View From The High Fells

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto presents a greater threat to "world peace" than all the current shenanigans that are currently going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. There can be little doubt that the deed was carried out by Islamic militants allied to if not directed by Al Aqaeda as Bhutto was seen as a strong believer in stronger links with the United States and had she won the elections in two weeks, as she was strongly tipped to do, that would have been unacceptable to Islamists.

In little more than a day Pakistan has been reduced to chaos with thousands of people fighting with and shooting at police, raiding banks, burning cars and petrol stations and the only remarkable thing is the small number of people who have died so far.

Musharraf will find the pressure of the next few weeks the toughest he has yet faced and he has to stamp his authority on the revolts that will break out because the only other option is that the fundamentalists will cause further chaos and eventually win power and get their hands on the county's nuclear arsenal. Is that happens I suspect both India and Israel will look strongly at the need for preemptive attacks as there can be no doubt that the political masters of the Islamic foot soldiers will have little hesitation in unleashing the nuclear option as there is little threat to them squatting in the dust of the mountains.