While trying to deal with the tragedy in Mumbai, I have been wondering what the coverage of the story tells us about ourselves.
I was not surprised by MSM coverage in America: poor in local papers, better in papers with a large desi population or those with an international audience. I was pleased to hear that CNN and CNBC had decent cable news coverage, perhaps because they’re well established in India.
What has baffled me, however, is the relative silence from the world of blogs. The blogosphere is supposed to be the cutting edge, far more advanced than the MSM, yet they’re spending less time on the story.
To be more precise, Technorati’s rankings of popular news stories shows us that average bloggers are paying some attention to the bombings; the fourth, sixth and twentieth most reblogged news stories are the BBC, CNN, and Fox News versions of this story. It’s currently less important than the death of Pink Floyd guitarist Syd Barrett, or coverage of Zidane’s press coverage, but more important than Bob Novak and the big dig.
Where we see a distressing lack of coverage most clearly is amongst political blogs in the top 100 list [Thanks Manish]:
- #5 Daily Kos: no story
- #9 The Huffington Post: short news story, no commentary, just 2 sentences cross-posted from CNN
- #14 Michelle Malkin: Brief post which starts “9/11. 3/11. Now 7/11?”
- #15 Crooks and Liars: 2.5 lines on the subject. However, they do link to a thoughtful analysis elsewhere
- #18 Instapundit: 8 different links to stories
- #43 Talking Points Memo:
NothingA link to this post. [Welcome TPM readers!] - #44 LGF: 3 stories on the subject
- #47 Powerline: Story about Miss Universe (with a photo of Miss Sri Lanka) but nothing on the bombings
- #64 Newsbusters: Nothing
- #75 Captains Quarters: One detailed story with two updates, fairly early on in the news cycle
- #87 Andrew Sullivan: One article a day after, on the spirit of Mumbai
Amongst other major politics blogs, Atrios did a one line link while travelling and WashingtonMonthly covered black hair but not blacker events.
What gives? I emailed the following question to three significant political bloggers:
No opinion on the Mumbai bombings?I’m surprised. Many more have died than did in London a year ago, and the death toll is currently just a little under the death toll from Madrid. Yet the blogosphere is largely quiet. Why?
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Here are the two responses I received:
The blogosphere tends to be relatively quiet on straight news like this, since it doesn’t provide much of a vehicle for opinion mongering. And in this case, it appears (so far) to be related to India-Pakistan tensions, rather than the broader Islamist movement. I suspect most Americans, at any rate, find that sort of uninteresting. [Kevin Drum]I can’t speak for anyone else. But in my case often something of great consequence or human tragedy happens, but it’s not really clear that I have anything to add. Sometimes that gets read as lack of interest or concern. But it’s not. [Anonymous political blogger]
While I understand their desire to only repeat a major news story if they have something of value to add, I think it is (in its own way) as myopic as the confused analysis on Captains Quarters:
What motivated AQ to go after India? It’s hardly the first country one associates with the West, and many Muslims live within the majority-Hindu nation… But mostly AQ and other Islamist terrorists have targeted tourists, and India is in the middle of its tourist season. The Srinagar attack left six tourists dead. AQ wants to destroy India’s economy, fragile enough as it is, by keeping tourists away from the country. [Link]
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p>The story has clear implications for America, they’re just not the very simplest ones. So, for bloggers who need an angle, I’ve got three. The first is a big one [Thanks Hukku]:
“Accordingly, the Pakistani government continues to support the insurgents, although more subtly than before. But what the Musharraf regime and its more intransigent Islamist allies fail to recognize is that Indian patience with Pakistani-sponsored violence in Kashmir and elsewhere in India is nearly at an end. Although largely ignored by the U.S. media, bombings during the festival for the Hindu holiday of Diwali in New Delhi last November, in which Pakistani-based groups were implicated, almost precipitated another major crisis, which was averted only by the Indian leadership’s restraint. But it is far from clear whether such forbearance could survive another attack. Furthermore, in contrast to the 2001-2 crisis, when the Indian military lacked viable plans for responding to a Pakistani-based terrorist attack, the Indian army is now well prepared to undertake swift and decisive action by retaliating against targets in Pakistan at times and places of its own choosing. Unfortunately, the Pakistani leadership appears to be oblivious to India’s growing frustration. Consequently, although another Indo-Pakistani war is not likely, it remains possible…” [Link]
1 India and Pakistan are now nuclear armed states. This sort of attack, if it ends up being traced to Pakistan could have very serious consequences. Couple that with the recent resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and British frustrations there, and an argument might be made that Pakistan is engaging in serious destabalization of its neighbors.
Of course, this is all speculation but Indian security sources indicate that they suspect Pakistan had a hand in these events. If that suspicion becomes widespread, won’t there be an outcry for retaliation? If so, will Bush be able (or willing) to protect Pakistan again? Musharaff prepped nukes for use during Kargill (according to Nawaz Sharif), this could get very ugly.
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p>2 On the other hand, if the bombings were actually committed by a new group connected to Al-Qaeda, this marks the opening of a significant new front in the “Global War on Terror”. Al-Qaeda activities are of clear importance to America.
3 These events are pertinent to the domestic fight on anti-terrorism funding. Another mass transit bombing gives credence to Schumer’s argument that DHS is giving too little money to New York. In other words, recent events in India undermine the argument for protecting targets in Indiana.
These recent events are rich in implications for American foreign and domestic policy. I don’t find it too hard to connect the dots, and I don’t think it’s just because I’m brown.
So because a former employee of CAIR was indicted (not convicted) by the Governmnet, for you thats prima facie evidence of the illegitimacy of CAIR. So out of the hundreds and hundreds of CAIR employees, if one or two CAIR employees were charged for wrong doings in their personal capacity and after they had left working for CAIR, this for you is enough to disqualify CAIR as an organization. Anyway, you are entitled to your opinion. Peace.
Huh ? Earlier you questioned what had CAIR done that I objected to. I provided an example of where they had broken the law. According to the wiki page (if you do take the time to refer the section), no less than 4 members, and some of them fairly high ranking ones, have pleaded guilty in varying degrees to charges to supporting/abetting terrorism.
How is LGF worse than that ? People on this board seemed fine with Tariq Ramadan’s homophobia, to the extent of extending him a warm welcome. But LGF’s commentary is somehow unacceptable… go figure.
CAIR is not a terrorist organization and LGF is not a white supremacist one.
O’Toole was pefectly polite here on SM and didn’t deserve this.
That there are some hate mongerers on LGF is undoubtably true, but the same could be said for Kos or for that matter CAIR.
Holding individuals reaponsable for the actions of others is always problematic and I assume that’s what AMFD is trying to avoid by working w/ CAIR…so let’s not do it to others.
It is not as the charge was shoplifting. Why is it that all the CAIR employees who were indicted/convicted were charged with the same exact thing: terrorism ? Why is that the common theme ?
Earlier you questioned what had CAIR done that I objected to. I provided an example of where they had broken the law.
You did not provide me any examples of what CAIR has done. You provided me with examples of former employeer indicted for xyz in their individual capacity. That has nothing to do with CAIR as an organization. CAIR is non-profit organization and their activities, funding etc. are all open to the public. As an organization, CAIR has not committed any wrong doing.
People on this board seemed fine with Tariq Ramadan’s homophobia, to the extent of extending him a warm welcome. But LGF’s commentary is somehow unacceptable
Tariq Ramadans comments are again not comparable to the scary filth propogated by the commenters on LGF. I dont think you are interested in a serious debate.
Peace!
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blockquote> So because a former employee of CAIR was indicted (not convicted) by the Governmnet, for you thats prima facie evidence of the illegitimacy of CAIR.
Here’s the conclusion to Mr Royer’s saga: He pleaded guilty and is now serving 20 years in federal prison.
Right…. your handle provides a link to the ACLU. Hasn’t the ACLU defended the KKK on its right to use the First Amendment, even if it is to express “scary filth” much worse than LGF ? I doubt you are interested in a serious debate, considering that you don’t seem to know what the ACLU has supported.
Right…. your handle provides a link to the ACLU. Hasn’t the ACLU defended the KKK on its right to use the First Amendment, even if it is to express “scary filth” much worse than LGF ? I doubt you are interested in a serious debate, considering that you don’t seem to know what the ACLU has supported.
The ACLU defended the National Socialist Party of America’s right to march through Skokie, IL because the first amendment protects all speech, including hate speech. If the government were to shut down LGF because it did not like its content, I would have no problems taking up the cause of LGF in court. That does not mean that I support the LGF at any level. If you cant understand this, we will not agree on anything.
Seriously, I find the relative lack of coverage in the US (blogs/MSM whatever) completely unsurprising. Most/many Americans think terrorism started with 9/11. I think the isolationism and indifference was part of the reason why Al Qaeda was able to carry out 9/11 with such success (not to say it couldn’t have happened with all kinds of measures in place). I mean, airport security was virtually nonexistent at a time when India, having learnt things the hard way through the IC-814 episode, had completely barred visitor entry into the complex (not that it’s all hunky dory).
As an Indian, I do wish our governments could come up with a better strategy to counter terrorists, but if someone thinks “these are things that happen everyday in the third world”, there are more 9/11s, 7/7s or call them whatever you will on the way. Until the “West” understands that, War On Terror is just a catch phrase GW uses to bullshit American people. War On Terror! LOL!!! Idiotic and intellectually dishonest media completely lapped up that shit before the war and now they can blame it all on Bush. Anyway, that’s a different rant.
I must mention, though, the last time there was a bombing in Mumbai (Gateway/Zhaveri Bazar), an American colleague wanted to know if my family back home was safe (none of my family lives there). In general, I haven’t had any conversations that went beyond the Wazzup in three years except two or three Americans, so I wouldn’t generalise.
I don’t expect anything from the average American in terms of empathy or sympathy. I would not comment if a natural disaster claiming thousands of brown lives got very little coverage because the cynic in me expects it. The lack of interest in these terrorist attacks is frustrating because we are fighting the same enemy. The West(government and media) chooses to ignore this.
The US government is content to prop up Musharraf as long as he cooperates with the ‘War on Terror,’ while he continues to cultivate the terror network as a means of containing India. The only entity stronger in Pakistan than their terror network is the Pakistan army. What happens if the army leadership loses control or is taken over by these terrorists? That is when America would have to worry about WMD’s…real ones, not the Iraqi kind.
Just as the white countries group themselves into the coalition of the willing so do Al Quaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Harkat-ul-Mujahiddeen and countless others sucha as Students Islamic Movement of India in a coalition of the more-than-willing. The guys who sided with the Taliban after 9/11 are the guys who evacuated and shelter Bin Laden, Al-Zawahiri and Mullah Mohammed Omar(Taleban head). The same guys shelter Dawood Ibrahim, the mastermind of the 1993 Bombay blasts and these are the same guys who killed Daniel Pearl. I offer no proof of these claims but this is my understanding of reality after following news snippets(American MSM is useless for this)for a long period of time.
These aren’t my terrorists or your terrorists, they are one evil entity that must be dealt with by everyone. Ignore them at your own peril.
doubt you are interested in a serious debate, considering that you don’t seem to know what the ACLU has supported.
Why dont you educate me?
Um, high explosives* like RDX (as the article describes high intensity, whatever that is) are fairly common and NOT high tech. They’ve been around for a long time and are widely available on the black markets. Seriously, I don’t understand how you can come to a conclusion that this was a high tech weapon. All you really need is timing device (cell phones, set timers, etc) to set off some blasting caps(also very common) and viola! An explosion.
The very reason such bombs, IEDs, whatever are used is because they are low tech. One can add high tec components, but at the core explosives are very, very, very, low tech. If you’ve watched Discovery Times/military channel, then you may have seen an episode called Hunting The Taliban. There is one scene where the Army Special Forces have caught bomb making material. All of it came from Pakistan and there was a basket full of Nokia cell phones stripped down to make bombs. The bomb maker ran the border to Pakistan as explicitly stated by the Special Forces troops in the documentary.
High Explosives: These detonate, which means they react supersonically creating a shock wave that pulverizes its surroundings. Examples are RDX, C4, TNT, PETN…
Low Explosives: These deflagrate, which means they burn and combust. Examples: Black poweder, propellants (used to accelerate bullets, mortars, artillery)
As usual, wiki to the rescue on Explosives.
I think Martin did make some valid points in #101 and #104 (except for the POTA thing Ennis responded to). We have various politicians linked to Naxalites and other insurgent groups operating within India and there is always some level of violence in troubled states and people have become inured to these things. There is a stoicism borne out of indifference, so why do we expect the Western world to care more? The tech company I used to work for observed a minute of silence for 9/11 victims to express solidarity with our customers, but none for our own (they could have used up a lot of minutes, may be that’s why).
For all the talk about the spirit of Mumbai etc., I think the truth is, what the hell can the average person do? Moving on is the only option.
Yeeeah, girlfriend!!!
Without u and ur friendz, we self-hating fags would be sitting meekly, forced to watch endless reruns on Logo LOLZ with no one to stop those heinous Muslims or educate us on our own morally weak relativism! Please, save us from ourselves and our so-called liberal and progressive friends who pretend to like us but really want nothing but to welcome in Tariq Ramadan and the rest of the Islamofascistz with warm caresses and soft kisses under the guise of “open-mindedness” or “fairness”!
Back-stabbing autobiotcheez!
Once you’ve put the Muslims in their place, lets take on the Maharaja and Maharani of Rajpipla and all the other Hindoos to make sure that they never make it into this paradise of gay rights, the U.S. of A.
Remember, ur the only hope, caped crusader, so don’t stop thinking about tomorrow! Life, liberty, and the
rabid pursuit of Muslimshappiness!Hail Madonna! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! Go Gay Marriage!!!! U.S.A.!!!
If you can hold Joe Lieberman responsible, they’ll write about it.
Perhaps it’s viewed by many as an extension of the India-Pak tension which isn’t newsworthy anymore?
I’m not sure if you noticed or not but Metroblogging Mumbai has been covering the events first hand, and every single site in the Metroblogging Network has been linking to that coverage, and many of the authors are participating in the comments there, even the ones in the US. Not everyone is ignoring this.
what the hell can the average person do? Moving on is the only option.
May I request SM owners (Abhi, Anna, Siddhartha et al.) open a post that instead of any discussion is totally devoted to relief organizations anywhere in the world trying to help Mumbai.
A few minutes ago, I went to Indian Embassy in Washington website but they are not collecting money.
I am trying to find Maharastra Red Cross link.
Well, my co-worker, who is from Bombay/Mumbai (you know, that last bit may have been too much for the average American…”Mumbai? WTF?”) was busy all morning calling up friends and family to make sure everyone was alright (they were), so I was very much aware of it. But apart from one or two, most of the political blogs I follow have not covered it. Could be time diff. Could be the perception of “local” (eg, India vs Pakistan). Could be simple racism/religionism(?) — brown & non christian. I really don’t know.
But my heart goes out to you guys. It’s bigger than Madrid or London, and should have plenty of coverage for its size/scale alone.
(As for the comments on Africa — barely any mention of Somalia, which has been finally taken over by some Islam groups. I don’t understand why no mention, because it seems this should be perceived as a potential problem in terms of fundamentalism, terrorist cells and so on. But hey, Africa garners even less attention than India, so ultimately I’m guessing “non white, non western” is at work. Stupid, stupid.)
Are any relief organizations/ NGOs trying to help Mumbaikars? Is anyone collecting money? Is anyone pitching for the dead and the wounded?
Goddammit, Indian Red Cross Society has nothing on their webpage.
Will they be on the mercy of Indian Government and their supersonic speed and efficiency?
Guys, do something.
You ask why Mumbai 7/11’s 200 dead Indian people doesn’t get as much coverage as London 7/7’s 52 dead English people or Madrid’s Spanish people? You’ve got to be joking right. Isn’t it so incredibly obvious why?
In my opinion, it seems like this silence is because there aren’t very many easy answers to what happened. To people who are deeply involved in all of this (have family and friends back in India), we have followed a lot of what has been going on and the answers don’t always lead back to one recognizable entity. It seems to me that the MSM coverage, while appearing to be complicated and “balanced”, always relies far too much on easy answers. Since Bin Ladin didn’t release a tape right after, acknowledging his role in all of this, I think the American media may be having too much trouble fitting this all into the axis of evil framework that’s so hip nowadays.
I noticed this after the Tsunami as well. It got so much coverage (which I was grateful for; more coverage = more help), but it seemed like that was because the culprit was easy to find and impossible to blame, nature. During all that, a friend in Mumbai (she’s fine, I cried so hard when she finally picked up her phone) sent me an e-mail about thousands of people getting kicked out of housing in Mumbai without any other place being made available. That story wasn’t touched, maybe because wrong was done by a friendly government that had made all the right political and economic decisions? I don’t know. I realize there could be a ton of reasons but I just think this media silence reflects a quiet racism as well as an inability to see the world as a complicated place.
Yellow Peril (NZ) has also blogged on the subject… http://publicaddress.net/default,3351.sm#post3351, partly with reference to this article.
With hindsight, I think that “War against Al-Qaeda” would have been a better, and more accurate, term for the current conflict.
By the way, the BBC News website has mentioned Sepia Mutiny in an article discussuing present coverage of the Mumbai attacks in the internet/blogging world. See here.
(I also posted this on the “News” tab).
Ok, so here you have my comment on your history. Let Kashmir be independent before you kill yourselves with nukes.
You put your votes and your taxes into an army that does very ugly things in a territory for 50 years and then a very little group of those milions of people that have been forced to be in a country they don’t feel they should go and kill very little of you.
So?
Why should you be able to make nuclear exhibitions in their territories, their gardens, their houses and they shouldn’t be able to reply? How can’t you ignore that those people has tanks with armed people that hates them outside their house’s doors?
And yet, I don’t know enough about it all to defend my arguments. So I’m not going to say it in my blog.
And I deny everything I said here. I don’t wanna finish with my bones in Guantanamo.
In other words, many conservative blogs covered it, the liberal blogs coughed, and Democratic Underground whined that they couldn’t blame Bush.
Then why do you say this in #110:
That hardly seems respectful of their 1st Amendment rights, if the ACLU works so hard to keep people from being told to “get lost” from marches/rallies because their opinions/ideas were repugnant to the general public (and the ACLU) as you have explained.
All of you – enough with the CAIR / LGF debate already! It’s completely off topic! Don’t make me call the intern in here …
Vikram: I will protect the LGF people from being silenced by the government because I believe in the first amendment and bill of rights. Likewise the ACLU will defend the Neo-Nazis from the government when the government tramples over their first amendment rights. That does not mean that I will welcome the LGF people into my house or David Goldberg (ACLU attorney in Skokie case) will go hang out with Neo-Nazis. I am going to disrupt both the LGF and the Neo-Nazis in all private spheres including (SM) but also defend their right of not being silenced by the government.
Ennis: This was my last comment on LGF in my argument with Vikram. He can of course continue with the argument with me on email at al_mujahid_for_debauchery@yahoo.com
Vikram: If you feel like responding to the above statement, please do it on my email.
Apologies to everybody for putting you through this debate.
I’m up! I’m here, I swear and I’m totally not two hours late!
SM Intern: You can delete my post. Vikram can email me at al_mujahid_for_debauchery@yahoo.com
Chicagoboyz.net has a picture of the American and Indian flags at the top and some very interesting posts on the Mumbai bombings. Also, a contributer, “Lex” is asking for advice on good books about Indian politics. If you wander over, please be nice 🙂 It is one of my favorite blogs, like SM.
Take care, all.
oops, here’s the link.
I am not a blogger but am a reader of some of the political blogs listed by Sepia Mutiny. From my perspective, the difficulty is in obtaining multiple perspectives of the event. I have read the English language coverage in the Times of India and two south Indian papers. If, as has been suggested, (BBC as I recall), the bombings targeted affluent Indians, one is likely to get only their point of view from an English language paper. So far, there does not seem to be any conclusive evidence of who were the bombers or why they acted in this specific manner. Much of India blame Pakistan, but they do so in the same reflexive fashion that the American government and right blame AQ. The boogie-man did it. No need to think, just emote.
The advantage to blogs is their multitude of different insights and points of view. If they are all equally clueless, there is very little point to reading them. Apparently their authors sense this and have concluded that they offer little insight other than to deplore the mass killing of innocent people.
As to the comparison with the bombings last year in the UK, I think that the politcal ties between the US and the UK, not to mention linguistic ties, made the story more understandable. This was doubtless abetted by the need of the American political right and the Blair government to spin the hell out of the story. In both instances to distract attention from the logical connection between the military activities of the US and UK government and increased anger.
So, what does Sepia Mutiny suggest for reading to better understand what happened in Mumbai and why?
I think white people have pretty broad filters when it comes to this kind of stuff, they’re so used to bombs going off in Baghdad and people getting killed left and right, they just group it into the “brown people got killed” bin in their collective heads. Because, I work at a place thats whiter than a Gap store on Memorial day, and not a single one even mentioned it, or asked me about it.
Pretty scary shit.
Good question. Many blogs I frequent have not said anything, or just linked to some really random desi blogs. To some extent it is, as one of your respondents said, a matter of not wanted to opinionate on a tragedy (not that it stops those who want to, witness exchanges post 9/11, or even our own deer mutineers with their religious stereotypes and railing against Pakistan and minority appeasement and whatever else).
More importantly, however, American bloggers simply don’t know very much about India. Unless these events can be connected to their concerns and their obsessions, they will not be picked up. It’s the same in American journalism for the most part, smaller countries in the Middle East and Europe get infinitely more detailed coverage because they tie into existing “stories” and themes in the American press.
Central Texas, thanks for the thoughtful tone of your comment. Personally, I get the most informative and thought-provoking writing on India from wayward creative non-fiction writers rather than from straight-up journalists.
For Bombay in general, Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City is hard to beat. It’s a lyrical and unflinching portrait of the city in its many moods and layers. Even if you’re not interested in Bombay or in India, you should read this book. It’s that good.
There are many good general introductions to contemporary India and its tensions. One that comes to mind is William Dalrymple’s The Age of Kali, which is well-written region by region collection of essays on India in the new millennium. It runs the gamut from Bollywood to terrorism, and is good at describing how these vagaries are part of what give India its unique character.
As far as the political background of these blasts, I believe that the long Kashmir chapter in Pankaj Mishra’s new book, Temptations of the West, is essential reading. Mishra is an extraordinary writer, and he limns the desperation and horror of the Kashmiri situation in remarkable detail. He also provides valuable historical context for the various struggles playing out in Kashmir. His writing puts paid to the notion (repeated several times by commenters here in the past two days) that the Indian government is “doing nothing” about terrorism in India. On the contrary, the government forces been rather heavy-handed, particularly in Kashmir. Many Muslim Kashmiris, having had fathers, brothers and husbands “disappeared” and killed without trial (an estimated fifty thousand of them since partition), feel hard done by. A lot of this extra-judicial killing is done through proxies of the military. The lawlessness of the place, with myriad atrocities on both sides, seems to me to be connected to other internecine conflicts in India. Naturally, all of this is underreported by the mainstream Indian press, who find it in their best interest to present a rosy view of their government’s activities in Kashmir.
Anyway, I think these books will give you some of the necessary context for news articles about the Bombay blasts. And I’m sure other commenters will be happy to recommend other reads.
To the numerous commenters who’ve said, in essence, “don’t just complain about the lack of coverage on blogs, you should blog about this yourself,” may I suggest you click on the big banner up at the top of this blog and read what’s been written here over the last few days? There is lots of coverage. Ennis is asking his question within the broader context of SM.
For what it’s worth, we hit it at our blog Three Wise Men. I’m guilty of tossing in an Al Qaeda reference to interest readers, but I also included several worthy links to news stories and sources of information on Kashmir, Hindu-Muslim conflict in India and otherwise, to assuage my guilt.
I was thinking the same thing. I didn’t realise just how frequently Indian cities has been bombed over the past few years.
I think it’s more indicative of the fairy shallow sphere of interest of a large majority of bloggers. No offence intended to anyone in particular, it’s just many bloggers treat the medium as a very personal one: they write about whatever interests them, whatever’s on their radar. India may just be too far away, geographically and culturally, for them to pick up events there. Never been there. Don’t watch the same TV shows. Speak a different language. Sorry.
Martin – that’s a non sequitur. There is plenty of very horrible muslim on muslim violence. That doesn’t mean that the Indian government is doing nothing in Kashmir.
Someone above mentioned no one doing anything to help the relief efforts. mumbaihelp.blogspot.com is trying to take some steps in the right direction. Please spread the word.
Hi! I am living in the USA but I am European. I have to confess that I was very surprise how yesterday the CNN was talking about the event. Barely a couple of minutes… that was yesterday, today not even a word… Unfortunately I am afraid that is something doesn’t happen in the so called Western countries or there is nothing that can generate a petrol crisis… is not that important.
I had the change to meet people from India and some of them are very precious friends… that’s why I want to send my condolences to the India families that directly or indirectly are suffiring from terrorism…
Violence will never never never be the answer… doesn’t matter how much money you have or how strong are you beliefs.
All my possitive energy to India
I typically wouldn’t hop in just to link our site, but given the subject at hand I wanted to make sure that you saw the conversation on BlogHer, led by Priya Ramachandran: “Bombay burning. Don’t be misled by the fact that only she and I are in the comments – we have a huge and wonderful community of lurkers. Here in Silicon Valley, I get the impression that a huge group of people (desi and not) care about this issue.
Hmm! So, this is why India is cooperating with Iran to build an oil-pipseline through Pakistan. If that’s “fighting” I wonder what peace looks like.
AMFD –
Are you defending the indefensible CAIR because you consult [for monetary compensation, i assume] for them or because you believe in their philosophy?
Light a candle for Mumbai – IBN/CNN will donate a rupee for each candle.
Hukku: I have promised Ennis that I will not debate CAIR on this post anymore. Feel free to ask me your question at al_mujahid_for_debauchery@yahoo.com
Why are we looking to them to post something about blast? There is so much going on around the world do we blog about everything? Take for instance africa, iraq, middle east……we have to fight our war by ourself. If this has to do with number of posts then I myself wrote 3 posts related with mumbai blast so does the others.
Because they are the biggest blogs in the world, and this story effects them directly.