by the meltingpot: Shock therapy

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.

Sunday, March 07, 2021

Shock therapy

The likely scenario runs like this:

1) Whenever the media receive a press release from the oldest rebel group,the 'go-between' immediately phones the 'designated contact person' (My last post).

2) The 'go-between' makes it a point to specify the received press release is either from the central committee or the office of the president.

3) If the press release comes from the president,the gangs of Manipur will phone all the media houses saying--'I'm spokesman of the central committee and I am hereby instructing you not to publish the press release from the president'.

4) If the press release comes from the central committee,the gangs will say they are from the office of the president and the media should not publish the press release from the central committee.

Why this is happening?

It is easy for most people to suspect that some interested parties are seeking out the president of the oldest rebel group.

In the current situation,the president of the oldest rebel group must be under tremendous pressure to come out and meet the media persons to clarify his position.If that happens,his location would be revealed.

If we reach this point of our story,we must go back and read up all the past posts dealing with the covert fights amongst the rebel groups.This blog have seven such posts starting with 'Unbelievable political development in Kakching and India's favourite rebel group',dated 10th November,2020 and concluding with 'Engineering the wildfire to equal the most chilling Meitei-Naga sectarian clash',dated 10th January,2021.

If we read the current situation,bringing ourselves to the place where we are informed by the reading of the above past posts,there is only one deduction we can have--several of the presidents of the several rebel groups might have become casualties during those fierce covert operations.

Now,all these rebel groups come together to seek out the president of the oldest rebel group and team up with the mainstream media of Manipur to go forward. I cannot find words to describe the strategy of these rebel group--I feel like weeping.

But,here,we are less interested with things happening inside the rebel ecosystem.Instead,we have an urgent issue to address.

Why our media suddenly become an actively participating actor in the intra-rebel groups warfare? It is now clear that the fateful moment impacted us during the last week of November 2020 (My last post).From that moment onwards,our media ceased to serve as the 'Fourth Estate'.This is the total dereliction of duty by our media.

Our society cannot function while our media begin acting like this.We definitely need a functioning 'Fourth Estate'.

On that fateful moment during the last week of November,2020,unknown to them (why were they so blind?),Maipur's media together with its collaborative rebel groups,took the first step towards the total destruction of Manipur society.

Time is running out. Brave-hearts within the media and those participating rebel groups should come out and take the first steps in course correction.All the rebel groups should also aid these brave- hearts. If they fail to do so,they are also failing to perform their duties.

If we continue with the present state of things,we are facing with the prospect of casting ourselves towards the bottomless nadir.

If that happens,the only strategy available to our society is to use the proverbial shock therapy.

Time is running out.

POSTSCRIPT

9.13 am

This is to do with the state of siege enforced upon me.

Recently.I have found a barely functional grocery shop,which, for obvious reasons, escapes the attention of the psychopaths.Yesterday.I bought skimmed milk,tea leaves,sugar and garlic.During this purchase,I sensed something fishy.Has the psychopaths finally infiltrated this barely-functional grocery as well? I spent the whole day yesterday trying to find the answer to this question.

Late afternoon,I decided that everything is ok.

But this morning fresh questions came rolling into my mind.

But,in between,I have already prepared and enjoyed several glasses of tea.

My world is a crazy place.

by the meltingpot

Now Reading!

Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd