Quote: (02-26-2019 12:44 PM)Arado Wrote:
Hasn't been mentioned anywhere else on the forum. Curious to hear how the Indian guys or anti-neocons on the forum view the Indo-Pak situation since it's blown up in the news again following a recent terrorist attack in Kashmir.
India launches air strike inside Pakistan; Islamabad denies militant camp hit
Quote:Quote:
BALAKOT, Pakistan/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India said its warplanes struck a militant training camp inside Pakistan on Tuesday, killing “a very large number” of fighters, raising risk of conflict between the nuclear armed neighbours although Pakistan officials denied there had been casualties.
Pakistan said it would respond at a time and place of its choice - with a military spokesman even alluding to its nuclear arsenal, highlighting the escalation in hostile rhetoric from both sides since a suicide bombing in Kashmir this month.
The spokesman said a command and control authority meeting, which decides over the use of nuclear weapons, had been convened for Wednesday, adding: “You all know what that means.”
The air strike near the town of Balakot, 50 km (30 miles) from the frontier, was the deepest cross-border raid launched by India since the last of its three wars with Pakistan in 1971 but there were competing claims about the damage it caused.
The Indian government, facing an election in the coming months, said the air strikes hit a training camp belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the group that claimed the suicide car bomb attack that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir on Feb. 14.
Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said “a very large number” of militants were killed in the strikes on a Jaish training camp near Balakot, a town in northeast Pakistan.
I love the airstrike move. Bitch slapped the fuck out of JeM and completely embarrassed their sponsor Pakistan. You don't give these savages any leeway. They blow up your soldiers, you blow them up.
100% the right call.
I'm seeing consistently patriotic messages across the board in India. There is no division or strife here. And anyone who calls for understanding like a pussy liberal gets completely sacked. Navjot Singh is a good example. Made some slightly positive comments in favor of Pakistan, lost his gig on TV.
I'm mostly excited about the underlying message - which is that India has collectively gained a pair of balls and they're not playing that nonsensical Gandhi-imitating "be nice" game any more. The recent movie Uri re-emphasizes the change in perspective.
There's a subtle cultural change that's hard to pick up unless you pay careful attention. I brought this up in the Indian guys game thread: you can see Indian men becoming more assertive the past 5 years. I saw it first on the cricket field, with the current generation of players, lead by Kohli, being way more aggressive than their predecessors (including even Dhoni) and playing hardcore to win. Bollywood actors today are cut from a different cloth as well.
Both cricket and Bollywood have trickle down effects to the youth.
Anyway, this airstrike might lead to further escalation. Though I don't expect Pakistan to come out on top here. India has been pulling away economically and also getting smarter on the international level. Aligning with the USSR during the Cold War bit India in the ass, while Pakistan sucked up to Americans for some serious aid money.
But global trends are in India's favor as they present a strong bulwark case against China. Something Samuel Huntington pointed out in Clash of Civilizations is that it wouldn't be unlikely for the US, Russia, Japan and India to tag team against China.
If India play their cards well, they might just succeed in making Pakistan a complete international pariah.
I'm mostly concerned about China, Pakistan's sponsor. Though China's already in a shit situation with their economy slowing down and the trade negotiations with the US. So I doubt they'll have the time to intervene. But hey I wouldn't mind if China goes autistic here and they face blow-back too. Fuck both those countries.
Also from a purely political point of view, it's great timing for Modi. He'll win re-election easily in May. Modi has an extremely good shot of going down in history as the best Prime Minister in post-independence India.