This reptilian world of ours is shedding its political skin all at once. Or maybe exfoliating. From the recent change in Australia and France to the marathon American Presidential election; from Putin's make-believe "exit" in Russia to yesterday's proclamation of Kosovar statehood.
Today two more chunks of skin fell off, in Cuba and Pakistan, and we'll watch them grow back slowly, perhaps painfully.
Castro's resignation marks the end of an era. That the fate of mortality should choose his exit rather than one of 638 assassination attempts is miracle enough to etch his name in the stone of history. Change is now in the Cuban air, and it's only a matter of time before we will be able to tell what it smells like. Judging by media hints, we'll see some kind of economic reform creep its way across the Communist island, with investment from Venezuela, Brazil and Russia.
In Pakistan, did we just witness a meaningful rotation of power, or a outward spiral into more instability masked as politics of reform? Musharraf has already said he won't resign in spite of calls from various leaders of the coalition. Perhaps more importantly, whether or not the new coalition can live up to the kinds of high expectations they flaunted in their various platforms is questionable, with the average voter looking for simple solutions to the complex problems of endemic violence and rising food prices.
Finally, I wonder if Canada, too, will jump on this bandwagon and shed some political skin of its own.
Today two more chunks of skin fell off, in Cuba and Pakistan, and we'll watch them grow back slowly, perhaps painfully.
Castro's resignation marks the end of an era. That the fate of mortality should choose his exit rather than one of 638 assassination attempts is miracle enough to etch his name in the stone of history. Change is now in the Cuban air, and it's only a matter of time before we will be able to tell what it smells like. Judging by media hints, we'll see some kind of economic reform creep its way across the Communist island, with investment from Venezuela, Brazil and Russia.
In Pakistan, did we just witness a meaningful rotation of power, or a outward spiral into more instability masked as politics of reform? Musharraf has already said he won't resign in spite of calls from various leaders of the coalition. Perhaps more importantly, whether or not the new coalition can live up to the kinds of high expectations they flaunted in their various platforms is questionable, with the average voter looking for simple solutions to the complex problems of endemic violence and rising food prices.
Finally, I wonder if Canada, too, will jump on this bandwagon and shed some political skin of its own.
Labels: Cuba, Fidel Castro, Pakistan, political change
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home