So Much for Musharraf

Well, 

Pakistan is entering one of its democratic phases.  General Musharraf is resigning as support for his impeachment mounts.  This is a very good sign for Pakistan's medium term future.  To remove a military dictator by forcing him to acknowledge that constitution has some binding constraints on his power is fantastic.  It's also very rare for military regimes to behave like this.  Usually, they either wait for a rival group of officers to threaten a counter-coup or for the mobs in the streets to make the country ungovernable.  I have to say this is pretty cool.  I'd even go so far as to give Musharraf a tip of the hat for this one.  BBC online has a brief summary of his "mixed legacy." 

The power is now firmly in the hands of the pro-democracy reformers.  These people are also much less ambivalent about their opposition to groups like the Taleban.