambushing another rebel group at Ashang khullen.Celebrating the coming peace by attacking another armed group? I said to myself--'It's strange'.

Reading further,I again murmured to myself--'It's becoming all the more staranger'.Because the tone was unmistakble--they seemed to be eerily happy with themselves in announcing that they lost one man when those at the receiving ends retaliated.Strange!strange!!

The announcement came from Dimapur.

Then,I moved to my iGoogle tab(I've completely migrated online for my news).Scrolling down,I came to my Gmail inbox.It made me startled--unusual and strange mails there.I read exactly two of them and then,started deleting all mails received on 14th night and 15th morning.

I immediately knew this--

--Some sophististicated minds were trying to read the pattern of this blog's reaction to the strange news vis a vis the reaction of the ambushed rebel group in Ashang Khullen--

In other words,the power that be in New Delhi was trying to ascertain whether it could get a slightest of the clues to the profiles of the players constituting the Manipuri components of the Grand Coalition against Nazism.

That they had to go down all the way to micro-managing their search to the level of such obscure blog of mine points to an intersting thing--The Indian state seems genuinely clueless about the Manipuri society as defined by its history and its geo-political reach,leave alone having a crude profiles of the actual players.

Sitting there in front of my computer,a sense of spookiness overwhelmed me--'Is it really happening to me?'

But still the hardest part of the impact of the whole story upon this blogger unveiled itself after the passage of some 7/8 weeks.For this poor blogger this is still the hardest part but I need to break the silence.

--The announcement by the Home Minsiter,sushil Kumar Shinde that the Naga Issue was nearing solution,most probably by March 2013 which provoked massive euphoria in Naga psyche and equally downbeat mood in the whole of Manmipuri Society WAS ACTUALLY A CHARADE ORCHESTRATED FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF READING THE ABOVE-MENTIONED PATTERNS--

I know this is the sure recipe for people calling me a megalomaniac.

The story this far wraps up drama involving my blog(yeah,this blogger sure is a megalomaniac!) and the Indian state vis a vis Manipuri society as defined by its history and it geo-political reach.Whatever attributes people try to tag with to this blog(like,written by a megalomaniac??),it should be emphasized here that it is purely a personal thing--nothing more,nothing less.Being that so,whatever drama involving it should have been completely benign and harmless.

But New Delhi did lose control of the charade somewhere along the way.

Manipur Chief Minsiter,Mr Okram Ibobi,unaware that all those dramas are simple charade,thought that he was about to be forced to make unacceptable(to Manipuri society) concessions for the coming final Naga solution,played out his last cards.He dodged off coming summons from the big shots in Delhi by sojourning to Australia for full 20 days,which amounts to direct revolt by a provincial satrap.It's to be noted here that it was an unthinkable act by a chief minister in the set up of 'high command'culture of Congress party.Consequent events showed us that the beginning of the sidelining of the Manipur CM was already initiated.

And,it happened not be just a simple and internal affair between the Chief Minister and the Congress party.It's apparent that middle rung cadres of NSCN(IM) did notice Ibobi's revolt and likely schism between between him and the power that be in New Delhi.They correctly read that there would be power vacuum because of this schism,which would make it possible to plan a tragedy like the public molestation of a popular Manipuri film actress in Chandel.Is this the outcome of the fervent imaginations of a fertile and sordid (and megalomaniacal?) mind?But do anybody think the central leadership of Swu and Muivah would stoop that low?I don't think so.Then?

The most likely scenario is the forcing of the agendas of the middle rung cadres on the already desperate leadership of Swu and Muivah.I think that has already taken place.

Again,it was destined not to be a simple and internal affars of NSCN(IM).Unwittingly,this middle rung cadres has been successful in forcing thier agenda on the equally desparate power that be in New Delhi,which,it turns out to be far more clueless about Manipuri society as defined by its history and its geo-political reach.They seemed to be a bit surprise but more importantly,seemed ever ready to be forced upon itself to welcome the unlikely turn of events.They seemed to be excited by the outward facade of this 'sudden turn of events'ie the scenario of valley-hill ethnic clash but they seemed to be completely clueless about its underlying force ie the unprincipled forcing of their agenda by the middle rung cadres.

The cascading effects of the impulsive acts by this middle rung cadres are likely to go far beyond this.They are most likely to make history in the sense that they are breathtakingly nearing to disturb the equalibrium attained in the Imphal valley by the overlap of two great geo-political forces.The current equilibrium is being maintained by the political space occupied by the stakeholders like Ibobi,who happen to have the minimum moral authority to just enable to churn the wheel of the State.These middle rung cadres are in the process of accentuating the complete banishment of the equalibrium-enabling political space defined by the stakeholders like Ibobi.This will lead to enevitable disturbance of the current equilibrium.That,in turn, will result in fresh re-positionings of the two great geo-political forces for fresh seeking of another equilibrium.

It is in this fresh re-positionings that we are likely to see geo-political high dramas in the coming months and years.

by the meltingpot

Now Reading!

Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd