The Coldest War

September 13, 2005 4:43 AM

The Coldest War - Beautiful photos of the Siachen Glacier conflict in Northern Kashmir (2003), a slide show (real) with fascinating commentary, a 50-minute BBC programme (real) covering the same ground with equally stunning cinematography (albeit low res), and some background links.
posted by Acey (9 comments total)

Those pictures are so cool and so insane. I haven't had a chance to read the article yet, but thanks for the link.
posted by OmieWise at 6:14 AM on September 13, 2005

Great post.
posted by Rothko at 7:49 AM on September 13, 2005

It's really hard to imagine fighting over a glacier. The insanity of war. Good stuff here, thanks.
posted by teece at 8:23 AM on September 13, 2005

The glacier is apparently very strategic ground, but from this it's hard to imagine why. The terrain kills more soldiers than the enemy does, and all in all it is more a battle of endurance than anything else. The slide show is well worth watching, it's only about 3 minutes I think, seems a bit slow loading at the moment. This place is the same that threatened to escalate into nuclear war a few years back, but I think (& hope) those days are over.
posted by Acey at 9:24 AM on September 13, 2005

You'd think a quality mag like outside could post some larger, higher quality jpegs. Beautiful pics but would be much better in high res.
posted by MetaJohn at 10:03 AM on September 13, 2005

I wish it were better marked, but Google Earth gives a terrific sense of the terrain and isolation. (Go to K2 and step back south a bit. You can find the Saltoro glacier and ridge pretty easily.)

The part that surprised me was finding out that they really had pretty much left it all undefended and neutral up until the 80s. But Jesus, what a trackless waste to fight a nuclear war over.

The irony is that Kashmir, given the choice, might prefer independence.
posted by dhartung at 11:39 AM on September 13, 2005

Fascinating. Good post!
posted by StarForce5 at 12:12 PM on September 13, 2005

I'd really like to see this BBC video at full size. But it certainly does seem that the fighting is over nothing but worthless territory.

1/20 of the casualties are from enemy fire; the rest are from the terrain. No general is marching anything throgh there. There is no natural resource mentioned.

Indeed, the one Indian general admits in the film that he is pledged to defend India, worthless or not.

What a sad waste.
posted by teece at 2:25 PM on September 13, 2005

What amazed me was the juxtaposition of the beautiful surroundings against the foreground of brutal conditions and remote combat over what is essentially worthless uninhabitable land. Glad you enjoyed taking a look at yet another bizarre war.
posted by Acey at 4:13 PM on September 13, 2005