i'm really fascinated by the bloggers on the right who are embracing musharraf. not all of them are doing it, but A.J. Strata is taking a particularly strong pro-musharraf stance. pam atlas is also coming down on musharraf's side, but maybe that's just because that's what her hero john bolton is doing.
it's bizarre because they both seem to assume that musharraf is anti-islamists, but his actions suggest the exact opposite. at the same time that musharraf declared the state of emergency and arrested lawyers, judges and democracy activists, he released a bunch of taliban fighters, including the highest ranking taliban ever captured. islamic militants--who effectively gained control over portions of the western tribal areas of pakistan last year when musharraf entered into a peace accord with them--have have advanced and are gaining control of a wider and wider area of northwest pakistan. musharraf seems to be putting up very little resistance to the militants' advance, focusing on clamping down on dissent in the capital instead. for two bloggers who usually take a hard line against anyone who is not as rabidly anti-islamist, their support of musharraf really is puzzling.
of course, the obvious answer is that they simply don't have a fucking clue. the new york times has a fairly prominent story about the militant's advance since musharraf declared the state of emergency. i don't think they read that paper, but maybe the increased media buzz will somehow manage to sink through.
or maybe not. you never can tell with these guys.
