For Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud has been one of the people who have caused it the most grief. Baitullah was the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the leader of what has been called the Pakistani Taliban. He first became internationally famous when he was blamed for being behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and in an ironic revenge, he was killed by a missile fired by a US operated drone when Benazir’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari is the President of Pakistan.
Baitullah was hiding in Waziristan, a rugged and difficult terrain that the Pakistani Army has always been reluctant to attack. This was even when Baitullah was blamed for a majority of the suicide attacks (including huge bomb attacks that made international news) that happened inside Pakistan, and yet he seemed to be always ahead of the Pakistani military. It was only in the recent past that the US operated drones (with their fearful missile launching capability) started striking fear in the hearts of these terrorists. The drone with their video coverage meant that these terrorist leaders always had to be on the move; and it was only recently that the drones also started tracking the Tehrik-i-Taliban; earlier the drones would be attacking the Al-Qaeda leadership hiding out in these remote areas as opposed to taking on the Pakistani Taleban. This had created a divergence between the US and Pakistan since Al-Qaeda was threatening Pakistani interest, while Baitullah was attacking Pakistani interests.
Now, the question is what are the next steps ? With recent reports of his potential successors having indulged in severe infighting and firing at each other, there is an opportunity for the Pakistani Government and military to step in and try to clean up. However, it seems much easier to try and strike a deal, since that would ensure that the hard steps of fighting in a difficult terrain can be avoided (link to article):

continue reading "Baitullah Mehsud dead in a drone attack – and his successors are now fighting"

By all projections, the North Korean attempt was to try to put a satellite into space (not a missile test as feared). However, it is also known that the North Koreans are using the same vehicle for both a rocket launch, and a missile launch (and that is one of the fundamental problems of space technology – a lot of the technology has dual applications); and so if the rocket had been successful, then that would also have been a validation of a missile with supposedly sufficient range to reach parts of the United States. This is a scary prospect, since the North Koreans have been suspected of working to miniaturize their nuclear device so as to form it to be a warhead capable of fitting onto a missile. Further, the North Koreans have been caught in the past of collaborating with other countries on both missile and nuclear technology. The rocket overflew Japan, but then failed, and there was no payload launched into orbit. At some point in the future, if they are allowed to advance, the North Koreans will be able to make sufficient advances.
Unfortunately the North Koreans have not been susceptible to much pressure in the past (with China and Russia, key pressure capable nations, not willing to apply the required amount of pressure). They are already under United Nations sanctions for the previous nuclear test of 2006, and that does not seem to have much effect on the North Koreans; so the US is now worried about how to stop further work in this regard. Military threats also do not work since the North Koreans are capable of causing huge damage to Seoul, and maybe parts of Japan (link to article):

continue reading "What does the Security Council do about the North Korean launch"

Pakistan has been in the news for a long time of having made a game of getting money from the US to handle its home-grown terrorist problem; after all, these are terrorists that the Pakistani state is valiantly fighting against and they need money to compensate for this. A classic case of gamesmanship whereby you get money else bad things may happen. Well, a state that has perfected this to a much higher degree is North Korea. North Korea is a failed state on any parameter. The state is a basket case economically, with large sections of its population having to face starvation on a regular basis. The state runs on the whims of the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, who has cultivated the image of a maverick, all the better to seem threatening to the world community.
Why does North Korea matter ? If it was located in some corner of Africa, it would not have mattered so much. Unfortunately, North Korea has one primary industry and export, that is of armaments. It exports missiles to many countries (even though these missiles are not as accurate, but they are still a threat). Further, it maintains a huge army that remains eyeball to eyeball with South Korea and US troops (and South Korea and North Korea are technically still not at peace with other even though the war between them ended more than 50 years back), and is in a position to threaten the South Korean capital, Seoul, in a matter of hours.

continue reading "North Korean satellite / rocket launch"