ATTACK IN MUMBAI: THE GEOPOLITICAL RAMIFICATIONS - IS PAKISTAN INVOLVED?

The highly organized wave of multiple terror attacks in Mumbai/Bombay, India now reaches into its eight hour. No sign of resolution is in sight, and the attacks continue. THIS IS MORE THAN YOUR ORDINARY TERROR OPERATION. Diplomats are targeted. VIP police have been killed. The financial capitol of the world's largest democracy has been virtually shut down. Although the death count is much lower, the disruption in Mumbai is roughly equivalent to the disruption in New York on Sept. 11, 2001: Paralysis. Numerous sources are saying that it probably has direction from outside India. This episode has intelligence agencies worldwide sitting on pins and needles, wondering what will happen next and where: In their own territory? We now know (surprise!) that the attackers are "Deccan Mujahideen," a group of fanatic anti-Western Islamic terrorists. This attack will have immediate and long-reaching international consequences. Is Pakistan's secret intelligence service involved (as it has been in past attacks)? It is suspected. An excellent, late-breaking report from Stratfor (emphasis added) notes that the ongoing crisis "promises to cut deeply into India’s foreign investment prospects and threatens to rock India’s government. As India responds to the attack, its relationship with Pakistan will be front and center, and the potential for a destabilization of relations between the two geopolitical rivals is high." Stratfor is a service that provides intelligence information. They continue: This has now evolved into an attack where the lives of high-value targets, whether they be diplomats or Western corporate executives, are being threatened. With general elections nearing and a global economic crisis in full effect, this is a nightmare situation for India’s already weak and fractured government as it attempts to hold onto the Western investment that has fueled the country’s growth for more than a decade. For the more immediate future, however, this attack has the potential to spin up into a crisis of geopolitical proportions along the Indo-Pakistani border. FULL ARTICLE at STRATFOR... Stratfor notes that India is in the midst of national elections and that this crisis could be a major setback for India's future economic development because it will create great fear among the international business community, thereby causing some to pull out of India and others to decide against opening operations there.... RELATED ARTICLES AT STRATFOR: India: Serial Bombs In New Delhi - September 13, 2008 India, Pakistan: A Political Opportunity for Militants - July 28, 2008