Santa is off, after this year's seasonal job. The new year is around the corner.
This was a happening year, personal, work place, mother land, regional, global - basically at all scales.
Stage is set for many happenings. War in Sri Lanka is supposed to end next year, Obama becomes US president next Jan 20, Oil hit the highest price levels in history and fallen like hell, world hit by one of the worst economic crisis, world food prices as well as temperature rising at a constant rate.
For me, the most notable happening in the year of 2008 was the terror in Mumbai, India. First, it was shocking to see how brutal the terrorists were. Just imagine that you have locked yourself in a hotel room, seeking safety from the killers walking in the corridors, they knock on your door, and if they got to know that you were there, they would rip the door apart with a grenade and spray bullets into the room. Such was the terror according to some people who were there. Second, it was shocking how long that the Indian security forces took to overcome the terrorists. Despite India being a state with nuclear weapons, it took more than 48 hours for them to overcome just 10 terrorists. It shows the uselessness of WMD when it comes to fighting terrorists. However, the most lasting message out of Mumbai terror was neither the brutality of terrorists nor the inability of the security forces to overcome the terrorists sooner. Rather, the lasting and more touching facts that immerged from terror were the stories of humanity and bravery and courage. At the top, I think, is the nanny who ran away with the infant, the child of the Rabbi that was slaughtered. Then there were stories of hotel workers shielding people from the bullets sprayed by the terrorists. And some people saving others. I think those should be the stories that we should remember from this terror.
2008 has proven that, terrorist are innovating. LTTE acquired light aircrafts and just imagine how devastating that could be if they decide on a suicide mission with one of those planes. Mumbai terror was innovative in the way it was carried out. I think, the counter terrorism tactics world over is too focused on current threats. Rather the world should learn on focusing on future threats and countering them. US is fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, trying to keep terror away from home. But they are too focused on fighting terror camps and finding terror leaders. But, how many are focused on preventing the terror organizations recruiting new people? The kind of things that these terrorists do, need a certain kind of minds. And with most of the counter terror tactics that most governments world over are practicing, more terror minds are created. For example, take Israel. These days, they are bombing Gaza like hell. While killing few terrorists, they also kill and injure many innocent people. The chances of those people, specially kids becoming future terrorists are so high. Same with US. They show their fire power, and bomb Pakistani and Afgan villages, and they are creating more terrorists than they are destroying.
Right now, in Sri Lanka, there is a feeling that is created by the politicos that in 2009, terror would be over in Sri Lanka and we would live in peace, happily ever after. However, the truth is that, we would not have been fighting this was if the right things were done in 1956, 1977 and even in 1983. We are wasting billions of rupees, because very simple mistakes were done in the past. And killing all terrorists would not end this problem over night. After all, how do you know if all were really killed, that none of them blended with people, and they would not create problems in the future. There is no way that we can guarantee that. So unless something innovative is done to prevent creating future terrorists, problems would re-appear.
2009 would be a much better year, if people start thinking on preventing terror, rather than fighting it. It is time to innovate on preventing terror, rather than letting terror minds to blossom, and spend billions on preventing them. It should also be noted that, spending on fighting terror is a good source of income for some. It would also be a good idea to either get rid of those, or find better sources of income for them. Because, those who live on terror would not want to let it go. And it is also important to know that, those who live on terror are not really members of those "terror groups". Rather they are part of the system, like arms producers, arms dealers, NGOs that "help" displaced due to conflicts, news agencies that report on conflicts and terror groups, pharmaceuticals that provide the medical supplies and the list goes on....
Just think about it, and innovate, at lest in 2009....
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