It was amazing how almost non-stop CNN covered the attacks in Mumbai. It wasn't too much of a surprise that BBC did. BBC also didn't ignore another important story unfolding in Thailand for a while now--the occupation of the airport by anti-government protesters who a few days later were joined by pro-government protesters in a sea of redcoats(pro) and black outfits (anti). On the radio front NPR did a fairly thorough job. Fox-TV did, too. Of course, the mighty ABC stuck with its scheduled special, the Obama interview with the diva Barbara Walters. My original plan was to watch this, but as a protest I didn't.
The American TV media were more focused on the American and other Western lives caught in the terrorism drama. They decidedly concluded that the terrorists exclusively targeted the Westerners. It was not very nice that they overlooked giving equal importance to the scores of Indians who had been killed. BBC gave due recognition to them. NPR interviewed the man on the street as well as celebrities like the navel-gazing, best selling author and columnist Shobha Dey.
The man on the street shared my view about the kind of biased coverage by the American TV media. He felt offended by this. Ultimately, it turned out the terrorists were not particularly looking for Westerners, most of whom actually survived and thank God for this. They were focused on high profile targets and ensuring the Western governments' and the Western media's attention by having enough Westerners in the mix, most of whom of course stay at these high-end hotels. Of the nearly 200 people killed, 19 were foreigners (six Americans and not sure how many other Westerners).
Sometimes it feels like some media outlets monger paranoia. This is even worse than peddling fear. Too focused on the ratings game, sometimes integrity gets sacrificed even if unintentionally. Their slant was ironic given the fact the attacks occurred on Indian soil and the carnage at the train station involved only Indian travelers. Foreigners after all are a rarity at train stations. I didn't monitor every single station, so I cant' really comment on the others.
All in all, it sounded like the Mumbai tragedy could have been avoided. There was enough advance warning communicated to the powers that be.
Though Pakistani government sanction might have been missing, in the past Pakistan had had no qualms about being a tacit partner in terrorist actvities against India. On TV, during an interview, President Zardari pleaded to the Indian Government not to "punish" Pakistan for the attacks. If the U.S. were in India's shoes, it would have, much as it discourages India from doing this. What comes out of the investigation and what action India takes would be interesting to watch. But the fundamentals need to be addressed. If terrorism is allowed to grow any further, untold miseries are in store for the world.
President-elect Obama seems like an awfully capable man, so one has to hope that under his leadership with cooperation from all the other players, the U.S. might would be able to eradicate terrorism once and for all. Tall order but certainly doable if the will is there.
The Pakistani High Commissioner to U.K. during an interview on November 26 claimed that the terrorists were dark-skinned so they must be south Indians and most likely Tamil Tigers. This was one of the most ludicrous claims of any kind I had heard.
This morning BBC did a full hour of post mortem analysis. P. Swami, a Security Analyst and Anand Mahindra MD, Mahindra and Mahindra made some very good points and of course P. Chidambaram is a lion and now he is the Home Minster. Hopefully, he'll do all the needful and terrorism will never take place again in India.
Ciao!
Ro.
Showing posts with label Anti-terrorism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anti-terrorism. Show all posts
Monday, December 1, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
The Latest in Terrorism
On the eve of Thanksgiving (TG) Day what a horror story to take to bed! Mumbai had been attacked by a pack of terrorists in nearly a dozen places. Though at the end the powers that be seem to come ahead, overall it's the terrorists who are a step or several steps ahead of the rest. Even as the latest challenge to peace loving people is being dealt with, and except for one attacker all others have been killed, there is no doubt that terrorists are planning a whole new attack some place in the world on scores more of innocent people.
The post 62-hour mayhem and carnage in India between November 26-29 investigation points the blame in different directions, but what's clear is the country's intelligence has failed. The Times of India editor Bachi Kakaria (I came to know about her through her phone interview on CNN over the Mumbai Massacre) put it so succinctly when tongue-in-cheek she said, "For a country that wants to be a knowledge power intelligence is its least valued commodity." Well, The U.S. is a knowledge power, yet it too has failed on several occasions, 9/11 being one of the more tragic.
In the case of 11/26 (I've come to dread the number 11 and in my family there are a lot of eleven's: at least three people in the family share this number somewhere in their birthday) apparently, ample warning had been issued by the terrorists about eight days earlier. The Home Minsiter Patil's or the Security Chief's resignation cannot turn the clock back to when they should have paid heed.
Why is it that officials who are paid to protect the people let us down over and over again? The terrorists know how incompetent many of them are and this is why they are succeeding over and over again with such impunity. Every time the so called leaders condemn terrorist acts, I can't but chuckle. Do they think the terrorists really give a hoot? Are their pronouncements meant to pacify the public outrage? What exactly is the intent? Community organizations also echo the same sissy pronouncements.
What's most important now is for leaders to make it their immediate goal to eradicate terrorism. This sounds unattainable, though, considering how well the "Eradicate Poverty" slogan has worked. I'm supposed to sound optimistic (you know the power of positive thinking, etc.), but somehow I don't think the really capable people are ruling the world. Maybe the really capable became terrorists!
All aspersions aside, I do feel every one of us need to do our part because in the words of the German poet, Pastor Martin Niemöller's
habe ich geschwiegen;ich war ja kein Kommunist.Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,habe ich geschwiegen;ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,habe ich nicht protestiert;ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.Als sie mich holten,gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte.-----------------------------------------------------
Translation:
When the Nazis came for the communists,I remained silent;after all I was not a communist.When they locked up the social democrats,I remained silent;after all I was not a social democrat.When they came for the trade unionists,I did not speak out;after all I was not a trade unionist.When they came for me,there was no one left to speak out.
When they come for me there would be nobody left to speak out!
My part begins with simple acts like treating those around me with basic decency at all times. No matter how stupid, arrogant, indifferent they maybe, I must never ever lose my cool. If each one of us can consciously do this, we'd already be on the path to conquering the bigger issues. As individuals, because we have not acted above board at all times, we have not acquired the power to fight the bigger tasks like eradicating poverty, terrorism, injustice, et al. No wonder, we don't think we can do these big jobs. Even those who think they can have failed. Like many drops make an ocean, many acts of right conduct will take us all the way to our destination. Driving ten feet at a time one can reach one's end point. I can't remember which great person said this. I think it was one U.S. President.
Let's begin our share toward making this world a better place today! Onward and upward.
Ciao!
Ro.
The post 62-hour mayhem and carnage in India between November 26-29 investigation points the blame in different directions, but what's clear is the country's intelligence has failed. The Times of India editor Bachi Kakaria (I came to know about her through her phone interview on CNN over the Mumbai Massacre) put it so succinctly when tongue-in-cheek she said, "For a country that wants to be a knowledge power intelligence is its least valued commodity." Well, The U.S. is a knowledge power, yet it too has failed on several occasions, 9/11 being one of the more tragic.
In the case of 11/26 (I've come to dread the number 11 and in my family there are a lot of eleven's: at least three people in the family share this number somewhere in their birthday) apparently, ample warning had been issued by the terrorists about eight days earlier. The Home Minsiter Patil's or the Security Chief's resignation cannot turn the clock back to when they should have paid heed.
Why is it that officials who are paid to protect the people let us down over and over again? The terrorists know how incompetent many of them are and this is why they are succeeding over and over again with such impunity. Every time the so called leaders condemn terrorist acts, I can't but chuckle. Do they think the terrorists really give a hoot? Are their pronouncements meant to pacify the public outrage? What exactly is the intent? Community organizations also echo the same sissy pronouncements.
What's most important now is for leaders to make it their immediate goal to eradicate terrorism. This sounds unattainable, though, considering how well the "Eradicate Poverty" slogan has worked. I'm supposed to sound optimistic (you know the power of positive thinking, etc.), but somehow I don't think the really capable people are ruling the world. Maybe the really capable became terrorists!
All aspersions aside, I do feel every one of us need to do our part because in the words of the German poet, Pastor Martin Niemöller's
habe ich geschwiegen;ich war ja kein Kommunist.Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,habe ich geschwiegen;ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,habe ich nicht protestiert;ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.Als sie mich holten,gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte.-----------------------------------------------------
Translation:
When the Nazis came for the communists,I remained silent;after all I was not a communist.When they locked up the social democrats,I remained silent;after all I was not a social democrat.When they came for the trade unionists,I did not speak out;after all I was not a trade unionist.When they came for me,there was no one left to speak out.
When they come for me there would be nobody left to speak out!
My part begins with simple acts like treating those around me with basic decency at all times. No matter how stupid, arrogant, indifferent they maybe, I must never ever lose my cool. If each one of us can consciously do this, we'd already be on the path to conquering the bigger issues. As individuals, because we have not acted above board at all times, we have not acquired the power to fight the bigger tasks like eradicating poverty, terrorism, injustice, et al. No wonder, we don't think we can do these big jobs. Even those who think they can have failed. Like many drops make an ocean, many acts of right conduct will take us all the way to our destination. Driving ten feet at a time one can reach one's end point. I can't remember which great person said this. I think it was one U.S. President.
Let's begin our share toward making this world a better place today! Onward and upward.
Ciao!
Ro.
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