Courtesy an article by Ronen Bergman, titled “Gilad Shalit and the Rising Price of an Israeli Life“ from the New York Times last week, please read these excerpts that deal with Israel’s stance in hostage situations since the time of Entebbe – which was memorably captured in a book and later a film too (emphasis added):
…During the secret discussions prior to the Entebbe operation, Rabin, who agreed to the mission after much persuasion by intelligence and ministry planners, effectively established the principle that is still followed by all Israeli leaders facing hostage situations: …

Dear All: Opening this thread to discuss Mumbai blasts…
I’m still trying to collect more information and put the pieces together (motive, suspects etc). In the meantime, latest reports suggest 8 killed in 3 separate blasts..Will update this as and when I get some time and fresh information..In the meantime, please share your thoughts and comments below…(pl keep it civil, polite and no blanket abuse please; no personal attacks either; also look at my comments policy under “Disclaimer” if you have not already done so).  Please spare a moment to remember …

Very hurried post but getting this out since it has been bothering me since morning. First a bit of background (emphasis added)…

The Supreme Court had in January 2006 dismissed Guru’s appeal against the death sentence after which he filed a mercy petition. A convict on death row can seek clemency from the President, who acts on the cabinet’s advice to arrive at a decision. The plea is processed by the home ministry.
Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha on February 23, home minister P Chidambaram had said Guru’s plea had …

Sadanand Dhume explains it well. A brief excerpt below (emphasis added):
Simply put, the notion that the radical Hindu threat to India is comparable to that posed by radical Islam is ludicrous. First there’s the question of scale. Alleged Hindu terrorists—not one of whom has been convicted—are accused of bomb blasts in 2007 and 2008 in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra that killed 17 people. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, the toll in India from about two dozen radical Islamic terrorist attacks since …

Once again, M J Akbar says it like only he can:
The Urdu paper theory is, in brief, that 26/11 was organised to kill Hemant Karkare, a brave police officer, because he was on the verge of exposing Hindu zealots. This implies that Hindu zealots came to a deal with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, whose leader Hafiz Saeed was so delighted that, with the help of ISI, he armed and trained 10 young men, and sent them on Jihad to India so that Hindu zealots might be protected!
I …

Kashi – one of my most beloved cities is under has been attacked…once again…
I am still gathering more information but would like to open this thread so that you can share thoughts and comments…
This thread is likely to be continuously updated over the next several hours..stay tuned for more.
Related Post: Anger, tears and despair
***  UPDATE 1  ***
UNBELIEVABLE RT @KVSarmaJ “NDTV anchor just went on air forgetting he was still on air “Tell Ananth not to mention IM mail.” Great!
From Dainik Bhaskar: One girl dead and another device defused; IM …