I was hoping for a post like this, an update on the situation with lots of links, thanks Steve.
Hillary yesterday called Bush's policy towards Pakistan incoherant, and said it's hard to tell where to go from here. I agree with both thoughts.
So we thought Iraq was gonna be the foreign policy that would affect the campaign the most, then it was Iran, now Pakistan has had a meltdown. Anyone care to guess what the situation is gonna be in the fall of 2008?
I also wanted to mention that the one candidate Tuesday who mentioned Pakistan as a higher priority than Iran was Joe Biden. Gotta give him credit there.
Posted by Jeff Dinelli at November 5, 2007 10:44 AMHa-ha, our Bush sits brooding in his Oval Office, 24% approval rating in hand, dreaming he could "deal" with his secular opponents like his pal Pervez-ie. A shame he threw von Rumsfeld under the bus!
How long will the Pakistani army be able to keep the lid on? We're so far out on the limb with our newest shah, it's in for a penny, in for a pound. No options, none, other than approve every suppression measure Musharraf dreams up. That's where you wanna be, you betcha.
And when the branch breaks, we'll have the shit all over us again.
Sure couldn't see this one coming, eh, Condi?....."I don't think anyone predicted that unconditionally supporting a military dictator could ever blow up in your face". Nope, no way, Condi. Now back to picking the place settings for your Israeli/Palestinian fiasco, er, summit.
Posted by euzoius at November 5, 2007 11:05 AM"With Musharraf using his military and intelligence services to eliminate a free press, and any political and religious opposition, how different now is" this from our own government. As I wrote earlier, in Pakistan we're dealing with actual, real, proven nukes...not some made-up, Curve-balled up lies and b.s. That is why Bush won't bring the hammer down. Like any bully, he backs off when the other guy produces a bigger stick. Pakistan under Mushy is the most dangerous country in Islam, because tomorrow Bin Laden could have his hands on their nukes. And our president is doing nothing to stop it.
Posted by T2 at November 5, 2007 11:12 AMIf you squint at that picture it could be Americans outside the White House.
Who knows what a couple more strategic Bush outrages could bring.....
Be afraid, George, be very afraid.
Posted by TIKI AL at November 5, 2007 11:13 AMSo we thought Iraq was gonna be the foreign policy that would affect the campaign the most, then it was Iran, now Pakistan has had a meltdown. Anyone care to guess what the situation is gonna be in the fall of 2008?
No. And that's exactly why expecting any of the candidates to pledge that they will have our troops out of Iraq by date X is moronic.
Posted by snark at November 5, 2007 11:16 AMit is even worse than you can imagine, this time around Pakistan is a powder keg, it has been a basket case politically for many years now, the exterior areas are fractioning off and I dont think that they can contain it.
further, if I was the Turkish chief of staff now would probably be a very good time to go in and clean out some of the PKK...
"this is another fine mess you've gotten us into"
Oliver Hardy
snark, remind me again why we have troops in Iraq?
Posted by T2 at November 5, 2007 11:38 AMsnark, remind me again why we have troops in Iraq?
T2, remind me what that has to do with the instability of the region and not expecting a person who isn't going to take office until January of 2009 to state, in the fall of 2007, that they will immediately begin withdrawing troops from Iraq?
Posted by snark at November 5, 2007 11:48 AMdidn't expect an answer.
Posted by T2 at November 5, 2007 11:56 AMNeither did I.
Posted by snark at November 5, 2007 11:58 AMRandom thoughts on this matter.
Cheney's taking notes from Musharaf on how to do it for future reference. Anyhow, I'm not surprised Junyah and the Brits went along. One thing I find interesting is that I believe the neocon Straussian global world agenda calls for instability. I just don't think they have a clue as to how dangerous it really is though. Lastly in terms of Iran, isn't Pakistan (Musharaf) currently not really on Cheney's side in terms of supporting an attack on Iran...with the timing of the Bhutto return (subsequent attack) and the situation now well it's one of those things that certainly makes me go hmmmmm and I'm left wondering if there are any of Cheney's fingerprints here...Cheney would sell Musharaf out in a heartbeat.
Posted by emal at November 5, 2007 01:16 PMemal, instability is great for arms sales
Posted by at November 5, 2007 06:11 PM