Unity in Adversity

A terror attack has again been unsuccessfully averted. Political heads have rolled. Indians have expressed a spectrum of emotions from angst to desperation. And Pakistan buckling under pressure from US (and apparently India too), ostensibly seems to be in hot pursuit of its home-grown terrorists. At the end of the day, unimaginable and irrevocable damage has been done to the lives of many a people. Lets temporarily pause here and shift our attention to another problem plaguing the world currently - 'financial whatsoever'. When the bubble first burst, I was frustrated as to how the 'financial wizards' could have committed such a blatant blunder. But as the sun kept rising and setting, the frustration has turned into awe as to how the crisis can transmit itself across the global without any loss of information (networking at its best!!). Everything under the sun seems to be affected, to the extent that having a job by itself could make you the most eligible bachelor in town. So these two adverse scenarios set me pondering if there was anything positive that might pop out?The fact that countries across the globe irrespective of their ethnicity, geography and economy are falling prey to stateless extremists, gives them an opportunity to group under a common umbrella to shield themselves. The sharing of intelligence, joint counter-terrorism exercises and joint monitoring operations could infuse some sort of good-will between nations. A fine example is how the US and NATO forces have come to depend heavily on Pakistan to purge the Talibans out of Afghnaistan. In the same way, Pakistan feels the urge to engage with India to wrest its country free off the same terrorists which it had surreptitiously trained to be used against India. When US was feeling the heat of insurgents in Iraq, it vaguely hinted at seeking the help of Iran with whom it had severed all diplomatic ties since 1979. On similar lines, the financial downturn has elicited an unequivocal consensus that only a concerted action by world nations can rescue us out of this carnage. The egos of developed countries has been severely dented and they are looking up to developing countries like China and India to play a key part in their rescue. Infact economists have been suggesting that China can play a key role in rescuing the US financial system by lending $500 bn from its huge forex reserve of $1800bn. Similarly developing countries like India which have an 'outsourcing' economy, need a buoyant economy in the US, EU and other developed countries. Russia with its 'petro' economy is also wary of the global recession as oil prices are plummeting with declining demand. A lot of relationships that are forged now might be symbiotic, but we can hope the positives that come out of these associations enthuse nations to carry the camaraderie forward.
Mother Earth also for its part provides us with frequent opportunities to unify ourselves in the face of natural disasters. But at the end of the day if such crises and disasters fail to motivate us towards a common goal of universal harmony, you can only wait for divine intervention. And people like me have to wait for some extra-terrestrial intervention.