Comments | getontheboat: (без темы)

getontheboat

(Untitled)

Dec 27, 2007 11:55

Benazir Bhutto has twenty dummy corporations in the Caribbean to hoard all of the money she laundered out of Pakistan when she was prime minister, and now she is a martyr. It just eludes me. That's when I think there really might be a conspiracy of the elite to ignore corruption.

Comments 11

captainzeta December 27 2007, 19:32:10 UTC

She's a martyr because, corrupt or not, she was one of the most prominent leaders in Pakistan, and she was killed by extremists. It's a symbol of the state of Pakistani politics.

getontheboat December 27 2007, 21:20:29 UTC

I think it's because she's a woman who makes emotional, idealistic speeches about "returning home" and the US thought it would be a great publicity campaign for muslim democracy.

captainzeta December 27 2007, 22:18:38 UTC

Yeah, that too.

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getontheboat December 27 2007, 21:18:06 UTC

she was already pm twice, kicked out of office both times because she was so corrupt. She wasn't suddenly going to be the beacon of goodness pakistan needed the third time around. Corruption is so much more of a threat to Pakistan than the lack of a facade of a democracy, because it pervades every aspect of the government, whether they have a parliament or a military dictatorship.

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getontheboat December 28 2007, 00:31:19 UTC

well, Bhutto was secular, and Musharraf's religion is being Bush's puppy, so can you be more specific?

Thread 8

dana_redde December 27 2007, 21:08:18 UTC

A Pakistani friend of mine says everyone she knows hates her (granted, this girl is among the well-off in Karachi). I was reading in Time, also, how some teachers in Pakistan used Harry Potter to discuss Pakistani politics, and they immediately labelled Musharaff ("Mushy" according to my friend haha) Voldemort and Bhutto Bellatrix. Haha, hen you yisi! American media trying to cover politics in other countries is just cringeworthy and embarassing.

britgrl1125 December 27 2007, 21:08:50 UTC

now my hatred of her is awkward.

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captainzeta December 27 2007, 22:19:52 UTC

Well said.

getontheboat December 27 2007, 23:05:43 UTC

well, exactly, that's why corruption is such a big problem, because it gets played into the media to be this everday, non-issue when it's sucking more money out of poor countries than is going in. Pakistan is one of the single largest recipients of US aid, but it doesn't go anywhere because of the culture of corruption in part cultivated by Bhutto and her family. Benazir Bhutto was like Marie Antoinette. She and Nawaz Sharif just competed back and forth over their terms to see who could steal more money and live more lavishly. When she was prime minister, she was so full of rhetoric for women's rights and better health services, but she never made action on any part of her supposed "progressive" agenda. All she did was drive up inflation, take bribes, and allowed the kind of political instability perfect for terrorism in the first place. And there was plenty of violence under her as well. She wanted an election, but she'd already been elected twice and kicked out of office twice. An election in Pakistan would hardly be much ( ... )