South China Sea: Early Thoughts

Facing the South China Sea (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

• America or India or Japan do not need the South China Sea. For China it's lifeline. You could practically choke the Chinese economy by disrupting this sea lane. And to make that point, China is building a $40 billion road through Pakistan to get to the Arabian Sea as an alternate route. It is not a legitimate alternate route. Land is more expensive than sea. The Chinese economy is mostly along the South China Sea. In western China there is desert. From western China the core China is literally a continent away. The road being built in Pakistan is a call for empathy. 
• China could be close to being an alternate political system. As long as a country can create respect and protection for free speech, it is possible even to have a one party democracy. China might move in that direction. If China can evolve to respect free speech, and if the Chinese Communist Party can offer two candidates for every major office, like president, governor and mayor, that ordinary Chinese then pick from through adult franchise, then it might actually end up with a better political system than what America has. 
• But the small countries surrounding the South China Sea don't have the luxury to empathize. It probably feels like a 800 pound gorilla is asking a mouse for empathy. 
• As long as direct confrontation can be avoided, and channels of communication kept open, and all the major powers can show adult behavior, the South China Sea is actually a great way to build a meaningful positive relationship between America, China, Japan and India. The tussle, handled well, could be big country therapy. Because there is some healing that needs to happen. Ask how Modi feels about Britain. That is how Xi Jinping feels about Japan. Only Japan had Hiter, as far as the Chinese are concerned. Starving a people is not in the same league as gassing them. Churchill starved. Hitler gassed. 
• For China it might be less about real estate, and more about an iron guarantee that the sea lane will not be disrupted. 
• As for the islands, while they stay disputed, who has current control over them? Is there a catalogue? That was rhetorical. I am sure there is. Well, that's a start. 
• The 12 nautical miles is a beautiful thing. A country has 12 nautical miles from its shores. Beyond that is international waters. Even if every island in the South China Sea ends up with clear, uncontested ownership, no matter which way they get decided, that still leaves the sea lanes open. And that's the key thing. 
• There can be a process that all powers big and small can agree to. And that judicial process could take its time to decide on the final borders. 
• By the way, that is also true for the India-China land border. The final border has not been finalized. 
• All of the South China Sea can not belong to China any more than all of the Arabian Sea can belong to India, or any country. That goes against the 12 nautical miles rule. 
• Just like the solution in Kashmir is to turn the Line Of Control into the final boundary and then tone down the tension enough to make the border meaningless, perhaps to the point of a South Asian economic union. Perhaps countries should keep islands they have and beyond that respect international law. The sea is globally shared, just like every other sea. 
• The logic of the solution is the easy part. The hard part is the complex geometry that leads to it, step by step. 
• Only in Kashmir there is no oil and gas. 
• Forget building islands, if the tensions could be nullified, this might be the best place in the world to build ocean cities. As for oil and gas, think solar. The world is fast moving to solar. The ocean cities could run entirely on solar. 
• The South China Sea tension might last as long as the China-Taiwan tension. The sea is a good outlet to the tension. It has to be managed until it is resolved. 
• Who owns the Gulf Of Mexico? Or the North Sea? Or the Red Sea? Or the Bay Of Bengal? Or the Japan Sea? 
• I guess this is a pretty good place where America gets to make itself useful. 

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Using Technology To Make The Dollar Go Further

Pete Souza, Official White House Photographer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have not read up on every Bernie idea. What I have read I have come across while reading election news. Which means, I have not deeply studied a single Bernie idea. But what I have read feels doable and, quite frankly, not enough. But he does not seem to be making any attempt to connect the dots. The dots can be connected.

Hillary is being rewarded across the US South by blacks because she served four years under Barack Obama. They were for Hillary before they were for Barack Obama. Now they are back with Hillary. For people with the black experience (the patent thing) it would mean a lot to you that Hillary served under Obama. They are like, Bernie who? That is where I myself was last year.

The gender thing is, women have to be made to feel equal at the workplace. Universal pre-K, universal child care, universal public transportation. Pay equality. Paid family leave. I believe workplaces with in-built child care would outproduce workplaces without. The obvious things. If women can be made to achieve purchasing power parity, the rest flows from there. Right now they don't even have an equal seat at the table.

It's not just about taxing people more, or getting a bigger bite out of the current budget. In fact, if you take a slightly bigger bite out of the current budget, you don't need a higher tax rate. But mostly it is just about using technology to make the dollar further. As in, better execute. Do more with less. It is not lack of money. It is lack of imagination.

Hillary Clinton could not ask for anything  better than Donald Trump as Opposition Leader for eight years. And Donald Trump could not ask for anything better for himself.

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Libya: Laboratory

Signs grow of new Western urgency to stop Islamic State in Libya



Libya would be a great place where to test my Law Of Political Entropy.

What to do? Beam the internet from the sky across at least 90% of the populated territory. And smuggle a few million Android phones to be given out for free. Preferably they should have solar chargers.

And that's it.

Weapons and armed groups get in the way.

Do it and watch magic happen.

Nepal: Political Laboratory

The military action was not wrong. Fascism only has a military solution. So the first step was not wrong. Just that there was no second step. The people should have the option to peacefully, democratically organize themselves. That is where connectivity helps.

The thing about the Law Of Political Entropy is you can pre-emptively "attack" any territory. You don't have to wait for a dictator to go crazy. You don't have to wait for anything. And there is not much need for military intervention. Although a threat of force and some smart, surgical acts might help speed up the process and do some alignment work.

If you think Libya is about to go to hell anyways, why not give the Law Of Political Entropy a try?

South China Sea

To date I have never attempted a study of the South China Sea issue. Soon I might attempt a study to try and make sense of what's going on. Just like Kashmir is not about land, South China Sea might not be about water. It might be an ideological tussle. It is one of the most happening parts of the world in terms of commerce. The most important goal obviously is to keep it open for global trade.

भारत और लोकतंत्र

लोकतंत्र भारत का सबसे बड़ा धर्म है और बहुत पुराना धर्म है। ब्रिटिश ने गिफ्ट में दिया ऐसी बात नहीं। लोकतंत्र का आधार है मानव अधिकार। पहले मानव का राजनीतिक निर्माण होता है। मानव अधिकार द्वारा। तब जा के एक व्यक्ति एक मत। तो भारत के संविधान में सुरक्षित है मानव अधिकार। कोई व्यक्ति या संगठन मानव अधिकार का हनन करे तो कोई भी आम नागरिक कोर्ट में जा के उजुरी दे सकता है। वो तो इस पार्टी या उस पार्टी को वोट दो वाली बात नहीं है। फ्री स्पीच allow है। कोई गलत भी बोले तो बोल सकता है। लेकिन हिंसा नहीं allow है। कोई व्यक्ति या संगठन हिंसा पर न उतर सकती है। हिंसा का योजना नहीं बना सकती। हिंसा के लिए नहीं उकसा सकती। आगजनी तोड़फोड़ नहीं कर सकती। लोकतंत्र में सिर्फ व्यक्ति नहीं संपत्ति को भी प्रोटेक्ट करती है राज्य। राज्य का पहला कर्तव्य है व्यक्ति और  संपत्ति का संरक्षण। कौन पार्टी जिता कौन हारा उससे क्या फर्क पड़ता है? संविधान है, कानुन है, पुलिस है, कोर्ट है। अगर नागरिक शिकायत दर्ज न करे तो वो नागरिक की कमजोरी।

संविधान है, कानुन है, पुलिस है, कोर्ट है। ये बात मेरे को मालुम है। लेकिन नागरिक आगे न बढे तो वो हुवी नागरिक उदासीनता। Awareness Campaign करो।

रह गयी वाक स्वतंत्रता की बात। कोई गलत बोले तो आप उसके विरुद्ध बोलो। आप सही बोलो। जोड़ से बोलो। आप उसकी बोलती बंद नहीं कर सकते। कोई भी न कर सकता। न प्रधान मंत्री न राष्ट्रपति न पुलिस। आप भी नहीं। लेकिन आप बोल तो सकते हो। आप कह सकते हो उसने गलत बोला। सही क्या है वो आप बोलो।

और आप के सिर्फ बोलने के आधार पर आप को किसी सरकार ने धर पकड़ किया तो आप कोर्ट में जाओ। केस जित जाओगे। लेकिन आतंकवाद तो प्रत्येक लोकतंत्र में गैर कानुनी है। कानुन का राज्य जहाँ है वहाँ हिंसा पर प्रतिबन्ध रहता है। हिंसाका आह्वान नहीं किया जा सकता। वो फ्री स्पीच नहीं है। लेकिन विचार प्रकट किया जा सकता है। मान लो आप का मानना है कि कश्मीर में अन्याय हो रहा है। तो बोलो कि कश्मीर में अन्याय हो रहा है। वो फ्री स्पीच है। हिंसा allow नहीं है, स्पीच तो आप जो बोलो।

The Obesity Epidemic

The obesity epidemic in America is a forest fire. It is the clearest evidence of capitalism gone haywire. Capitalism is supposed to be subservient to the democratic process. The people are supreme. 

Metal, Glass And India

Women belonging to the aristocractic Nair caste of Kerala ,India (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The caste system is like this dark, opaque metal that hammers away at the Buddhist egalitarian glass of social equality. The glass has broken so far in India. The metal has broken India’s backbone. There is no internal unity, no internal cohesion, no internal strength, and the caste system is to blame. A conscious effort has to be made to create a casteless Hinduism in India. And then in India the metal becomes transparent. You end up transparent like glass and strong like metal. And then India becomes strong.

This is not an argument against cultural diversity, only against inequality.