Plausible culprits in Bhutto's assassination

Moments before she was assassinated, Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto waves to her supporters.

The wider political tragedy behind the personal loss of assassinated former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto Thursday is how common - almost predictable and inevitable - this sort of event has become in that troubled region from North Africa, across the Middle East to southern Asia. Pakistan and the world will hear many exhortations in the coming days, about democracy, stability, restraint, terrorism and other such big questions. The sad reality is that much of this wide region that has been increasingly plagued by intermittent political violence in recent decades is now defined by it.

More troubling, in this case as in many other big name assassinations in recent years, is the ugly fact that multiple plausible culprits can be identified. The repetition and predictability of the crime takes its significance beyond the particular evil deed itself. The use of political violence has become so routine, in so many lands, that it demands a level of analysis somewhat higher than the identity of the killers or the specific timing or target of the latest attack.

What should be done? A starting point for a relevant reaction would be to acknowledge that lone gunmen, local militias, suicide terrorists, state armies, and even some elected leaders in dozens of countries have all become colleagues in an extensive drama. The absence of credible governance systems based on the rule of law and the equal rights of all citizens has slowly pushed people and authorities to rely on explosions and intimidation, rather than electoral or accountable legitimacy, to make their point, or to perpetuate their incumbency by eliminating their opponents.

The chronic resort to violence and militarism by gunmen, gangs and governments alike - in Asia, the Middle East and parts of the West- has made such assassinations routine, and subsequently inevitable.

Presidents, kings and warlords in Asia, America, Europe and other parts of the world will all speak passionate volumes now about the senseless death of courageous politicians who valued democracy - yet it will be hard to take seriously any of their pronouncements, for many of the speakers have spent the last generation sending their armies to war, toppling regimes, authorizing covert assassinations, arming gangs and militias, cozying up to terrorists, lauding autocrats, and ignoring true democrats.