Take our victories where we can:
Toppled in a 1999 coup, jailed and exiled, Nawaz Sharif has made a triumphant election comeback and was heading for a third term as Pakistan's prime minister.
The polls were a landmark, marking the first time one elected government will replace another. But the vote failed to realize the hopes of many that dynastic politics would end after years of misrule and corruption.
It isn't exactly an Indus Spring, I know. But in a nuclear-armed, jihadi-plagued state, I'm just happy for any progress at all.