Letters to the Editor
Silenced
Published Letters: 1358 Editor's Choice: 75
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My fear regarding a possible outcome of this crisis
[Read the article: Bush and Musharraf's grand illusion]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Suppose Bhutto were to prevail and become President and tames the Army and goes after the Pushtuns in the north, and then the Pushtuns in the north decide it's now in their best interests to revive their claim to Pushtunistan?
I mean it's hard enough already to tell where Pakistan ends and Afghanistan begins. Most of the Taliban leaders were born and educated in Pakistan, after all.
A lot of Pushtuns don't believe this border exists.
If this northern problem didn't exist, then it would be obvious that we should support Bhutto and withdraw aid and isolate Musharraf etc etc etc.
But that northern border is not really a stable entity and the last 34 years of American and Soviet policy in the region has only placed more stress upon it.
That just makes me scared.
I guess I'm just too scared to take all the brave positions everyone else is taking.
But go ahead and take those positions. Maybe I'm wrong and you guys are right. In fact -- I hope you guys are 100% right and I'm completely and utterly wrong.
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Sorry, I'm locked in and not ready to trust again
[Read the article: Once and for all, proof that Macs are cheaper than PCs]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't think I'll ever be able to see the Mac as anything other than a computer without a command shell.
I know that's not true any more but it's hard to replace the old image with the new one.
Besides, I used to own a NeXT and I don't trust Steven Jobs enough to buy into Apple in any way whatsoever.
No iPod, no iTunes, no iPhone, nada.
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Why I don't like Bhutto any more and it has nothing to do with Bush whatsoever
[Read the article: Bush's old world disorder]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I read her Op-Ed in the NYT.
So she's going to harness the Pakistani army to get rid of Al Qaeda on the northern border? And she's going to crush the opium trade at the same time?
Not even Bush claims he's going to win the War on Drugs. The American right has softened their Drug War claims to a 10% reduction in drug abuse because they've realized that nobody is going to "crush" the drug trade any time soon.
So Bhutto is far far far to right of Bush when it comes the War on Drugs. She makes Bush look like a diplomat.
Musharraf is a soft-spoken military dictator and Bhutto is an inflammatory pro-democracy demagogue.
Not such a great choice for the Pakistani people, if they ever get to make a choice, that is.
The reason why she's NOT going to crush Al Qaeda on the border despite her inflammatory rhetoric is because, thanks to 34 years of Afghan, American and Soviet policy that has driven Afghan extremists out of Afghanistan and into Pakistan, the northern border of Pakistan is no longer culturally or politically part of Pakistan.
It's neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan, and that's what makes the region so dangerous.
It's not the mere presence of Al Qaeda -- it's the critical mass of Afghan-identified Pushtuns that makes the norhern region of Pakistan so dangerous for any Pakistani leader to deal with.
Musharraf knows this and the Pakistan army knows this and the Pakistani ISI knows this.
Sidney Blumenthal doesn't seem to know it and neither does Bhutto. If either of them does know it then they're pretending not to.
At this moment people see a one-dimensional problem for Pakistan. Democracy or no democracy.
The problem landscape is really two-dimensional and the other set of boundaries are Pakistan or no Pakistan.
And it's not all about Bush. This problem started before Bush entered politics. This problem will not go away just because Bush leaves office.
The best answer would be a democratic Pakistan. But if Bhutto ends up the leader, there could be a democratic Pakistan for a short while, then there could be a war on the northern border with the Afghan-identified Pushtuns.
Those Afghan-identified Pushtuns in the north could decide it's now in their best interests to press their old claim that the Durrand Treaty has expired, and was never even legal in the first place. If they did that, then all hell would truly break loose in Pakistan.
That would be an attractive situation for India to come in and resolve the Kashmir problem by getting rid of Pakistan's southern border as well.
And that could mean a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
I think it's this vision that is powering the fear of democracy on Musharraf's part.
I know it's Sidney's job to hammer on Bush and normally I think it's a good idea.
Right now I think he's just exploiting the situation and has nothing to say that is informative or useful.
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The wife must have been watching The Young and the Restless
[Read the article: My boss wants me to apologize to his wife]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Nick Newman made his ex-wife Sharon go all the way to the state prison to see his inmate current wife Phyllis and apologize for the fact that Sharon and Nick stripped down to their skivvies and kissed when they were accidentally locked in that hot suffocating bank vault overnight.
LW -- even though you've been living in a soap opera of your own design, you've quit your job and left the cast.
Don't let yourself be persuaded to sign on again as a recurring character.
Maybe they only want you back because a serial killer is coming to town, and they need someone not in a major role to serve as the first victim.