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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (9032)	12/8/2008 6:54:27 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 15993

A copycat prankster almost starts a war By TigerHawk at 12/07/2008 10:35:00 PM First, a couple of French Canadian comedians persuaded Sarah Palin that she was talking to Sarko. Then, a Florida congresswoman -- not wanting to be Palined -- incorrectly thought it was a prank when Barack Obama actually called her. Suddenly, it is hard to know whether calls from world leaders are legitimate or not. All good fun, right? What could possibly go wrong? A hoax telephone call almost sparked another war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan at the height of last month's terror attacks on Mumbai, officials and Western diplomats on both sides of the border said today. Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani President, took a telephone call from a man pretending to be Pranab Mukherjee, India's Foreign Minister, on Friday, November 28, apparently without following the usual verification procedures, they said. The hoax caller threatened to take military action against Pakistan in response to the then ongoing Mumbai attacks, which India has since blamed on the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), they said. Mr Zardari responded by placing Pakistan's air force on high alert and telephoning Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, to ask her to intervene. Oops. "It's unbelievable, but true," said a Western diplomat familiar with the frantic diplomatic exchanges that eventually resolved the misunderstanding. "It was a little alarming, to say the least." To say the least... tigerhawk.blogspot.com