Comments on: US Presidential Election & Benazir Bhutto’s Death

By: DLS

DLS — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:32:59 +0000

There’s not[h]ing odd about linking to British newspapers at all.

Think “BBC News” for radio, as well. The UK media are better and more knowledgeable about world affairs (due to the UK’s empirical and other foreign history) than US sources.

I even enjoy the Economist’s views of the USA and events here in the States.

By: DLS

DLS — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 16:08:47 +0000

Will Bhutto's murder affect the election here in the States? Not really. Those of us who follow world news see it as the Pakistani, not US, matter that it is. Now if we're asked to help in the frontier areas, Pakistan (not Bhutto's murder) might get more news time here and affect the election (not limited to exploitation of terrorism by Giuliani). The Musharraf Problem Pakistan's Problem With Democracy

By: DLS

DLS — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 15:48:45 +0000

The real issue here is, that nation has been such a mess that life will go on without her there, as well as in the rest of the world, and Pakistan is expected to remain a mess for years, at least.

Nobody could have predicted to the date and time that Bhutto was assassinated, but nobody who is intelligent and informed is surprised at all. Her death was not predicted, but was of course fully anticipated.

Most who know about this event also know that it is not the only such event, nor does it involve the only nation that is currently in trouble with terrorism as well as “failed state” phenomena.

By: Joe Gandelman

Joe Gandelman — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 14:06:16 +0000

There’s nothing odd about linking to British newspapers at all. I was in Spain and did my stories on their first democratic vote in some 30 years, when they approved the democratic constitution under Franco. To do my stories I talked with people, read the Spanish press extensively and talked with analysts (that were either top Spanish editors or diplomats who analyzed Spain for their embassies). The British press has some EXCELLENT campaign coverage. I will be linking to more BBC stories in 2008 as well as stories from the British press. The technique is the same: they are reading through tons of stuff in the U.S. press plus they all have reporters in the United States or if not reporters that are staffers ‘stringers” who get paid per piece (like I did overseas).

I also do content – it WILL influence the vote since even a cow on a field in Iowa knows that Pakistan has nukes, is a key player in the war on terror and that we have teeny-weenie bit of a problem in that part of the world with Islamic fundamentalists who’d much prefer a Taliban-type society than some of the governments they have now that are based on western model governments (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are offshoots of the British-style democracies).

By: superdestroyer

superdestroyer — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 12:23:59 +0000

Do you really think that the assassination of someone that probably ten percent of Americans could identify in a country that less than half of Americans could find on a map would affect the election at all.

If immigration can barely get the needle to move, why would Pakistan have any effect on Amerian voters.

I also found it odd that the links were to British newspapers. Maybe you should go looking for links at the Des Moines Register or the Quad Cities Times to see what voters in Iowa think about it.