Musharraf, who assumed office in a military coup, always has been in a delicate position with his own people. He has to mollify the U.S., his major benefactor, while not losing the support of his more nationalist, Islamic population. Eventually, of course, by being so tightly allied to Bush, he antagonized the nationalists and the Islamist extremists, the latter of whom began suicide bombing in Karachi, Islamabad and beyond. By stomping on his political opposition, Musharraf, who continued to head the military while serving as president, nearly-destroyed the moderate middle of the political spectrum. Now what does he do?
(If he loses the election he promises to hold in January or February, and militant Islamists were to move into power, would the U.S. honor the democratic will of the Pakistani citizenry? Or, as happened in the Palestinian territories, would the U.S. denounce the result of the election and refuse to deal with the popularly-elected victors? For CheneyBush, democracy is a bitch when the "wrong" people get elected.)
CheneyBush have few decent choices with regard to Pakistan. They could cut Musharraf loose and support Bhutto, but she has yet to demonstrate that she can command the allegiance of the people, that she can govern from the middle, that she would be any more welcome by fundamentalists in her country. How to arrange all this without greasing the tracks for the militant Islamists to ride into power -- that's the trick.
A talented diplomatic magician is needed to help arrange this trick, and the U.S. should be in the thick of it. But Bush, Cheney and Rice (fixated as they are on the catastrophe they've unleashed in Iraq and now on how and when to attack Iran) have demonstrated time and time again over the past seven years that they are not skilled at the kind of nuanced diplomatic negotiations that are required.
My guess is that we'd better prepare ourselves for what's about to hit the giant fan in South Asia. Break out the umbrellas. #
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D, in government & international relations, has taught at universities in Washington State and California, worked as a writer/editor with the San Francisco Chronicle for two decades, and currently co-edits The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org). For comment: crisispapers@comcast.net .
First published by The Crisis Papers and Democratic Underground 11/13/07. www.crisispapers.org/essays7w/perversions.htm
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked for two decades as a writer-editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org).
Well written, well said. I concur wholeheartedly with your article. With the gutsy criminal Republicans and the Democrats who either have a Republican gun to their head or perhaps many of our Democrats are really just Republicans in sheeps’ clothing. Perhaps they are a planned deception? Whatever the case, they’re useless. Perhaps we already have, or atleast certainly need, an operating list of the good and bad members of Congress for all to see and read so we all have better voting criteria.
by
Lance L. Landon (3 articles, 1 quicklinks, 6 diaries, 29 comments)
on Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 12:16:38 AM
1 comments
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