Real world interruption….
Sorry, folks, but gmarriage part 2 will have to wait (I know, I hear your collective weeping… just don’t tell me whether or not they’re tears of joy.) The real world has interrupted, presenting me with a topic of particular frustration. In particular, Pakistan vs India, Mumbai, and the US trying to keep India from turning Pakistan into a glowing crater.
And, of course, Laura Flanders.
“…when it comes to advising caution, urging diplomacy and discouraging reprisal attacks, it’s hard to imagine that Bush’s Secretary of State will be able to do any of that with a straight face. “
Go ahead and read the whole piece, but the short version is that the current administration has no place urging restraint to another nation when they themselves haven’t demonstrated it. There’s one problem though.
The US didn’t irradiate Iraq, Afghanistan, or even Pakistan. Yes, we’re bombing suspected terrorist sites. Sadly, sometimes we end up catching civilians in the blasts – often because the terrorists are very, very good at standing in the middle of a bunch of meat shields civilians so we won’t shoot at them.
But just because you do something that isn’t right, doesn’t mean you can’t tell people not to do the worse version of what you do.
We’re (allegedly) targetting Pakistani locations where there are terrorists. With conventional weapons. And we’re already catching flak for it. India… well, to be polite, there’s a very good chance that they (1) won’t care about catching flak or (2) use conventional weapons.
India and Pakistan are both nuclear-capable countries, just like the US. Unlike the US, they both have a centuries-old hatred of each other that reaches very, very deep. It’s not (just) about religion. It’s not (just) about Cashmere Kashmir (okay, so my brain wasn’t in the right place when I wrote it the first time…). It’s not (just) about tribal tensions. It’s a dislike that has led to war before, and probably will again eventually. And, with both nations being nuclear, it could lead to a nuclear war.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is what Secretary of State Rice is hoping to prevent. Regardless of what you think about our nation’s foreign policy, can you please at least shut up long enough to let the woman keep a subcontinent from being turned into a glowing rockpile?
