> >Now, I'm going to go and read the more interesting comments that people
> >have been posting here about the Pakistan situation.
> >
> >Chuck
>
> Among the most interesting of those come from Tariq Ali, who
> considered Bhutto not only a human being, but a friend.
I'm sorry to say that sounds like a reason to take Tariq Ali with a grain of salt on the subject, though no doubt he's plenty knowledgeable.
La Bhutto was an awfully vivid presence on the world scene, and there was a certain pang in hearing of her exit from it. But fundamentally, what Chuck has to say makes a lot of sense. Nobody makes a person become a politician. If you play for high stakes, the possibility of going decisively bust is right there in the rulebook.
My understanding of the Pakistan perplex is extremely shallow, but the commentary I'm reading lately suggests that BB was potentially part of the US fallback plan if Musharraf turned out to be caduc. Not a threat at all to the global hegemon, but perhaps a person who could mediate between the fretful elements of Pakistani "civil society" (which always seems to mean lawyers, when you get down to brass tacks) and Uncle.
All of which sounds very enlightened and intelligent and Machiavellian (in the original sense) and un-Bushlike, and to that extent implausible. But maybe Pakistan wasn't quite in the crosshairs yet? So it could still be left to the pros to play with.
So not to be cold blooded or anything, but let's start a pool. Who blew her up?