Pakistan Analysis By: Mark W Adams

Shockingly enough, Ali Eteraz linked to his article in The Guardian at the flag-waiving site of self-described NeoCon Dean Esmay.

Earlier, US secretary of state Condoleeza Rice had told Musharraf that the US would not accept martial law, and had sent a top Pentagon general to Pakistan. However, her pro-democracy rhetoric is considered by most Pakistani commentators to be merely that. People are well aware that Pakistan, which is now the third highest recipient of US aid (after Iraq and Israel), could not get away with the emergency if the US truly did not wish to see it happen. Ultimately, the US will do its best to sound like a magnanimous defender of democracy while being perfectly aware that there are not any better options for it. In other words, do not expect sudden talk about regime change coming out of Washington.

I don't fault Eteraz's analysis one iota, and I think he sees much of this puppet theater for what it is. Few in the world believe that anything other than guns power and money are at play here, populist themes like democracy and rule-of-law have all but lost their veneer.

Please let us hear again those bedtime stories from Bush and Cheney about how we are spreading democracy and freedom in the Middle East. It's like a lullaby, a serenade, a comforting tune to ease us off to sleep.

Tell us again Uncle Dick, please. Tell us that scary story about how we were going to make the world safe for democracy.

There is a segment of Pakistan - which includes the judges, lawyers, and journalists - which wants to take to the streets. They have dominated the news over the past year and they want to make a democratic push, with some people casting the lawyers in the same role as the Burmese monks.

Breathtaking. In one thought bubble you can equate the martyrdom of monks with lawyers and judges taking to the streets. In both cases, the United States, the world's "Unipower," ruled by an arbitrary and capricious dry drunk and his puppeteer who works so diligently to reinforce the power of this "unitary executive," sit idly by and watch the chaos unfold -- and in the case of Pakistan, fund the madness.

Evil tyrants shouldn't be a surprise to me at this stage of the game. As Atrios so perfectly stated, “No one could have predicted that an unelected dictator who took power in a military coup would behave just like that.”

But to think someone with such a clear take on the US's passive aggressive foreign policy when it comes to useful dictators has posting privileges at Dean's World, then I know the world is turning inside-out.

When did Dean start hating America? You don't see this kind of stuff at RightWingNutHouse for instance. Rick Moran can state (with all the absolute certainty that some fucking blogger can muster) that Pakistan's 70 nukes are "secure -- for the moment."

The left is already blaming Bush (and speculating that the Administration is jealous of Musharraf and will declare their own State of Emergency to hang on to power next year) – despite the fact that the Administration had actually been orchestrating this return to democracy from behind the scenes by backing Bhutto’s return and helping to broker the deal between her and Musharraf.

See, That's how a proper winger justifies our continued gifting of $2.5 Billion to a thugish regime that no longer has any legitimacy whatsoever. These same stooges will preach family values to you and yours, condemn abortionists and homosexuals to the fiery pits of Hell -- because unwed mothers and Teh Gays ain't got any nukes or oil.

And Reagan. the guy of "Shining City on a Hill" fame, is their patron saint? The mind reels.

Fortunately, Stop The ACLU explains it for us. See, just like Preznitin' is Hard Work, this War on Terror thingy is a "complicated web." Sorta like cookin' Breakfast:

"You get things simmering on one side of the stove and something starts boiling over on the other side."

It might have helped the situation had someone hired a qualified chef to make this omelette. But, No Worries. The good folks at Red State have it all under control, complete with advice for the US's reaction. No problem really . . . Okay, So We Have A Problem . . . but nothing to get to upset over, really.

Let me risk being painted as an even bigger leftist freak than ever before and go completely out on a limb. When a nation's dictator orders that "any criticism of the president or prime minister would be punishable by three years in jail and a fine of up to $70,000" that deserves more than Condi Rice's lukewarm "regrets."

You condemn this stuff in no uncertain terms -- or we as a nation stand for absolutely nothing. Not one Goddamn thing.