Sure sign of a system perturbed
Friday, December 5, 2008 at 2:24AM
Thomas P.M. Barnett

ARTICLE: How India fumbled response to Mumbai attack,
By Padma Rao Sundarji, McClatchy Newspapers, December 3, 2008

Sure sign of a system perturbed: the deep acknowledgment of response failure, not unlike in NYC on 9/11. But whereas our problems with primarily command and control leading to a sloppiness of response (however brave), here we're talking a much more snafu'd effort, with the ten-hour delay on commandos being somewhat stunning.

I would expect India to upgrade here fairly dramatically, not so much because of the loss of life (not that much given the country's long history of terrorism) but because of the loss of face regarding foreigners being killed in their star globalization city, which gives off a terrible vibe that undercuts India's legitimate sense of its rising great power status.

(Thanks: Jack Kenigsberg)

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