'Failed' States

We shook our heads, creased our foreheads and clucked our tongues every time a military installation was attacked in Rawalpindi, Pakistan recently. We pronounced Pakistan a ‘failed’ state – a failed state with nukes. HRC received much praise in some quarters for talking tough during her recent visit to Pakistan. It reminded me of sitting on the back end of one of those horse-drawn two-wheelers on the streets of some non-descript South Indian town when the horse (bag of bones as he was) suddenly dropped like a rock, catapulting us all - passengers and driver alike – forward and onto the still steaming carcass that the spirit had already abandoned. Luckily, save the horse, no one was hurt. We simply brushed ourselves off and walked away. Looking back once more, we saw the driver still sitting next to his dead horse and wailing sorrowfully while beating it with a stick.

Now we can add Ft. Hood to the list of targets of the insurgency. It’s interesting that no one in the government-media complex will come right out and say it, preferring instead to speculate on the psychopathic loner theory, likely driven over the edge by right-wing hate radio. The people, however, are not that dumb. As soon as they heard his name, they knew. They know that America’s current leaders are in a race for time; that, for some inexplicable reason, they are willfully sowing the seeds of chaos, intent on catching up, and overtaking the likes of Pakistan – failed States. There seems to be no rhyme or reason other than revenge; to lay every painful aspect of the human condition on America’s doorstep and make her pay.