by the meltingpot: Propaganda lodged inside our subconscious.

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.

Tuesday, March 08, 2016

Propaganda lodged inside our subconscious.

Any observer(of Manipur) worth his salt would not fail to read several hints which say that MH 370 was(and still is) an attack weapon,not once seen in the entire annal of the history of human warfare.On the second anniversary of MH370, I remind myself that I had a post entitled 'Malaysia's hijack plane and India's doctrine of relative truth'.I'm quoting a few lines from that post:
-------------
'But to accuse a State of hijacking a passenger plane is in the realm of conspiracy theory.But as the still developing situation show,there might be more than one State involved in the hijacking.It is quite reasonable to infer that they would need only a brief jamming of Pakistani radars to get the plane to Turkmenistan(China has a rebel group aiming to establish an East Turkemenistan).And,it's quite reasonable to think that the radar-jamming technologies might have found their devices installed,however briefly,in Afghanistan.

But still.why should we waste out valuable time in a conspiracy theory?

To answer this question,we have to go back to the 13th of March 2014.And,the place of our interest is Imphal.

They have the temerity to do something with natural disaster on a 13th day!More than that,the day before, the guys from New Delhi,in a press conference,held in place no other than the seat of power in Manpur,the Secretariat complex in Imphal,grandly announced that 2 lakhs people would be hurt and 37 thousand people would be killed!Some kind of mock drill indeed!!

Reading between the lines,it's quite clear that New Delhi,under the guise of a mock drill,was issuing threats to Manipuri society.They are effectively saying to the larger Manipuri society--

--'Beware,you will get hurt'--.

Psychological warfare,isn't it?Let's say it is one in micro level.What about the macro level?Of course,the hijacking of the Malaysian jetliner.
------------- '.

So,MH370 is all about bringing the battle to the subconscious arena.Why I am saying this? We need to sit back and start looking at things in their right perspective.MH370 embodies all the imaginable questions but not a single answer.Was it a hijack?An attack weapon? What had happened to the wide-bodied jetliner? Did it soft land on the ocean surface and sank? Where had all the passengers gone?(Tiny bits of pieces supposed to be parts of the wreckage found near Union Island and other African coasts seemed to have planted to whet the appetite for raising more questions).

It's just like the case of God.So many imaginable questions but not a single answer. Is God real?He is formless?How can we find Him?So many questions right from the start of human civilization.But not a single answer is yet to come to the fore.

In other words,unknowable and unseen. That is,of metaphysical world,of sub-conscious domain.

So, the targetted foe had been hit by something that is unknowable and unseen.From here it is easy to surmise that the unknowable and unseen weapon had been deployed by some combatants,who should be,by logic,equally unknowable and unseen.Metaphorically,it's some kind of a Godly-weapon.With the precise objective of shifting the battlefield to the subconscious level.Some Godly-weapon attacking the subconscious mind!

But,still,I have this nasty feeling that I fail to find the right words in describing this 'Godly-weapon'.Let me try to illustrate it with a personal story of mine.

During my college days,I was a student activist.I was in the perfect landscape where I had the opportunity to meet people from every section of our society.I had close associates from working and lower middle class to carry on our activist programmes.I had also the not-so-smooth interaction with upper middle class and upper class people during the course of seeking monetary and material contribution for the activist programme.

Among such large number of people,one person stood out.He was an older man.Despite the age difference,I took him as a trusted friend.

He was the perfect example of what a flesh and blood manifestation of anti-West narrative should be.He even abhorred the sight and sound of the West.He tried to read a lot.He constantly made it a point to update himself with current affairs of his society.He mostly succeeded in keeping himself away from all form of intoxicants.He was an uncompromising stickler to the 'high moral code' to the conduct of every day way of life.He also kept himself away from female company and was unmarried.But what made him stand out was his constant endeavour to lead a life according to the value system as,he thought,enshrined in the Puyas.For his political thought,he read Marx,Lenin and Mao.For a teenager activist,he was a formidable beacon of light.

With the ending of my college days,the activist part of me also came to a close.I aslo slowly drifted away from this particular friend of mine.I started mingling with a new set of friends.

Years later,I accidentally had a brief encounter with a close relative of this friend of mine.For no particular reason,he took a keen interest in talking about my friend.I did not ask him anything but I had actually no option rather than listening to his banter.Surprisingly,his banter triggered a startling chain-reaction of making a post-mortem of that part of my life,particularly my friendship with him.It came to me as some of revelation that my friend was glorifying poverty.From that point,I began to ask further questions--if we take out his dabbling with Marxist literature,he was a perfect example of what a great Indian seer should be.My friend,who so loudly professed anti-West stance,actually lived a life of an Indian seer!That was an astounding discovery.

This point to one and possible scenario--the Indian propaganda had already seeped deep inside our subconscious.Without knowing it.we live a life guided by Indian thought and Indian code of conduct.For centuries together,India has been attacking our subconscious.

This story of mine reveal to us in no uncertain terms that India has been very adept in this warfare of attacking the subconscious.They have been carrying on with this warfare for centuries together.Looking from this perspective,MH370 is no surprise.On the contrary,MH370 exhibits all the patterns of this centuries-old warfare of India.

It turns out that MH370 is a technology-enhanced version of the attack on the subconscious.

by the meltingpot

Now Reading!

Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd