AS GOES PAKISTAN – AT 9:05 A.M. ET:  We've been hearing much about Pakistan lately, and much of that isn't very good.  Pakistan, a country with an expanding nuclear arsenal, is falling further and further into the darkness of extremism.  Our media tends to ignore it, since what's happening there can't be blamed on "American policies."  But Pakistan will affect every family living in the United States.  From AP:

ISLAMABAD -- A 60-year-old university administrator in the southern port city of Karachi is wistful as he recalls the more tolerant, freewheeling Pakistan of his youth.

Once, when a teacher suggested no book can be perfect, the boy asked if that included Islam's holy book, the Quran. That sparked a candid class discussion about religion. But in today's Pakistan, Muqtida Mansoor said he would never dare to ask the question in public.

After all, "anyone could shoot you."

Days after the assassination of Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer, one of the few politicians openly challenging the onslaught of religious extremism, Pakistani moderates are facing a new and troubling reality: Pakistan is a country where fundamentalism is becoming mainstream, leaving even less room for dissent, difference and many once-prevalent leisures such as public music, dance parties or other social contact between the sexes.

More liberal-minded Pakistanis have been left with a profound sense of loss, alienation and fear for the future. One rights activist forecast that at the rate Islamist groups are rising, a religious party could be ruling the country in 10 to 15 years.

The transformation is particularly disheartening for many younger Pakistanis.

"There is no concept of freedom of speech in this country," said Aaisha Aslam, 25, who works for a non-governmental organization. People with fanatic mindsets are "out to snatch this country from us."

The poles have shifted so much that it was not just bearded students from religious seminaries who this week praised the suspected killer of a politician who opposed blasphemy laws. Some religious scholars who oppose the Taliban also joined in - and lawyers showered him with rose petals.

COMMENT:  We must ask what will happen to those nuclear weapons.  We are endlessly assured that they are "safe."  Really?  How would we know?  Who will eventually be guarding them if a fanatical, Iran-style regime takes over?

And in our universities, students will be told that we Western imperialistic, right-wing colonialist warmongers have no "right" to question what's happening in Pakistan because it's "another cultural expression."  And too many people who will go on to work in government and the press will believe that.

Welcome to the next decade.

January 8, 2010