Great Regulars: Yet the protests seem to have fallen

on deaf ears--which really shouldn't surprise anyone who has watched the [Asif Ali] Zardari government in action. The floods are just the latest, most tragic example of how inept the Pakistani state truly is. The inundation was predictable; Pakistan suffers monsoon rains every year at exactly the same time. But in a country--and with a president--so endemically corrupt, dealing with the entirely preventable, whether terrorism or natural disasters, has become impossible. There is simply no will, and more importantly no money, to spend on the Pakistani people. The country's coffers are constantly being diverted to more pressing programs--or pockets, for that matter. Before he came to office, Zardari was facing corruption charges in Switzerland, Spain, and Britain.

from Fatima Bhutto: Foreign Policy: Zardari's Katrina

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