The Impact Of Mumbai

It struck me as odd at the time, but the bombings in Mumbai point out how misplaced the entire Obama European Tour 2008 was during the US election campaign. Why is it Europe that he needed to tour to prove his foreign affairs credentials? He just as easily could have visited Iraq and Afghanistan and kept travelling east, signalling that he would forge a new relationship with India and China as part of his term. Bush had already begun that process with the US-India civilian nuclear agreement.

A chief risk from the attacks is a hard-line Hindu backlash which would threaten the secular balance between Muslim and Hindu not only in Mumbai, but across the country:

"If Pakistan truly wishes to turn back the tide of fundamentalism in its country, and stop exporting violence overseas, then it must have proper support and assistance from India. Yet the concern is that if last nights atrocities in Mumbai turn out to be Islamic backed, violence and retribution could ignite across India. The nation possesses a larger Muslim population than Pakistan, and much of the area around the Crawford Bazaar in the heart of Mumbai remains steadfastly Muslim – Mosques and Minarets abound, as do bushy beards, skull caps and women wearing burkhas. Anti-Muslim feelings here if uncontrolled in the wake of these terrorist attacks would be devastating. Tens of thousands could die."