Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Burmese junta’s refusal of international assistance after a devastating cyclone hit the country makes sense for its military leadership. The process of recovery from natural disasters often creates openings for political reform and change. Foreign relief workers represent information and contact with the outside world, which can threaten the very survival of the Burmese regime.
By setting consistent groudn rules, Pakistan could gain public support for the war on terror.
The political tragedy--in addition to the human tragedy--of the disaster in Burma
Australia is under pressure to make an exception to global nuclear trading rules for India. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has taken a principled stand against the further spread and use of nuclear weapons and materials. In particular, he promised that Australia -- one of the world's largest uranium exporters -- would trade only with countries that play by international nuclear rules.
By November of last year, Pakistan, a nation hardly known for its stability, seemed primed to explode. After months of street protests against General Pervez Musharraf's increasingly authoritarian rule, the Pakistani dictator had declared de facto martial law, allowing him to arrest thousands of political activists and sparking even greater unrest.
Many in the U.S. have been dissatisfied with Pakistan's performance in the war on terror, and much of the criticism has been based on the assumption that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been perfidious in his execution of counterterror operations.
Monday's elections in Pakistan were -- to use a timeworn cliché -- a political earthquake. Although the poll numbers were clear, very few Pakistan watchers expected that President Pervez Musharraf would allow the opposition to win in such a decisive fashion. In the end, South Asia expert Ashley Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told me, "There was a depth of resentment that not even the government's manifold efforts at shaping the outcome could prevent."
Frederic Grare, a South Asia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says Pakistan faces governmental instability following parliamentary elections, as the leading opposition parties face a decision on whether to impeach President Pervez Musharraf. If they do not, he says, they will face the question of how to otherwise apportion power in the new civilian government. Grare regards the election not as an anti-American vote but rather driven by opposition to Musharraf, and he expects the civilians winners will try to establish good relations with Washington.