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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 29-May-2010
29-May-10 News -- Terrorist attacks create carnage in Pakistan and India

Web Log - May, 2010

29-May-10 News -- Terrorist attacks create carnage in Pakistan and India

China signals that it will side with South Korea on the warship sinking

Sunni terrorists massacre Shia worshippers in Lahore, Pakistan

Punjabi Taliban (Sunni Islamist terrorists) have taken credit for a massacre on Friday morning at two Shia Muslim mosques in Lahore, Pakistan, just as prayers were beginning on the holiest day of the week.

80 people were killed and at least 92 were injured in the attacks, according to Pakistan's Daily Times.

At each mosque, the terrorists fired indiscrimately at worshippers, killing them at will with gunfire and grenades. The violence continued for three hours as they held off police by means of more gunfire and grenades. One of the terrorists blew himself up to avoid being captured.

Historically, Sunni and Shia Muslims have found many wars of extermination with each other. Shia Muslims have historically been allied with Hindus in many of these wars.

The worshippers were part of a small Shia sect known as the Ahmadis.

According to a profile at GlobalSecurity.org, Ahmadis are followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who founded the sect in the late 1800s. According to the profile, Ahmadis have been the subjects of attacks and societal discrimination since the founding of Pakistan.

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, Pakistan and India are approaching a war refighting the genocidal ethnic and religious war that followed Partition (the partitioning of the Indian subcontinent into Pakistan and India in 1947). Friday's massacre appears to be part of that scenario.

Maoist terrorist sabotage causes train collision

The 'Red Corridor' of regions fully or partially controlled by the Maoists (Naxalites) <font size=-2>(Source: Asia Times)</font>

The 'Red Corridor' of regions fully or partially controlled by the Maoists (Naxalites) (Source: Asia Times)

As we've previously reported (see "19-May-10 News -- Maoist terrorism puts India on high alert"), India has been on high alert after a series of high profile terrorist attacks by Maoist terrorists. Of particular concern was the safety of trains and buses.

On Friday, 81 people were killed and 150 were wounded when two trains collided in the night, with the collision apparently engineered by Maoist terrorists, according to the Calcutta Telegraph.

The terrorists sabotaged a portion of the tracks by removing clips that keep the tracks in place. With the clips gone, the tracks became unstable as the train rolled over that portion, and the train tipped over and collided with a train coming from the opposite direction on another track. Click here for a graphic diagram that shows what happened.

This is the third major terrorist attack by the Maoists in a couple of months. For example, here's the opinion of one columnist, Barkha Dutt, appearing in the Hindustan Times, where he refers to the previous attacks in Dantewada and Mangalore:

"Perhaps nothing was more indicative of the paralysis that now plagues any discourse on Maoist violence than the confusion, tentativeness and prevarications that followed Bengal’s train tragedy yesterday. Coming right after ten horrible days that have driven home life’s essential fragility to us as a country — first Dantewada, then the Mangalore air crash — the tragedy of watching bodies being pulled out from under heaps of metal was underlined by the apparent nervousness within the political establishment. ...

The public rhetoric around the Naxal debate has certainly created the impression of India being a coun try that is fiercely divided over how best to tackle the terror of the ultra-Left. This impression has been falsely reinforced by facile media debates that deliberately seek shrill polarisations and ask the people of India to choose between extremes."

What's interesting about this particular statement is its focus on paralysis and "shrill polarisations." This is exactly the same thing that we've discussed as occurring in Washington and other countries. It's typical of a generational Crisis era, up to the point where a "regeneracy event" puts the nation's survival in question, and forces civic unity to be "regenerated" behind the leaders.

Remarkably, with terrorist attacks being perpetrated by Maoists, by Hindu extremists, and by Sunni Muslim extremists in India, in Kashmir, and right across the border in Lahore, India has not yet reached the point where it can unite to resolve these problems.

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Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has told South Korean president Lee Myung-bak that "We will shield no one." This remark is being interpreted to mean that Beijing agrees with Seoul's conclusion that the North Koreans are responsible for the torpedo attack that sank the Cheonan warship on March 26, killing 46. JoongAng

A harsh United Nations report on North Korea finds that that the country is using shell companies and overseas criminal networks to circumvent U.N. sanctions and sell nuclear weapons technology to other countries. The 47 page report details numerous North Korean violations, especially violations related to weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Associated Press

Fitch Ratings service lowered the AAA credit rating on Spain's debt one step down to AA+. S&P Ratings service lowered Spain's credit rating on April 28. Bloomberg

Is Europe heading for a meltdown? Europe has run out of moves; one more mistake, and it's game over. Telegraph

For years we've described China's military preparations for war with the United States. The US is developing an air-sea battle concept to counter China's military buildup, but political and budgetary problems may kill the program. International Relations and Security Network (ISN)

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 29-May-10 News -- Terrorist attacks create carnage in Pakistan and India thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (29-May-2010) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 29-May-2010 29-May-10 News -- Terrorist attacks create carnage in Pakistan and India

Sunni terrorists massacre Shia worshippers in Lahore, Pakistan

Maoist terrorist sabotage causes train collision

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 29-May-2010
29-May-10 News -- Terrorist attacks create carnage in Pakistan and India