This week’s question…
Aug 19th, 2008 | By E.D. Kain | Category: Foreign Affairs, SententiaYesterday, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf resigned.
What do you think? Good for America, bad for America? Good for Democracy?
Or is it only good for the extremists?
Your thoughts are appreciated.
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Kain's major subjects of focus at NeoConstant are international strategy; support of Israel; the failure of the international community to stop genocide; the spread of American power and democracy; historical analysis; and current events both domestically and abroad. He writes here, Newsvine and his blog, IndiePundit.
I’ll start this off with my own mixed views: Musharraf was a better leader than Pakistan could have hoped for. The country is in constant turmoil, and Musharraf provided something of a heavy hand against extremists (though not enough of one) while not coming down on the civilian population as hard as many other dictators have in other countries in the past. It’s a shame that Musharraf wasn’t able to reform government more prior to his departure, and even more of a shame that he wasn’t able to defeat the Taliban in the FATA. I’m quite worried about what will happen now!
The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.
Musharraf wasn’t perfect. He suppressed democracy, he let nuclear secrets slip, and he walked the line when it came to the northern tribal leaders, but like you said, he was quite the benevolent dictator.
Whoever replaces him won’t be perfect either. With America’s backing of Musharraf, the strong pro-radical tendencies even in the areas of the country that are under direct Pakistani control, and constant terror attacks in the country, any democratic regime is going to have a very tough time surviving. The chances if it both surviving and being pro-western are … not good.
I’m not going to be a doom-sayer on the transition, but we’re certainly not going to be any better off. We’ll see. Realistically, I’m just hoping for a leader that understands unless they stay out of our way, Pakistan is alone against India again and unless they want to go back to the way things were in the 90s, they’ll cooperate.
Januss last blog post..Ridiculing Ridicule
Thanks for stopping by Janus. I’m not too hopeful myself re: the current Pakistani leadership. I was a bit dismayed watching the gradual descent of Musharraf and now his resignation.
We shall see…