Instant Expertise On Pakistan

This New Yorker article by William Dalrymple from July 2007 describes the political situation in Pakistan - it's long and maybe even helpful.

Comments

[hit and run]

John Derbyshire made a point about Pakistan and the seemingly endless number of "experts" in the blogosphere on the Corner earlier this week:

Isn't anyone else as bemused as I am by all the Pakistan expertise flooding the blogosphere? Where did all these Pakistan experts come from?

And a most astute reader emailed him about an interview Hugh Hewitt did with John Bolton and Derb posted a followup from the emailer:

Yes, well, as bemusing as that may be in the blogosphere, the same dynamic at the State Department is, well, dangerous...

In an interview with Hugh Hewitt, John Bolton said:

HH: Is there a danger that Musharraf could become Bush's Shah or his Diem?

JB: Well, I think that's entirely possible, and I think part of the reason is the State Department was pushing Benazir Bhutto on him, and I think it was a very foolish strategy, because you can't say take on some of the democratic opposition and not take on the rest of it. This trying to read internal Pakistani politics is hard for the Pakistanis, let alone for people at the State Department

Seriously, that emailer has to be one of the smartest people to have graced the onlinedom of the Corner. Incredibly handsome, too, I figure.

[Coriolan]

"These were the supporters of a right-wing alliance of religious parties, the Muttehida Majlis-e-Amal, or M.M.A., which has become a significant force in Pakistani electoral politics. The alliance’s imposing patriarch, Liaqat Baloch, was standing on a jeep, exhorting his flag-waving supporters. 'The friend of Bush is our enemy!'”

So "the right-wing alliance" is calling Bush "our enemy" - does that mean that Bush is secretly left-wing?

[kim]

Coriolan, it's a little like trying to explain that nazis and communists were both socialists. You've reached the limits of literality. But, it does make you wonder why progressives are so pro-Islamofascist.
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[Clarice]

HIT, you devil! I am certain the emailer is smart and handsome---and with his initials, damned irresistible.