Bhutto Assassinated in Suicide Attack

there was a certain inevitability about it. Still, at least she won't have to worry about all those corruption trials now.

Very Putinesque, Musharraf. And a side serving of civil unrest, so that he can declare martial law.

I am so glad I didn't go to my friend's wedding there; all sorts of sh!t's about to hit the fan.

How is this Putin-esque? Putin never whacked the competition, just chased away the leeches....WW , Yeltsin had a 3-5% approval rating in Russia and was lauded as a "great democrat" by US/UK..Putin has 75% approval and Russia off its death bed...
taking your inference that Mucharraf was behind this, only with a USA green light would Mushie have acted.....would the west sanction assasination?
My word! That's not democratic!

"Putin never whacked the competition, just chased away the leeches...."

You for real?

"Putin has 75% approval"

Does he now? Could that be because police are whisking away any outspoken critics of the government and silencing the media?

"only with a USA green light would Mushie have acted.....would the west sanction assasination?"

Musharraf is coddled by the West, and mainly the US at that, for a number of reasons and Pakistan's been a playground for his balls@ck for a very long time just because of that. He doesn't need a green light to covertly order an assassination.

Even western (actual mostly secret intelligence fronts) NGO's agree in their polling that Putin has broad mass support.....average incomes are up like 50% since he came into office (versus the 50% collapse under Yeltsin)

look at western media darling Sakhvashvili in Georgia...people protesting corruptiion and low incomes arrested and state of emergency declared with opposition media closed...

as for Pakistan, Musharraf cannot even fart without USA knowing about it. there are so many satellites and listening devices around him that there is almost no way he woudl act against Bhutto without at least tacit US support, they probably inserted a homing and listening device into his colon or something just to be safe when he visited USA....

Honey: stop reading the Guardian and stick to the Sun!

Oh Uchak, Uchak, Uchak,

You never learn, do you?

1) Do quote those "secret" NGO's. Which ones? How do they calculate "average"? Do they exclude the outliers, like the energy billionaires (like Mr. 40 billion dollars there)? Is support percentage really support percentage if dissenters are silenced and media is state-controlled? Turknenistan and Kazakhstan anyone?

"look at western media darling Sakhvashvili in Georgia...people protesting corruptiion and low incomes arrested and state of emergency declared with opposition media closed..."

Yeah, and?

"as for Pakistan, Musharraf cannot even fart without USA knowing about it."

Unwillingness to mess with a military dictator who has the bomb does not a green light make.

"Honey: stop reading the Guardian and stick to the Sun!"

Oh, how cute! Your widdle bwain can't imagine anyone reading more than two hardcopy rags to get hir news. Now I see why you're so naive and have such derivative thoughts.

1. Musharraf is no Putin. He has LOST power since eschewing military garb and will probably never rejoin Pakistan's armed forces (the new generals might not welcome him back if not send him out into exile). He's no angel, but I doubt that he is that sinister or powerful enough to carry out such an attack.

2. You are all overlooking the Inter-Services Intelligence's (ISI) role in the attack. They have been the Taliban's life support until 2001, and even Musharraf's purging of their top brass could not create a major dent in their operations. The military also couldn't control them. In fact, don't be surprised if the ISI collaborated with some terrorist organization to execute the heinous attack.

"Musharraf is no Putin."

That is why I said this act was Putinesque. Where did I say he was Putin?

"He's no angel, but I doubt that he is that sinister or powerful enough to carry out such an attack."

In a country like Pakistan? Where he is supported by the US as the lesser evil? And not even a little chided for supporting terrorist activity in a disputed territory like Kashmir? Where he invites former political enemies to "reconcile" and they are killed while his own army is in control of security? How powerful do you have to be to get a psycho to strap a bomb to hir chest and a few others to fire some bullets in a country like Pakistan?

"You are all overlooking the Inter-Services Intelligence's (ISI) role in the attack. They have been the Taliban's life support until 2001, and even Musharraf's purging of their top brass could not create a major dent in their operations. The military also couldn't control them. In fact, don't be surprised if the ISI collaborated with some terrorist organization to execute the heinous attack."

That option cannot be excluded, of course.

seems the US/UK support Musharraf for fear of someone worse..
US needs his help stopping Taliban-Al Qaeda arms supply into Afghantistan

but snafu is right, Pakistan ISI created Taliban and is loathe to stop supporting them..as ISI suspects real US agenda is to break up Pakistan into mini-stans....

Sun and Guardian readers a distinct bunch,,but even I , highbrow intellectual toff Uchak reads the Sun once in awhile for the salacious details and bad puns....
So what do you read for your daily news fix? Fox news-Hannitty and Colmes?
The Telegraph? Novinite is part of my BG news fix along with BG newspapers and news.bg......

Well, personally my initial feeling is that Musharraf was probably not part of this, I think he loses more than he gains from tis particular act. It will give him a chance to once declare martial law for a while, and possibly even sneak back in to his uniform (but I doubt he'll be able to push that far).
However I think he already saw he had more to gain if he could just make those parts of Pakistan that are governable more stable. Bhutto and Musharraf together may have been able to achieve that. Despite their recent falling out over his last little spat of emergency power taking - I think they would have still worked something out.
Certainly I think this could be the trigger to make his regime more unstable, this could be the beginning of the end for Musharraf depending on how he plays his cards. He is more than capable of killing for his own net political gain, I just don't think he did - this time.