aug 16th, 2006
the general feeling seems to be that israel came out of it with its aura of invincibility diminished. hizbullah, which is for all intents and purposes a non-state army, has demonstrated once again that such entities can be powerful adversaries, as they are not bound by normal rules of engagement.
if one side follows certain rules of conduct, and is thus handicapped in a way, the other side gains competitive advantage. an illustration of this is hindus with their code of war (chivalry to the defeated enemy, no involvement of non-combatants, no action from dusk to dawn) had a hard time adapting to the asuric, scorched-earth way the mohammedans pursued warfare.
israel will, no doubt, adjust its tactics and depend ever more on unconventional warfare, including infiltration, counter-terrorism and so forth.
but how about india? how can the "netwar" as the MIT paper posted by san called it ("the missiles of august" -- a name redolent of barbara tuchman's epic history "the guns of august") be dealt with by an indian government that is deeply concerned that the terrorist is well-fed and well taken care of? anybody remember the biriyani episode in kashmir?
the chinese have an entire manual on total war including electronic warfare, net-based attacks etc. and india has... arjun singh. yes, when the mohammedans are at the gates, he will put on his skull-cap and walk out bravely with the marigold garlands in hand.
3 comments:
Rajeev,
On the day of Krishna Janmasthami some "unknown" people threw a grenade on an ISCKON temple in North Eastern India. 5 people died in that blast. You dont see this on any of the ELM. What if that was a day of Ramjan and those killed were "mohammedans"?
I think all the english educated liberals should wake up now...it is time.
BTW..NCERT has decided to include Ayodhya and Gujarat riots in the text books. Their concern is that students are learning about these incidents through the "other" media. So, they want to give students a clear picture of what has happened. ;)
TOI has a story on the ISKCON attack.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1899067.cms
and this is about NCERT including Gujarat riots in books..
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1899106.cms
"Ayodhya and the Gujarat riots will be part of the chapter called Recent Issues and Challenges, while 1984 anti-Sikh killings will appear in the chapter on regional aspirations and conflicts.
"We will tell the truth about these incidents," said political scientist Yogendra Yadav, chief adviser on the panel for preparation of the textbooks.
"The textbooks will be written in a non-partisan manner. Political developments before and after these incidents will also be highlighted. We will not hurt the sentiments of any community," he said.
The chapter on Gujarat riots, for instance, is said to have an overview of the incident and the large scale killing of "people of a particular community". NCERT sources, however, said the authors will be mindful of not showing the ruling party in bad light.
What happens when the ruling party becomes opposition party?
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