The two biggest countries in the world seem to be nerving themselves for another shove-about:
India and China accused each other Tuesday of firing warning shots during a confrontation the day before at their disputed border in a marked escalation of tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
It was the first time in decades that both sides said shots were fired at the frontier, where long-standing, mutual protocols prohibit the use of firearms. [WaPo]
Two nuclear armed powers with a lot of pride at stake – and a lot of people to potentially throw into a war. But the next paragraph is where the red flag really went for me:
Such protocols did not prevent the two countries from engaging in their deadliest violence in more than 50 years in June, when Chinese soldiers armed with clubs studded with nails and metal rods clashed with Indian troops in a remote area of the western Himalayas.
Minnesota is reputedly the land of passive-aggressive behavior, so perhaps I’m overly sensitive – but the Chinese behavior seems to be a planned & nuanced provocation, a jab into the ribs of India designed to get them to do something. I’m worried that now China has created an opening and will be taking advantage of it.
And then what? India is run by a nationalist political party that has a lot of political and religious fervor. If China continues to be aggressive, will India up the ante? And where will it stop?
Religious fervor. That’s a phrase that worries me. Such people may, believing that their favorite divinity will protect them, start chucking nuclear weapons about. I have no prejudice against Indian believers, or at least no more than for just about any other religious believer – actually, some Christians are more frightening.
But the magical thinking inherent in the deeply religious and nationalistic can easily be seen as generating excuses for an escalating war.
