Two nuclear nations face each other on a “knife edge”, a million troops at the ready, almost certainly just about to engage in open warfare. This surely must be the most potentially calamitous event in modern history since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
OK, that’s very, very important. The rest:
All fairly significant.
But of the potential nuclear war, fuck all is how much they have. They do, though, have space for this:
:rolleyes:
Oh, I forgot to mention: the items in the WORLD section are:
And, uh, which potential nuclear war would this be? Nothing in the Washington Post about any current escalation beween Pakistan and India, or Germany and France for that matter…
Am I being whooshed? Pakistan and India, of course.
Shame on the Washington Post too then.
Well, I’d suggest that the ultimatum issued by India concerning cross-border Pakistani terrorists, saying basically that they will go to war if the conditions are not met, combined with their amassing of troops at the Pakistani border and Pakistan’s recall of troops from peacekeeping duties in West Africa, in preparation for anticipated Indian invasion qualifies for the “potential nuclear war” tag.
Call me an old worrywort and all.
pan
In fairness the European and Asian edition of CNN have it as their main story.
Well, nothing on the front page of The New York Times, the single line “India: Pakistan planning missle tests” on MSNBC, still nothing at the Washington Post or CNN.
Perhaps it’s just being a bit overblown in the rest of the world? It’s not like Pakistan and India have been anything but at each other’s throats for the last two years.
Didn’t realise that.
Still, all the same, surely’s it should be big enough to get into all the editions…
Violence might erupt in the Middle East? OMG, alert the media!!!
I’m glad I don’t have to hear about it in the media. Frankly, I’m sick of every fucking country in the region. Live in peace or blow yourself up. I don’t give a fuck. Just get it overwith. This has been going on for hundreds of years, and probably will continue as long as there’s at least one muslim/jew/hindu standing.
To head off any discussion about racism/etc let me just add this. I am sure these thoughts are no different from the rest of the world’s thoughts as the US and the USSR teetered on the brink of world destruction for 50 years. The one difference is we kissed and made up.
Oops - “surely’s” - surely some mistake.
It’s escalated really badly in the past month or so - as I said, a million troops (combined) from both sides have entered the area; the UN are trying to mediate; Vajpayee has told the troops to prepare for “a decisive battle”; Chris Patten has described Indian patience as being at “breaking point”; the Pakistanis suddenly announced missile tests “for domestic audience” (yeah, right); the Indians have sent warships into the Arabian sea, on the other side of Pakistan; the British Embassy is advising British nationals to leave both Pakistan and India; both sides have been discussing nuclear response.
Doesn’t sound overblown to me.
Macro Man, I don’t call that region the Middle East - it’s South Asia (YMMV). It’s certainly a different kettle of fish from the Israel problem. And it’s also two nuclear-capable countries about to embark on open warfare (AFAIK this hasn’t happened before).
I just realised you wrote this:
What’s the media for, in your world then? What’s happening in the world, or rollercoasters in Indiana backyards?
You might if the pricks start lobbing nukes at each other. American troops aren’t that far away you know.
Pakistan has already said that if backed into a corner they would use them. India would most likely be able to back pakistan into that corner if war breaks out.
1,000,000 troops on the border.
It hasn’t, aside from this thing we call the “Cold War”.
Why are you suprised jjimm? So far the only other thread I’ve seen on this in SDMB is “If Pakistan and India nuke each other what effect will this have on the US?”
The US media, insular or what?
airdisc, the Cold war was just that: cold. Not open. Otherwise it would have been called “World War III”.
They’re firing artillery and machine guns at each other as we speak.
Glad to see you’re speaking with authority on the US media, given your location.
For the record, I do understand there would be grave implications if India and Pakistan engaged in full-blown war. Not just for the two combatants, but also for the rest of the world. Nothing the West can really do about it, IMHO.
Actually there is a link under ASIA-PACIFIC in the WORLD section to this pretty lengthy story: **Fears over Pakistan missile tests **
Note that the story contains links to, if I counted right, 13 other related stories or videos.
Next time a Merkin complains about the rest of the world considering them insular, I’ll point them at this thread.
The world’s largest democracy about to go to war with another nuclear power. A million troops squaring off against eachother. And half the US media doesn’t even consider it worth mentioning. Not only that, but people are here actually defending that view. Unbelievable.
For the rational Merkins - and that’s about 90% of this message board - be assured that this is not overblown but really very serious indeed.
pan