Over the past century, assassinations of heads of state and other prominent leaders such as the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King Jr. in the United States and Rabin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in the Middle East have shifted the course of history one way or another.

The full consequences of yesterday's assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto remain to be seen. But some experts worry what impact the event will have in an era where conflict driven by religious extremism transcends the nation state.

"There are assassinations that lie in these moments when history can pivot one way or another, it can galvanize people or it can throw people in another direction," said Steve Clemons, director of foreign policy programs at the New America Foundation. "I think that Bhutto's death is probably a foreshock of other potential assassinations. It's the kind of assassination that hits sort of a soft spot in global tectonics."

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