When a city of eight million shuts down

Photo source: ABC News Australia

Juan Cole shares last night's toll in Karachi following the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto:
Number of vehicles burned: 150
Number of streets where tires were set afire: 26
Number of banks set on fire: 16
Number of gas stations torched: 13
Number of persons shot dead: 10
Number of persons injured: 68
Number of PIA flights coming in: 0
Number of shops and businesses closed: Most

Let's imagine sixteen banks set on fire last night in New York. And no flights coming into the airports. Not good.

Cole, who is a professor of Middle Eastern history, concludes his post with this:

Folks, I've seen civil wars and riots first hand, and revolutions from not too far away, and this situation looks pretty bad to me.

Remember, this is one of the nuclear nations. Bhutto's party were moderates. The guy currently in charge declared martial law recently and flouted the Supreme Court. Pakistan harbors bin Laden, coddles the guy who gave nuclear secrets to North Korea, has a very small but militant minority faction, and is someplace we do not want chaos. The country is now in turmoil. President Musharraf is a highly problematic figure in all this though if he were to leave the scene there might be the sort of vacuum in which far worse things might happen, including nuclear weapons coming into the hands of renegades and terrorists, the very real fear that lies behind so much posturing these days.

Turmoil serves tyrants well; look at how well our wannabe-emperor George IV does, manipulating and reinforcing every threat (real of fabricated) to increase his power and reduce the rights and powers of the people.

Not good. Not good at all.

Bhutto was not untainted by corruption but she was a moderate and democratic voice. Her assassination is a great loss on many levels.

UPDATE:
Glenn Greenwald at Salon has some cautionary comments:

Finally, for those questioning why I'm not writing about Benazir Bhutto's death, I try not to write about topics unless I think I have something to say about them worth saying. What's there to say at this point? Nobody even knows yet who is responsible for her assassination; it's been less than 24 hours since it occurred; Pakistan is an incredibly complex country; and none of this is susceptible to facile, instantaneous analysis, despite how prevalent such analysis is.

For those demanding to read something, here is among the best commentaries I've read, from former intelligence officer A.J. Rossmiller, who warns against "any kind of rush to judgment." I also think the claims about how this is going to alter everything in our elections are vastly overstated.
...

Contrary to the prevailing views of our political and media elite -- virtually all of whom seem eager to debate how we should best resolve Pakistan's problems: demand elections? get rid of Musharraf? find a replacement for Bhutto? -- that country isn't our protectorate or our colony and I doubt that the average American voter wants candidates to prove that they can best manage Pakistan's internal political mess. We have substantial messes of our own and I suspect voters are more interested in how candidates will manage those.

--the BB