Q: "What do you call a pancake with nuclear capabilities?" A: "Pakistan" (or India depending on who's telling the joke, as heard on "The Simpsons").
Author-humorist Douglas Adams lampooned them the great "Krikit Wars" in the sci-fi comedy series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Obscure in the West, cricket is a phenomenally popular sport in former British colonies like India. It can only be compared to Super Bowl football, or baseball during an exciting rivalry, or basketball when a player's criminal conduct is in the news.
A billion people watched yesterday as an Asian country went up against another. Former countrymen, current nuclear-armed enemies India and Pakistan met in the "IndoPak clash." Even their political leaders set aside dangerous animosity long enough for things to play out on the sports field. (India is particularly upset about terrorist bombings that were possibly state sanctioned and assisted acts by Pakistan).
India crushed Pakistan, a country it was only separated from sixty years ago. Sri Lanka is next. The British, who were exiting, drew lines and created countries because they wanted to leave behind fighting neighbors that would take out their animosity on each other rather than the colonialists. In fact, England has been creating problems in the region -- and extracting resources with stunning proficiency -- for centuries: Afghanistan was created and demarcated by the Durand/Zero Line between realms to be pilfered by various powers ever since.
Today, the US is the colonial power attempting to rob the area blind. But China demands a share of the pie, just as Russia once did. Buddhist history is the casualty. Not only is China happy to bury one of the first great Buddhist monasteries on the Silk Route (Mes Aynak), America will level the entire country for strategic advantage, an oil pipeline, minerals, and incontestable military dominance in the region.
It also explains why British archaeologists were motivated to locate Buddhist historical and pilgrimage sites in Nepal and India proper. But India used to extend all the way to this Central Asian hinterland, Gandhara (Bamiyan/Kapilavastu, Afghanistan, Baluchistan/Lumbini, and Pakistan). LINK: "Crossing Zero: The Durand Line Then and Now" China's thirst for copper will destroy Buddhist history - Communist China targets Afghan minerals - Chinese copper mine in Afghanistan is a massive 2600-year-old Buddhist temple site - AFGHANISTAN'S UNTOLD HISTORY
