Democracy Shmocracy

Democratic rule vs. military dictatorship. If you can tell the difference between them, you're more astute than the member nations of the British Commonwealth . The Commonwealth, a group of 51 countries formerly part of the erstwhile British empire, recently decided to readmit Pakistan into their fold.

They dumped Pakistan in 1999 when General Musharraf staged his military coup, but:

objections have now cleared, following elections in 2002 and the Parliament's passage last month of a constitutional amendment formalizing General Musharraf's role as president.

Uh, waiter, may I have my reality check please? Musharraf did not put his own position as president up for grabs in the 2002 election. He called "dibs" on that one. The two most prominent politicians and former leaders of the country, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, were forbidden to run. Not that they had spotless records while in power, but hey, at least they were elected. Scores of other candidates were also denied the right to stand for election. Furthermore, Musharraf messed with the electoral system to serve his own ends, and in the process helped get the Islamist MMA party elected in the Northwest Frontier Province.

Yo, former British colony people, what ARE you thinking?