Benazir Bhutto 1953-2007
I am struck by the glaring differences between US and Pakistani politics. The media is reporting that Ms. Bhutto did not have full armour on her vehicle because it would make her look like she is hiding. That sure never stopped a US politician. I remember the last time President Bush came to Salt Lake City. He had a fully armoured cadillac, helicopter gunship overhead and enough armed police to occupy Paris. (Ok, bad example.)
The media seems determined to stir up controversy. Apparently, someone in Barack Obama’s campaign made a comment that Hillary Clinton’s vote to invade Iraq created a situtation wherein the assasination of Ms. Bhutto was more likely to occur. Well, CNN twisted that to mean that Hillary Clinton was responsible for the assasination. WTF? Speaking of CNN (and before I go on I have to point out that I listen to them religiously on my satelite radio) when I was driving to work this morning at 6am the lovely Soledad O’brian came on with the breaking news about Ms. Bhutto. Then, this afternoon, the elequent yet wordy Wolf Blitzer was still refering to the assasination as ‘Breaking News!’ My question to CNN is, how long can a story be considered ‘Breaking’ before it just becomes regular news. At the very least, I would have labeled it as a ‘Developing Story.’
Although I have (ok, had) no love for Ms. Bhutto (she was nothing if not an instigator), I do fear a power vacume in the region. President Musharraf needed someone to keep his hunger for power in check. Without Ms. Bhutto, what is to stop Musharraf from donning his uniform again? I dont see anyone in that region willing to stand up to him at this point. The Indians are afraid of him, the Afghans are to busy growing poppy, the Iraqis are to busy trying to distinguish a bin of Tinker Toys from an IED, President Mahmoud Adolphhitlerjad is to busy plotting the destruction of Israel and speaking of Israel, they are to busy fighting the Palestinians to care about Pakistan.
Well, regardless of my opinion of Ms. Bhutto, it is always sad when a human being loses their life. May she rest in pieces peace.
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I’m not very familiar with wordpress, so here’s to hoping all the coding works.
how long can a story be considered ‘Breaking’ before it just becomes regular news?
To borrow from Jon Stewart, probably as long as it takes for the brink of war to just become war.
I don’t pretend to know a lot about Benazir Bhutto (and honestly, before this year I probably couldn’t even tell you who she was), but I do know that for a lot of people she was a symbol of democracy and peace for a lot of Pakistanis then and now, in a time where democracy and peace are in short supply. And I think if we’ve learned anything from religion, the military, sporting events and history in general it’s that symbols are important to people. Symbols, when well-presented, inspire people and action in a way that few things can.
In a way, Bhutto’s death preserves her symbolism for an eternity, but for the immediate future it seriously limits the possibility of getting Musharraf — who has offered very little by way of showing he actually cares about the people of Pakistan over his own lust for power — out of office. The only real contender now is Sharif, and I was under the impression that those who were against Musharraf were fairly equally divided among Bhutto and Sharif. My fear is that in a country where people actually thought boycotting an election was a good way to go, all the Bhutto supporters will skip the elections (assuming they actually happen) and nothing will change.
But then, that’d be about par for the course, wouldn’t it?
Ooh.. that last jab was cold! Yet pointy