<a href=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2228796.stm>BBC</a>
<a href=http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/27/us.pakistan.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories>CNN</a>
<a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/world/asia/28pakistan.html?ex=1356498000&en=b208a56991a2457e&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>NYTimes</a>
Why does the Pakistan government say she was killed by a bomb, when she was shot first?
Why did the doctors change their story?
Why would the Pakistani gov want people to think she died a certain way regardless?
Did the shooter and bomber know each other? 1,2,3 gunshots, then BOOM, bomb sounds almost rehearsed to my ears.
Who is investigating the whole murder?
"Clean shaven man in sun glasses"?
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Not to be crass, but Bhutto and her party aren't exactly beacons of fairness and accountability. Witness the elevation of her son.
Am I being too neocon, here?
Which is to say, I'm not sure that either has any real effect on "the spread of democracy."
Which is, perhaps, really to say that I find our (i.e., Americans) understanding of what democracy means, and neocon's especially, to be problematic. It seems to imply that democracy is only democracy if it's this mirror of an idealized American democracy, as if our own electoral and political processes didn't arise in a specific historical and cultural context, and as if they were/are not themselves fluid.
That said, I would still argue that Kenya *is* less meaningful within the context of American Foreign Policy. In contrasting the Kenyan election results with Bhutto, you seem to suggest that Bhutto's death is not problematic because she is just another corrupt pol. Which seems somewhat irrelevant, given that she represented a distinctly different option from the traditional military/political coziness, which is considered one of the real objects to a "true" democratic Pakistan.
Kenyan unrest, on the other hand, occurs within the context of a close presidential election, a historical tendency for elected leaders to become dictatorial once in office (despite most beginning as opposition candidates), and ethnic tensions that occasional erupt. Kenya is basically doing business as usual, unfortunate but meaningless if we're talking "the spread of democracy."
There's so much more to unpack here, but I don't give up the green until tomorrow, so I'll leave you with this for now. I think entire doctoral dissertations could be written on the comparison of our relative interest and understanding of different foreign election outcomes.
I didn't mean to imply that American democracy is the one true democracy. Maybe I should be talking about fair elections and responsible government (which took a bigger blow in Kenya than in Pakistan this week).