Posted on 08/18/2008 1:12:57 AM PDT by HAL9000
Not good.
“Perhaps “Benign Despot” might be the best choice of Government for Pakistan at its current particular stage of social and political development...”
Agree with that. I always get depressed whenever I venture the opinion that democracy requires a mature civil society before it has any chance of working - and it needs to have had it for at least a generation. I always get abuse for being a pompous British Imperialist! I know the US holds democracy as an article of faith, and I agree it’s the ultimate end goal of any cultures development. But to keep going to nations that are essentially still in the tribal or feudal states of development and get them to leapfrog straight to working liberal democray always strikes me as nuts. Yet we try to do it again and again and again.....
Get a 20 year track record of:
- The rule of law
- The seperation of powers between the executive, judicary and legislature
- A stable economy and banking system
- The removal of nepotism and conyism and tribalism
Then you have half a chance of making democracy work. The ugly truth is you often need either a colonial power or a benevolent dictator to get those preconditions in place.
It is truly anyones guess who ends up running this mess of a country now. My hope is for someone with a similar world view to Mush. Bet I never thought I would say that 9 years ago!
I agree 100%.
Musharraf for all his warts was a secular leader and had an interest in purging Ismlasists and their sympathizers from his country.
Only a fool would want to see him removed without knowing who his replacement will be.
Far from reality......Reality is freedom for the first time in thousands of years is spreading and taking root in the heart of the ME. Reality is AQ is far worse off today than 6 years ago. Reality is Russia is still nothing more than a regional power.
Reality is our economy is far from "very weak". As Graham said, we are suffering through a "mental recession" in the States today....not an economic one.....
I just heard that Pervez Musharraf seek refugee status in Saudi Arabia . Can anyone confirm this ...
Like that really matters at all by itself, except in terms of how much that will piss of the Islamofascists. Maybe Bin Laden will drop her a line since he's in the neighborhood.
Nobody associated with the Bhutto clan should ever be given the reigns again. If ever there was a Pakistani leader who deserved the noose, it was Benazir’s father.
Waiting for Godot? I am ashamed I even get the reference, those kind of wit is reserved for the minds of people over at DU
>>Trouble ahead
That’s been true of Pakistan always.
They’ll bumble through.
Time to start things up in Kashmir, safety valve and all.
I’ve been trying to lay odds on a coup(again). My timeframe is prolly couple years MAX.
As far as Americans go-—
They just want to know that someone runs Pakistan who will keep Jihadists far away from the nukes. I know India has much bigger problems with these Muslim pests
Well, the conundrum is we like dealing with a single miltitary entity who can at least deliver some of what we want, whereas our policy logic forces into a situation where rather vapourous and nebulous civilian authorities are the ones we sort of have to go for because of our democracy rhetoric.
And, the country this time really seems to be aflame.
The present head of the PPP is Benazir Bhutto's widower. One thing you can count on is he won't get in bed with the men who murdered her.
In the 1970s, with communism aggressively on the march throughout the world, moving a country toward communism was more of a sin than the socialism-lite advocated by the present PPP. Not that there aren't real communists in the world - see Nepal, or Venezuela.
The present PPP is not going to have a red terror in Pakistan. It is just going to give away more than the country can probably afford to the poor, and slow economic growth thereby. And in security matters they are on the side of the angels, and that matters far more in Pakistan at the present time.
I'd be more concerned about Sharif seeking power through conniving at fundamentalist violence, to get him what he can't win at the ballot box...
So how long till a nuke hits India?
bookmark bump
He said he “Wants to spend time with his family and hopes to get into windsurfing”.
/bkmark...long day.
al-qaeda?
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