I believe the Doomsday Clock should be pushed up to 4 minutes till midnight with Bhutto's death.

[Selatius]

If Pakistan erupts in violent unrest as a result, the warheads Pakistan built would be vunerable to being captured by religious fundamentalists who also want to topple Musharraf. India would be involved if a civil war erupted; India has stated that they will see Pakistan losing control of its warheads as a direct threat to India itself. Other secondary players here are China and Russia. Neither of them likely wants loose nukes running around either, and China has been an ally of Pakistan for years now. India has relied on Russia, as a result, as an ally in terms of obtaining military hardware. They are likely Russia's largest client as far as military sales go.

The Doomsday Clock is currently at 5 minutes till midnight.

[NightWatcher]

1. Remember we gave India nukes in exchange for Mango's. Where are my mangos

[Marrah_G]

2. Hey... I didn't get any mangos

Damn you....I'm stuck at work and now I want mangos.

[LiberalEsto]

7. But does Mango want you? nt

[Marrah_G]

10. awwww

:cry:

[LiberalEsto]

12. Maybe Mango DOES want you!

I never said Mango didn't.

:hug:

[C_U_L8R]

8. Mango?

You can't-a have-a de Mango!

[Marrah_G]

11. eeeeeewww

[H2O Man]

3. It is certainly

a bad thing for the world. It could be a fuse that ignites a powder keg. It is a terrible time to have Bush and Cheney in office.

[nradisic]

4. If it gets to that....

I see the US military, as stretched as it is, going into Pakistan to secure or remove the nukes the hard way....

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. Methinks you are overly optimistic. n/t

[Echo In Light]

6. I'm sure that group of nuke scientists have been muzzled the past several yrs

Nothing to see here...move along

[foo_bar]

9. I think that's overstating it

The Clock itself doesn't measure anything discrete besides symbolic hopscotch steps between now and an unpredictable abyss; it could be next Sunday A.D. or never (assuming we can metaphorically turn back time, as the Doomsday people suggest at the risk of a metaphorical temporal paradox). It's like saying you'll count to 10 and then inserting decimal places to stall for an indefinite amount of time, "...nine and three-eighths!"

In terms of civil strife and the Bomb, the problem isn't P.O.'ed Bhutto moderates taking up arms, it's the Taliban or Taliban-like elements consolidating power right before Musharraf's inevitable decline and creating the world's second or third messianic nuclear power. Big whoop. Unless the hardliners decide to nuke Kashmir it's basically "meet the new boss" albeit with more public stonings. Their fundies are just as afraid of death as ours, hence they send nihilist youths to do all the jihadi dirty work, kind of like our chickenhawks.