Why half measures?

I tend to be a person with limited political opinion until things start affecting my own life. Mumbai's disaster has shaken me up in a way as has the siege at Bangkok's international airport, which puts my looong planned break in jeopardy. I am actually quite surprised how both the Thai and the Indian government have resorted to half measures in recent days.

Let me first talk about my country. We were witness to one of the worst terrorist attacks in the last decade. In such a situation our government (and that of our neighbour's) has taken nothing but half steps to bring the guilty to justice. For years, we've had intelligence and satellite surveilance reports that have confirmed the presence of terrorist training camps of the Al-Qaida and the LeT in Pakistan. Its been quite some time since Dawood Ibrahim was placed on the Forbes' world's Top 10 most dreaded criminals list. The captured terrorist from the Mumbai attack has revealed that he is from Pakistan and was trained there . I wonder why after repeated evidence we haven't sought the approval of the international community particularly countries leading the war on terror, to storm these terror camps and actually raze them to the ground? I wonder how many more security personnel will be killed and how many more such tragedies the country will have to face before we see serious action? Does Pakistan need another Marriott before they can bring Dawood to the law and stop LeT's rallies in Karachi? Does India need another set of attacks on its civilian establishments, before it whole heartedly accepts help from the FBI and Mossad to pulverize the heart of these terror establishments? The passive action I see, is way too familiar and I know where it ends and I don't like it.

Moving on to Thailand, the country and its seemingly popularly elected governments has been held to ransom by the PAD for the last 6 months or so. Isolating the country by blocking off the Suvarnabhumi airport should really be the last straw, no matter how valid the protest. I find it surprising how the government there too can take a half measure by declaring an emergency asking security forces to help clear the airport sans the Army! The inefficacy of the emergency decree shows, as the police have literally been chased away by the PAD demonstrators. The government is happy to act in exile by setting up shop in remote Chiang Mai than give up power. I wonder if both parties want to drive a nail into Thailand's already troubled economy by continuing the stalemate at the airport. While I can see both parties waiting to see who blinks first, I hope they realize that their country is burning in the background. 100,000 people are stranded in Bangkok; a million people are set to lose their jobs and the tourism industry is in for a huge slump. If both parties are really interested in the welfare of their nation, one of them has to back down for the greater good. Or perhaps, this is something I don't understand!