January 5th 2009

India Begins Its Post-Mumbai Assault

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hat’s interesting about the dossier India presented to Pakistan today outlining evidence of Pakistani involvement in the Mumbai terror attack isn’t so much what the dossier contains, but its distribution list.

The dossier’s contents have not yet been released, but news reports say it contains the confession of lone terror force survivor Ajmal Amir Kasab, records of GPS and satellite phones used by the attackers and transcripts of conversations between the attackers and their handlers in Pakistan.

Its distribution includes Islamabad, of course, but much, much more:

Stepping up the diplomatic offensive, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee said he has written to his counterparts around the world and that countries are being briefed separately giving details of the Mumbai attacks and its links in Pakistan.  …

“It is my hope that the world will unite to achieve the goal of eliminating the threat of such terrorism,” Mukherjee said.

The External Affairs Ministry will be briefing all heads of missions based in Delhi, with the briefings to be concluded by Tuesday, and Indian ambassadors and high commissioners will be doing the same in their host countries around the world.

Seeing the reprehensible world response to Israel’s measured response to terrorist aggression against it, India’s diplomatic initiatives look quite savvy.  Pakistan is no Israel in the world’s perception – which as a powerful proof of how wrong the world’s perception of Israel is – but India’s diplomatic push assures that when Islamabad responds, world leaders will be able to measure that response against the dossier’s contents and judge accordingly.

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November 27th 2008

Thanksgiving And Mumbai

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ot surprisingly, when I think of what I’m thankful for at this time of year, family rises to the top. I felt it this morning when I had a long conversation with my Inside-the-Beltway mom and we talked for a half hour, artfully skirting our differences and thoroughly enjoying our telephonic time together. And I’m thinking it now as our house hums with feast-making activities.

And while my relations with my father were strained for years and stay so – to my shame and regret – as he slips deeper into the fog of Alzheimers, I also remembered him with great thanks in my heart today, thanks to a flood of memories unleashed by the Mumbai terror disaster.

During my brief unhappy stint working for my Dad’s import/export company, he gave me a gift of a lifetime: A business trip around the globe, visiting his suppliers in Tokyo, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Portugal and England. That was over 25 years ago and the thousands of memories and images are with me still … as is the recognition that Dad refused to allow me to visit one country he did business with:  Pakistan.

There wasn’t anything in particular going on in Pakistan at the time; just its normal nastiness. It is not a coincident that of all the countries I could have visited, it was the only Islamic one I was cautioned away from. It may not be PC, but it’s undeniable: The Islamic religion does not foster friendly, high-functioning nations.

India has the great misfortune of having a long, negative history with Islam, and Mumbai has the added misfortune of being close to Pakistan and more accessible than Delhi, due to its seaside location – definitely not something to be thankful for. The Times of India is pretty straightforward in its low opinion of its neighbor to the west:

Strategic gurus and security analysts in the US and from across the world are examining Pakistan’s role in terrorism following yet another terror episode in India ending with fingers pointed at its widely-reviled neighbour.

“Widely reviled” would be edited by worrisome editors here in the States, but it’s much more straightforward at the copy desk of the Times of India – as it was with India’s “normally cautious and restrained” prime minister, Manmohan Singh, who bluntly said the attackers were “based across the border,” an obvious reference to Pakistan. Singh’s comments, according to the India Times, has triggered yet another Indian investigation into Islamabad’s role in using terror tactics against India.

This attack was different in many ways from the other recent terror attacks by Islamists in India, none more important to us than the so-called Deccan Mujaheddin’s deliberate targeting of American and British citizens. This was not the normal “I’m ticked over Kashmir” or “I want India to be an Islamic nation” motivations of the jihadists – this was a message to Barack Obama that continued access to Afghanistan via Pakistan is not going unnoticed by the Islamists.

So, what is there to be thankful for in this? First, of course, for the exquisite beauty of our Christian faith, and for the promise of salvation and the peace during crisis it offers all, so unlike vicious Islam. Then, for the valor and power of our military, which will protect us. For the geographic separation we enjoy still, even post-9/11, offering us more protection than countries like India have. And, as awful as the attack was, we can be thankful that the terrorists’ wildest vision of chaos and carnage was not fully realized in Mumbai, and that there are many more survivors than they hoped.

Finally, I’m thankful I smell the turkey cooking, I hear the laughter of daughters in the kitchen, that friends are on their way over, that our afternoon and evening will be full of friends, food and peace, and that you, dear reader, are well.

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With Obama winning the presidency by seven percent, we can't blame the media. Their laudatory coverage and refusal to extensively probe into Obama's background and [lack of] experience was at best responsible for five percent of his vote, the pundits tell us. Here is a compilation of over 100 significant instances of pro-Obama/anti-McCain bias during the 2008 campaign.

For all 'Media Bias 2008' – Click Here