Very good point--I think the reason terrorist demands are not publicised is that that to do so would be considered legitimising them or their existence or demands. Very similar to the refusal to when governments refuse to engage in diplomacy with other governments...somehow the perception is that talking creates legitimacy..

Briggi - Just reporting on some of the speculation - all motivations to kill many people to incite terror/fear and to incite social unrest and sectarian violence seem dark to me, no matter the justifications for their actions. (The group being pointed to by the Indian government as being responsible have denied responsibility. There is a lot of internal conflict within India between different extremist religious sects already and a big pool of general discontent and poverty, and a lot of government and inequality.) To me there IS something crazy about believing that creating more violence will result in anything other than more violence - but that's a kind of crazy we accept as sane and even glorify and clearly some people think it's insane to believe people can live together peacefully. I simply don't discount that there are people in the world - particularly in the criminal underworld that profits from war, violence, the gun and drug trade, and social unrest - who kill others for profit or selfish gain of some kind. Or that ideology is often used to recruit soldiers by people who are really seeking money and power. Or that there isn't a a big international job market for mercenaries (Blackwater is doing very well right now). I see this very much as something done by humans for human reasons - no big evil, just the usual selfish motivations that lead to people feeling their anger and violence is justified but that of others isn't.

My hope is that Mumbai will not be a casualty of the war humans are waging against ourselves. Cosmopolitan cities are where people learn to live together and appreciate each other, to share cultures which then combine to generate new culture and innovations, to find ways to live together.

Thanks Cynthia. I appreciate your perspective on nature as expressed in the other thread too. My beliefs are different but I suspect we share, in many ways, a common love of nature and understanding about interconnectedness even though we approach it from different directions. (Which is all good and makes life more interesting from my perspective since you don't seem to feel the need to impose your beliefs on others and I have no desire to impose mine on you!)