Internet Commentator

I would have thought so too

Kip Esquire wonders why Turkmenbashi isn't worthy of a full-blown Danish-cartoons-style violent reaction:

Surely acting like a modern-day Muhammed is some kind of Islamic abomination worthy of riots and fatwas and jihads, no? Shouldn't acting like the Prophet be more blasphemous than merely drawing a picture of him?

Turkmenbashed

Great post over at Clowning Glory about the prospects for Turkmenistan when its preposterous President Saparmurat Niyazov (aka Turkmenbashi) is finally deposed, and the threat from pan-islamic group HUT.

Thoroughly corrupt and increasingly weak, dysfunctional and just plain bizarre, Turkmenbashi’s regime will ultimately collapse -- it seems certain that won’t be a peaceful transition. When the people of Turkmenistan are finally “liberated” from Niyazov, there will be plenty of his statues for them to pull down in celebration. But what will be erected in their place?

Kashmir

Interesting commentary on the Guardian's interview with Pakistan's Maj. Gen. Mahmud Durrani about a peaceful resolution of the conflict between his country and India. Abiola Lapite is pessimistic about the prospects for a settlement despite Durrani's conciliatory tone, given the asymmetry of the subcontinent's dispute:

The brutal reality is that Pakistan needs peace a lot more than India does - the military burden is heavier for the Pakistanis than it is for the Indians, and the benefits of restored trade links would be much greater proportionally for the Pakistanis than it would be for an India that is already growing quite nicely; then there is the negative fallout from the ongoing revelations about Pakistan's nuclear proliferation activities to consider. India holds all the cards, and the sort of surrender that Musharraf's government would need to undertake for the sake of peace would be too much for him to go along with and stay alive - not that his days aren't already numbered as they are. In any case, even if Musharraf were willing to play the martyr for peace, it is almost a certainty that any new Pakistani government would simply break off talks and resume the Kashmiri "jihad."