News for December 1

Terrorism and Mumbai

Days after the horrific attacks in Mumbai, India, questions still remain about the roots of the gunmen’s rampage, which left at least 188 people dead and left to the resignations of at least two officials in the Indian government. Analysts and observers have address theories about who’s behind the attacks and what they hope — and fear — will come next. Links include:

Brookings Institution |  “Brookings expert Vanda Felbab-Brown explores the repercussions for the NATO mission in Afghanistan, while Bruce Riedel looks at the history of terrorism in India and its connection to global jihad. ‘The terrorists who attacked Mumbai have tried to break the morale of the city that is at the center of India’s economic renaissance and it cultural life,” he notes. “They have failed before and will fail again’.”

Informed Consent |  “Many Indians have called the attacks in Mumbai “India’s 9/11.” As an American who lived in India, I can feel that country’s anguish over these horrific and indiscriminate acts of terror. Most Indian observers, however, were critical in 2001 (and after) of how exactly the Bush administration (i.e. Dick Cheney) responded to September 11. They were right, and they would do well to remember their own critique at this fateful moment. What where the major mistakes of the United States government, and how might India avoid repeating them?”

William Dalrymple @The Guardian UK |  “This probable Pakistani origin of the Mumbai attacks, and the links to Kashmir-focused jihadi groups, means that the horrific events have to be seen in the context of the wider disaster of Western policy in the region since 9/11. The abject failure of the Bush administration to woo the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan away from the Islamists and, instead, managing to convince many of them of the hostility of the West towards all Muslim aspirations, has now led to a gathering catastrophe in Afghanistan where the once-hated Taliban are now again at the gates of Kabul.”

Robert Kaplan @The Atlantic |  “The immediate result of the Mumbai terror attacks will be a further hardening of inter-communal relations within India. The latest attacks will also increase the likelihood that in national elections slated for early 2009, the result will be a BJP-led government, as Hindus, who comprise the overwhelming majority of Indian voters, take on another layer of insecurity.”

Religion Dispatches |  “The 9/11 analogy is problematic from any number of perspectives, whether it is made by the terrorists themselves or those commenting on the events. As Ravinder Kaur has recently noted, the analogy creates an overly simplistic understanding of the complex history of violence in India, and between India and Pakistan, while fostering a global narrative that ignores local events and local causes. Indeed, what strikes me most about the horrific events in Mumbai is the local sense of place that that the terrorists tried to destroy.”

New Hope in the Fight Against AIDS  |  TruthDig

World AIDS Day turns 20 today, and while we still don’t have a vaccine, researchers continue to make lifesaving breakthroughs. A team at the World Health Organization in Geneva recently came up with a “thought experiment” that, according to a mathematical model, could end the AIDS epidemic in Africa in only a decade.

• Related link: Did AIDS Change America?  |  BBC News
• Related link: Bush to Receive First-Ever ‘International Medal of Peace’  |  ThinkProgress

The Flex-Fuel Fiasco  |  The New Republic

There are plenty of ideas kicking around out there about how Congress can help promote a new transportation infrastructure that doesn’t rely quite so heavily on oil. One oft-mentioned proposal involves having federal agencies buy up plug-in hybrids and flex-fuel cars for their fleets, in order to help jump-start the market for those vehicles. One snag, though, as Kimberly Kindy and Dan Keating of The Washington Post illustrated in a must-read piece over the weekend, is that the government can mangle these mandates very, very badly—and actually end up making the problem worse. Especially when it comes to flex-fuel cars.

• Related link:  Getting Real on Climate Change  |  The American Prospect
• Related link: Goodbye to the Hummer?  |  The Washington Monthly
  

Out of the Shadows  |  Newsweek

Pro-anorexia, or “pro-ana,” Web sites (with more than one using the “Ana Boot Camp” name) have for years been a controversial Internet fixture, with users sharing extreme diet tips and posting pictures of emaciated girls under headlines such as “thinspiration.” But what was unusual about the site mentioned above (which is no longer available) was where it was hosted: the ubiquitous social networking site Facebook.com.

CNN Takes on AP  |  Michael Calderone @Politico

Lately, some newspapers have been trying to opt out of their contracts with the Associated Press, sighting high fees. And now CNN appears to be swooping in through its new wire service, according to the NY Times, and will be making that pitch to editors at this week’s CNN Newspaper Summit.

Photo, above: Haji Ali mosque in Mumbai, India. Photo from Wikipedia Commons