India and Pakistan heating up...

[kurt_messick]

India and Pakistan closed their airspaces to each other today. They've each ejected half the other's embassy staffs. India has cleared villages near the border.

It must be bad, because Gandhi hasn't eaten anything in years.

[Master_Griffin]

This is not a good situation. You know it's bad when embassy staff are getting kicked out!

Hopefully, nuclear war will not commence.

Let us pray that reason will win out over emotionalism.



- Tim

[frazzledspice]

It is sad to think about how many religious wars have occurred in human history. God (by whatever name we choose, individually, to call him/her) would not want to be the source of such disunity.

As a child growing up, I never understood why there was East Pakistan and West Pakistan, and never understood why, when the Islamic and Hindu states were divided, they didn't allow a piece of land connecting the two Pakistans.

The scariest thing about this conflict is the fact that both countries possess some degree of nuclear capability.

[kurt_messick]

It was common British practice to divide countries up in an unstable fashion; some used to speculate that it was so that the new nation states would be so busy for decades dealing with internal matters they wouldn't be a problem internationally for the rest of the Empire/Commonwealth.

[poseidon]

They're just going to ring in the New Year with a fireworks show. They're clearing borders so that no fireworks hit innocent passersby. :fire:

In reality, this is a scary situation -- not because there is a war between the two nations brewing but because these two nations both have nukes, and my honest opinion is that people in this region of the world aren't as afraid to use them as in many other parts of the world.

[kurt_messick]

I think that India and Pakistan wouldn't be as afraid to use them against each other, given that while destruction would be great, they wouldn't risk total annihilation by doing so. I think either would stop short of attacking China, Russia, or the United States with nuclear weapons, because the consequences would be far too great.

You're right, this is a very scary situation. If they get used, it might let the genie out of the bottle, so to speak -- others might not be so hesitant to use them in tactical situations, either.

[erik_kosberg]

I heard an interview with a Pakistani journalist on NPR yesterday. He suggested that if war comes, neither side would use nukes in the early stages of the war but that given India’s large advantage in the size of its conventional forces, if Pakistani losses became too great, Pakistan might have no option except nukes. Rather chilling listening.

FWIW, the guy also mentioned that Pakistanis might have believed India if they’d blamed one of the two Kashmiri groups for the suicide attack on India’s Parliment but that they had a hard time believing India’s claim that the two groups had coordinated the attack; he said that the two groups have a long history of animosity to each other.

[poseidon]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/671951.asp

Thank God, it seems as though things are cooling off between these two rivals. Pakistan has agreed to arrest one of the suspected terrorists that India has demanded, and they're talking to each other instead of warring with each other.

[kurt_messick]

I'll rest easier when the troops start moving back.

[poseidon]

If I understand correctly, Indian and Pakistani troops have been watching each other for the last thirty years. I don't think you'll get your wish anytime soon, Fr. Kurt.