Using the power of the hive to keep informed

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As Ennis mentioned in the earlier post, there isn’t much we, as American bloggers, can add to the story from Mumbai as it continues to unfold on the ground. The time for blogging about the specifics will come in the next few days as more facts emerge. I recommend forgetting the news channels with their endlessly repeating video loops and paid talking heads. The best place to follow what is happening in Mumbai is to visit the wiki page created to compile all information about these attacks. It is continually being updated and the references section is terrific. There is also a Google Map of the region that has been created with all the attack sites highlighted.

Twitter has also been a great way to get details about what’s going on. Try typing Oberoi for example. “Terrorists trapped” also results in a slew of Tweets.

USE THE COMMENTS TO POST INFORMATIONAL FACTS or WORDS OF SYMPATHY ONLY. RIGHT NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR RECRIMINATIONS.

324 thoughts on “Using the power of the hive to keep informed”

  2. How about we take a deep breath. And we use this moment and space to honor those who died, and be considerate to the many readers how have family that is in harms way today. Now is not a time to play the blame game and attack mass theological ideas instead of the people who used those ideas as an excuse to attack innocents. Focus on the fact that people are still in the Oberoi fearing for their lives. Lets make this a positive space, a place where we as a community can stand shoulder to shoulder and comfort each other.

  4. yeah cnn is great now, though they really didn’t get rolling until it was apparent Americans were targeted. sad, but ethnocentrism’s a fairly universal phenomena so i suppose one must be real. prior to that foxnews was the best (really). i recal something similar during the train bombings. fox, of course, is more comfortable with islamofascist narratives while cnn prefers the “they hate us because of our foreign policy” narrative, making the train bombings a tad more difficult for them. they just had deepak chopra on saying iraq led to this, turning moderate Muslims into radical (according to him).

  5. Horrible. I stayed at the Oberoi a little over a year ago, during my first-ever trip to Mumbai. Kind of creepy how so many top-ranked police got killed–happenstance, or part of the plan?

  6. I’d also recommend Offstumped. – http://offstumped.nationalinterest.in/2008/11/26/mumbai-under-fire-live-blogging/

    The terrorists have holed up in two hotels and the army commandos are trying to flush them out.As per latest reports, 5 terrorists inside the Taj have been killed and 1 arrested.Rediff says that US intelligence officials are among the foreigners killed/taken hostage at The Taj.

    Ok..(deep breath)..like Abhi says, there will be plenty of time later on for analyzing the whys and wherefores of these ghastly attacks.Let us pray for the unfortunate innocents who were killed, and the brave policemen who offered their lives in the line of duty.

    But I believe India as a country is in for a rough haul ahead.There are going be repurcussions..I am worried for my country.

    I donno..I am just plain depressed, scared for all of us Indians living in India, and can’t think of a solution to this never-ending war.This is just not fair.

  7. Rediff says that US intelligence officials are among the foreigners killed/taken hostage at The Taj

    Wow, that doesn’t seem like the sort of info that Rediff should be sharing until the hostages are all freed. (I mean, the police keep asking the media not to release detailed info about the operation, so they obviously assume the terrorists are hooked up to the outside world.)

  8. In answer to your question, you may remember a little massacre of Muslims a few years ago, orchestrated and encouraged by the same Indian authorities who are now making such a poor response to this crisis, called the Gujarat riots… perhaps you should start there in your search for “why Muslims are involved”

    I guess the selective killing of US, UK and Israeli citizens was also in response to the Gujarat Riots.

    Oh wait..

    So were the partition riots.. the three wars with Pakistan.. the Kashmir problem.. going further back – the decimation of temples and the holocaust of natives – The Hindus had it coming..

  11. And people keep asking “why can’t we all just get along?” Only look at the comments here…

    On another note, how does everyone here feel about this constant stream of information about the situation? It’s some combination of comforting, unsettling and addictive, it seems to me.

  12. I think emotions are too high right now for there to be any kind of constructive commenting. -Pavan

  13. Really nuanced and timely comments guys. Don’t let anything get in the way of setting the bar lower and lower as this lovely exchange of ideas progresses.

  15. Misopogon, Gorbag, Suki Dillon,

    Not cool. Your comments were deleted because you couldn’t keep a cool head.

    For other commenters, please be respectful. Don’t feed the trolls who are so hungrily trolling this thread. Your comments will get deleted and you will get banned.

  16. [Deleted]

    All the news coverage I’ve seen makes me wish that the Mumbai police were better trained and better prepared; this probably applies to police outfits all across India

  18. 5 · Manju said

    yeah cnn is great now, though they really didn’t get rolling until it was apparent Americans were targeted. sad, but ethnocentrism’s a fairly universal phenomena so i suppose one must be real. prior to that foxnews was the best (really).

    Even the New York Times had slow coverage but it seems the scope and scale of the attack was maybe not immediately apparent. I don’t want to defend the media, but in 2008 alone India has suffered attacks in New Dehli, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Jaipur, and the media might not have realized how extraordinary this was at first. Simply within the last month Islamic militants have attacked innocent people in the Philippines, Thailand, Iraq, Russia, China, Somalia, Yemen, Iran, Algeria…It may give the terrorists just what they want if the media covers their every move non-stop.

  19. I’m and American journalist in India and keeping up to date on this as possible and posting on the unfolding events from Chennai. My feeling is that this is the beginning of a much more organized age of terror in India. If you look at the tactics employed this was more of an assault on all of southern Mumbai than the sorts of hit and run terror tactics of the past. It does not auger well for the future. More here:

    http://www.scottcarneyonline.com/blog/2008/11/indias-new-terror-age.html

  20. Mumbai attackers may be Pakistani nationals 27 Nov 2008, 1359 hrs IST, PTI Print Email Discuss Share Save Comment Text: MUMBAI: Preliminary investigations on Thursday pointed to involvement of at least some Pakistani nationals in the serial terror attacks in Mumbai that left over 100 dead and 270 others injured.

    “There are indications that the perpetrators of the crime, who arrived in Mumbai by boats, are Pakistani nationals,” authoritative sources said.

    The indications are based on information gathered from captured terrorists, the sources said.

    Maharashtra deputy chief minister R R Patil, who also holds the Home portfolio, said revealing detailed information on the terror strikes could prove detrimental at this juncture.

    “We have total clues. But disclosing information would not help the case,” Patil said. “This is an attack on the country. We will disclose information at an appropriate time,” he said.

  21. this is a deep failure in india’s intelligence services and yet another example of their disorganized and ineffective intelligence gathering apparatus. if these are indeed homegrown, then better outreach and informants are clearly needed.

  22. My feeling is that this is the beginning of a much more organized age of terror in India. If you look at the tactics employed this was more of an assault on all of southern Mumbai than the sorts of hit and run terror tactics of the past. It does not auger well for the future.

    Unfortunately true. India is in for a ‘civil war’.

  23. 22 · jackal said

    this is a deep failure in india’s intelligence services and yet another example of their disorganized and ineffective intelligence gathering apparatus. if these are indeed homegrown, then better outreach and informants are clearly needed.

    TOI reports that Indian govt had warned of attack from sea. That makes me wonder where the Indian Navy/coastguards were.

    These bastards will rot in hell. Their main aim is to reduce business/tourism between India and developed countries.

  24. Lets just wait for a day. Or may be a few hours.

    Some captured terrorists are being interrogated now.

    And Rediff says the Indian Navy has captured the ship, MV Alpha that transported the terrorists to Mumbai off-shore.

  25. Sorry SM for getting carried away. But yes – passions are high. Everybody at work is discussing these attacks which is quite unusual. Email are doing the rounds. Shivraj Patil’s fiefdom the Home Ministry had released intelligence about impending BIOLOGICAL and CHEMICAL attacks on India’s population centers. B. Raman ex-Raw chief and a reputed strategic affairs advisor has warned of coordinated attacks on India’s NUCLEAR power plants. I have an empty feeling in my stomach about what Scott said. He is going to be proved right pretty soon. All the screaming, large bindi wearing, secular crowd will cry crocodile tears and try to create diversions as usual. Nothing will change.

  28. Gen. Hooda, in charge of the operations confirms that one of the terrorists captures is from Faridkot.

  29. A few minutes ago they said that there was an explosion at the Taj, Oberoi and Taj under fire, and gunfire breaking out at both scenes.

    I haven’t found twitter that useful. There was little first person information, so they were mainly tweeting news from Indian TV. I found it better just to watch IBN and NDTV myself.

    Similarly, I was very unhappy with CNN. The American anchor just kept cutting in on the IBN feed, asking questions of “experts” who were British or American (and who knew nothing), and then asking really inane questions when he could get an eyewitness. He also seemed to have no clue about the background of the crisis, nor had he even really looked at a map of the city.

  31. Ennis,

    It surprises me how clueless the West is about the Indian Subcontinent and what a tinderbox our region is. I tried the AAmerican coverage and it’s just inane platitudes being mouthed over and over gain, they really don’t have anything to say. CNN-IBN is equally useless as talking-heads whose professions have precious little to do with counter-terrorism are being called in to provide “insights”

    This is the best piece of analysis you can find on the entire crisis: http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20081126_red_alert

  32. Can we please ban kayastha_lady on this post? Comment #32 is truly ridiculous in this context, and is only guaranteed to start a flame war.

  33. I am not blaming anybody. I am just listing the possibilities “POST INFORMATIONAL FACTS or WORDS OF SYMPATHY ONLY”. Can you dispute the facts I have given ? Have I said anything factually incorrect ?

  34. 34 · kayastha_lady said

    I am not blaming anybody.

    at least have the courage to admit the mischief you are up to.

  36. Is the US offering any help yet? In a logistical sense? Should we take it? It seems if it is the Al Quaeda it may be a common cause…even otherwise,… oh god, I can’t watch the news any more. Please please let it be over when we wake up tomorrow…

  37. my sympathies to all mumbaikars and especially those directly affected by this..what a nightmare…i really hope that this time the antecedents of the attackers is more clearly established and explained to to all of us…once that is done and the facts published, there needs to be a military move againts the attackers.

    We really need better policing and more investments there…and yes our stinking politicians need to get out of the way…they are refusing to modernize the police and create independent authorities becuz almost all of them support thugs/criminals and get illegal funds from them…what a shame…and each one moves around surrounded by 10 policemen.

  38. Can we please ban kayastha_lady on this post? Comment #32 is truly ridiculous in this context, and is only guaranteed to start a flame war.

    Seconded. Unbridled speculation about the military equipment supply chain is not an “informational fact”.

    ==========

    Vinu at Flickr has been taking some pictures of the devastation.

  41. Is there any clarity on the situations in Cama hospital, and Nariman house?

    CNN-IBN is currently completely aghast at the flow of all the top politicians into Bombay wandering around the city “expressing sympathy”, and consequently completely diverting the police and army even as the attack has not even ended.

  42. 31 · Vijay said

    Ennis, This is the best piece of analysis you can find on the entire crisis: http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20081126_red_alert

    Vijay, I would disagree, check this out, this in the first paragraph. [quote] …the Indian government will have little choice, politically speaking, but to blame them on Pakistan. … [end quote]

    This “Rumsfeldian” approach to pre-empt the motives behind ‘expected’ statements by Indian government is pretty juvenile

  43. I am watching the live feed from NDTV and they are interviewing the wife of a man who is inside the hotel. This is madness. Anyway, lets hope that all hostages are released.

  44. 43 · Pagal_Aadmi_for_debauchery said

    and they are interviewing the wife of a man who is inside the hotel. This is madness.

    Yes, asking her “how she feels” when her husband was inside, and when she initially was even at a loss for words, was a classy touch. Vultures.

  45. Thanks SM for opening up this space for comments. Please let us save the recriminations and nasty comments and post mortems for later

    I grew up in South Bombay the epicenter of the ongoing attacks I haven’t lived there for years but somehow feels like I was attacked. I have walked those streets, eaten at Cafe Leopold and seen movies at Metro ( the theater that was attacked). My emotions are raw at this moment and am still trying to wrap my head around what happened. My heart goes out to fellow Bombayites/Mumbaikars. I am hoping the city makes a comeback stronger and better than ever.

  46. Can CNN IBN pleasepleasepleaseplease stop calling this India’s 9/11? It was 11/26 when this happened and that is the date that needs to be remembered for this horrible event.

  48. Apparently the terrorists are speaking in Punjabi. I heard somewhere else that they were Kashmiris. Indian Kashmiris dont speak Punjabi usually so they might be Pakistani Kashmiris. The terrorists are claiming to be from Hyderabad though.

  49. Ok, I didnt read Abhi’s admonition about pointing blame. Sorry for the diversion.

  50. According to NDTV they were told to pretend to be from India. The army officer in charge seemed to strongly suggest that they were from Pakistan. The captured guy is also supposedly from Pakistan. Hopefully this will spur cooperation between the respective governments.