The Democratization Of Life

“Printing made us all readers. Xeroxing made us all publishers. Television made us all viewers. Digitization made us all broadcasters.”

– Lawrence Grossman

The recent trend of globalization, which cannot be more than 20 years old at its best, has awakened to all of us the possibility of living a life all over the world while we sit in front of our PC. The technological advancements, coupled with the subsequent progresses in financing, investment and politics, have translated all of our aspirations to memorable careers where speed has been dictating all the terms – and those who lost out were not stupid but only unacceptably slow. In fact, I can comfortably move on to say that there are now only two kinds of people in this world: the “fast” and the “slow”. If you have an internet connection that’s faster than you neighbor’s, it doesn’t even matter if he’s much richer: you can be assured of a spot in the finals. If you can make a telephone call from Mumbai to Rio de Janeiro and make an investment in something that’s being tipped as the “next big thing”, you’ve just gone one step ahead of the race. If a helicopter is rigged with personnel from the Indian reserve security forces in order to escort an electronic voting machine to a far off island with less then 5 occupants, then you can take pride in the fact that democracy is still alive and revered in the nation. However, up until this point, I have only spoken of what a more open world with larger markets and fading boundaries can do to empower specific activities, i.e. business and politics. What can it do to empower te individual? Rather, if globalization has indeed bettered the state of the world, what is it done to better the state of an individual?

Lest we forget, there are always two sides to every coin. I can have all kinds of names and notations for these sides, and in this case, I can call them “what have you given from it” and “what have you taken from it”. Speaking of the global village, we have given it the power to dominate over everything in this world. We have given a small company in Brazil the authority to drive into a section of the Amazon rainforest, cut down a thousand trees, sell the timber and free the landscape. We have given the local authorities the power to sell that land to people interested in erecting business houses there, and we have given the company contractors the authority to sell the timber. We have given the authority to local occupants to begin building a sky scraper on that plot of land, and the traders to export the timber to South Africa, where it is serviced into being usable in the construction industry. We have enabled the ongoing construction of the business house to demand more quantities of support-grade timber, which is now brought in from South Africa, and we have enabled the respective governments to slap duties and taxes on the import and export – the money from which will eventually trickle into the household of a destitute man who will feed his family of seven. At the same time, the business house is complete and its offices are occupied by various companies who put people in their cabins just to gather more and more information for them to make more money – the kind of information that made you take a decision in the first place to let these things happen. You can wonder how we could have given it so much, and the lies in one very important outcome of this New World we inhabit: networking. You, me and everyone like you and me are now part of one very large, inexhaustible network. We’re connected together over the internet, through the telephones, televisions and radios. We’re connected through the books we read, because those who read the same books can be thought of as having the same interests and as forming similar opinions – pertaining to goals if not to ideas. In the end, we have given ourselves to belong to this network. We have opened our markets to a wider range of prospects, and we have exposed the local manufacturer to international competition. But what have we received in return?

We have received the access to information. By throwing all the fish in this world into one big lake, we’ve made sure that if ever we wanna have fish again, we just have to go fishing in that one lake. In other words, we have democratized information. If the stock market takes an alarming dip in London, one phone call to New York can disturb investors in the US enough to pull out all their funds from the British market and into other more promising economies that have shown stabler rises, say, Thailand. It is all in the open now, and if you want to get to the big fish first, it won’t help if you’re there first in the morning. Your bait has to be tastier. If you want someone to spend money on you, then you’ve to make sure you’ve got something to offer which no one else does. Ultimately, what we’ve taken from it all is what we did give it: power. The only difference is that the system which we call globalization has taken in power in one form and transformed it into power of another form. For instance, if I elect a government in my country that promises to open up its markets to a greater extent and liberalise the economy, then I will have given the global players one extra country to align with. In exchange, I will break down the walls around me that were once restraining me from reaching out to a larger customer base. If I were to design a T-shirt and think about marketing it on a larger scale, I will now be in a better position to do so. It’s like droplets of ink in water: before, the bucket was only half full. Now, it’s up to the brim. A single drop of ink can now penetrate through to a greater depth; you’ve to just be careful as to not let it get too diluted – you’re facing a larger group of people now. For the message to be driven through, you’ve to keep hammering it in.

Just as we’re now capable of transforming ourselves into uber-individuals in terms of creativity (owing to a greater number of inspirations) and productivity (thanks to the increased access to information), the family as a fundamental unit of society has also been impacted by advancements in technology. Earlier, our fathers and grandfathers had to choose between sacrificing one luxury in order to attain another; today, it’s no longer a matter of what luxury you have – but how you use them to get better results. Earlier, there existed a sizable disparity in terms of wealth and accomplishments between those who had chanced upon just one more opportunity than the rest. Today, that disparity is negligible. When a working father realizes that his job is not being threatened by earthquakes and tornadoes tearing down his office but seemingly inexplicable dips in the stock market that are capable of shutting his company down, he will look to offset risk as much as possible by making intelligent investment decisions and not building his cabin underground. He will also realize that his children have to be brough up with different goals in mind than just settling down because he will now know that there is a long way to go before that. Today’s is a world of competitors, and there are three roads one of which you can take.

1. You stick to what you know and discard anything new and innovative as junk that won’t last the day. If this is going to be your outlook on the world, you will also find that by the end of the day, you will become part of your own idea – you’re old, and you haven’t lasted it.
2. You keep moving around without an anchor. With nothing to hold you down to a specific set of goals, you cannot have a strategy that encompasses all things. The competition in each field is fierce, and you should be able to accommodate for changes in all of them before you make a decision. In other words, you’re either a paranoid prodigy or a dead man.
3. You strike a balance between being moved around and anchored to one set of goals. And yes, it is traditionally easier said than done.

When Intel’s Gordon Moore stated his notorious law in 1965, I think he had an idea of what that law would come to mean 45 years down the line. Moore’s law, coupled with the advent of globalization in this frighteningly unipolar world, is what is making a difference today and now. Again, it’s only a measure of how fast you are. If you’re very fast, you’re one man who’s capable of changing the lives of a million men, women and their families at the click of a button. If you’re not fast enough (there’s no “slow” indicator on this switchboard), you’re one of the millions whose life is going to be determined by the guy with the faster internet connection.

(I wrote this piece while reading Thomas L. Friedman’s ‘The Lexus & The Olive Tree’, a book he wrote in 2000 about the coming of globalization. I just wanted to express my interpretation of the details of the book through this post.)

Why didn't we know about this?

Prizes include a tour of the Googleplex & an Apple MacBook Pro.

Yeah, why didn’t we know about this? I’m not saying we’d have won, but it’s a good opporunity to experiment and learn. Guess it’s time enough to reopen my Google Reader.

Paradoxical dualities…

In the unfathomably vast physical universe around us, mankind finds the play of science and reason abounding sans constraint. Looking up into the stars on a cold evening has transgressed from being a simple glance of spirited wonderment to a symbolic gaze of hope and redemption, for we who think are we who live and the universe, our home at least if not for the non-existence of another of its kind, was, is and will continue to be the one inexorable source of every question and answer.

Civilization, a great cycle with an infinitely long radius that governs the minds and stomachs of the billions under its titanic umbrella, did not begin on a presupposed morning amongst a group of men, women and children. It began in the mind, as did every revolution, as did every scourge, a seedling of an idea, a miniscule ray of hope beamed at a different future, for the good or for the bad, driven in purpose to assuage the pain of the heart, driven in will to alleviate the pain of the soul.

Rene Descartes (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650)

In the continued employment and belief of one man in these beginnings, and therefore his peers, and therefore his kingdom, lay hidden in the shadows of the infinite pores of curiosity and rebellion the embryos of innovation, discovery and understanding. This universe, the cosmos, may perhaps not have been existent at all for the now-supposed 15 billion years. For, all that is visible, audible and perceptible around is and is only because I can see, hear and perceive them through the translucent veils of my mind. Another mind, another omniscient force at play other than my own, does exist only when my mind itself does. Therefore, you exist because I do, and I do because my mind does, and my mind does because I think it does. In conclusion, I think and, therefore, I am (“Cogito ergo sum”, Rene Descartes). Thus, in my mind the womb, in those embryos of innovation, discovery and understanding, the scientific method that is the very proof of the existence of the triumvirate is questioned; essentially, a young thinker will tell you, it is a paradox. I conclude, “The universe is only as old as I am. When I was but an idea in the mind of Mother Nature, the universe itself was but an idea in my mind.”

And the scientist will lunge, provoked like the majestic eagle when the security of its nest is threatened, his penetrating stare seeming to bore burning holes through the walls of space and time, his mind racing to argue, to oppose and prove, to contradict and disprove. And he does, for is he not the child of science himself, gaunt and proud, sober and mystique, unwavering in his beliefs and willing to expand the confines of that which he construes scientific? And he spake! “The winds that blow, the leaves that dance – how would you know the cause, understand the effect, and learn, ultimately, your lesson were it not for the knowledge of the mobility of air, the physics of a frail leaf, and ultimately, the mechanics of the eye that beholds the wonder and the mind that remembers it?” We have studied the universe, together with the entities of space and time that contain it, through the lens of science, that sorceress. Her spells let us stray afar seldom; she is an empress even. Her kingdom is mighty and beautiful, with power in the hands of those who deserve it, and naught can they hold on to, they who desire too much for it. It is, therefore, a just empire. There is but right and wrong, and she abhors uncertainty. To the curious, to the inquisitive, to the young, her laws appeal straight to the heart. For, do you think they will not? Between that chance conception, between that singular ignition that gave birth to everything this universe houses, and that mathematical aberration that preceded its occurrence, that localized blackness which we must all collapse into one day, all that is is a product of science. “Would you, then, say science is not an absolute methodology itself but a “chance” conception of the mind – minds that will soon cease to exist?”

But whatever you chose, remember to look to your own efforts to make this world a better place to live in before looking up at a god.

Frail fodder

Early in the morning, I switch on the TV to find CNN-IBN’s sports section diverting all its attention on Baichung Bhutia, India’s football icon/idol, having missed an exhibition match in favour of attending a celebrity dance show which he also happened to win. I wondered why such a prolific news channel was spending hours together trying to get every scrap of worthless information on the screen – information that somehow concerned Bhutia’s personal life as well. I was also surprised to see a live interview running simultaneously, with the host firing question after question at the poor footballer as to why he decided to take some time off for himself in the middle of a season that didn’t have more than a few league games in the offing.

Dhoni on Times Now

The same thing happened last week when India lost their quarter-finals berth in the ICC T20 World Cup being held in England. Of course, being defenders of the title from the tournament’s debut in 2008, the expectations from the team was high. However, to many, a loss was expected somewhere down the line because the IPL T20 league games had only just finished and many, if not all, of the team players were under considerable stress and fatigue. Once India lost the crucial game to England, both Times Now and CNN-IBN became rife with questions of whether Dhoni (the captain) should be replaced, and how the Indian team was slipping, and how this was wrong and how that was wrong. There are two aberrations I see here. The first is that I’m 100% sure that if we’d won the game with England, Dhoni would have entered his “Poster Boy of India” Phase II and the media persons would have jumped around carrying his image on their heads. And secondly, having spent valuable hours scrounging for information that will (inevitably) soon be forgotten, I’m only led to believe these news channels will popularise anything to make money.

(And before I leave you, there’s another small thing I’d like to bring to light. I, rather we all, learnt that there was a women’s T20 World Cup going on. This came to light only when the men’s tourney showed no signs of progress. Is it that these news channels go solely after the money? Or is it that these news channels are allowed to assume what the viewer wants or does not want to see?)

The Beginner's Guide to World War II

As you can see, I’m bored. 

This is a chronological guide to the happenings in WWII. Everywhere you go, you only find detailed articles about this ‘era’, but I prefer keeping things short.

1. World War I ends. Germany signs Treaty of Versailles, is prohibited from annexation, expansion. Consigned to massive repairs. June 2, 1919. 
2. Russian civil war topples Czars. Soviet Union, under the leadership of Joseph Visarionovich Stalin, comes into existence. April 3, 1922. 
3. Japan, seeking to plant seedlings of influence in China, invades Manchuria using the Mukden Incident as provocation. September 19, 1931.
4. Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi party, comes to power in Germany. Dissolves democracy and takes over as dictator. Nationalises industries, promotes anti-communism. Calls himself ‘Fuhrer’. August 2, 1934.
5. France allows Hitler free hand in Ethiopia in order to befriend Germany. Hitler subsequently begins rearming campaign and introduces conscription. France, UK and Italy, alarmed, form the Stresa Front to defend against offensives. Russia concludes a treaty of mutual assistance with France. Early 1935.
6. League of Nations’ bureaucracy delays approval of Franco-Soviet pact. UK steps in and signs naval agreement plan with Russia. USA passes Neutrality Act. Mid 1935.
7. Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italy invades Ethiopia under Benito Mussolini. Germany backs Italy’s action; Italy, in return, revokes objections to Germany making Austria a satellite state. October 1935.
8. Germany invades, later annexes, Austria, provoking little or no reaction from other states. Encouraged, Hitler lays claim to Sudetenland which comprises a part of Czechoslovakia. France, UK concede territory against promise of German ceasefire. March, 1938.
9. Japanese forces capture Nanjing, then capital of China. Chinese forces flood Yellow River to stall Japanese advancement and prepare defence at Wuhan. Wuhan falls by October. Mid-late 1938.
10. Germany annexes Rhineland in direct violation of Treaties of Versailles and Locarno. Spanish Civil War breaks out; Hitler and Mussolini support General Francisco Franco’s nationalist forces, which eventually win. Early 1939.
11. Hitler makes demands on Danzig, Poland. Franco-British pact guarantees Polish freedom. Italy invades Albania; freedom guarantee extended to Romania, Greece. April, 1939.
12. Germany and Italy unite to form Rome-Berlin Axis; Germany and Japan sign Anti-Comintern Pact against the Soviet Union, which Italy later joins. Chinese Kuomintang and Communist forces declare ceasefire to present joint front against Japan. Mid 1939.
13. Russia and Germany sign non-agression pact. Agreements include a secret protocol to split rest of Europe into two separate spheres of influence. August, 1939.
14. Hitler invades Poland. World War  breaks out. France, UK and Commonwealth nations declare war on Germany. Japan attacks stragically-important Chinese city of Changsha. Poland is defeated, though it doesn’t surrender, and is split up between Germany, Soviet Union, Lithuania and Slovakia. September-October, 1939.
15. Soviet forces invade Baltic States after signing armistice with Japan, wage the four-month Winter War against Finland. Finland loses with concessions. UK, France consider Soivet’s attack a breach of promise and expel it from League of Nations. China, with the power of veto, abstains from vote in fear of alienation from Western states. Angered, Russia suspends military aid to China, at the same time completing invasion of the Baltic States. Late 1939 – Early 1940.
16. German-Soviet Commercial Agreement signed: Germany provides military support to Russia in exchange for raw materials to circumvent British blockade. Hitler invades Denmark, which capitulates. Two months later, Hitler annexes Norway also despite Allied support, securing large quantities of iron ore. Norway Debate in UK results in PM Neville Chamberlain being replaced by Winston Churchill. Upto May 1940.
17. Germany invades France, Netherlands and Belgium. Latter two run down by blitzkrieg tactics in two weeks. Maginot Line, strongest French line of defence against armored vehicles, is defeated by flanking movement across the Ardennes. May-June, 1940. 
18. Italy declares war on France, UK. Begins piercing into French territory along with Germany. France falls in 12 days. British troops depart from Dunkirk, leaving all heavy equipment behind. USA significantly increases size of US Navy. June 22, 1940.
19. France divided into German and Italian occupation zones; small rump survives under the Vichy regime. British attack small French fleet in Algeria to prevent possible seizure by Germany. July 14, 1940.
20. Germany takes over French ports, beginning naval and air superiority campaign over UK. Air campaign fails, compensated by successive victories on water against over-stretched Royal Navy. Italy begins advancement into Malta, British Somaliland and Egypt. Siege of Malta begins. Japan attacks French Indochina, capturing several bases. Mid-late 1940.
21. USA embargoes iron, steel and mechanical parts to Japan; agrees to trade American destroyers in exchange for British bases. Germany, Italy and Japan sign Tripartite Pact, declaring that any country (excl. Russia) that attacked either of the three would be at war with all three. German-Soviet Border Agreement is signed: Russia is partially included into Tripartite Pact with commercial favours for Germany. September, 1940.
22. Tripartite Pact expands with the inclusion of Hungary and Slovakia. Romania joins later to oppose the Soviet Union under the wishes of Ion Antonescu (its leader), primarily to battle Communism. November, 1940.
23. USA effects Lend-Lease Policy, begins $700 billion (2007 equivalent) transfer of war materials to UK, Soviet Union, France and China in exchange for access to military bases. Creation of US security zone spanning half the Atlantic to protect British convoys. German U-boats face off against US naval forces. March-October, 1941.
24. Italy invades Greece, pushed back to Albania in a few days. Shortly after, British Commonwealth forces launch offensives against Egypt, push back Italian forces to Libya. Churchill initiates Operation Lustre: Commonwealth troops are dispatched from Africa to bolster Greece. Royal Navy sinks three Italian battleships and several other warships at Taranto and Cape Matapan. October, 1940 – January, 1941.
25. Hitler launches Operation Sunflower: German troops are diverted to Libya to assist Italy. Commonwealth forces are soon pushed back to Egypt. British counteroffensives in May and June fail. German land troops capture Yugoslavia; paratroopers force Allies to evacuate Greek island of Crete.  February-May, 1941.
26. First Anglo-Iraqi War breaks out. British Commonwealth forces quash Iraqi coup and defeat German forces therein. With assistance of the Free French, invade Syria and Lebanon, crushing a German base in the former. Allied navy sinks German flagship Bismarck. Royal Air Force thwarts Luftwaffe bombing campaing. Upto May 11, 1941. 
27. Japan attempts to capitalise on Germany’s success in Europe, demand oil supply from Dutch East Indies. Talks fail, prompting Japan to capture southern Indochina. Move has two outcomes: China’s trade routes are blocked, and Japan is in position to attack Dutch, British and American territories. May-June, 1941.
28. Germany launches Operation Barbarossa, history’s largest military operation in terms of manpower and area traversed, against Russia. Hitler begins to amass massive hosts of troops and tanks along the 2,800 km border; Russian supreme command, Stavka, assumes defensive stance. German 2nd Panzer Group begins moving toward Eastern Ukraine and Leningrad, defeating 4 Soviet Armies on the way; Kiev captured in a few weeks. June 22, 1941.
29. USA, which supplied 80% of Japan’s oil, enforces a full embargo, compelling Japan to choose between supply of resources from the West or advancing further in Southeast Asia. Choosing the latter, Japan begins incursions against a string of SE Asian territories, causing Allied forces to become more dispersed and weaker. Decision also allowed Japan to exploit natural resources in the region. To prevent American intervention, attack on Pearl Harbor is suggested. July, 1941.
30. Depletion of natural resources forces Russia to sign Anglo-Russian Pact with Britain; shortly after, they jointly invade Iran and capture the Persian Corridor along with the oil fields. July 12, 1941 and after.
31. UK and USA jointly issue the Atlantic Charter – blueprints for the world after WWII. Includes the formation of UN. Represents the ‘changing of guard’ for WWII from UK to USA. August 14, 1941.
32. With only Leningrad and Sevastopol resisting Op. Barbarossa, Hitler orders German troops to begin march towards Moscow. Journey lasts two months; once troops reach outer suburbs, exhaustion causes standstill. World War II’s blitzkrieg era ends. Op. Barbarossa is declared a failure after Russia continues to hold Moscow, Leningrad and Sevastopol. October, 1941.
33. Commonwealth forces launch offensive in North Africa, drive back all intruders. Proceed towards complete reclamation. November, 1941.
34. Soviety troops acheive numerical parity with Axis forces; Military Reserve Forces are created and mobilised against German forces along 1000 km stretch beginning from Ukraine, pushing hostile units upto 250 km west within days. Russian spy, Richard “Ramsay” Sorge, enables Soviets to gain upper hand against battles with Japan. December, 1941.
35. Japan launches two surprise attacks simultaneously by attacking American naval base Pearl Harbor and instigating the Battle of Malaya. USA forms alliances with UK, France, Soviet Union and China. Declaration of UN affirms Atlantic Charter, which the Soviet Union denies to adhere to citing neutral agreements with Japan. UK declares war on Germany. China launches the Second Sino-Japanese War. January, 1942.
36. Japan almost fully conquers Burma, Philippines, Malaya, Dutch East Indies and Singapore, with continuing campaigns in South China Sea, Java Sea and the Indian Ocean; successful bombing of Australian port of Darwin leaves them overconfident. Chinese Communist forces renew attacks against Japan in Changsha, pushing them further back. German Kriegsmarine (U-boat arm) launches Operation Second Happy Time, sinking valuable American resources off the Atlantic coast. January – April, 1942.
37. With the USA in the war, Japan launches Operation Mo (WWII’s first amphibious assault) to capture Port Moresby in order to sever communication and supply lines between USA and Australia. Americans intercept messaging signals and foil plan; consequently, Tokya is bombed by American battle carriers. UK attacks Vichy-controlled Madagascar to secure foothold off African shore. May, 1942.
38. Germany wins Battle of Kerch Peninsula and Second Battle of Kharkov; Hitler launches Case Blue: offensives against southern Russia to seize the Caucasian oil fields. Axis forces in North Africa fight Commonwealth forces in Battle of Gazala, Libya; Common forces are pushed back to Egypt, where a stalemate occurs in the First Battle of El Alamein. June, 1942.
39. Japan plans to seize Midway Atoll, yet unaware of Americans having broken their signal codes successfully. Japanese forces are sent to the Aleutian Islands to distract American battle carriers, which could later be lured into the atoll for an ambush. Americans disrupt the plans; rout the Imperial Japanese Navy at Battle of Midway. June, 1942. 
40. Battle of Midway defeat forces Japan to consider terrestrial campaign via Territory of Papua to capture Port Moresby. USA initiates a parallel race towards Rabaul, Japan’s primary military base in SE Asia, via the island of Guadalcanal. July, 1942.
41. Axis forces are finally subdued in Egypt at Battle of Alam El Halfa. Roosevelt and Churchill launch Operation Pedestal to bring desperately needed food supplies to besieged Malta. August 9-15, 1942.
42. American and Canadian commandos begin raiding strategic targets in Europe and N Africa, culminating in the disastrous Dieppe Raid (Operation Jubilee) with a decisive German victory. August 19, 1942.
43. Americans reach Guadalcanal before Japan traverses Papua; quest of Port Moresby is abandoned in favour of Guadalcanal Campaign. Japanese troops in Northern Guinea begin retreat towards Guadalcanal when they are intercepted by Australian and American forces in the Oro Province. Battle of Buna-Gona ensues. Late 1942.
44. Allies dislodge Axis forces at Second Battle of El Alamein, begin to drive them west across Libya. October 23 – November 5, 1942.
45. Operation Torch (Anglo-American invasion of French North Africa) is launched by UK and USA. 107,000 troops land in and around coastal Algiers to free N African states, which join the Allies. November 8-10, 1943.
46. Russian armies intercept advancing German, Italian, Romanian and Hungarian units at Stalingrad; launches Operations Mars and Uranus. Mars, an attack on the Rzhev salient in Moscow, fails miserably. Uranus, on the other hand, obliviates the besiegers of Stalingrad by encirculation of enemy troops. November, 1942 – February, 1943.
47. Japan is defeated in SE Asia, and Rabaul is captured by the Americans. Emperor Hirohito commences Operation Ke, the systematic withdrawal of Japanese troops. January, 1943. 
48. Germany joins the Third Battle of Kharkov after Russian forces begin to taper. Front-line salient created by German troops around city of Kursk. Mid-February, 1943.
49. Commonwealth forces in Burma launch Operation Longcloth. The 77th Indian Infantry Brigade, under Brigadier Orde Wingate, penetrate Japanese forces, disrupting rear enemy lines. February-April, 1943.
50. USA, following overwhelming victory at the Battle of Guadalcanal, set off two campaigns: the first to free Aleutians and fortify Rabaul by capturing the surrounding the islands (Operation Cartwheel), and to break off the Japanese Central Pacific perimeter at the Gilbert and Marshall islands (Gilbert and Marshall Islands Campaign). May, 1943.
51. Hitler, in retaliation of Operation Torch, orders German invasion of Vichy France. Vichy rulers scuttle their fleets at Toulon, causing German forces to be pincered into Tunisia. Tunisia overrun by Allied forces. Upto May, 1943.
52. Allied invasion of Sicily begins. Public dissatisfaction with Mussolini’s performance results in his ousting and arrest. Germany prepares for the Battle of Kursk, anticipated by Hitler to span a few months. July, 1943.
53. Allied invasion of Italy begins. 8 days into the invasion, Italy surrenders, signing an armistice with the Allied forces. Germany responds by disarming Italian forces, sezing military control of Italian areas and setting up a series of defensive lines. German Special Forces rescure Benito Mussolini as part of the Gran Sasso raid (Operation Eiche), who sets up the Italian Social Republic in German-occupied Italy. September 1-12, 1943. 
54. Roosevelt and Churchill meet Chiang Kai-shek at the Cairo Conference and Stalin at the Tehran Conference. Post-war territorial surrenders are agreed upon. Stalin agrees to invade Japan within three days of Germany’s defeat to be brought about by Allied forces. November, 1943. 
55. Soviet forces end the siege of Leningrad (the longest and most lethal in history), and continue offensives which ultimately end at the Battle of Narva, Estonia. Germany is aided by Estonian forces looking to restore the exiled Estonian government. Residually, Soviet operations in the Baltic Sea region are halted. January, 1944.
56. USA, UK and Canada launch Operation Shingle and the Battle of Monte Cassino simultaneously. Op. Shingle involves amphibious landings of troops at Anzio and Nettuno (both in Italy) to provoke Battle of Anzio. German divisions are forced to retreat, after which Rome is captured (June 10). January – June, 1944.
57. USA launches Operation Hailstone to capture Caroline Islands, a pre-war territory of Japan. US Navy faces the Japanese Navy and Air Force at naval base at Truk. Offensive lasts 2 days, ending with decisive American victory; US forces proceed to release Western New Guinea from Japanese hold. February 17-18, 1944.
58. Japan launches Operation U-Go, set to besiege Commonwealth positions in Imphal and Kohima (Assam, India), and Operation Ichi-Go to destroy all Chinese fighting forces, establish rail-links between Japanese held territories and secure American airfields. USA successfully executes Operation Cartwheel and the Gilbert and Marshall Islands Campaign. March, 1944.
59. Black May in the Atlantic: Allied navy annihilates the threat of German Kriegsmarine U-boats by systematically sinking 43 units at the cost of 19. General Karl Donitz withdraws campaign. May, 1944.
60. Japan conquers Henan province, China, and instigates Battle of Changsha in Hunan province. June, 1944.
61. Americans launch the Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign, pushing back the Japanese perimeter till the Philippine Sea, where Japanese forces are defeated. Subsequently, Japanese PM Tojo resigns. Americans secure air bases to launch intensive heavy bomber attacks against Japanese home islands. American forces invade Filipino island of Leyte, leading to history’s largest naval battle, the Battle of Leyte Gulf. June-October, 1944. 
62. Soviets launch Operation Bagration in Belarus; Germany Army Group Centre is almost obliterated. Additionally, Soviets also launch Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive to force German troops from Western Ukraine and Eastern Poland. June 22, 1944.
63. Allied Invasion of Normandy (known as D-Day, June 6) commences. Northern France is taken first, and after reassigning Allied units from Italy, Southern France. The Falaise Pocket, consisting of several German units, is defeated. Paris is liberated (August 25). China repulses Japanese attacks, reclaims Changsha and Hengyang. June-August, 1944. 
64. Germany begins Battle of Kursk; dense Russian fortification exhausts German forces, resulting in a slowdown. Soviets mount massive counteroffensive, pushing invading forces well into Romania, culminating in the Battle of Targul Frumos. July, 1944.
65. Armia Krajowa (Polish Home Army) plans uprisings in Poland, drawing support from the advancing Red Army. Two uprisings remain notable: the Warsaw Uprising in the north and the Slovakian Uprising in the south. August 1, 1944.
66. Soviets launch the Jassy-Kishinev Offensive to cut-off and destroy German troops in Romania and Bulgaria, triggering off a successful coup d’etat in Romania and King Michael’s coup in Bulgaria. Both countries then shift to the Allied side. August 20-29, 1944. 
67. Red Army troops advance into Yugoslavia, Albania and Grece, forcing the withdrawal of German Army Groups E and F. Communist Yugoslav Partisans in the south, led by Marshal Josip Broz Tito, assist in delaying the German war effort. September, 1944.
68. UK, USA, Poland, Dutch Resistance and Canada launch Operation Market Garden, a critical failure due to inability of British forces to secure the bridge at Arnheim. Subsequently, Northern Netherlands doesn’t receive food supplies during the Hunger Winter, resulting in more than 10,000 deaths. September 17-25, 1944.
69. The Continuation War (from June 25, 1941) between Finnish resistance forces and Russian troops prevents Russia’s annexation of Finland. Ceasefire is agreed upon; Russia signs an armistice on mild conditions. Finland shifts to Allied camp. Upto September 19, 1944.
70. Soviets launch the Belgrade Offensive in Northern Siberia to liberate Belgrade and its capital city, with a little assistance from Bulgarian forces. October 20, 1944.
71. The Red Army initiates the Budapest Offensive to liberate Hungary. Germany, simultaneously, launches Operation Panzerfaust to prevent Hungary’s defection from the Axis camp as well as to protect Germany’s southern flank. The Battle of Budapest ensues; Red Army scores a decisive vistory and Hungary is liberated. October 29, 1944 – February 13, 1945.
72. German troops attack across the Ardennes, a push that is repulsed by Allied troops over a period of six weeks. Soviets launch anti-German offensives from in and around Hungary. German forces driven out of Yugoslavia, Greece and Albania by Communist partisans. December 16, 1944.
73. Soviets launch Vistula-Oder Offensive and East Prussian Offensive, pushing from the Vistula to the Oder river river in Germany, and overrun East Prussia. Mid-January, 1945.
74. Yalta Conference convenes; Soviet, UK and USA leaders discuss occupation of post-war Germany and Russia’s promised invasion against Japan. February 4, 1945.
75. Allied forces enter Western Germany and halt at the Rhine river. Russia launches East Pomeranian and Silesian Offensives. Allies cross Rhine from north and south of the Ruhr, encircling German forces in the Ruhr Pocket. Russian forces near Vienna. Acting together, Allied forces push forward in Italy (the Spring Offensive) and Soviet troops storm Berlin (the Battle of Berlin). The two forces link up on the Elbe river (April 25). February-April, 1945.
76. Leadership changes: April 12, FDR succeeded by Harry Truman; April 28, Mussolini killed by Italian partisans; April 30, Hitler commits suicide, succeeded by Grand Admiral Karl Donitz.
77. Surrender of forces: April 29, German forces in Italy; May 7, German forces in Western Europe; May 8, German forces in Eastern front (to Soviets); May 11, German forces in Prague.
78. Allied forces continue their advancements in the Pacific theatre, pushing back Japanese forces up to Burma; Commonwealth forces stationed there rout them. American forces launch multiple air raids over Japan and cut off imports. Upto June, 1945.
79. UK general elections held. Clement Attlee replaces Winston Churchill as PM. July 5, 1945.
80. Potsdam Conference is held in Potsdam, Germany. Previous agreements are are reconfirmed. Unconditional Japanese surrender is asked for, providing them with the alternative of “prompt and utter destruction”. July 11, 1945.
81. Japan rejects terms of the Potsdam Agreement. USA, under leadership of Harry Truman, drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrenders. August, 1945.

World War II ended thus (and not so short after all!).

Probably, the next week end, I’ll put up a guide for the Cold War. Till then, enjoy!

The 2.0 Experience

Web 2.0 has come to revolutionise information exchange today like no other service has, and it has done so by only facilitating two-way interaction: more than anything, this idea has made people feel welcome into the many decision making processes around the globe. The sense of belonging at more and more events and in more and more houses has accentuated the feeling that we are truly part of a bigger world, a world that can still afford to stop whatever it is doing and give us a hear. With Web 1.0, all of this was never possible. All that the internet user could expect was what the creator of the websites had to offer. No changes could be made, no changes could be personally effected. The internet, till then, remained something of a marketplace where those who were looking for anything at all had to make do with what was already there. The touch of personableness that could set off improvement, and therefore evolution of the system as a whole, was disallowed not by preference, but by choice. With the advent of JAVA and AJAX, and simultaneously the concept of open sourcing, Web 1.0 had the option of staying behind and getting modified into a better experience – but if that happened, it owuldn’t be Web 1.0 after all. More than being just a technical and architectural upgradation, Web 2.0 is the birth of a newer experience. When I first heard the term from a friend of mine here in college, I surmised – partially correctly – that it would have to do with the way everything was created. You must have worked with both HTML pages as well as… well, those which invited greater participation. When I came across them, I thought that developers had finally woken up to a newer way to build things. It turns out, the web revolution that began then inspired builders to not only improvise, but also think of everything up from scratch. In deciding to leave behind convention as it stood then, newer boundaries were defined – boundaries that continue to be pushed today to accomodate fresher ideas. The touch of personableness that Web 1.0 denied was the turning point. In permitting the user to walk into the web space as an individual, the creators also ingeniously permitted the walking in of newer ideas. From being a marketplace where the stalls were already up, the world we see online today is as much a subconscious realisation of our own ideas as it is a central location to facilitate the manufacturing of those ideas. The stale uniformity that pervaded the internet was replaced by personality, and going online to do something evolved into going online and meeting people. Now, that’s what I’d call a revolution.

Could there be a Web 3.0? It is possible. Although it is hard to say whether people will tire of the 2.0 experience too, a 3.0 experience will be awaited because you and me will always be curious as to know what it feels like it. Co-founder of the Web 2.0 Conference, Tim O’Reilly, has made a list of five websites (Google Voice Search on iPhone, Gracenote’s CDDB, AMEE Smart Grid, NASA/CISCO Planetary Skin, IBM Smarter Planet) that point to something past the 2.0 experience. The one common attribute of the above apps are that they all involve the use of sensors. Although we know today the comfort of using a keyboard and mouse to navigate through our digital workspaces, they could very well be expelled in the future in favour of sensors behaving as transducers between thoughts and gestures on the one hand, and intentions and desires on the other. Just like the need to stand out catapulted into the 2.0 experience, the need to get smarter could catapult into the 3.0 one. The web is no longer a separate entity as it used to be: we have fed it with enough of ourselves to not call it one among us. Just as humanity progresses, so should the web. Even if we don’t choose to facilitate this evolution, it will have to happen. Our only limit is our imagination.

What people need to know

I just realised the people of this world – at least those who spend a considerable time of their days online – always want to know of, hear and see only specific things. During a specific time of the day, it has to be good news, during another part of the day, it has to be bad news so they can sit down and plan out how to tackle it, and during the rest of the day, they believe they should be allowed to just ramble on – while some hope in their heart of hearts that someone is listening or perhaps, better, waiting to pay them. This is a big world we’re in. Up to yesterday, history existed. Today, history is dead. Our lives are saturated with the present, the now, to an extent that lingering on to the ease of yesterday will only serve to slowly drag us into the plunges of mediocrity and, worse yet, the subconscious desire we begin to harbour for it just so it becomes easier for us to survive. We have to begin to learn, and instill in ourselves, that a fight is all it takes, and only a fight will give us what we need. Survival is out of the question; if there is anything that we have learnt in 4,000 years, it is the art of survival. Anybody with a beating heart and two or more limbs can survivce. It is the living that should concern us. How are we going to going to see the light of a happy day, a day when we will no longer be waiting for a pay check to register at the bank, or a day when we will no longer be anxious about the rise and fall of economies? How we are going to be independent of that is what will make the ultimate difference, and this difference in itself will not stand to be our success or our failure. It will only be the door to another opportunity which does not have us looking back.

 

Stuck in yesterday?

Can you give another person what he or she needs to know to make such a thing happen for himself or herself? Do you think you have the information necessary to enable you to have deserved the money you are hoping you will be paid? People need to know all kinds of things. They need to know everything from how to live their own lives to how to get a rat family out of their garage. All of us are born with an equal number of opportunities lingering in the air, but the situations which we are brought up through will only enable us to reach for a few of them. All the other chances will be made available to someone else, and there is nothing you can about that. What you will have, others won’t, and what others will have, you won’t. If you are ready to understand these differences, you will survive. If you can make use of these differences, you will live. People no longer need to wait to be heard. There is the internet, there is the radio, there is the television, there is the telephone. There are newspapers, and there are people. What you tell your friends will eventually jump from ear to ear and reach a thousand people, in the form of an opinion, a judgment or in action. Eventually, ideas will spread. You will never be alone even if you want to be, and if you are, you will be noticed. The world can no longer tolerate silence. Someone or the other will always rue the day he or she let an opportunity slip by unnoticed. Even if you deliberately tried to restore the opportunity to the person due it, you can not. It is not that people are bad, or it is not that civilisation has only served to deteriorate human minds. It’s just who we are. Accept it.

 

Sometimes, we wish we could just flip the buttons on an imaginary remote, have everything problematic disappear into thin air, just so we could spend an evening in the comfort of our homes with a cold beer for our throats and some Sylvester Stallone-ian action for our eyes. We feel the weight of our years hang down on our shoulders, and the work of the spent day cloud our thoughts and desires. We wish to be in a free world, a world that didn’t worry about money or cars, that didn’t worry about how much noise the neighbours were making or the price of the new car they had just purchased, that didn’t worry about how much weight the people around them had lost or the predictable crash of the stock markets. We wish to be in a world that only worried about boob jobs and the Oscars, about the bottomless bottles of beer and the toothbrush flavours we dreamt of. You should know that such a world does exist, and it is not beyond our grasp. In fact, I can tell you where it does, too: in your head. You can come to live that life when you are ready to pay the price the people around you have set for it, and only when you can pay it without regrets. We are part of a larger world that will continue to exist even though we may choose to deny it, staying encumbered within the four walls that comfort us oh so much. I say why not build those four walls around the world itself? As much as all of this is so materialistic, one will have to accept it because it is the truth which ever way you think of it. It is inescapable, undeniable, even incorrigible at times. But for that matter, don’t give up. You will belong somewhere. 

iPhone Nano: is it a joke?

Whispers of Apple’s new prospective product, the iPhone Nano, are fast circulating the web worlds, and Apple’s existing customers are quite surprised by a few of the images of the new product. The iPhone Nano seems to be a scaled down version of its larger predecessor – and literally that. Smaller screen, smaller hold (which could also effectively downsize the experience of having an iPhone in your hand), smaller buttons, smaller everything. The rumor set off after two Taiwanese companies (TSMC, UMC) were set to export chipsets for the phone; also, XSKN, the official case-maker for the iPhone, has been believed to be manufacturing a protective counterpart for the Nano. In the wake of this surprise, Apple has officially quashed the information as false.

DigiTimes has reported that the earliest possible release of the Nano will be in June of this year. Here are some images of the phone; I, for one, don’t know if they’re real or doctored. The phone is a tad too small to be anything more than a pager. But then, given that it’s Apple, anything is possible. Only time will tell. 

Growing Up With A Philosophy

(Just play the music and read this post. What I’ve written has nothing to do with the ad!)

People are always thinking about something or the other irrespective of whether what they are thinking about has any use for them. And thinking is never wrong – people will always be worried about somethings that they cannot comprehend, sense or expect. And they will need to figure out for themselves whether the decisions they will be making are right, wrong or justified. However, something that could be wrong is enforcing your ideas on someone else.

For example, when among a group of people, someone, say ‘Mike’, thinks of something right and good for all of them to do together as part of an objective that they’ve all been set. If Mike is able to convince himself that what he thinks is right, he will also begin to believe that those around him can be convinced as well. When everyone conforms to the same idea and expectations, Mike will feel as though he has a security blanket of sorts around him: since everyone’s behaviour can now be predicted as all of them are working towards the same goal, the uncertainties are eliminated in the possibilities that might crop up. And that is the blanket people will always like, the blanket of changelessness, the blanket that resists all entropy. As much as I say these things again and again, I’m not fond of change either. Change disrupts the balance we’ve all worked so hard to set up. Change portends growth, but change also bodes aging. Like the kid says in ‘The Last King Of Scotland‘, being afraid of death doesn’t have to mean cowardice: it could also mean you’re afraid of giving up a life you’ve worked so hard for.

Let’s get back to the point. That’s what control is all about: being able to predict, being able to stand comfortably in the face of a crisis. And that is why people think, and that is why people enforce. Objectively thinking, they cannot be blamed for it because it is an inherent component of humaneness. I’m sure even I would behave like that, but I’m also sure the person at the receiving end of it all won’t feel nice about it. People resisting such enforcement could be because of either of two possibilities: 1. they want their own ideas to be as dominating, or 2. they don’t want to be the people who seem capable of giving others second chances all the time. For, as much as they are giving their best to make their lives seem wholesome, adopting someone else‘s ideas makes them feel as though someone else is getting an unfair chance to live his or her life a second time through the decisions made by them but not influenced by them.

Growing up with a philosophy is something similar. Instead of learning for oneself about the different aspects of one’s life through experiences alone – the best teachers – some, like me, have grown to accept some things for what they are. I take some principles for granted, those principles that others around me would have learnt by experience. My behaviour will be different. And I will stand out not just because of the difference: I will also stand out because that difference became conspicuous in me earlier or later in life than those other people. And that is what makes philosophy an undesirable (rather, unconventional?) part of a person growing into his adult years. Twenty years down the line, I’m sure all us 20 year-olds will be similarly thinking people, but the path to that point is what makes the difference more than anything else. Makes a difference in what? A difference observed in the deductions made from similar phenomena: I will think like you, but I won’t decide the same things as you.

I don’t know if growing up with a philosophy is good or not. I don’t know if philosophical concepts themselves are to be inculcated through experiences. That is something weird about them, I would say. Philosophy is like the mind in that the mind can be perceived to exist if and only if the mind itself exists. It is the only element that understands and recognises itself. Philosophies may dictate or explain the behaviour of everything in the universe, but what dictates the future of a philosophy itself is a mystery. Only if something happens can a philosophy rear its head. It cannot exist in inaction. And if one were to face this fact earlier in life, taking to a philosophy only seems more meaningful. In all the decisions that we come to make, none seem more precarious than the ones about which we have no information. If I can convince myself that, say, existential nihilism is the path of today’s society, then no decision is as precarious any more: I have information, I have predictability, I have an edge. And that is the goal of thought: it is not to explain, but to justify.

Politicised Information

Information is nothing but the lingual interpretation of an event, the interpretation being performed in order to transmit and convey it to people who are unaware of the occurence of it. The information we assess and digest everyday is proportional as well as dependent on the ideals of the local government, which governs the information that it thinks its people need to come into contact with, and the ideas and opinions of the people around us that constitute the populace in general. With a democratic government ruling the central aspects of the Indian economy, finance, industry, society and other aspects of living and development, the interests of each individual vested in it demands productive work day in and day out. On the other hand, the ruling government, to carry out its wishes, needs people other than those who control its functions to fall in line with their solutions. Due to the embedding of this fundamental rule, as it were, in the roots of the structure of every democratic state, information can only play a greater role in the lives of the people of the state every day. The conveyance of this information happens through the media, viz. print, audio, and audiovisual. The print media includes newspapers, magazines, newsletters, articles, essays, stories and others; the audio media includes, prominently, radio channels; video comprises of information delivered via telebroadcasting, movies, etc. The radio and the television are two modern techniques that have stolen the limelight of sorts from the print media. Owing to advancements in technology, of these two, the audiovisual media is growing steadily as well as quickly, borrowing from the inherently faster conveyance of data, the greater accessibility, and, with the incorporation of a sense of personality, the notion of originality and being specific to a given set of peoples with respect to their ethnicity involved is also born. Therefore, keeping in mind the importance of such a medium, its regulation has to be handled with care and finesse in order to get across your message while maintaining the original intensity of the purpose and the frequency of conveying it. But in a large, immensely populous, and democratic nation like India, apart from the already very many number of television channels, there are many more being operated by political parties. Although this does not constitute any violation of any rule for that matter, using the medium as a method of propaganda is not something I would suggest. You can not initiate and run programs just because it’s there for you to. In a way, it violates the right to information. How? Information is only when it is factual and wholly interpretative in a neutral manner. When you tamper and mess with it in order to get across a message that has been interpreted in a biased manner, it is a misrepresentation of the event that has occurred. You are now putting specific ideas in the minds of the people, ideas that can invraiably lead only to a single conclusion. Furthermore, but in a partly trivial way, political propaganda must always begin and end during the time of elections for the local or national government, and must be nonexistant at all other times unless it is being projected via the deeds of those elected to office. Telebroadcasting can not be considered as a deed because it is propaganda itself, and parties that use this as a tool to brainwash the plebian and proletarian population in their favour is wrong. You will notice that now, with everyone around you being highly opinionated about some political party or the other, the ability to think freely and objectively will be on the decline. When you have politicians who assume office and power by abolishing the birthright to make decisions for yourself, you can never live sans a prejudice in your life.