by the meltingpot: October 2013

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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.

Thursday, October 03, 2013

Wahhabi and Manipur's leadership

This morning we read news of Silent village.

Right now,at night,we read the news of the Union cabinet decision for creation of Telengana.

It's not a coincidence--NSCN(IM) have the prior information about this cabinet decision.This only points to where we are heading--Nagalim.

But we must also read these 2 news together with another news--the inexplicable release of Mr Jaganmohon Reddy from jail.

Between this inexplicable release and foot dragging in the working of group of minsiters(GOM) leading to the votes in the both houses of parliament,New Delhi have still a face-saving retreat route.We have to factor in this scenario also because Nagalim will result in war and the Indian state is still under active preparation for it--it's not yet ready.

The most striking feature of tonight's cabinet decision is its timing--it's quite clear that it's in retaliation of the Wahhabi attacks(incidentally,still in progress in Keran sector of Kashmir)in the run up to the recent National Integration Council(my last post).And it's squarely aimed for consumption by the collective leadership of Manipur's 'revolution'(next to my last post). Would this leadership take the Wahhabi's nurturing of constituents within the mainstream Indian society as contributing to their 'revolution'(my last post)?Or,would they bite the New Delhi's bait of letting them branding the Wahhabi as the absolute untouchable?

To my mind,tonight's cabinet decision is everything to do with finding out these answers.Telengana and Nagalim will be dependent on these answers.

UPDATE
06-10-2013

The just-concluded US Navy SEAL's raid in Somalia targeting the perpetrators of the Kenyan mall carnage again highlights the message that they are the terrorists--they are the absolute untouchables.Coming amidst the overarching domestic problem of the shutting down of the US government,we see the glimpse of the state of urgency with which they are sending out the message--they are the absolute untouchables.(They are,in fact, so in an emergency mode that they don't even bother to save the poor DGP of Manipur looking so pathetically out of place,in forcing him to talk of Al Qaeda!)

Should we,a society of puny 2 something million,be bothered with this message?

To answer this question,we need to focus to that part of the world which is consumed by the epic clash of 2 stories--the story of Arabia vs the story of Israel.Ideally,the powerful nations of the West(particularly the US) should have stood outside of this clash.

But,to the misfortune of the whole world,the American people(together with the whole of the West)have been enchanted with the story of Israel.(So,when we hear the terms like 'asymmetric','terrorist' we should note that they are loaded words coined by enchanted mind).In fact,they are so much enchanted that they are prepared to antagonize a sizable population of the world,popularly known as the Arab world.Again,unfortunately for the whole world,the enchanted West is proving to be so competitive that the adherents of the story of Arabia are being boxed into a such a tight corner that no room is left for them to react,let's say,in a 'non-asymmetric' or 'non-terrorist' way.

This situation have pitchforked the fringe sect like the Wahhabi in the centrestage of World affair today.

Though in the centrestage they are still the fringe element.What significance we have to note in them is that they are symptoms of the massive and bottomless despair of the whole of the adherents of the story of Arabia.Their defeat in competing with the story of Israel is so total and complete that they have no other option than to look for some actors who have a reasonably good chance to stand up as a countervailing force to the West.That points to China.

As such,they are not anti-India.But their last option is to prop up a reasonably possible countervailing force to the West and in trying to reach their goal they cannot risk the chance of anybody propping up India against China.To them,India is the only last obstacle standing in the way to their last option.

So,we find them nurturing constituents within the mainstream Indian society to do a 'Bangledesh' to the Indian state.

Do we,the puny society of 2 something million,have anything to do with all these developments?

Besides nurturing such constituents,if they seek to dovetail their activities with the numerous insurgencies within India,it should be in the realm of meeting of strategic interest,which is generally shorn of such loaded terms like story of Israel,asymmetric,terrorism and what else,untouchables!!

by the meltingpot

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Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd