[conspire] (OT) geopolitics

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Syeed Ali (syeedali at syeedali.com):

> There are land equivalents, the most interesting being neutral/Indian
> lands they walked in, had a literal club fight [1], and rapidly
> militarized as soon as they could get that foothold.

The difference being that the two skirmishes, in 2020 in Galwan Valley 
in Ladakh, and in 2021 in Naku La near Sikkim State, were both at
absurdly high altitude spots marginal at best for human life.

Naku La is at more than 5,000m (16,000ft).  The Galwan Valley fighting
(with rocks and clubs) was on ridges around 4,200m (14,000) feet.  Most
folks who actually _live_ at such elevations (in the Himalayas,
Karakoram, Andes, Tian Shan, etc.) are able to survive there because
generations of their ancestors acclimated to it.[1]

Anyway, these places don't even have _mining_, let alone agriculture.
The main reason there's even a transitory a human presence is roads 
passing through them.

The skirmishes among India, China, and Nepal in those areas owes
significantly to the half-assed job having been done (or ignored) in
prior centuries in defining and agreeing to borders.

In any case, this isn't a case of any of those three countries wishing
to grab pieces of the other, exactly.  It's more just paranoia over 
high-altitude highway construction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020–2021_China–India_skirmishes


[1] Hey, though, I'm up for a visit that vicinity, just to soak in a
natural hot springs at 4,700m.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Springs,_Chang_Chenmo_Valley