little miss sunshine
Interesting article in Yale Global on India’s response to terrorism. It seems to be quite different from the U.S. response.
Since 1994, India has suffered almost 20,000 fatalities as a result of acts of terror, losses that dwarf those suffered by the US and Israel. Despite these losses, New Delhi has been very reluctant to initiate cross-border military strikes against targets based in Pakistan, where supporters and perpetrators of acts of violence directed against India have found safe haven.
The author, Micheal Krepon, concludes the article by describing the situation if India did strike targets in Pakistan and the consequences that would follow. He also shows alternate routes to controling terrorism.
Because this scenario is sufficiently grim and plausible, preventive action in India and Pakistan is worth taking in the form of heightened domestic security against extremist groups and renewed diplomacy. A disproportionate share of this burden falls on India because its leaders understand far better than their counterparts in the US and Israel that military power is not well suited to combat terrorism. But at some point, reaching for the hammer could become New Delhi’s unwelcome choice.
On a completely different note...
Saw some interesting movies this summer Heading South- a movie set in Haiti, describing the sex tourism industry where Western women come to Haiti to get some sun and sex. The consequences of the tourism on the local population is subtly detailed with a chilling end.
Another fun movie was Little Miss Sunshine, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Meet the Hoover family: Olive, a seven-year-old, slightly pudgy, aspiring beauty queen; her father, Richard, a struggling motivational speaker who can't help but push; and her mom, Sheryl, who has to bring her Proust scholar/brother, Frank, home after his failed suicide attempt. Frank has to stay with Sheryl's Nietzsche-worshiping son, Dwayne, who has taken a vow of silence until he is old enough to be a fighter pilot. Then there's Grandpa, recently kicked out of his nursing home for snorting heroin. When they are all forced to hop into the old VW bus to take Olive to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant, this is either a portrait of the most dysfunctional family you've ever seen or the absolutely hilarious tragicomic journey of a family whose lives are in for a change. That this is a first feature by the directorial team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris is stunning, given the film's level of execution. With an exceptional cast, whose "effortless" performances are pure pleasure, this madcap comedy literally transports a Capraesque lunacy to the present. And like the films of that master of farce, this delicious, abundant, comic storytelling sends up American values even as it draws out the humanity hidden in the most misfit of families.— Geoffrey Gilmore
I went with my large family, and we all had a great time.., with a lot of laughter and some tears, and we all found the story quite close to home.
Since 1994, India has suffered almost 20,000 fatalities as a result of acts of terror, losses that dwarf those suffered by the US and Israel. Despite these losses, New Delhi has been very reluctant to initiate cross-border military strikes against targets based in Pakistan, where supporters and perpetrators of acts of violence directed against India have found safe haven.
The author, Micheal Krepon, concludes the article by describing the situation if India did strike targets in Pakistan and the consequences that would follow. He also shows alternate routes to controling terrorism.
Because this scenario is sufficiently grim and plausible, preventive action in India and Pakistan is worth taking in the form of heightened domestic security against extremist groups and renewed diplomacy. A disproportionate share of this burden falls on India because its leaders understand far better than their counterparts in the US and Israel that military power is not well suited to combat terrorism. But at some point, reaching for the hammer could become New Delhi’s unwelcome choice.
On a completely different note...
Saw some interesting movies this summer Heading South- a movie set in Haiti, describing the sex tourism industry where Western women come to Haiti to get some sun and sex. The consequences of the tourism on the local population is subtly detailed with a chilling end.
Another fun movie was Little Miss Sunshine, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Meet the Hoover family: Olive, a seven-year-old, slightly pudgy, aspiring beauty queen; her father, Richard, a struggling motivational speaker who can't help but push; and her mom, Sheryl, who has to bring her Proust scholar/brother, Frank, home after his failed suicide attempt. Frank has to stay with Sheryl's Nietzsche-worshiping son, Dwayne, who has taken a vow of silence until he is old enough to be a fighter pilot. Then there's Grandpa, recently kicked out of his nursing home for snorting heroin. When they are all forced to hop into the old VW bus to take Olive to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant, this is either a portrait of the most dysfunctional family you've ever seen or the absolutely hilarious tragicomic journey of a family whose lives are in for a change. That this is a first feature by the directorial team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris is stunning, given the film's level of execution. With an exceptional cast, whose "effortless" performances are pure pleasure, this madcap comedy literally transports a Capraesque lunacy to the present. And like the films of that master of farce, this delicious, abundant, comic storytelling sends up American values even as it draws out the humanity hidden in the most misfit of families.— Geoffrey Gilmore
I went with my large family, and we all had a great time.., with a lot of laughter and some tears, and we all found the story quite close to home.
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