General Musharraf has declared martial law in Pakistan. Chuck Prince is being pressed to resign as chief executive of Citigroup, the world’s largest bank, apparently because of losses on sub-prime mortgages. The oil price has risen to $96 a barrel; the gold price has risen above $800 an ounce. That is the world in a nutshell, an international crisis, a credit crisis, an energy crisis and a dollar crisis.

Pakistan remains an important, pivotal country. It is an essential bastion of the American position in the Middle East. Without Pakistan as an ally, it is hard to see how the US could maintain its position in Afghanistan.

it would be a disaster if the United States lost a position of influence with the Arab oil-producing countries. Trouble in Pakistan means trouble for the oil market.

same pressures that have threatened Musharraf’s position have undermined Chuck Prince’s position in Citigroup. We are not in a local Pakistan crisis, but in a global crisis that happens to include Pakistan.