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| India-Pakistan |
| The Best We Can Expect? (Article on Pakistan and Musharraf) |
| 2007-11-19 |
| Stan Kurtz cuts through the wild and woolly rhetoric about the possibilities of democracy in Pakistan. Pakistan...compared to what?” That is the question lurking beneath our struggle to make sense of unfolding events in this troubled country. In their mind’s eye, many commentators hold onto the hopeful image of a democratic Pakistan, unified by a cross-party consensus against the Islamists, fully engaged in the war on terror. If that vision is what you’re comparing to the current mess, you’ll be highly critical of General Musharraf. By imposing a state of emergency, jailing political opponents, and shutting down independent media, Musharraf would seem to have weakened and isolated himself, undermined chances for a democratically forged antiterrorist consensus, and even pushed his democratic opponents together with the Islamists into some sort of united opposition. But what if the image of a democratic and antiterrorist Pakistan is a pipedream? What if the Pakistani people as a whole do not support the war on terror — and even admire the jihadists? What if the real alternative to the present mess is the catastrophe of a fractured and warring army, nuclear materials finding their way to Osama bin Laden, or even a full-scale Islamist takeover? If that’s what you’re comparing to the current mess, you’ll be inclined to think we have little choice but to support Musharraf, even as we help patch up a fractured political situation as best we can. |
| Posted by:Zhang Fei |
| #1 See also THE LADY AND THE TIGER. Beauty versus the Beast, widout any wedding e.g. CONDI + RUSSIANS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-11-19 22:58 |