Ladies and gentlemen, with two seasons under our belts in India now, hopefully the recent terrorist activity in Mumbai (a city formally known as Bombay) is beginning to make a bit more sense. It will make 100% sense after this class is over with, but I still wanted to post this to make sure we're all staying informed of recent and unsettling events. We saw in season two the Muslim world begin to establish itself in northern India, and ever since then the community has grown into the millions. With a Hindu majority that continues in the region, tensions between the two groups have been a constant since season two and will continue to be throughout the rest of the class. At any rate, keep your eyes on India, because this is not over with. I fear that, in fact, these recent attacks may open up larger problems in the region. Already, tensions between India and Pakistan are firing back up as India is beginning to blame Pakistan for the attacks (keep in mind that only 9 countries in the world have nuclear weapons, and India and Pakistan are 2 of the 9). You can read the news on that by clicking here. Additionally, if you need to look up additional information on the attacks in order to increase your understanding of what actually took place, you know that your best source in the English language is always going to be the BBC. Click here for their full coverage of this heinous event. As always, their coverage is incredible! You may also find it helpful to look at the Indian media's coverage of this to get a more local perspective (you can see IBN's coverage by clicking here). It should be interesting to see what the position of the new Obama administration will be on the issue should India really flare up as a result of this. Certainly this is going to be an administration that already has its hands quite full with two wars and an economy that continues to break down with no end in sight. Speaking of the foreign policy of the new Obama administration, Obama yesterday officially announced his new security team, and as expected, it included Democratic Senator Hilary Clinton as the new Secretary of State and Republican Robert Gates (Bush's current Secretary of Defense) as Obama's Secretary of Defense. It should come as no surprise that (1) this is the bipartisan cabinet that I said several weeks ago would come together, and (2) Obama's new cabinet, both in terms of his economic team that was recently announced and his security team, is an impressive group of brilliant minds and respected personalities in Washington (with Eric Holder being a possible exception) that hearkens back to the Franklin D. Roosevelt years in many respects (although Obama's transition is going much smoother than Roosevelt's ever did) and to the Clinton years in many other respects. You can take a look at Obama's cabinet as it stands so far by clicking here. For more in-depth coverage of the congealing Obama presidency, the BBC has excellent coverage that you can look at by clicking here. Needless to say, this is going to be an interesting next several weeks. Stay tuned...
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Tensions in India Re-ignite After the Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai on Wednesday
Ladies and gentlemen, with two seasons under our belts in India now, hopefully the recent terrorist activity in Mumbai (a city formally known as Bombay) is beginning to make a bit more sense. It will make 100% sense after this class is over with, but I still wanted to post this to make sure we're all staying informed of recent and unsettling events. We saw in season two the Muslim world begin to establish itself in northern India, and ever since then the community has grown into the millions. With a Hindu majority that continues in the region, tensions between the two groups have been a constant since season two and will continue to be throughout the rest of the class. At any rate, keep your eyes on India, because this is not over with. I fear that, in fact, these recent attacks may open up larger problems in the region. Already, tensions between India and Pakistan are firing back up as India is beginning to blame Pakistan for the attacks (keep in mind that only 9 countries in the world have nuclear weapons, and India and Pakistan are 2 of the 9). You can read the news on that by clicking here. Additionally, if you need to look up additional information on the attacks in order to increase your understanding of what actually took place, you know that your best source in the English language is always going to be the BBC. Click here for their full coverage of this heinous event. As always, their coverage is incredible! You may also find it helpful to look at the Indian media's coverage of this to get a more local perspective (you can see IBN's coverage by clicking here). It should be interesting to see what the position of the new Obama administration will be on the issue should India really flare up as a result of this. Certainly this is going to be an administration that already has its hands quite full with two wars and an economy that continues to break down with no end in sight. Speaking of the foreign policy of the new Obama administration, Obama yesterday officially announced his new security team, and as expected, it included Democratic Senator Hilary Clinton as the new Secretary of State and Republican Robert Gates (Bush's current Secretary of Defense) as Obama's Secretary of Defense. It should come as no surprise that (1) this is the bipartisan cabinet that I said several weeks ago would come together, and (2) Obama's new cabinet, both in terms of his economic team that was recently announced and his security team, is an impressive group of brilliant minds and respected personalities in Washington (with Eric Holder being a possible exception) that hearkens back to the Franklin D. Roosevelt years in many respects (although Obama's transition is going much smoother than Roosevelt's ever did) and to the Clinton years in many other respects. You can take a look at Obama's cabinet as it stands so far by clicking here. For more in-depth coverage of the congealing Obama presidency, the BBC has excellent coverage that you can look at by clicking here. Needless to say, this is going to be an interesting next several weeks. Stay tuned...
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20 comments:
Is this all really about a conflict between Muslim and Hindu peoples that started forever ago? I never realized history could stick with us that long. That's incredible, and so sad.
As far as the whole thing with Obama, I don't get it. What do all these people do? And who else chooses besides the president?
I was surprised to find out that there may be a tie to the Pakistan government. Since the two countries have never liked each other very much, I wouldn't have been surprised if a citizen from Pakistan was responsible, but the government id different. Thats sounds like the beginnings of a global conflict, one the United Stated would be almost forced into.
miss persyn, cabinet members are appointed by the president as advisors and representative in specific areas. they technically work for and report to the president. the president is the only person that appoints his cabinet, but each member most be approved by a congressional vote. most are approved, but occasionally congress votes no (this happened with george w. bush some years ago with his original choice for secretary of defense).
I saw on the news the Pakistani leader saying he was in no way responsible for the bombings in India.
i think that on the actual indian TV news they said that the Al-Quida was a part of all this...but im not sure...but i hope that no more shootings or hold ups will occur in India, especially a war.
Yea I saw a glimse of that too Akshay although I can't remember where I saw or heard that from. If it was on the news WE HAVE TO BELIEVE IT....IT MUST BE TRUE!!! hahha jkjk
Yea this scenario is very sad. Especially since I watched Ghandi for my summer reading which took place a few decades ago AND ITS STILL GOING ON!! jeepers.
When i heard this on the news i was so shocked ! India these days have been facing alot of hardships and its probably going to get alot worse from here on out...
Won't it be hard for Obama and Hillary Clinton to work together if their ideas clash so often about policies and the way they think doing things is right??
why is this happening you would think people would have grown up but hey i guess people dont change huh
i heard on the news that the Pakistan government said they were in no way tied to these attacks, but there are a ton of alligations saying they are. i know there has and probably always will be a feud between these to countries. now this might be the beginning of the worst part yet to come. these people need to just get over and stop terrorizing each other.
alex, its not that easy to just "get over it"... its going to take some time.
i agree mr. g. it's so easy to say get over it, but there are some deep cultural, religious, economic, social, and political implications here. if such things were so easy, there would be little to talk about in history. the world simply doesn't spin that way. think about the many issues that fire up the minds and hearts of americans, and we've been around for less than 250 years. take that and multiply it for a cultural dynamic that's existed for over a millenium.
This is crazy!!! aghh. The BBC says it is like India's 9/11. and that they attacked more than once in more and one place! ah!
so who attacked who and for what purpose? Who were "the gunmen?" All I saw on the news was the really nice hotel being attacked, but I've heard and read it was elsewhere also. I just read that the Taj Mahal was one! woah! The news reporters also said they were look specifically for Europeans and Americans. Why? And were they? If it was because of the conflict of India and Pakistan, whould't the goal to to kill the other and not visitors?
miss gustufson, this is a complicated situation indeed. this is right up there with our 9/11/01, moscow's 2/6/04, madrid's 3/11/04, and london's 7/7/05. we oftentimes forget that terrorism is a plague that so many countries across the globe have had to deal with since the last attack on the u.s. it is concerning to me that attacks of the magnitude of wednesday's attack in mumbai can occur and escape the notice of so many americans. just a couple of things miss gustufson... the taj mahal was NOT attacked, the taj hotel in mumbai was. all of the attacks were in locations in mumbai, the taj mahal is in agra. also, the questions that you have are too numerous to take on here, however, you should still launch an investigation (you're free to come by during my lunch to discuss such matters anytime as well). the bbc has EXCELLENT coverage of the background and details of the situation, as well as timelines (they are THE BEST NEWS SERVICE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE). i would strongly suggest that you and anyone else who's interested (and shouldn't we all be?) take time to go through the BBCs special report coverage. the link is on my post on this, but here it is again for easy reference: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/south_asia/2008/
let's try that web address again...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/south_asia/2008/mumbai_attacks/default.stm
ugh... it keeps cutting off
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/south_asia/2008
/mumbai_attacks/default.stm
im honestly fed up with hearing about all these terrorist attacks. I dont know why countries cant take a chill pill and let people live in peace. And to top it off they both have nuclear weapons. And thats my biggest fear is a nuclear war. And just to add it in its definitely no suprise to me that Hilary Clinton is on Obama's cabinet.
So according news article, it said that the attacks went on for three days? I can't imagine people trying to sleep in those conditions
this whole thing is so sad... i think it is crazy how history stills stays with us that long... if i was a history guy i probably would have lost documents when they were in my possession
3 straight days of attack?! and this is still conflicts carrying from how long ago.. but like you and akshay g. were discussing its hard to just get over it..its sad to see or think about how they feel, that 9/11 feeling..
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