Pakistan

The news this morning from Pakistan is that Musharraf has declared a "state of emergency", meaning martial law. This is very bad news. For years, I've felt that Pakistan was the biggest problem in that part of the world, and we might be seeing it spiral out of control right now.

Pakistan has had a big problem with its leadership. Either the rulers have been fairly corrupt and highly repressive military leaders, like Musharraf, or they've been extremely corrupt elected officials, like Bhutto. The two have alternated in power, and both have left the vast majority of the population frustrated and angry. This has led to the rise of Islamic fanaticism, particularly in the lawless border region with Afghanistan. People are looking for a new type of leader, and since neither of the traditional sides is providing it, they're turning to extremism. Which is extremely dangerous since Pakistan has nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, Nero is fiddling while Rome burns. Bush/Cheney are trying to hype the "Iran" threat. Now, really, guys: Iran is a problem, but they're in a big downward economic spiral, Ahmadinajad is barely tolerated by the mullahs (primarily since he's deflecting attention from them), and they won't have a nuclear capability for years at the earliest. Meanwhile, Pakistan is the petrie dish that created Islamic fascism, they could easily descend into civil war, and THEY ALREADY HAVE THE BOMB! Bin Laden won't ever get a nuke weapon from Iraq or Iran, but he very easily could get one from Pakistan in the near future.

So which one do you think is the real problem?