by the meltingpot: October 2014

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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.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

What's so special about the 15th of Oct? Or,is it a riddle?

To my mind,it's a must to note that the following events took place on the 14th of Oct 14.

1)There was a major clash between the protestors and their opponents in the streets of Hong Kong.

2)Pakistani military officers called up their Indian counterparts on the hotline to discuss tension on the border and then,afterwards,opened fire targetting Indian border posts.

3)New Delhi heavily meddled in the working of the supposedly independent judiciary to convict 5 persons of raping a BPO female employee from NE.

4)NSCN(IM) chairman call on the Naga public to pray for just resumed Indo-Naga peace talk.

To my mind,all these 'events' were carefully timed to grab the newspapers'headlines of the following day ie,the 15th of Oct 2014. Again,it's a must to note that all these 'events' were 'planned' in the highest seats of powers in places spanning from Beijing,Islamabad,New Delhi etc.

So,what's so special about the date,the 15th of Oct?

For a Imphallite,it's easy to answer.We are,right now,in the midst of shut down called by the rebels of Manipur to mark this day as the national black day to commenorate the 15th of Oct 1949 when Manipur was merged into the Indian Union.

In this context,it's easy to read New Delhi's intention.As the Manipuris sat down,totally confined to their homes by the shut down,and start reading the newspapers,the first news that draw their attention might be the conviction of the rapists.So, as the rebels are protesting the merger of Manipur to the Indian Union,this particular news might carry across the message that Indian Union is a system that is rendering justice to the NE people,including the Manipuris.

But what about the intentions of Beijing and Islamabad?

Riddle of the riddles?

In my personal effort,I'll try to crack this riddle of the riddles.It goes like this--'People in the highest seats of power in both Beijing and Islamabad want to say that all the roads,for this particular moment of history,lead to a place where the 15th of October is marked as the national black day.'

Saturday, October 04, 2014

Drama and Geopolitics: Of Saritas and vanishing riot police.

Who would not be moved by the tears of boxer Sarita at Incheon,South Korea? What a tragic drama on the award podium there!

But somethng more dramatic than Incheon's happened in Hong Kong at about the same time.

Just when the pro-democracy protestors' movement reached its crescendo,the riot police facing them off suddenly vanished form the the streets.Bewildered media persons covering the movement asked aloud--'What's happening?'.

So,what had happened there?

People in Beijing knew that the pro-democracy protestors came out in the streets just when Narendra Modi,the Indian prime minister,had started his US visit.Their protest reached its crescendo when Narendra Modi and Barack Obama had started their summit meeting in Washington.So,it's logical to infer that the protest would peter out as soon as Narendra Modi wraps up his US visit.Knowing this,Beijing lets riot policemen go off the streets when summit meeting between between Narendra Modi and Barack Obama started,which,in turn,produced the crescendo in the Hong Kong streets.Beijng's message is loud and clear: We know that the protest is a charade masterminded by the West(in connivance with India) and so, we are properly unworried.

We must hasten to say that Beijing's is actually the counter-message.So,what was the original message provoking this counter-message from Beijing?

The original message to Beijing from Narendra Modi and Barack Obama: We are two largest democracies and we will help pro-democracy protestors who would sweep across China throwing the Communist Party out of power.

Again,we must hasten to note that there is a constituent within the Hong Kong society who root for one person one vote political system.This constituent has been firmly in its place since the days when Hong Kong was adminsitered by the UK as its colony.

What's new now is that this constituent is so heavily infiltrated by the Western intelligence machineries that they can pull out massive demonstrators in the streets of Hong Kong at the timing of their choice.I vividly remember another smaller scale protest around 30th of June 2014 just when the then Indian Army chief started his China visit.

So,it's clear that they are wielding a tremendous power over HongKongers.

This same tremendous power comes into play at the award podium where Sarita,in convulsive tears,gave her bronze medal to Jina Park,the SOUTH KOREAN.Please note that we are giving emphasis the words South Korea.

In an indelible imagery,telecast live globally,there is this symbolism of great significance--Manipuri versus South Korean.Pre-Sarita dissater,the Manipuris,in general,love the Koreans.Post-Sarita disaster,it stands to reason that Manipuri fans are experiencing difficulties in connecting with Korean idols(because,you know,they are cheaters!!).

Such a feat from India,with a little help from the West!A feat it may be but where is the geopolitical implications in it?

Tremendous geoplotical implications.Here in Manipur,its inhibitants are in the process of defeating the soft powers of India,with a little help from Korea.Anybody who wants to fight India must learn to defeat its soft power.It's their most potent weapon.The Indians know this and they can't accept the fact that the Koreans are beating them in Manipur,which they consider to be their own turf.In this sense,the massive rigging exercises carried out at Incheon,is the invocation of the turf war paradigm to the unsuspecting Koreans,that too,by using Indian style below the belt tactics.

But how the West comes into picture at all?

This question becomes important because the actual dirty works of rigging were most likely be executed by them.As it's Asian Game,all the judges must be from the countries outside of Asia,ie, mostly from the West.It's reasonable to infer that they were asking the judges to rig the games 'for national security reason',which is as sacrosanct as the eleventh commandment in Western citizenry's mind.

We are mentioning 'national security' in the sense of preserving the reigning world order,of which,they are the undisputed custodian.If they,conniving with India,can help to maintain the status quo simply by rigging some games in Asia all the judges would not hesitate to rig every single game for the years to come.

But Manipur and the new world order? We must revsit the 'Grand Coaltion against Nazism'.

Having come this far,we have to acknowledge that this post is dangerously veering towards a conspiracy theory.To remedy this we must take note of the following 4 points:

1)Around the 20th Sept 14,the Indian foreign minister,Sushma Swaraj,was completely out of place when she delcared that the military faceoff in Chumar was resolved and the Chinese would withdraw their troops by the 30th Sept.She did this in New York before the world media.Normally,she would be ashamed that they could do nothing to check the alleged Chinese incursions and must be diligently avoiding the world media.Instead,she did say it was a great achievement!

Did she metaphorically say that they would get one great achievement on the 30th of Sept 14?

2)Every night at the New Delhi controlled radio station,AIR,Sarita was there announcing in stilted Hindi--'Hi,I'm Sarita from Manipur.Keep listening to AIR for the latest updates of the Incheon Asiad'.Why this sudden limelight bestowed on Sarita? Was it because she was the pre-detemined prey? It's the sure case of shining the limelight on the prey for the purpose of multiplying the impact.

3)At around 4 pm of 30th Sept(ie,around 4 hours after the Sarita-Jina fight)the president of Indian himself started sending individual congratulatory letters to the athletes winning medals.This is the sure case of adding salt to the wound.The president himself was saying--'Come Sarita,flood the Korean Peninsula with your tears'.Heartless.

4)Now,as if on some cues,Union minsiters,are giving support to Sartia,thereby,intensifying the 'Manipuri Korean fight'.

UPDATE-1
06-10-14

I forgot to mention the 5th point.

How Narendra Modi repeatedly exhorted the rabidly nationalistic crowd at Madison Square Garden to remember this point--'We must understand that Democracy is our greatest weapon'.

He was actually reaching out to demonstrators in Hong Kong to rise against Communist Chinese leadership.

UPDATE-2
07-10-14

I again made a mistake.

My first update should not be the 5th point.

Instead,it should be read as the last part of para 7 of the main body of the post.

UPDATE-3
09-10-14

So,it turns out that they had also the preliminary round of talk of NSCN(IM) on the 30th of Sept. I've been on the look out for the big meting between the PM and NSCN(IM) leaders and so,though,I read the news of the preliminary talk,I felt there was no particular significance on its timing.Now,here is the complete picture.

Sushma Swaraj mysteriously gave a lot of emphasis on the date, 30th Sept in New York,.

Then the following developments happened one after the another on that date ie, 30th of Sept.

-Summit meeting between between Narendra Modi and Barack Obama which pointedly referred to South China Sea,

-then,crescendo in the streets of Hong Kong,

-followed by the symbolic pitching of a Manipuri sports icon against a Korean at Incheon

-and now preliminary meeting between New Delhi and NSCN(IM0 on the same day.

Now ,we can see that the above developments represent a fully-formed pattern.

by the meltingpot

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Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd