Taking Over The Family Business

Benazir Bhutto's 19 year-old son, Bilawal is set to become the new head of her Pakistan Peoples' Party. This would appear to be a function of the fact that Benazir Bhutto allowed for no rivals in her party.

Tariq Ali on Bhutto's Death

This piece probably nails the implications of Bhutto's death best. A sample:

"Benazir's horrific death should give her colleagues pause for reflection. To be dependent on a person or a family may be necessary at certain times, but it is a structural weakness, not a strength for a political organisation."

(Via Dennis Perrin who points out how most US coverage seems to see this as a political football for the primary season.)

Benazir Bhutto: A Complicated Legacy

The type of press that Benazir Bhutto will probably get over the next few days will probably tout her as a model of moderation and liberalism in the Muslim world. Certainly being a women and being relatively young when she came to power means that some of this is not without merit. Also, she appears to have stood up to bin Laden before any Westerners knew who he was.

There was another Benazir Bhutto though, one that appeared to be massively corrupt. In addition, it's no secret that her family owed its prominence to the continuation of feudalism in Pakistan. She may not have been a religious fanatic, she may not have been a military dictator yet she was surely not without her faults. If the West was pinning a great deal on Bhutto's chances at being elected, even without the tragic events of this day, there surely would have been problems. The challenges facing Pakistan were never solvable by any one person, be it Musharraf or Bhutto.

Benazir Bhutto

It's a shock when it happens, and yet in the grand scheme things, tragically unsurprising. I don't know what else to say about the suicide bombing death of Benazir Bhutto.