Wednesday, November 07, 2007



Missing the point on Pakistan

As everyone probably knows, President Musharraf of Pakistan staged a coup-within-a-coup over the weekend, apparently in an effort to prevent the Supreme Court from ruling that he was ineligible to serve as President and kicking him out of office. International condemnation has been swift, with politicians and newspapers around the world uniting to criticise this further departure from democracy and overturning of the rule of law. Except, that is, in America. There, the coup is a Bad Thing not because it is a further step backward for democracy in Pakistan, but because it is "a detour from a battle against terror". It's nice to know what Americans think is important...