Comments on Charlatan? Genius? Star of an Elaborate Conspiracy?

Last Friday on the Diane Rehm Show (NPR) they discussed the roots of Benazir Bhutto's popularity quite extensively. The Bhutto family is basically a feudal land owner with vast holdings. Benazir has been able to draw on that in terms of support from the uneducated in Pakistan. A lot of the supporters have been tenants on Bhutto land, worked for Bhutto enterprises, etc... While the house arrest of Bhutto is completely at odds with how a true democracy works it has only worked in Bhutto's favor as a PR tool. It is interesting to see how India and GB will start truly voicing their feelings about this as up to now they have been virtually silent.

I have a similar theory about Bush -- that, now that he's ruined the country and destroyed the economy, he's doing his level best to alienate voters from the Republican party so that the Democrats will have to be the bad guys -- raise taxes and cut spending and all that. Then, after the Dems have spent 12 year or so fixing things, the Republicans can swoop back in for another round of out-of-control defense spending.

People keep telling me I'm giving him too much credit.

Musharaff is the David Della of Pakistan. Not the brightest guy in the world.

Why would you invite her to share your goverment? I

I guess he no longer controls the army.

inviting her back, THEN declaring martial law wasn't a mistake. it was deliberate. musharraf is not nearly as dumb as GWB. exhibit A is he's still alive.

and "dismissed for corruption twice" doesn't mean the same thing in pakistan as it does here. corruption is a parking ticket, and it was political.

"He’s turning her into a political symbol so he can pretend to relent by cutting a deal with her, rather than with the Islamists."

Except that the Islamists are not leading a "velvet revolution" right now. The judges and lawyers are. And Bhutto doesn't speak for or lead them.

She's the voice of the non-Islamist, anti-Musharaf Pakistani. She's also the voice of the anti-Islamist, pro-Western foreign interests.

She's getting a lot of press in the US because we're not happy with Musharaf and his policy toward the Northwest Frontier.

The US is more than happy to provide pressure on the General through her. Without her, we have nothing.

I don't know enough about this to really say, and I suspect that's true of most posters here. However, I'll speculate anyway.

My understanding is that Bhutto has the support of 1/3 of the electorate. The more recent prime minister (Nawaz Sharif) has the support of another third (including some of the Islamists and the military), with greater support in Punjab province. One third supports a variety of smaller parties. One reason the military was able to take over is that the country was politically divided, with even the most popular figures opposed 2:1 and unable to lead the country.

During the Musharraf years, Bhutto and Sharif were both forced into exile. Sharif recently tried to return but hadn't pre-arranged any deals with Musharraf, so he was quickly deported. He's back in London now. Bhutto was let in because she tried to negotiate a power-sharing deal. Musharraf didn't get what he wanted thanks to the country's courts, so Musharraf reneged on negotiations and is trying to marginalize her. She's the focus of the opposition for the sole reason that she's the most popular opposition figure still in the country (and the only one with supporters in every part of the country, in every ethnic group, even if her overall support is matched by Sharif). The question is whether Sharif is consciously letting Bhutto take the lead so that when she fails he can make his own attempt. Or maybe he'll decide London's a nice place to stay.

It seems like the best course would be for Bhutto and Sharif to put aside their egos and form a unity opposition with the aim of a unity government not controlled by the military. Together, they could rally 2/3 of the country.

The poor Pakastani people are fucked. Either they get the corrupt rule of elite civilians or they get a military dictatorship. Is it any wonder that the message of the Talaban types is appealing?

Too bad they have the bomb.

Sharif and Bhuto use to hate each other. This whole thing just sounds like a put 2gether in the state department "revolution" just begging for an uprising. And Westside, the Taliban is only appealing to a small sector, yes its a bat crazy sector, but very small and mostly rural.

Is it true that Bhutto has a british passport? I'm surprised that the pakistan govt is ok with that..