One bird down

Back in October I speculated that Musharraf might be playing off militants and Bhutto against each other. Now that Bhutto is down, that leaves only the militants as a viable threat to his rule.

Musharraf has now set the stage for nuclear blackmail. The USA has little choice but to back and fund his regime in order to prevent Pakistan's nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of militants should Musharraf's regime collapse and individual military commanders be left to pursue individual ambitions. Yet it's worth noting that Musharraf has been diverting billions toward conventional weapons better suited to fighting India than militants.

In interviews with The New York Times, U.S. officials, commenting on the more than $5 billion of funding to Pakistan, ... admitted most the money is being diverted to help finance weapons systems to match those of India, Pakistan's traditional foe.