Two articles today in WSJ and FiTi show an unpected link between geo-technology and geo-politics: One reviews the explosives sniffing technology invented by geologist Anthony Barringer for global mineral exploration -- like copper, luxury metals and oil -- but which came to have more practical utility in the antiterrorist market (the company's stock is rocketing). Even so, its best use may prove to be in discovering petroleum and other wealth of the earth. As this tech becomes more widespread, Shell has good reason to encrypt its geological logs and steganographize its governmental bribes. And, a column reviews the tie between nationalist conflicts (markets for cheap explosives) and the invention of modern states (markets for expensive munitions). How the citizenry of modern nations are united by "the need for context-free communication" that was once limited to the members of the "high culture" of pre-modern communities. And how the nationalist citizenry are adopting the cheap versions of expensive munitions of the states' high culture to get their overdue share of the earth's pie. It explores the geopolitical differences among: Ethnic community Ethnic category Nation Nation-state Nationalism ----- http://jya.com/geopol.txt GEO_pol