The on-line site of the Times of India has done a superb job in covering the siege of the terrorist attacks, under very difficult circumstances and lack of information. I just checked for updates and not only are they beginning to provide information about the victims, and those who survived, but they also have an article identifying the terrorists by name, the outline of their plan, and other information, all given by the surviving terrorist. Here's the article. I've very impressed with what a great job TOI has done in this coverage.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Arrested_terrorist_says_gang_hoped_to_get_away/articleshow/3771598.cms
and
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Terrorists_had_plan_to_blow_up_Taj/articleshow/3772323.cms
Friday, November 28, 2008
Cultural diplomacy: points to remember
The event in Mumbai is a good opportunity to restate some of what I have already discussed, and put it in an easy reference list. Here I want to focus with you on how to understand and deal with terrorism. Here are the points you must always keep in mind, and then flesh out your policy, strategy and tactics based on this understanding.
1) You cannot ever "kill all of the terrorists."
It is tempting to think that they are a certain number of people who can be hunted down and killed, but they are a process, not a generation. Erroneous strategy results if one imagines that there is some fixed number of terrorists who can be killed. Here is a mental exercise to help from falling into that mind trap. Imagine if you are in charge of domestic war against gangs. Can you kill every youth who is in a gang, and think that the phenomenon of gangs then disappears? Of course not. Gangs are a substitute structure for something, reasonable or totally unreasonable, that is lacking in the lives of potential members. Terrorism is likewise a continuing process that draws new generations, not a specific number of people. So it is essential that you do not confuse a policy of vigorously going after "all" terrorists with the delusion that if you kill enough of them that terrorists and terrorism as a concept goes away.
2) Terrorists tend to be morally very conservative.
This is true not only of Islamic extremists, but many of the other problems with terrorism, such as "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland. One must always bear this in mind because it is essential to both understanding terrorists and, if one ever gets to the fortunate point of direct dialogue, negotiating with them. This is because you must understand that moral conservatism is an incentive for peace in negotiating with terrorists. For example, I commented before that I wish that Pope John Paul II had gone further in excommunicating not only IRA members, but those of the flock who supported them. It is important that diplomatic and religious leaders maintain their own moral high ground in dealing with terrorists. Not only do they respect that, but yielding on certain morality issues is a genuine bargaining chip in negotiations. I mean, what is more important, having peace in some region of the Middle East, or insisting that we are only free if we have XXX rated video stores on every corner? Terrorists do not understand or accept the "lowest common denominator" of morality. That "translated" means that terrorists, in general, do not understand why westerners want morals to be invisible or at the level of the lowest practitioner in an area. Western society has this weird view that all of society should be receptive to immoral business and activities in advance of their actually being in an area. Community morals are very important to terrorists.
By the way, this is true even among terrorists who belong to cults who seem to have practices that many view as morally questionable. It is not important that you, as a diplomat, or a combatant of terrorism, judge if the terrorist is truly "morally conservative" or not. What is important is that you understand that he or she fervently believes that they are morally conservative.
As a corollary to this lesson, it is incorrect to say that terrorists only want to "impose their morals on others." Sometimes that is true, but often it is actually the terrorists who want to preserve what had been traditional community standards of morality, which westerners seek to erode for money/business and also a libertine view of "progressive" society. You cannot negotiate with terrorists, in general, if you do not have as background an understanding of this difference.
3) Terrorists recruit from among the poor, the desperate and the disenfranchised.
While their leaders may have access to personal fortunes, it is the poor and the desperate, often as children, who listen to their message and enlist. One useful analogy is to think of terrorists as community organizers and activists, who then go to "the dark side." Terrorists tend to take the problems of poverty and being disenfranchised from the majority very seriously. It is while they remedy these problems, for example setting up their own schools and welfare programs, that continuing more militant youthful terrorists join their ranks. One cannot effectively combat terrorism while there is rank and mind boggling poverty among large groups of disenfranchised people. Many terrorists start out as children in the worst nameless and faceless poverty that few in the west where even the poorest has a social security card can understand. Generations of Palestinians have demonstrated this, and we are now seeing generations of poor children who become terrorists in Asia, such as Pakistan, India and other countries. The continent of Africa has many examples of this too, fueling tribal conflict and horrible recruitment of child soldiers. One cannot effectively combat terrorism without at the same time and with equal, not less, vigor combat poverty in the home grown terrorist nations.
I could offer more suggestions, but I remember from my corporate presentation days that three points are the ideal number for maximum memory and effectiveness of implementation. I hope that you have found this helpful.
1) You cannot ever "kill all of the terrorists."
It is tempting to think that they are a certain number of people who can be hunted down and killed, but they are a process, not a generation. Erroneous strategy results if one imagines that there is some fixed number of terrorists who can be killed. Here is a mental exercise to help from falling into that mind trap. Imagine if you are in charge of domestic war against gangs. Can you kill every youth who is in a gang, and think that the phenomenon of gangs then disappears? Of course not. Gangs are a substitute structure for something, reasonable or totally unreasonable, that is lacking in the lives of potential members. Terrorism is likewise a continuing process that draws new generations, not a specific number of people. So it is essential that you do not confuse a policy of vigorously going after "all" terrorists with the delusion that if you kill enough of them that terrorists and terrorism as a concept goes away.
2) Terrorists tend to be morally very conservative.
This is true not only of Islamic extremists, but many of the other problems with terrorism, such as "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland. One must always bear this in mind because it is essential to both understanding terrorists and, if one ever gets to the fortunate point of direct dialogue, negotiating with them. This is because you must understand that moral conservatism is an incentive for peace in negotiating with terrorists. For example, I commented before that I wish that Pope John Paul II had gone further in excommunicating not only IRA members, but those of the flock who supported them. It is important that diplomatic and religious leaders maintain their own moral high ground in dealing with terrorists. Not only do they respect that, but yielding on certain morality issues is a genuine bargaining chip in negotiations. I mean, what is more important, having peace in some region of the Middle East, or insisting that we are only free if we have XXX rated video stores on every corner? Terrorists do not understand or accept the "lowest common denominator" of morality. That "translated" means that terrorists, in general, do not understand why westerners want morals to be invisible or at the level of the lowest practitioner in an area. Western society has this weird view that all of society should be receptive to immoral business and activities in advance of their actually being in an area. Community morals are very important to terrorists.
By the way, this is true even among terrorists who belong to cults who seem to have practices that many view as morally questionable. It is not important that you, as a diplomat, or a combatant of terrorism, judge if the terrorist is truly "morally conservative" or not. What is important is that you understand that he or she fervently believes that they are morally conservative.
As a corollary to this lesson, it is incorrect to say that terrorists only want to "impose their morals on others." Sometimes that is true, but often it is actually the terrorists who want to preserve what had been traditional community standards of morality, which westerners seek to erode for money/business and also a libertine view of "progressive" society. You cannot negotiate with terrorists, in general, if you do not have as background an understanding of this difference.
3) Terrorists recruit from among the poor, the desperate and the disenfranchised.
While their leaders may have access to personal fortunes, it is the poor and the desperate, often as children, who listen to their message and enlist. One useful analogy is to think of terrorists as community organizers and activists, who then go to "the dark side." Terrorists tend to take the problems of poverty and being disenfranchised from the majority very seriously. It is while they remedy these problems, for example setting up their own schools and welfare programs, that continuing more militant youthful terrorists join their ranks. One cannot effectively combat terrorism while there is rank and mind boggling poverty among large groups of disenfranchised people. Many terrorists start out as children in the worst nameless and faceless poverty that few in the west where even the poorest has a social security card can understand. Generations of Palestinians have demonstrated this, and we are now seeing generations of poor children who become terrorists in Asia, such as Pakistan, India and other countries. The continent of Africa has many examples of this too, fueling tribal conflict and horrible recruitment of child soldiers. One cannot effectively combat terrorism without at the same time and with equal, not less, vigor combat poverty in the home grown terrorist nations.
I could offer more suggestions, but I remember from my corporate presentation days that three points are the ideal number for maximum memory and effectiveness of implementation. I hope that you have found this helpful.
Tips for parents: child Internet safety
I meant to post this a few days ago, right after the story of the young man who commit suicide while broadcasting from his room. One is a repeat of an often made suggestion by professionals, and I've added a thought of my own.
Parents are urged not to allow children, even teenagers, to keep a computer in their bedroom. The family computer and the computer that the child uses should be in a public area where parents can supervise and easily see what the child is accessing on the Internet. Teens will whine this is embarrassing and an invasion of privacy. Well, tell them that when we were growing up, we'd do our homework at the kitchen table, so we could be among the family and also keep an eye on what was at the time the only family TV. That type of arrangement worked for a reason, as we are seeing now. "Privacy" means giving youngsters chances to be tempted into activities that they do not yet have the good judgment and maturity to discern. So do whatever you can to keep all computer activities in the common living area.
My second suggestion is if all else fails and you must have a child use a computer in their own or otherwise specialized room away from everyone else, ban the use of a video camera. Here is how to explain it to your teenager. You, the parent, gets to choose for safety and privacy sake who enters your home and to who you give personal details about your family. A web camera is an uncontrolled and unapproved "eye" into the house and family, which is a security and privacy threat, and your responsibility as a parent. Therefore at the very least ban the use of web cameras by your children and keep the device if you have them only in the common room. Again, a video camera boosts ego gratification and narcissism at a time when youth are just not emotionally equipped to handle it and to discern how unwise that is as a practice. So if you feel you cannot win the war of getting the computer in the common area, at least insist on no private web camera usage, and that it must be used only under supervision. The brains of children and teens are not ready for exhibitionism, trust me.
Parents are urged not to allow children, even teenagers, to keep a computer in their bedroom. The family computer and the computer that the child uses should be in a public area where parents can supervise and easily see what the child is accessing on the Internet. Teens will whine this is embarrassing and an invasion of privacy. Well, tell them that when we were growing up, we'd do our homework at the kitchen table, so we could be among the family and also keep an eye on what was at the time the only family TV. That type of arrangement worked for a reason, as we are seeing now. "Privacy" means giving youngsters chances to be tempted into activities that they do not yet have the good judgment and maturity to discern. So do whatever you can to keep all computer activities in the common living area.
My second suggestion is if all else fails and you must have a child use a computer in their own or otherwise specialized room away from everyone else, ban the use of a video camera. Here is how to explain it to your teenager. You, the parent, gets to choose for safety and privacy sake who enters your home and to who you give personal details about your family. A web camera is an uncontrolled and unapproved "eye" into the house and family, which is a security and privacy threat, and your responsibility as a parent. Therefore at the very least ban the use of web cameras by your children and keep the device if you have them only in the common room. Again, a video camera boosts ego gratification and narcissism at a time when youth are just not emotionally equipped to handle it and to discern how unwise that is as a practice. So if you feel you cannot win the war of getting the computer in the common area, at least insist on no private web camera usage, and that it must be used only under supervision. The brains of children and teens are not ready for exhibitionism, trust me.
Commend the bravery of the Indian commandos
There is no question that the Indian commandos have shown extraordinary bravery and tenacity, an honor to them, in the fight for control of the Mumbai hostage sites. They risked their lives for day after day, fighting a professional and well trained enemy in the dark, and they risked their lives equally for people of every nationality, culture and faith. So I think everyone should give them as individuals a lot of credit, even when it seems that some of their commanders' tactics could be legitimately questioned after all of this is done. I was dismayed to read that it took so long to get them to each scene, and their lack of information about the situation, but that certainly is not a detraction to the bravery and skill of each individual commando. I hope that they have had few casualties and woundings and wish them the best going forward.
Go back to church, synagogue and mosque
Abandon the "New Age" and the occult, like "astrology." Seriously. It is doing all of you more harm than you can ever realize. Far from being "enlightened" and affirmative, it is a depressive set of handcuffs that deny the goodness of God that strives to operate within each person to achieve the greatest goodness, denying that goodness and surrendering one's self to the depressive view of a churning cruel world of "fate."
A spokesperson for such a community who lost two members in Mumbai, killed by terrorists, one a child, said in response to a question from the press regarding what she thought of the terrorists that the terrorists were like "95% of the rest of the world's population."
Friends, that is how cultists view everyone else. Is 95% of the world "just like the terrorists?" You know, the great unwashed unenlighted who only have their eyes, as she put it "on the ground."
I don't think so and neither does the real One God.
A spokesperson for such a community who lost two members in Mumbai, killed by terrorists, one a child, said in response to a question from the press regarding what she thought of the terrorists that the terrorists were like "95% of the rest of the world's population."
Friends, that is how cultists view everyone else. Is 95% of the world "just like the terrorists?" You know, the great unwashed unenlighted who only have their eyes, as she put it "on the ground."
I don't think so and neither does the real One God.
Words of comfort to our friends at Chabad
Regular readers of my blog know that I have a link to Chabad, who has suffered a terrible loss in Mumbai. Here are my words of comfort, and I hope they help.
Job 4:1-4
If someone attempts a word with you, will you mind?
For how can anyone refrain from speaking?
Behold, you have instructed many,
and have made firm their feeble hands.
Your words have upheld the stumbler;
you have strengthened his faltering knees.
Psalm 50:1-6
The Lord, the God of gods,
has spoken and summoned the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
From Zion God shines forth,
perfect in beauty.
Our God comes and will not be silent!
Devouring fire precedes,
storming fiercely round about.
God summons the heavens above
and the earth to the judgment of his people;
"Gather my faithful ones before me,
those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice."
The heavens proclaim divine justice,
for God alone is the judge. Selah.
Job 4:1-4
If someone attempts a word with you, will you mind?
For how can anyone refrain from speaking?
Behold, you have instructed many,
and have made firm their feeble hands.
Your words have upheld the stumbler;
you have strengthened his faltering knees.
Psalm 50:1-6
The Lord, the God of gods,
has spoken and summoned the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
From Zion God shines forth,
perfect in beauty.
Our God comes and will not be silent!
Devouring fire precedes,
storming fiercely round about.
God summons the heavens above
and the earth to the judgment of his people;
"Gather my faithful ones before me,
those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice."
The heavens proclaim divine justice,
for God alone is the judge. Selah.
Song I often think of in times like these
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Child-in-Time-lyrics-Deep-Purple/73E46DE8313164A54825695E0004DA1A
Sweet child in time,
you'll see the line
(the) Line that's drawn between
(the) good (in us) and (the) bad (in us)
See the blind man
shooting at the world
Bullets flying,
ooh taking toll
If you've been bad -
Oh Lord I bet you have
And you've not been hit
oh by flying lead
You'd better close your eyes,
aahaouho bow your head
Wait for the ricochet
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo..
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo..
Aaa-aaa-aaa..
Oh, I wanna hear you sing..
Aaa-aaa-aaa..
Oaoh..
AAA-AAA-AAA!!
AAA-AAA-AAA!!
Sweet child in time,
you'll see the line
(the) Line that's drawn between
(the) good (in us) and (the) bad (in us)
See the blind man
shooting at the world
Bullets flying,
ooh taking toll
If you've been bad -
Oh Lord I bet you have
And you've not been hit
oh by flying lead
You'd better close your eyes,
aahaouho bow your head
Wait for the ricochet
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo..
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo..
Aaa-aaa-aaa..
Oh, I wanna hear you sing..
Aaa-aaa-aaa..
Oaoh..
AAA-AAA-AAA!!
AAA-AAA-AAA!!
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