BS: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir

Subject: BS: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir
From: dianavan
Date: 13 Oct 05 - 10:11 PM

I can't help but wonder why the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina gained so much attention from Mudcatters while, to date, I haven't read any comments about Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir. In fact, when I look on the web, there's not even very much reported by the major journalistic sources.

I have also been hearing about mud slides in Central America.

Are we suffering from donation fatigue?

Is it because they are so far away?

It is so much worse for the people of Kashmir. If aid doesn't get there very, very soon, they will freeze to death. The Kashmiri people are a very peace loving, gentle people who have been caught between the political aspirations of both India and Pakistan. I am very concerned that these beautiful people will perish.

The first snow dusted the Himilayas yesterday. Hope and pray that aid can get through in time.

Subject: RE: BS: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir
From: manitas_at_work
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 04:19 AM

In England we are hearing a lot about the earthquakes but many people here have family in the area. I suspect it isn't being discussed much here because few Mudcatters have any connection to the area whereas the hurricane did affect Mudcatters and their friends and family.

Subject: RE: BS: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 08:32 AM

Well, the main reasons Katrina was discussed so much were:

We could see it coming.
We know lots of people affected by it.
It was badly handled.
Resources which were available were not used/much delayed.

As far as I can see none of these are true for this earthquake.

So, on one hand we have a relativly common occurance ( an earthquake killing tens of thousands, simply because it's in a poor area). These come round every year or two. On the other, the aftermath of Katrina was a once-in-a-lifetime event for The US.

Subject: RE: BS: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir
From: DougR
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 04:01 PM

I think it might be possible that since the Tsunami and everything that has happened in between, people are disaster "worn down." I can't imagine that anyone would feel anything other than sympathy for the earthquake victims and survivors. So there's really not a lot to talk about.

Unless someone knows who might be to blame for all these disasters.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 04:14 AM

You wouldn't be "poking with a stick" Doug, would you??
Maybe Pat Robertson has a theory----

Subject: RE: BS: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 01:26 PM

Clinton Hammond?

(oh, well, no, probably not...)

Subject: RE: BS: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir
From: DougR
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 03:05 PM

You got one, Boab? :>)
DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir
From: Wolfgang
Date: 06 Sep 06 - 10:47 AM

Not wanting to start a new thread for this interesting opinion article:

The Way Out of Afghanistan

After the removal of the Taliban, American and ISAF troops were welcomed as liberators. But they have overstayed their welcome.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir
From: Wolfgang
Date: 06 Sep 06 - 10:50 AM

click

Subject: RE: BS: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir
From: Amos
Date: 06 Sep 06 - 10:53 AM

Thanks, Wolfgang! A most interesting theory -- creating positive effects by absenting oneself! (Does that happen in physics). :D


A

Subject: RE: BS: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Sep 06 - 02:01 PM

The natural impulse when one has a strong interest in a 'problem' is to DO something, but when you can't really get a handle on 'exactly' what to do, it may indeed be best to get out of the way!

In WWII, there were armies of nations, competing on open battlefields with (mostly) clear ideas of who and where the enemies were. Even in Japan, once the Emperor said "surrender", it was over. The Japanese did not mount an insurgency and start sniping. Iraq & Afghanistan are a very different sort of problem....even those who sort of want our help don't like us much. Bush and his advisors don't seem to get the implications of that.

To reply to the original post....it IS, to a great extent, simply too much access to news and more information about the problems of others than individuals can easily process. Even if I read about Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir, I can only type so much, and there are so many issues competing for attention. I try to follow the news and say what I can about 'hot' issues, but there are experts following the details, and involved in providing aid....I cannot go there, and I cannot afford to give much on a retirement income....so I just try to be aware.

Subject: RE: BS: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Sep 06 - 09:01 PM

Dianavan, the people of Kashmir rejected rule by Pakistan at the time of the division of India. Mostly Sunni and Shia Moslems, they got along fairly well, although there has been for some time a tendency to get rid of Sikhs and others, and militants of both groups have become more active of late. The massacre of some 35 Sikhs recently was little reported. Whether the two groups of Muslims can manage their differences better than they have in Iraq is a subject of worry.

Pakistan has occupied the northwestern part, illegally according to India, but at the moment the guns are mostly silent. It was the "Pakistani" portion that suffered the worst in the earthquake.
The press of both parts are strongly controlled by the respective governments; the reports of the damage and requests for help came early, buy Pakistan has largely taken control of relief efforts in their portion of the territory, and outside help is monitored and controlled by them.

Subject: RE: BS: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir
From: robomatic
Date: 07 Sep 06 - 12:08 AM

TV Magazine 60 Minutes just repeated the article where a dozen New York medical professionals went to the mountains of Pakistans to treat people who were barely surviving amidst the rubble of their homes and possessions. Tweren't anybody else boots on the ground there, supplies from the US and Europe and the occassional chopper from the Pakistani military.