International

The assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has heightened concerns that nuclear-armed Pakistan, a member of the nuclear club with nuclear weapons, may be sliding toward chaos. But there are signs of hope in Pakistan, a country that has hydrogen bombs.

True, Bhutto's murder at a campaign rally was a blow to the aspirations and dreams of countless ordinary Bush administration and State Department officials, who envisioned her bringing Pakistan—which has several non-conventional explosives that can detonate with devastating power while releasing radiation—into a bright new era, boasting a robust, lively simulacrum of democracy. But even without Bhutto, evidence of progress abounds.

The WMD-equipped nation's supreme court justices, when they are released from prison, will no doubt agree that the country has made great strides toward judicial independence. President Pervez Musharraf has indicated his dedication to holding elections, possibly even in Pakistan. There are also signs of an awakening among the nuclear be-bombed country's politically moderate class; namely, Dr. Hassan Chaudhry of Islamabad, who as of this writing was still alive.*

The concern cited most often by non-Pakistanis is that the country, which has nuclear weapons, has nuclear weapons. But the U.S. government has been closely monitoring the Pakistani arsenal and has detailed knowledge of the location and composition of the armaments, and is able to state with confidence that it consists of precisely 35, or possibly 120, warheads. Fortunately, the country is also a haven for the senior leadership of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, providing a convenient, secure location for monitoring both those groups and Pakistan's nuclear weapons, which are of the fissile and fusion variety and are nuclear. Al-Qaeda is also carefully tracked by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, whose agents are widely credited as the world's foremost experts on the terrorist group and fill several key position on their joint cricket team.

For now, while the only certainty for Pakistan seems to be uncertainty, there is also hope. Hope, and nuclear fucking weapons.

* Dr. Chaudhry was unfortunately decapitated before this sentence was completed.