LONDON — "We do not want to go back to an elective democracy where corruption becomes all pervasive," Lt. Gen. Moeen U Ahmed, chief of the Bangladesh army, told a conference in Dhaka in April.
Typical talk from a soldier who has thrust the civilian political leaders of his country aside — but he does have a point, for the leaders in question are a pair of obsessives whose rivalry has poisoned Bangladesh's politics for decades.
Two political dynasties, alternating in power, have ruled Bangladesh ever since 1991. Now the rivalry is coming to an end — so, unfortunately, is democracy.