I hope I am not being gullible in finding relief in Musharraf's statement. Folks back home are unstressed. Thanks to years of abuse of public trust by the politicians, Indians have gotten inured to the rhetoric. While I am not a fan of BJP, I have more faith on the humanity of Vajpayee's defence team than of Musharraf's. India also has overwhelming superiority in conventional forces. I don't really know whether a structured nuclear command structure exists inside Pakistan. If India escalates beyond a certain point, the temptation to do to lasting damage to India can be very high amongst some sections in Pakistan. So, Musharraf's statement is a huge relief, though I don't know to what extent one should trust the General.

I read depressing news all weekend. I read the incredibly sad story (by Bruce Feldman) of a fifteen year old prodigy whose life was pretty much destroyed by the college football team, apathetic college authorities and clueless parents (via metafilter). It is when I read stuff like this; I feel that in a lot of ways people in India are much, much better off. I read this devastating indictment of Robert Mugabe's reign in Zimbabwe (via Lakefx) by Philip Gourevitch. I urge you to read it even if it churns your stomach. The world needs to know what is going on out there. I have also started reading Robert Kaplan's 'Soldiers of God'. The first chapter is called 'Walking through a minefield' and is depressing as hell.

I need some cheerful news!