Paki Elections & Kosovar Independence

There are a couple of momentus (at least from a foreign affairs POV) events underway in distant regions of the world. Elections in Pakistan, and independence in the former Serbian province of Kosovo - now governed by majority ethnic Albanians.

Paki elections are important, everybody understands that. The Author covered the recent state of emergency in the country, as well as the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. So if you're looking for the latest information on today's polls, with up-to-date results of the voting, you might try the country's largest English language daily, DAWN's blog, or Karachi.com for an insider's perspective. The other, logical choice for coverage is Al Jazeera's website.

While at Al Jazeera's site, you can shift gears and read the latest on Kosovar independence. The Turkish Daily News has a worthy report, and Germany's Der Spiegel has two great articles, here and here.

Bhutto Blamed Musharraf

In an October email to her American Spokesperson, Mark Siegel, Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated today blames former general and current Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf. (Image: General Musharraf with Pres. Bush in 07)

CNN's Wolf Blitzer is reporting that Siegel forwarded the email to him and he agreed to embargo the contents unless an assassination actually took place. Well it did, and Americans need to ask themselves and their government if our policies and billions in aid have moved our national and regional interests forward. It is now clear that the government of Pakistan will blame outside extremists when it is their own hands that are bloody.

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

This morning, the Pakistani army killed one of the leading stateswomen in our generation, Benazir Bhutto. More specifically, the Paki Army's ISI security group is to blame. Either this elite corps, long-time supporters of the Taleban in Afghanistan and Kashmiri terrorists, assasinated Bhutto themselves, or their complicity and/or incompetance led directly to the attack. In either case, it is a sad day for Pakistan; for democracy, and, for empowered women everywhere.

It is no surprise that such a despicable act should happen in a country that is full of fundamentalists. That's what fundamentalists do, after all. And they seem to really get energized by exloiting and controlling their women. A 19 year-old gets gang raped in Saudi Arabia, the leading exporter of Wahabi fundamentalism, and it is her crime, her fault, and she is sentenced to 250 lashes. Uh huh. In rural Turkey, a young woman risks honor killing if she even looks at a young man without explicit family involvement and permission. Often it is the father or brother of the girl who murders her to maintain family honor. Now that's progressive thinking. And make no mistake about it, there are those here in the United States who would relegate women to subservient roles, burn books and use violence to impose their fundamentalist doctrines. Declare your independence from fundamentalism. Think for yourself.

Pakistan Comes to a Full Boil

As if the Bush administration's problems in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan weren't enough, the only Muslim country on the planet with a nuclear arsenal and the technology to continue to produce weapons of mass destruction faces an utter and complete meltdown. Like we needed that. But it was totally predictable. Only our clueless State Department seemed to miss the signals. An agressively dominant military, an autocratic general-turned-politician, multiple ethnic groups and restive tribes, and indemic corruption and violence add up to a recipe for disaster. Duh. This is a much more threatening situation than the nascent nuclear program in Iran that has so preoccupied Dick Cheney. And if it all blows up in Pakistan, it will take a lot of time and resources to manage the disaster. In a worse case scenario, the fundamentalist Taliban end up controlling two adjacent countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan; and the Pakistani nuclear arsenal. Not a pretty picture.

The mainstream media has reported much of the story behind the current unrest; from the assault on the "red mosque" to the troubles in tribal Warizistan. I've found that Dawn, a major Pakistani-based news organization, does a pretty complete job of reporting. I found a local blog, Pakistan Uncut, that has a lot of pics of the recent violent protests. The images of police beating lawyers and judges ranks with the Burmese authorities beating monks in Rangoon. I found a first-person account here, and a note to Pakistanis abroad about what they can do here. For the "analysts view," check out this overview on the Voice of America.