Halaku (Hulagu) Khan was a Mongol ruler who conquered most of Western Asia, laying the basis for the Persian Empire in the 13th century. He sacked and destroyed Baghdad thereby ending the Islamic Golden Age. According to historians, Halaku had a shock and awe strategy to soften opponents at the start of his campaigns. When he faced his first resistance, he would use his utmost might to prevail. Once the enemy was overrun, he would mercilessly slaughter the locals and dismember their bodies.

There was no media then and everything was visual. Thus to create fear, he would build pillars of skulls of the vanquished. It would terrorize the entire region, taking away the will to resist his onslaught. A thousand years later the same strategy is being deployed. Shock and awe are being achieved through fear and terror using the tools of the 21st century.

The tactics have evolved. Dissidents are kidnapped, tortured and brutalized.

No nation can prosper without the rule of law.

Another spice........

© Daily Times