Newshounds Of War

For NEWSWEEK too, Kashmir remained among the ‘hot spots’ that are causing ‘new disruptions’ while the Bush administration ‘tries to focus on Iraq’. Keeping Kashmir company in the magazine’s compilation of the Bushies’ distractions are: Colombia, Algeria, Dem. Rep. of the Congo, Sudan, Chechnya, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, Philippines and Indonesia. Complained NEWSWEEK: ‘As if the axis of evil wasn’t enough…’

Jhajjar, In London

The GUARDIAN picked up the shameful story in Jhajjar. The lynching of ‘untouchables’, the VHP leader’s attempted justification, the incredible post-mortem carried out on the cow, the failure of the police to make any arrests. The paper wrote that the case touches on several themes in modern Indian society: ‘police unaccountability, the rise of violent Hindu extremism; and the persistence of India’s ancient caste system’. It echoed the question that so many here have asked with such horror: can a cow’s life be worth more than that of a human?

What Next For WAT?

But if there was a grand theme in the US and British media this week, it drew on what the ECONOMIST’s cover termed ‘A world of terror’. ‘Iraq, Indonesia, North Korea — Where Next for America’s War on Terror?’ NEWSWEEK’s cover reflected a shared alarm.

Is it possible to fight on all these fronts? Will military action in Iraq distract from the larger war on terror? The ECONOMIST was certain that ‘‘Above all, America must not let the things which it cannot do right away stop it from doing the things it must do right away’’. But did George Bush’s world suddenly become a lot more complicated this week, persisted TIME. ‘‘If everyone is either with us or against us’’, it asked,‘‘what does Bush do now about Pakistan, our ally in the war on terrorism, if it was the source of North Korea’s nuclear equipment?’’

Time For ‘Mateship’

With 96 Australians reported dead or missing from the October 12 attack on the crowded nightclub in Bali, it is being described as ‘Australia’s 9/11’. In the Australian media, there are calls to unite in ‘grief and mateship’. There is also urgent talk of a repositioning within the US-led War on Terror. ‘‘We have entered a period of extreme and violent anarchy… we must accept that this is not a time for Australia to retreat into isolationism… it would not be right to turn our back on the coming conflict in Iraq’’ said Paul Dibb, described as the principal architect of Australian defence strategy over the past three decades, in THE AUSTRALIAN.

What exactly will it mean for Australia? Taxpayers will have to face paying at least $ 1 billion extra a year to meet ‘the greatest challenge to Australia’s security since the Cold War’.

But, cautioned the Melbourne-based THE AGE: ‘‘We have never had a greater need for cool and calm reflection on our place in the world. Instead, we are being asked to subscribe to Forrest Gumpism — patriotic dumbness’’. THE AUSTRALIAN turned the searchlight within: ‘‘…the media has, more or less, tended to let the politicians run with the terrorism story… Is it a vindication for those who’ve said, all along, that Australia couldn’t be regarded as immune from the same wave of terrorism that spawned September 11? Or will the Bali carnage bring a sober, more reflective, more sceptical approach?’’

MMA? Did You Say BJP?

P.S. In its analysis of the rise of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance in Pakistan, the ECONOMIST noted that some in that country compare the coalition to the ‘Hindu-nationalist party that rules India’. Like the BJP, they felt, the MMA may also be expected to downplay its radicalism once it comes to power. That is a comparison that must irk the BJP spinmeisters. After all, some of the MMA’s constituents proclaim a soft spot for the Taliban. Its line-up of stalwarts boasts of worthies like Azam Tariq aka Maulana Diesel. Who bragged in a campaign brochure about loving the ‘great soldier Osama bin Laden’ and whose nickname testifies to a reputation acquired for deal-making.