by the meltingpot: November 2014

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.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Quietly,the battleline gets active.

See how the idea of the Western style democracy as a panacea is under direct attack in the streets of Hong Kong,Ferguson and other cities of the US.

The idea that the Western style democracy is a panacea gets a serious drubbing in the streets of Ferguson and large cities of the US.As if to demonstrate that it's not the panacea as the students wrongly believe the Hong Kong police cleared the protest sites and arrested their leaders.

This is the direct attack on the West and its allies,including the largest democracy of the world,India, on the ideological front.

On the material front also,they are under attack as well.

See how the Indian President traveled all the way to Tezpur,Assam to say they would use force while giving awards to a helicopter battalion,implying they would use air power.

The very next day,Maoist attacked an IAF helicopter,seriously injuring the pilot.

There were attacks and so,there would be counterattacks. Isn't it the dynamics of a battle?

Actually,I can't wait to have a glimpse of the battle plan of India and the West.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

18th Nov 2014--the day the battleline was drawn publicly.

I can't wait to write this post.

Most of my posts are the outcomes of my efforts to connect the dots of varied patterns I have notices in course of my reading the news.But today I'm going to deal with something that I encountered first hand while I'm sitting in my housing,sipping green tea!

At around 12.30 pm,as I'm sipping a cup of green tea,there was a huge commotion outside my house,which stands by a State highway,near Keisampat bridge.At no time,there was someone clanging the public streetlamp post,which stands just at the edge of my homestead,barely 20 feet from where I sat.In between the clanging,there was this hoarse but young female voice,yelling at the top of her voice.Her voice,presumably hoarse from such yelling,was calling for the local meira paibis to come out.

I was amused and unconsciously muttering to myself--'No chance,madam,our meira paibis here are mostly concerned with all things remotely unconnected with public interests'!

Students were trying to storm the bastion of the status quo just across the Keisampat bridge.

Here,we need to go the news of the day and try to find out if there any pattern which relates to the students attempt to cross the Keisamapt bridge.

1)At around 7 in the morning there was an attempt to kidnap a top executive of a big pharma company from posh Banjara Hills area of Hyderabad.The man fled the scene after firing three shots from his AK 47 rifle.To my mind,it was not an attempt to kidnap but to show off an AK47 rifle in this psoh area,which the man did beautifully by leaving the rifle inside the Audi of the executive.An AK47 rifle in the Banjara Hills would cause a lot of stir,to say the least.I almost felt like cheering while reading the news--'Why did not the vanishing of a 18 years old Manipuri girl student cause any stir at the places of power that be,like the Banjara Hills'?

2) At around the same while I was sitting at my house sipping green tea,some groups of students actually succeeded in storming the legislative building in Hong Kong.Four students were arrested.

Hong Kong students succeeded while Manipuri students did not.Why we need make this comparison?

It's because the preceding day--the 18th of Nov--court injunctions started appearing on the streets of Hong Kong asking the students to vacate their protest site.Court injunctions started coming out just as two plane loads of PLA soldiers started landing in Pune.

As the two plane loads of PLA soldiers were landing in Pune,two significant things happened in Manipur--

1)There was an ambush on the Assam Rifles troopers,injuring 12 of them.

2)There was a public function protesting the rescinding of a law which forbids entry of outsiders in the state of Manipur(18th Nov 1950).During the course of this protest meet,the leaders also announced the temporary withdrawal of the ultimatum of the resumption agitation to re-instate the said law.The reason they gave for this withdrawal is to facilitate the unfolding of the Sa-ngai Festival!

What's most interesting is that if the announcement of the withdrawal of ultimatum carries any weight,the commotions outside my house this morning should not have happened.But it did happen,meaning there is an ongoing contradiction within the agitation.

This contradiction puts into sharp focus the two events--one in Imphal and the other,in Pune.In Pune,starting 18th of Nov,the two armies of India and China,went into an joint exercise,with the intent of bringing respect to each other.India wants China to respect it--not to challenge it.

Here,at Imphal,on the 18th of Nov,the main theme of the day was everything to do with groping in the dark inside the box erected by India--no question of challenging it.

So,the commotion outside my house morning,has everything to do to publicly show the two ways confronting us--one challenging India and the other,groping blindly inside the box erected by India.

On the 18th of Nov 2014,at Imphal,there was a publicly visible scene in which everybody sees who chooses which of the two ways.

In other words,on the 18th of Nov 2014,the battle line was so clearly drawn in full view of the public.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Rape as the weapon of combat?

Had there been no inexplicable episode of yet another resurfacing of the news of boxer Sarita,all these rapes would be the normal crimes of the day.

The first of those inexplicable episodes happened just when the Manipuri society was at the doorstep of Ningol Chakouba,which is not only totally woman-centric but also one of the most important festivals of Manipuri society.They chose just the right timing to taunt the Manipuri society--'We had started attacking your womenfolk at Incheon--what is your response?'

The second episode happened just a few days ago,close at the heels of the three successive rape cases within the space of seven days in Manipur and disappearance of a Manipuri girl student in Hyderabad.This resurfacing of the boxer Sarita story is intended to send out a loud and clear message to the Manipuri society--'See,there is common thread binding all these terrible crimes against your womenfolk'.

Today,they just gave the finishing touches to the loud and clear message by opening up another old wound--the Manorama rape and murder case.After sitting on the inquiry report for more than ten years,they are making mockery of justice system by submitting the report to the Supreme Court now.The primary purpose of this submission is to convey the graphic details of the brutal and merciless torture inflicted on the poor woman--their target being the larger Manipuri society.

If this is not the cruel taunt to the Manipuri society,what else is it?

Another facet of all these rapes is that they were carefully timed to happen to coincide with the public discussion on the subject 'Crime against women' organized by a woman NGO.As this NGO is widely believed to be inspired by the oldest rebel group of Manipur,we are staring at the posiibility of those rapes as being deployed as the combat weapons in the fierce competition amongst the rebel groups of Manipur.Or,is it some gangs, ejected out of the rebel groups, trying to create misunderstanding amongst the rebels by using the rapes?Thus,on a micro level,rape as the combat weapon deployed in the competition (or sowing of misunderstanding) amongst the rebel groups and ,at the macro level,deployed in taunting the whole of Manipuri society.

This shows that some groups are so consumed by the competition amongst themselves that they are being used as tools to taunt,to attack the society they themselves live in,the larger Manipuri society.

I don't like to go any further in this direction because it's too distasteful.But,as a concerned citizen,I'll try to to have a look at the anatomy of the chain of events.

As the world boxing body is involved,we can say there are players outside of India.As the Manipuri girl student disappeared in Hyderabad,we can also say that there players outside of Manipur but inside of India.And,as the three successive rapes in Manipur tell us,there are very active players within Manipur itself.

And,all of these players work in tandem.

But,rapes and organized groups of Manipur?

Organized groips,encompassing the rebel groups(together with gangs ejected out of them) in Manipur,flushed with funds skimmed from the yearly subsidy for the state of Manipur doled out by New Delh,are becoming very powerrful.I think some of them are putting in a lot of resources to make those rapes happen.Let's take the case that happened at Tharoijam,near Imphal.It's plausible that those wanting the rape to happen have a very intimate knowledge that the particular boy had had an eye on the unfortunate nine years old minor girl.So,during the chosen timing when they want the rape to happen they put in a lot of resource to create a perfect conditon for a rape.Say,they also know that the minor would go to the paddy field carrying tea for her mother.So they might work really hard to make the area holdiing the road the girl would take to be deserted.See how they might have worked meticulously to lure people,young,old,men or women,away from the area for quite an interval.I'm dealing with just one possibility that comes to my mind but I have absolutely no intention of trying to pierce open the innards of the sick minds.

But one thing is certain.This time they are really stooping too low.Too low.

by the meltingpot

Now Reading!

Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd