Bedtime Reading

Some interesting articles from the foreign press worth reading:

Arif Rafiq writing in the Baltimore Sun notes that "Mr. Musharraf’s dualism is contradictory and paralyzing. As chief of army staff, he needs widespread public and elite support to isolate and defeat the terrorists. As a partisan president, he needs to divide and conquer the opposition to maintain political power."

In a truly excellent article in the New York Times, M. Hanif notes that "Faced with increasing demands to give up his position as military chief and confront the complexities of civilian rule, General Musharraf decided to topple President Musharraf."

He goes on to note that by a happy coincidence, saving Pakistan from itself has been a particularly lucrative and profitable mission for the army. "Under his command Pakistan’s armed forces have become a hugely profitable empire. It’s the nation’s pre-eminent real estate dealer, it dominates the breakfast-cereal market, it runs banks and bakeries. Only last month Pakistan’s Navy, in an audacious move, set up a barbecue business on the banks of the Indus River about 400 miles away from the Arabian Sea it’s supposed to protect."

The Huffington Post notes that the Musharaf government has hired lobbyists in Washington to build support for his recent moves, to the tune of $55,000 a month. So that's where my tax money goes...

The Washington Post, comments on the incongruity of this image (source: Metroblogging Lahore):


"Man in Suit confounds the usual revolution images. In one photograph he is wearing glasses, his jacket is buttoned, he has something pinned to his lapel, and his cuffs peek out from his sleeves. These details make him an individual, even as a crowd is barely visible through the haze behind him. That individuality puts his anger on a different plane, it requires an interrogation of the image that we might not otherwise make."

Personally I am really taken with this photo. If anything it is even more incongrous. (I'm not sure about the original source - one of the Urdu papers I'm guessing. I found the image at Chapati Mystery):