by the meltingpot: Unnamed India-specific terrorism.

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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, March 23, 2016

Unnamed India-specific terrorism.

I was looking for the strength of London's FTSE.

I'm telling the story of the 22nd March 2016.As the National Stock Exchange's NIFTY opened at 9.15 am,I tried to do my own calculation of what curve it might take in the day's course.My calculation was like this:NIFTY would take slowly rising curve at the closing hours provided London's FTSE opened strong.

I planned to catch the action by 1.45 pm IST.But I was a little late--it was nearly 2 pm when I saw the FTSE chart.I was disappointed--FTSE took a sharply declining line as it opened for the day.If FTSE opened strong,I planned to buy NUFTY ETF.Thus disappointed,I turned my attention towards other news of the day.Exactly at that point of time I came to read about Brussels.

I was reading tweets as they were coming in by the seconds.I was struck by the repeated reference to the number 13.Despite all the chaos,they kept repeating that 'at least 13 dead' for several hours.I don't want to repeat myself about this particular number.If anybody has had some time to read up my last few posts,they would surely understand my point.

I hate terror acts.If my blog have any impact,I would wholeheartedly direct it towards the total condemnation of terror acts.

But mere condemnation is not enough.We must try to think out of box to confront terrorism.

We must start at our home ground,not that we should not condemn the terrorist attack on Brussels.Not only should we condemn it,but also utilize it as a trigger to take a fresh look towards our home ground. That the attack on Brussels happened on 22nd March,which is one day ahead of the 37th republic day of the NSCN(IM),serves us well in utilizing it as our trigger.

It's a common knowledge in Manipur that NSCN(IM) has been given a free hand for collecting taxes,dictating orders,using brute force like burning down trucks,kidnapping and killings of truckers along the National Highways of Manipur,especially,the Imphal-Dimapur route.Manipur State police force is helpless--they cannot act against these crimes.All the people in Manipur know that the only forces that can act against such crimes are India's military or para-military.Such forces are already deployed in huge numbers all along the highways.

Even the Chief Minister of Manipur made it a special agenda to plead the Federal govt in New Delhi to direct the military or the para-military forces,which are already deployed along the highways,to act against such crimes of the NCN(IM).But nothing is happening.There is still no rule of law along the highways of Manipur.More than this,all the people of Manipur know that the military and para-military forces are covertly supporting the NSCN(IM) militants in terrorizing the truckers and passengers along the National Highways.

We know that such terror acts of NSCN(IM) militants are not as spectacular as that Brussels'.This might be part reason why Western media have no time and resource to report the terrorist acts along the highways of Manipur.As the media fail to report them,the whole world is ignorant of the continuing terror acts.Thus unknown to the outside world,the militants of the NCSN(IM) has been terrorizing the truckers and the passengers of Manipur along its highways for many decades now.

So,there is an unnamed India-specific terrorism.

This unnamed India-specific terrorism drives us to go hyper-local.

A filmmaker was methodically called out his house,blindfolded and bundled inside a car.They,again methodically,brought him to a secluded place and beat him so badly that he had to be hospitalized in a serious condition.

He is not a simple filmmaker but a kind of symbol of Manipuri film.Attacking him is tantamount to attacking Manipuri cinema and terrorizing filmmakers,film writers,film artiste and film technicians.

That the attackers were so methodical points to the possibility of an organized group behind the crime.If the filmmaker did something wrong that warrants application of mob justice,why don't the organized group publicize it?Even the evil Islamic State militants made it a point to own up the horrifying carnage at Brussels.This points to the fact that there are organized groups in Manipur more evil than the Islamic State militants.

Though not spectacular(like that of Brussels),the ongoing terrorizing acts along the Natioanl Highways and inside the tiny valley are the manifestations of the unnamed India-specific terrorism.

by the meltingpot

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