Sepia Mutiny wants to know why there have been so few stories about the railway bombings in India.
The problem, as Kevin Drum states, is that most Americans don't find it that interesting. Even the bombings in London and Madrid didn't spark much interest, except for those hawks who used it as further proof that islamists were expanding their war against, well, everyone they don't like, which includes the West, Africans, and all brands of Muslims that don't fit their tiny world-view. So a bombing in India, which to most Americans is a galaxy away seems, like the country, foreign.
Beyond that, the blogs of the left, like DailyKos, Eschaton, et al, will not give the bombings in Mumbai much screen time because it's another example of terror in the world that their political opponents can use to advocate more US military action. I don't think they're working to cover it up so much as just quietly turn their heads and hope that the good people of India will deal with it on their own.
But it is distressing because even US news organizations are doing a poor job of continuing to report on the investigations and after effects of the attack. The day after the attacks occured CNN was giving the attacks in Mumbai 3 minutes of coverage while instead talking about Gilette's "NoScruf" marketing campaign and other...enlightening...stories.
I've turned to the BBC to get any kind of continuing news coverage about the event. For example, they have an article which discusses the major suspects in the attack, and I'd like to add my 30-second arm chair analysis on each of the groups mentioned:
- Kashmiri Separtists Groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed are the most frequently mentioned because they have consistently been the most active. They routinely strike out against India in the hope of pushing Kashmir to either become its own country again or fold into Pakistan, both of which India has repeatedly asserted will never happen.
But both of the above mentioned groups have condemned the bombings and called them horrific and barbarous, and the same day as the bombings happened, Kashmiri separtists attacked people in Srinigar, the Indian capital of Kashmir. I don't see them pulling off two different types of attacks in the same day in two locations. The MOs are too disparate to seem connected. - Indian Mafia - They've bombed people before, but to be honest this attack, this type of random and widespread violence against ordinary people doesn't make much sense to me. People are usually in the mafia for economic gain, running businesses in an illegal way and willing to use brutality to secure their piece of the pie. This type of attack does not have any of the hallmarks of a usual underworld killing, but who knows. Maybe the mafia runs differently in Mumbai.
- Pakistan - Some people think that Pakistan, in particular Pakistani Intelligence, running some kind of black opps. I was ready to say that I don't think this makes sense, but I do have a mind bent towards conspiracy theories (though I rarely believe them), and I can see one theory that is interesting. The US is prepared to let India work on nuclear technology without holding it accountable to the non-proliferation treaties signed. India also test fired a missile designed to carry nuclear warheads. Pakistan and India are constantly at odds, and both possess nuclear weapons. I don't see Pakistan wishing to provoke any kind of confrontation with India. They've been in reapprochment for at least two years now.
Perhaps Pakistan wished to prevent the US from granting India any leeway in the non-proliferation treaty, but I don't buy the idea that this would be the way they'd go about it. Why risk a costly and deadly war when that kind of favor can be had in Washington, especially when Pakistan has so many other means available to it? - Al-Qaeda - Al Qaeda seems an easy culprit to suggest given the sophistication of the bombs, the sophisticated timing of the bombings, the random nature of the attacks, and the fact that they occured on trains, ala the Madrid and London bombings. Also, and more importantly for me, Al-Qaeda seems to like going for getting the maximum impact from a bombing. A bombing in Delhi, the capital, while symbolic, has nowhere the impact of bombing the economic capital of India. Hitting a country in its economic heart seems to be a hallmark of Al-Qaeda. The only question then becomes: 'Why India?' I don't have a good answer on that, or a thought on what they gain from striking like this.
The thing to remember is that India and the US are economically bound now. With companies in the US opening offices and campuses in India, and with Indian companies investing more money in the US, something like this ripples through to this country. Even more so, these were ordinary human beings on these trains going home after work and they deserve our sympathies, thoughts, and prayers.
It's a terrible tragedy, and my heart goes out to all of the families suffering now. And as many of the commenters on Sepia Mutiny mentioned, it would be nice if those of you who work with people from India would inquire about their families and friends.
Thank God for bloggers at all. Certainly more info than the MSM: It's not Cashmere it's Muslin - Bombs over Bombay
The good people of India has been handling it on their own for decades now. And we like it that way. 'Tis just that we sometimes wonder why the good people of the US want the entire world to mourn with their tragedies but don't reciprocate when others suffer. Seems like political expediency is a valid principle when anyone else is hurt.