Friday, November 28, 2008

an unfinished thought

As stressful as it is to think about what I'll do next year when I'm done with school how stressful would it be to be Asif Ali Zardari's kid?

His grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was the founder of the Pakistani People's Party (PPP). He was Pakistan's Prime Minister before he was chased from office by a military coup and was later hung. His mother, Benazir Bhutto, also chaired the PPP. She was Pakistan's Prime Minister twice, and neither term had great stability. She was twiced dismissed from her seat of Prime Minister after accusations of corruption led to the regime's dissolvement. She was assassinated in late 2007 by al-Qaeda terrorists.

In light of this recent history, wouldn't it be pretty stressful to be Bilawal Bhutto Zardari? He's studying at Oxford now, but upon graduation it's expected that he'll lead the PPP full time. With Pakistan in the mess it is who would want this job? Pakistan seems torn between the problem of fighting Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in its Northern tribal areas, and now also of easing tensions with India. Throw increasing US military incursions in as a factor, and you're left with a volatile, complex, and potentially dangerous state. Good luck youngn!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

zim and congo

zimbabwe and congo in the news

= wow!

will this do anything?

if so, could we send this 'super best friends' team across the globe as disinterested mediators?

after two months of deadlock, i find it remarkable--and a pretty great symbolic act if nothing else--for internationally respected humanitarians to go into such an unstable, impoverished nation. brings pressure and attention.

are they really impartial though? should they be?

are other economic / structural pressures more useful? like South Africa's promise to withhold a $30 million agricultural assistance grant to Zimbabwe until a representative government is in place?


what to work on next: Palestine as the emblem of democratic success in the Mid East