26/11

The Mumbai Terror attacks took place 11 days ago. Since then a lot has been written, a lot said, the gateway has become a national shrine and volumes of paraffin and midnight oil have been burnt in equal measure. I have been meaning to write about the attacks, so here it is, my random ramblings re what happened, what was said, what was felt and possibly what will happen.

What Happened:
The attacks, their scale, the preparation and training- both mental and physical of the attackers, the targets and timing definitely suggest that these attacks have a vision that is above and beyond any past attack has seen. This was a very high level operation, with elite personnel training handpicked 'commandos', with state of the art weapons, planning and tactics.

The intent or vision here other than to cause senseless death is to create a flashpoint in Indo-Pak relations such that troops are redeployed from the FATA areas where the Taliban wants (and needs) troops and the general (US) army presence reduced.

Enough is Enough
I will address this is 2 halves-
Why is it that this is the tipping point all of us feel- why not Godhra, why not 26/7, why not the Train blasts, why not Malegaon, Gujarat etc.?
I think this is because of the way it happened. Rahul Gandhi summed it up best- this is like someone breaks into your living room and slaps you in full view of your family, neighbours, friends etc. The others have been instances of the slap being more of a sucker punch...the blow being landed when and where one had no reason to expect. I think the 'living room slap' as it were, has been the tipping point.
Secondly since this 'enough is enough' rage has been fueled by the power of sms and the internet...there has been an outpouring of texts, blogposts, social cause groups and discussion on the internet. In fact the 20K strong candlelight vigil owes huge credit to FB and Orkut. Its one thing to get a social cause related sms, On Facebook its at another level- you see the Indian flag, and the fact that the group already has 1000 members, 100 of whom are your friends or people whom you could have a beer with.

Sure South Bombay finally has a voice because it's own were targeted. But that voice has itself being amplified because of (south mumbai's or 'rich india's access to) the internet and technology- not necessarily because of the proximity in South Mumbai to those high and mighty.



What (I think and hope) Will Happen:
I don't think we will go to war. For 2 reasons:
1. Pak troops on the Indo pak border would mean less Pak troops in the FATA. Which means more US/ UN troops would be needed to fill in the gaps caused by the deployment of troops from the FATA. Which ain't happening as the US simply cannot afford to tell it's people that they need additional time or troops in faraway lands called Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. At least in the short term. Even though Pakistan's credibility is shot amongst the global intelligentsia, the US govt.after the Bush regime's debacles in the M.E. needs time to build up a case to convince Joe Plumber/ Mechanic/ Painter etc that Pak harbours terrorists (that can and will harm the US) assuming it is serious about going after these (I think now it is).

2. I don't think we can afford a war- i.e. we could have blown away pak in 2001 or anytime since then. However, a war would allow China to gallop away with growth and increase the 'financial gap' btwn the 2 of us. pls keep in mind that a rich China means a more armed China and given our history with them we can't afford the top geo-political cards in Asia be held by China or a Chinese alliance that includes our 'neighbours'...we will be screwed.

Which ties in well with our immediate needs...the government needs to show its citizenry that it's taking steps on the matters of security, counter-terrorism, intelligence, law enforcement etc. And this is where we will co-operate with the US. Much like what happened in Indonesia after the Bali bombings, the Indian government will co-operate with the US and become a customer of training and equipment needed for the above listed initiatives. Once we make the US (and its defense contractors) dependent on our ca$h, our access to training and arms is a given.

The Media



The media reached new depths during their coverage of this- they thought it was completely okay to cover the seige blow by blow (without any delay of any sort), give away vital information to the other side, and ask the most insensitive questions. I and many others (as I realised during the week on Facebook)were so disgusted with Barkha Dutt- her choices, her questions, her insensitivity, her fake about to break into tears any second whiny monotone, that the various Barkha Dutt hategroups quicky proliferated on FB. Your's truly is the proud member and campaigned vociferously for the group 'Barkha Dutt for worst senior journalist on the planet'.




Our leaders
Insensitive Inhuman assholes.


2008 has been a year to remember. There have already been life-defining or history defining moments. Moments compared to the assassination of JFK mind you...First the Lehmann Bros and banking crash. Second the election of Obama to the White House. Now this.

Fingers Crossed. There are still 24 days to go.