Ireland has Sindh

Here's an analogy, as reported this afternoon by Associated Press, that had us scratching our heads:

Britain's military chief compared the separatist insurgency in Kashmir to the situation in Northern Ireland as he visited military bases and met with Indian army commanders Friday in the Himalayan region.

"We have a similar problem in our country, which we have been dealing with for some 30 years," said Gen. Sir Michael Walker, chief of defence staff. "It is very interesting to look at the common threads between these two campaigns."

We suppose it might be a useful way to spend a quiet Friday afternoon, on such a compare and contrast exercise, but the first thing that strikes us is that it makes the Republic of Ireland the counterpart to Pakistan, providing material support and refuge to a terrorist group operating across the border. This might be what Ian Paisley sees when he looks south, but that's a tough story to sell looking across 30 years of Irish history, and we certainly doubt that the IRA sees it that way. But the British defence chief does. Is it time for the Republic to get its own nuclear weapons program?