Friday, December 23, 2011

Dare Not Speak Its Name

Pakistan's Prime Minister Raza Gilani continues to make waves by publicly fearing a coup.  Folks are upset at this: how dare the elected leader of a country worry about a coup d'etat by a military that is generally viewed as out of control and that has repeatedly engaged in coups?! 

One may consider this poor etiquette and even bad strategy, but given that military re-entring into government usually want to be faits accompli, Prime Minister Gilani may actually be smart here by reducing the chances for a surprise coup.  Of course, he is still in danger, but coup-proofing is more art than science.  I would still say that the odds of a coup in Pakistan in the next year are no worse than 3 to 1.

How is that for a Happy Blogpost for a Happy New Year?

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