He's at it again. He just can't seem to help himself. It's like a second skin. Pakistan's military president, General Pervez Musharraf, is acting like most Third World dictators brutally. The ugliness of Third World tyrants, like Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, won't show off Musharraf as merely strong but always inherently conservative and rightwing. Despots remain in power by wielding it through state force or state terrorism. If anybody knows how to use the weapons of coercion and oppression, it's the likes of Mugabe and Musharraf.

Pakistan's major cities are again awash with street protests against the Musharraf regime. This time, though, the popularly fashioned 'black coats' - Pakistan's lawyers and barristers - are leading the demonstrations. And more and more state-appointed judges are quietly egging on the black coats from the sidelines. Whether these protests turn into a Filipino-style "yellow revolution", to potentially knock Musharraf off his pedestal, is left to be seen.