Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria-Este (December 18, 1863 – June 28, 1914)
was an Archduke of Austria, Prince Imperial of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary
and Bohemia, and from 1896 until his death, heir presumptive to the
Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated the Austrian
declaration of war. This caused countries allied with Austria-Hungary (the
Central Powers) and countries allied with Serbia (the Entente Powers) to declare
war on each other, starting World War I.
Some think Benazir Bhutto was likely the next leader of Pakistan. She had been elected Prime Minister twice previously. She enjoyed enormous good will in Pakistan and, as a female leader, shone as a beacon of hope for change in the Muslim world.
Will her assassination be the fault line of the Islamic world and beyond?
8 comments:
I had this thought and proceeded to google "bhutto archduke ferdinand" and your blog appeared. I hope this speculation on my part and words contained in your blog are purely speculation but, I fear that is not the case. We shall see. Peace all!
warren
+1 warren
Your question is a solid and insightful one. I felt a chill this morning as I watched the news and heard of her death. There are a bunch of jigsaw pieces that began falling into place well before 9/11. We only know about some of them. It has been insinuated throughout the news in the past few months that the United States administration definitely had a hand in deciding the outcome of the struggle between Bhutto and Musharraft and that they were solidly on his side. This killing has government sponsored it all over it. We'll never know though. Only the coming months will tell if her death is the event that finally throws nuclear weapons capable Pakistan over the edge and the rest of the world with it. sigh...
BTW...
Hi, how are you and happy holidays, whatever high special days you celebrate.
My name is darkdaughta and I'm glad I found your blog. :)
Dark Daughta,
Good to meet ya'.
I could be wrong, but I don't think Musharraf would have had anything to do with this assassination. He allowed Bhutto back into the country. It would have been easier to just deny her entry.
Hi Pastorius,
I understand what you're trying to say and would wholeheartedly agree were it not for the simple fact that governments often perform for public relations' sake in ways that stand in stark contrast with their actual agendas. Overseas she would have continued to have spoken out from a safe distance and still captured the hearts of her people. Political exiles are almost as dangerous as martyrs. From where I'm standing, it's clear that she was allowed to come in close, allowed entry, granted. But his reaction to her presence, instituting marshal law, betrayed his fear of her significance, as did the house arrest. I think that he couldn't kill her while under house arrest. He couldn't kill her using obviously govt. linked personnel. That would have focussed public ire directly at a point on his forehead. But I do think that someone, perhaps distantly linked to him, or working in tandem with the us, could have easily planned a hit, one of those "dastardly" suicide bombers everyone hears about in the news. If all the people involved in commissioning her death are really lucky, the public will eventually believe that Al Quaida linked terrorists or the Taliban were involved.
But, I know, I know:
Whoa darkdaughta! Holy Conspiracy theories R US!
:)
I just call 'em as I see and intuit them.
And this one definitely reeks.
In all of this, just remember that the Taliban was supported, guided, and bolstered by the ISI during the premiership of the late Benazir Bhutto. Pakistan is simply a mess, and always has been. It truly is a country that was founded on the premise of being an exclusive Muslim homeland, and it has suffered from intra-Islamic terrorism ever since. The Ahmadiyya for example are not even allowed to call themselves Muslims in Pakistan.
Dark Daughta,
Call me crazy, but I think Musharraf ain't a bad guy.
That might be as crazy as resorting to a conspiracy theory.
I certainly don't think it is impossible that her assassination was arranged by government people. And, it is conceivable that Musharraf could have been involved. But the way I intuit it, I don't think so.
:)
Punditarian,
Considering the way things go when countries split to accomodate Muslim wishes for a homeland (i.e. Pakistan, Gaza, the Phillipines) I have no idea why we would ever seriously consider Muslim wishes ever again. Giving Muslims more land seemingly always leads to disaster.
In fact, considering the post a little way down about how the tsunami aid money was spent in Indonesia, perhaps it is an insane idea to give Muslims anything ever.
I understand that he seems shaken in the footage that's been taken of him since the assassination. But remember, he's also the man who put her under house arrest. He was terrified of what she could do. Not to mention the fact that before she came and demanded different he was a complete dictator. But, I think there is room for a lot of possible theories. Thanks for responding to my ideas. I'm enjoying this.
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