Pakistani Powderkeg – Has the fuse been lit?

I would have TOTALLY blogged on THIS the day it actually happened.

However, being infected with a virus I think has advanced far beyond the normal “common cold” and has thus been referred to as “The disease” has sidetracked by posting by about…ohhh…..a week and a half now? Anyways, BAD BAD NEWS in Pakistan this week as the Primeminister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated.

There are tons of conflicting news stories going around right now about just how she was killed but CNN claims that she was killed by bomb shrapnel (per Pakistan official government statement) but The Today Show this morning claimed that she was shot up to five times before the assailant detonated a suicide bomb which injured and killed many others. So, while she is being laid to rest we still have people scrambling all over the place to try and find a suitable answer as to why the leading frontrunner in democratic progress in Pakistan was killed and exactly how.

All the while you have people rioting in the streets and protests are breaking out across the nation in such an alarming rate that the rest of the world has literally tensed up in anticipation of what may happen next. If the world had a butthole…it has officially drawn up.

Now, in our own country (US duh) the candidates have taken the opportunity to try and use this for some type of campaign push and talking points on foreign policy but honestly….is that where our focus should be? To people who might or might now be assuming the role of Commander-in-Chief in a year or so? No, we should be focusing on what our current administration is going to do to help and try and stabilize the region on Pakistan while trying NOT to step on anyones toes considering Pakistan has been a major ally in the War on Terror.

So, in the midst of all of this violence (which I now get word that Al Qaida is actually taking credit for) where does this leave the rest of the world? We have a nuclear armed nation who has just suffered a crisis event on the same scale as the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in WW1. Except this time the country is being run by a military man who was Bhutto’s political opponent who has since put the nation under state of emergency and has been acting awfully coy lately on humoring the idea of giving up his position of power so that democratic elections could resume in Pakistan.  So, has the fuse been lit? Is Pakistan where the powderkeg finally gets lit?

I, personally, think so. the ramifications of this act against democracy within Pakistan could easily tear that country to shreds within the weeks to come and with all of the confusion that would settle in it wouldn’t be long before the other middle-eastern nations start trying to get in on the act of interfering.

I don’t know really, but I do know that this is bad. REAL bad and if all the worlds eyes aren’t on Pakistan right now….they should be.