"John Howard is also out..."
"Who in the world is he?"
"Yet another key ally in Bush's war on terror? The former Australian Prime Minister."
"Ah yes, and so falls another one. How many have gone?"
"Berlusconi, the Italian fell from power a long time ago. Then there was Azner of Spain who followed suit. More recently there was Poodle, ie Blair who fell but, in his case, it was the Labour party that got rid of him..."
"For the same reason I would imagine."
"I believe it was because of his unwavering support for Bush in his war on terror - a support that was not echoed by the general public."
"There you go. So anyone left?"
"None in the old and tried democracies..."
"I see. So the survivors to date are in those countries ruled by autocracies."
"Indeed. All of them survived."
"Including Musharraf..."
"Well, Musharraf is still struggling to retain his hold on power."
"That is true...and one indication of that is Nawaz Sharif has been allowed to come back to the country."
"That is certainly true. BB eat your heart out is probably what Musharraf is thinking right now."
"But that doesn't mean Nawaz Sharif is going to support Musharraf surely. If that happens then I will know that our politics really makes for unlikely bed fellows."
"Our politics does make for unlikely bed fellows. Don't forget BB negotiated with those who killed her father."
"That is true."
"So now what?"
"Now Musharraf will continue his efforts to retain power, true power not just its trappings and that may be rather difficult."
"Past history certainly leads one to believe that."