I was reading this story in the NY Times in which it outlines Bush's blunt message to Pakistan about nuclear arms. Bush publically, and almost embarrassingly, told President Musharraf that there was no way that Pakistan would be in line for the kind of deal that he just cut with India. He cited the differences between India and Pakistan:

"I explained that Pakistan and India are different countries with different needs and different histories," Mr. Bush said at a joint outdoor news conference with General Musharraf on the grounds of the presidential palace, Aiwan-e-Sadr.

You gotta wonder how that plays out for Musharraf politically?

Musharraf, like his neighbor President Karzai, is little more than the mayor of Islamabad. While being proclaimed an elected leader, he's really the military leader in control of the country by force. Islamic fundamentalist have a huge presence and anti-American feelings run very very strong. To be told by the U.S. President at his own palace that, essentially, Pakistan is a second class international citizen and can't be trusted seems to me to be a rather swift slap in the face.

One of the biggest immediate threats that I can see is not Iran, but Pakistan. What happens if Musharraf is assasinated and the government replaced by fundamentalist? Pakistan does have nuclear weapons while Iran, Iraq and Syria do not. And what would the U.S. do if this occurred?

As I said before, Bush is like a bull in a china shop. He has no diplomatic skills and can't think beyond the next five minutes. I'd love to play him a game of chess, maybe for money .... a lot of money.