This is a speculative essay and not a factual essay. It projects into the future and explores some potential scenarios. I live in Hawaii . The US projects power in the Pacific from Hawaii and Guam . If there is a war with China or North Korea , Hawaii is a prime target. So, this is obviously of concern to me. I will focus on China here. These days, my interest in China is only as a source of threat to Hawaii. BACKGROUND ON OTHER INTERNATIONAL TOPICS: I had written some narrow essays on Israel and Ukraine . I had not really written an essay on the larger geopolitical landscape. However, I briefly touched on it in one essay. Here it is: https://jaykasi.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-five-key-challenges-for-us-in-future.html I also wrote about the rule based world order . Here is the essay on rule based world order:  https://jaykasi.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-rule-based-world-order.html Here is the Israel essay: https://jaykasi.blogspot.com/2024/08/my-views-on-context-of-israel-hamas-w...

I had written this some time back. I decided to update it to today and post.  I don't put much stock on historical claims on any territory or sovereignty anywhere. How far do you go back in time? If you go back far enough, do animals own the whole world? Do American Indians own all of America? Do the British and French and Spanish own all of America? Is Bangladesh really part of Pakistan? If you use this argument, every border and every sovereignty claim in the world would be disputed and the whole world would descend into chaos and strife and ultimately annihilation.   The only reasonable way to look at it in my view, is with a more modern lens on what the UN and most of the countries recognize as a sovereign state in recent times. Also factored in is the current sovereignty landscape and military strength to back it up, and the desires of the people in the region. Israel is a sovereign state by every single metric of these criteria.  It deserves to live in peace ...

Few studies had been conducted on a through genetic analysis of Indians in the Indian subcontinent. Global genetic sequencing efforts have largely ignored India. Recently, University of California, Berkley undertook such a study and has interesting results.  South Asia is home to one of the world's most diversified populations where around 1.5 billion people, a mash-up of many ethnic identities, languages, religions, castes, and customs reside.  The scientists  have now revealed a thorough analysis of this population's evolutionary history. The team sequenced over 2700 modern Indian genomes using data from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India–Diagnostic Assessment of Dementia (LASI-DAD). These genomes included speakers of nearly every major language group, individuals from all tribes and castes, people from nearly every geographic region, and included both rural and suburban individuals.  The researchers concluded that three ancestral populations make up the ...

This is a completely factual essay. This essay was created from multiple public sources on the web. You have to be familiar with geography to understand the full context.  1. The long arc of Islamic empires After the Prophet Muhammad died in 632 CE, the early caliphates expanded rapidly under the Rashidun (632–661 CE). Over the next 1,200 years, numerous Islamic empires rose and fell across: North Africa The Middle East West and Central Asia India Parts of Eastern Europe Southeast Asia (including Indonesia) This period included the Islamic Golden Age , marked by major advances in science, mathematics, medicine, philosophy, and trade. The last of these great Islamic empires to fall was the Ottoman Empire , which collapsed in 1922. 2. Origins and rise of the Ottoman Empire The Ottomans began as Turkish tribes in Anatolia (Asia Minor) in the 13th century. They expanded by: absorbing the declining Byzantine Empire taking advantage...

This essay is a continuation of the essay on globalism part I. This essay focuses on institutions, rules and markets that glue the world together and without it, globalism would not be possible. Many of them also form the backbone of the rules based global order that came together after World War II.  The hard work of gluing together the world happens quietly in many global organizations that the general public may not know much about. These organizations have real teeth. While high profile forums like G7, G20, BRIC, APEC, QUAD, ASEAN, COP, Partners in the blue pacific (PBP), Global South, and Davos world economic forum are more prominent in the news, these forums are more coordination/strategy/talk shops of groupings of countries or special interest groups than institutions with real teeth. But agreements reached in a forum may be allocated resources by countries so they can have a significant impact. I will ignore these institutions here.   The internet  is a highly...

1. What “history” means to me When I say “history,” I’m referring to the story of states — how they formed, governed, expanded, interacted, and declined. This includes key rulers, ministers, and political structures. Cultural, linguistic, and religious influences are different: they diffuse , cross borders, and evolve organically. They matter, but they are not the same as state‑centric political history. For this essay, I stick to the traditional, state‑based view. 2. My lens: Southern India My perspective is unapologetically South‑India‑focused . I was taught almost nothing about southern history in school; what I know, I learned on my own. My mother is from Tamil Nadu/Kerala, my father from Karnataka — so naturally, the history of the Deccan and deep south resonates more with me. I do not think of “India” as a single unit in ancient times. The modern nation-state did not exist then. The dynasties and empires that interest me most include: Cholas (Tamil Nadu) ...

  A key reference is Professor Ramon P. DeGennaro of the Univ of Texas at Knoxville.  This essay is on globalism. It will only refer to nationalism/national policy as a reaction to and interaction with globalism. It is not an essay on nationalism/national policy.  For the first time in human history, products, services, technology, money, and information flow easily throughout most of the world. There is also a marked increase in people migrations and flow of people across borders. Cross border migrations are enhanced with globalism. Modern commerce is global. International economic organizations—the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and other bodies—play a large role in global commerce.  A physical presence (like a building) isn’t necessary for an institution to affect our freedom and prosperity, though. An institution could also be a custom or law that many people use or follow. An example is democracy. Another is pro...