Pakistan tests missile, India responds with war games

Cricket diplomacy aside, making up is hard to do, which is why India and Pakistan can't stop rattling their sabers, reports the Times of India.

That's right: India and Pakistan may have pledged to resume peace talks — suspended after the Mumbai attacks in 2008 — but with Pakistan's test-firing of a nuclear capable ballistic missile on Tuesday, India is all set to respond with a major combat exercise in the Thar dester (which borders Pakistan), the paper says.

The idea is reportedly to practice a "high tempo'' operations to cut across the border, raising the specter of the Indian "Cold Start" doctrine of rapidly moving from peace to attack — which has Pakistan a bit nervy despite India's claim that it doesn't exist..

Don't worry, though, peaceniks. Indians and Pakistanis alike are, above all, desis. So most of the time what looks like the leadup to fighting turns out to be nothing at all.