So why isn’t there more attention in the on-line world to the carnage in India?
200 dead, more than in London (52 dead, July 7, 2005), more than in Madrid (191, Feb 11, 2004) .
Yesterday, as police gathered evidence at the blast sites, it emerged that they are convinced that the improvised explosive devices were placed on the luggage racks of the targeted carriages.
This assessment matched the head and chest injuries that the victims suffered, presumably from blasts above their heads, one official said. Security sources said that plastic explosive was used with sophisticated timers to detonate the devices.
Bombay was once a far away place: no more. Thousands of U.S. workers come from Bombay or other parts of western India; thousands of U.S. citizens have been trekking to the beaches, ashrams and cities for decades. Why so few words?
I think, cynically, that it’s because there is no particular stick to pick up and beat an enemy with: no obvious U.S. right v. U.S. left issue. I think, less cynically, that as near as India has become it is still the Empire of Chaos in many minds: people kill people out of religious fanaticism — have forever and forever will…. never mind Iraq for the moment. It may be that information regarding the perpetrators is still speculative and so not yet subject to debate. Though of course the crime itself should be enough to raise a howl to heaven and wake the gods who slumber there.
Attacks are linked to Pakistani-backed militants