There is someone behind the mirror

Beware the Baphomet!

There is someone behind the mirror in the Bathroom, I told her. She groaned irritably, believing that I was mumbling in my sleep once again. It had been a regular affair. Over the past 1 week or so, I would talk incoherently in my sleep, she would wake up, ask me to shut up and then go back to sleep. But every other day, I could feel that I was dreaming, although, I couldn't make sense of what I was dreaming. Funny, these dreams were. Sometimes, I would see myself driving blindfolded, taking sharp turns, realizing that there were near-accident situations, at other times, I would feel like I was running down a flight of stairs. My legs would bend and twitch as if I was really running down the stairs. But I could never understand what I was driving/running away from. But all that was until tonight.

I had been telling her that I was having silly dreams. We had even laughed at how the quality of my dreams was so mediocre. I had tried to go to bed with a light dinner, having read somewhere that heavy dinner before bedtime makes the sleep pattern irregular. For the last 3 days, I had been secretely reciting shlokas and mantras to help me sleep- remember how parents used to tell you to say your prayers before going to bed. But nothing had helped. I had continued to drive and run in my sleep. Every morning, I would feel exhausted- attributable obviously to the poor sleep quality. I had even started taking power naps at work, but my boss had caught me yesterday. I had told him that I was meditating.

Strangely though, I had fallen asleep as soon as I had hit the bed tonight. It was a sound sleep, just like the days of yore. And then, suddenly, the dreams began. I dreamt that I was dreaming that I was walking about the house. And the house was empty. It was pitch dark. I tried turning the lights on, but the switch did not work. Damned power cuts, I remarked. I realized that it was night and that I could hear her snoring gently in the bedroom. I thought that I had woken up and walked around in my sleep and started walking back towards the bedroom. The door of the bathroom adjacent to the bedroom was open. A strange yellow light seemed to be coming from the mirror above the wash basin. I reminded myself, Aashay, you are sleep walking and that is bad enough. You should not be dreaming while you are sleep walking. Even before I could decide what I wanted to do, I realized that I was in the bathroom. I could hear voices now. Mumbling that was too faint to comprehend. And then suddenly, it appeared, behind the miror. It was a man, a strange man at that. Seemed more like a goat standing on two feet. It looked at me and then it disappeared.... sooner than it had appeared.

And I blurted out. 'There is someone behind the mirror in the bathroom'. And she groaned. I realized I was still sleeping. I tried to turn over to her side. I couldn't move. I tried to sit up. I couldn't. I opened my eyes, and there it was. The strange Goat-man that I had just seen behind the mirror. He was standing right in front of me. His bloodshot eyes, tapered teeth, vulpine nose, furry face, pointed horns and a strange long dangling tail.  I could see him clearly. He came closer and closer to me. I could feel his breath over my face. He seemed to be radiating wrath. He was still mumbling faintly. But this time, I could make sense of what he was saying. 'Do not tread on paths where you do not belong'.

And suddenly, I felt that I was moving, writhing actually. And I could see her, trying to shake me into wakefulness. I was sweaty, my chest was heaving and my heartbeat was racing like I had actually run a mile. It was morning. And here she was, telling me, 'Wake up, Did you dream again?'

I did not dream. Not tonight. I was sure of it. It was real. The goat man was what I was running and driving away from. Without even knowing he existed, I was running away from him.It was as if my mind had wandered into another dimension and having perceived the menace wanted my body to run away.

Once night falls and darkness takes over, Once sleep takes you in its arms, strange creatures from another realm come to life. It is not meant for a man to see them or hear them. They brook no interference with their life and their realm.

So when you sleep tonight and dreams take over. Be very careful. Not all dreams are bereft of reality. And be wary of where these dreams take you.... There might just be someone behind the mirror in the bathroom.

Frozen Conflicts

The latest term to enter the spehere of geopolitical strategic thought is 'Frozen Conflicts'. One must thank
the Russians for having introduced this term to the international consciousness. With the re-integration of Crimea with Russia, aided obviously by Russian military might, the West is now carefully looking at various such territories/places that were at one time hotbeds of strife and violence, but have since then lapsed into peace and quiet, without any apparent setllement of issues that had caused the strife/violence initially. Post Soviet realms are full of such conflicts, ranging from Eastern Ukraine or Novorossiya to Transnistria on the Moldova-Ukraine border to Abkhazia and South Ossetia on the Russo-Georgian border to Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenia and Azerbaijan.

All these disputes are frozen in time. The inhabitants of these territories have forgotten the violence that they had experienced some 20 odd years ago and have now established a modus vivendi for themselves. Some like Transnistria now claim to be sovereign  and independent, while others such as Abkhazia are de facto independent.

One must dig a little deeper to understand how a frozen conflict would serve the strategic interests of a superpower. For this, let us examine the peculiar case of Russo-Georgian relations.

Georgia had been a part of the Russian empire for many years before the Bolsheviks took over. In fact, Georgia was one of the original Soviet republics as the Trans-caucasian republic when the USSR was founded in 1922.Georgia's greatest claim to fame in the USSR was that it was the homeland of Joseph Stalin- the butcher of millions of Soviet citizens. In fact, the Georgians mutinied in 1956, when Khrushchev denounced Stalin. Anyways, the invincible Soviet Union imploded in 1990 and Georgia emerged as an independent nation under for the first time that anyone to could remember. Georgia's strongman was Gorbachev's former foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze. Immediately after Georgia's independence, the northern, predominantly non-Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia rose up against Georgia and achieved de facto independence, although calm was restored with Russian intervention in the early 90s. The conflict was considered as more or less settled with no side disturbing the status quo.

In 2005, following the Rose revolution in Tbilsi, Shevardnadze was ousted and a new pro-American president, Mikhail Saakashvili was sworn into power. Saakashvili immediately made several pro-West moves including applying for NATO membership. Nationalist, as he was, Saakashvili also aimed at restoring the unity of Georgia by taking back Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russians, in the meanwhile, under the Putin-Medvedev team had turned away from the defeatist Yeltsin era and were establishing themselves as Nationalists in their own right. Citizens of both Abkhazia and South Ossetia had been granted Russian passports, essentially transforming the character of the conflict from a Georgian affair to a Russo-Georgian affair.

In 2008, Georgian attempts to reclaim the lost territories were met by Russians arming the South Ossetians and Abkhazians. In a matter of days, Russian troops poured into Georgia to counter the Georgian military offensive. Given the overwhelming military superiority of Russia, and the fact that they were supported by the Abkhazian and South Ossetian military, Georgian military was humbled in a matter of days, before the international community rushed in to mediate peace. Once again, the status quo was imposed. Once again, South Ossetia and Abkhazia were de facto independent under Russian tutelage.

International experts believe, that the 2008 South Ossetia conflict between Georgia and Russia was Russia's way of indicating its displeasure with the Rose revolution and the cosying up of Saakashvili administration with the US. Some also considered the Russian offensive as Putin's revenge for Kosovo. In a matter of days, the Russians, strategically, revived a frozen conflict, with Georgian aid no doubt and used it to their advantage to topple Saakashvili's  apple cart.

What Russia is doing now in Ukraine is no different. As Ukraine continues to edge towards the EU and NATO, Russia will up the ante, probably going so far as to threaten the existence of the Ukrainian state. All frozen conflicts are not necessarily in countries far far away. China continues to use the border dispute with India and maritime disputes with other Asian countries from time to time to its strategic advantage.

Coming back to the modern Geo-strategic thought, all conflicts need not be resolved. Some should be left in the deep freezer. God only knows when they might come in handy.