Mumbai Musings
Some heavy hitters reflect on the Mumbai Massacre:
John Robb – URBAN TAKEDOWN: MUMBAI, JOURNAL: More on Tactical Innovation, JOURNAL: Off the Shelf Leverage
Ralph Peters – Devils in Mumbai ( Hat tip Morgan)
Thomas P.M. Barnett – This attack will work against them
DNI – Implications of Mumbai
Robert Kagan – The Sovereignty Dodge (Hat Tip NYKR in DC)
On a related note, here is Shlok Vaidya’s radio interview with John Batchelor.
Pakistan is a ramshackle state whose Punjabi military elite have a remarkable talent for brazenly playing with fire, given the fragility and artificiality of their country and their previous loss of Bangladesh (West Pakistan) through genocide and military incompetence. The Pushtuns are quasi-independent, the Baluchis would like to be and the Kashmiris are loose cannons. If any regime is vulnerable to the tactic of state sponsored terrorism and granular insurgency, it’s Islamabad.
The Glittering Eye » Blog Archive » A Modest Proposal for Coping with “Open Source” Warfare:
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
[…] and the National Interest (hat tip: Mark Safranski) notes the use of off-the-shelf technology in the recent terrorist attacks on Mumbai: John Robb, […]
Eddie:
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Steve Levine and Steve Coll offer regional consequences and motivations for what happened.
http://oilandglory.com/2008/12/pre-empting-peace-between-india-and.html
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/stevecoll/2008/12/lashkaretaiba.html?yrail
What leaps out to me about Pakistan (though you sum it up quite well) is how much it is defined by its opposition, its "otherness" from India. I mean, being the Islamic nation/democracy Jinnah dreamed of has clearly not worked out over the years. Turkey and Indonesia both can lay increasingly valid claims they are thriving democracies with a great degree of basis in Islam’s tenets, if not exactly sharia. Pakistan simply does not seem viable over the long term.
That said, internally India must find a way to treat its Muslim minority better. Much like the Europeans, I have little sympathy for countries that blatantly continue rules and traditions that place their Muslim minorities at a disadvantage economically and give them a less than honest shot at success by limiting education opportunities as well. Otherwise, there will be far more bloodbaths on the scale both below and above Mumbai in the future. More like many more Gujurats.
zen:
December 4th, 2008 at 4:33 am
Hi Eddie,
I agree. Not viable – in part because the rulng elite seem determined to court destruction.
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On India,I feel eed to start a reading program but it will take a great deal to be even marginally well informed
Lexington Green:
December 4th, 2008 at 4:51 am
Reading program: I liked India Since Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha, as a well written overview. I have been accumulating books and a book list about India, but I fear I will never get far down the road.
Shlok:
December 4th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
If you only read one book about India – In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India by Edward Luce.
http://www.amazon.com/Spite-Gods-Rise-Modern-India/dp/1400079772/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228394792&sr=8-1
Eddie:
December 4th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
India After Gandhi & In Spite Of The Gods were great reads.
I also found useful "The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India’s Future". Ignore the negative reviews and check it out via the library. She does the sort of reporting and background compiling on the Hindu right that simply must not be ignored if you want to understand what the BJP in power entails at the state level. They are a massive stumbling block on social, education and religious policy to progress in India, especially calming social tensions.
William Dalrymple has two great reads on India… "City of Djinns" & "The Age Of Kali".
"The Great Partition" is a good read about Partition and its lasting effects.