Handicapping the Gap (Pakistan & Nigeria)

"Pakistan's Uneasy Role in Terror War: Conciliatory Approach to Tribal and Foreign Fighters Leaves U.S. Officials Frustrated," by Pamela Constable, Washington Post, 8 May, p. A8.

"Muslims Avenge Christians' Attacks in Nigeria: Long-simmering ethnic and religious tensions explode," by AP, New York Times, 13 May, p. A8.

The usual story on Pakistan, doing its best to combat terrorists in its northwest territories, but frankly, since Islamabad has only limited sovereignty over those tribal lands, the government there really isnít in a position to promise anythingómuch less pull it off.

Pakistan is an impoverished Muslim country of 150 million people, rife with religious passions and bristling with weapons. Many Pakistanis are obsessed with national sovereignty and suspicious of Western motives; some adhere to radical interpretations of Islam and opposed efforts to modernize society. Tribesmen are especially protective of their autonomy and traditional way of life.î

In other words, most of Pakistan is stuck in the 19th century, right down to the way women are treated like minors their entire lives.

This isnít a functioning state in any real sense of the word. Pakistan is a collection of tribal lands, as disconnected from one another in their tribalism as the whole lot of them are fundamentally disconnected from the outside world. Islamabad is the outward faÁade of this non-existent state.

Not surprisingly, such a disconnected, lawless place is best at exporting danger in the form of terrorism, drugs, and WMD. Pakistanís record on all three is simply amazing. Donít expect it to get better on any these issues any time soon.

Meanwhile, Nigeria continues to offer coming attractions of the civil wars that will inevitably migrate out of the Middle East and into sub-Saharan Africa as fundamentalist Islam invariably retreats deeper into the Gap in coming decades, constantly seeking more remote refuges from globalizationís creeping advance.