The shit is hitting the fan in Pakistan. The Pakistan that has nuclear weapons.

Musharraf Declares Emergency in Pakistan

Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan on Saturday, suspending the constitution, replacing the chief justice before a crucial Supreme Court ruling on his future as president, and cutting communications in the capital. His leadership threatened by an increasingly defiant court and an Islamic movement that has spread to Islamabad, Musharraf's emergency order accused some judges of "working at cross purposes with the executive" and "weakening the government's resolve" to fight terrorism. Seven of the 17 Supreme Court judges immediately rejected the emergency, which suspended the current constitution. Police blocked entry to the Supreme Court building and later took the deposed chief justice and other judges away in a convoy, witnesses said.

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The Pakistani Question

As you've probably heard by now, Musharraf has declared martial law in Pakistan. (Well, he calls it "Emergency Rule. Same thing, when you suspend the constitution.) The judiciary was about to rule that Musharraf couldn't have run for president while also chief of the army. He is going to completely purge them, and has taken 8 of the supereme court justices into custody. Word is also that the US greenlighted this, and that Musharaff will be moving the army en-masse against the northern tribal areas to route out support for al-Qaeda. Bhutto may also have been complicit (anyone who thinks Bhutto is anything but scum is quite mistaken) and may wind up in some sort of power sharing deal. Or she may turn on Musharraf, if she thinks he's weak enough. The real question here is whether the army will break when used against the northern tribal areas. The army is the key institution in Pakistan and holds the country together, but a lot of the lower officer corp and the line troops seem very unhappy to be used to fight their own countrymen and their allies (remember, the Taliban was a Pakistani creation) at the behest of the United States.

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Musharraf imposes emergency rule