Last week’s headline:
UN confident over Afghan run-off
The UN envoy to Afghanistan says the presidential election run-off will take place in two weeks, despite rumours of talks between the two candidates.
Kai Eide told the BBC that people would vote under extremely difficult circumstances, but that he believed the right plans were being set in train.
It had been hard to get President Hamid Karzai to accept a run-off, he said.
Today’s headline:
Abdullah pulls out of Afghan vote
President Hamid Karzai’s rival in the second round of the Afghan presidential election has announced in Kabul that he is withdrawing from the poll.
“I will not participate in the election,” Dr Abdullah told supporters, saying his demands for ensuring a fraud-free election had not been met.
But he stopped short of calling for a boycott of next Saturday’s vote.
Mr Karzai had rejected his demand that election officials who presided over the first round should be dismissed.
Terrible news on its own merit of course, but you really have to wonder whether, in the span of all human history, such a self-important set of incandescent mediocrities has ever been previously assembled.
[...] Neptunus Lex: Impressively incandescent medocrities, has their like ever been seen? I’d say, yeah … dime a dozen in the span of human history. [...]
Yeah. Look at congress. Both houses. WTF
Seemed(*) to me that Kai Eide as UN envoy to Afghanistan was nothing but a US figurehead. Which leaves the Pentagon, the White House, and Foggy Bottom as relevant mediocrities here.
(*) I admit I cannot bring any relevant quotations, just remember reading in some reportages that he was strictly pushing the US strategy.
I understand that the UN is now going to investigate the unavailability of affordable housing in NYC.
I suggest that we move the UN to another country (I vote for Af) and use that building to solve the housing problem.
What, Lex? This is NATION BUILDING! This is CREATING A DEMOCRACY! This is WORTH BILLIONS IN NATIONAL TREASURE, THOUSANDS OF US LIVES, and ENDLESS YEARS OF DISTRACTION FROM CONFRONTING OUR REAL ENEMIES!
Yeah, I’m shouting. I guess my sympathy for having to save Afghanistan (which always seems to mean hundreds of billions of dollars to Pakistan as well) while being simultaneously utterly disappointed at how badly we’re played for the fool is about gone.
http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/1099/Which-Target-Is-Our-Own-Bullseye.aspx
I suppose I could be snarky instead.
“What, you expected George Washington to emerge from the tribes?
I’d settle right now if he emerged from somewhere in the Midwest…and got talked into being President, again…
“such a self-important set of incandescent mediocrities has ever been previously assembled.”
Oh, Indeed! Just look at the White House, The House and Senate. Ours will do just as well as Abdullah. He’s probably tasking lessons from Pelosi and Reid.
Smells like a shady deal between Karzai and Abdullah to me.
It is said thet you can never buy and Afghan, but you can always rent one. With billions in US aid $$, I am sure Karzai could afford to make it worthwhile for both of them.
As for the UN- When have they EVER solved anything? Why should we continue to host or fund these arrogant, worthless, officious kleptocrats?
It’s hard enough just supporting the Obamocracy any more.
Edward & John/
You’re both gonna lluuve this little UN bit. Thanks to Kate at “Small Dead Animals” we find out that the UN rep surveying the “adequacy” of our “affordable” (read tax-payer subsidized) housing hails from Sao Paulo, Brazil–only home to some of the worlds worst slums–evidence of which Kate conveniently provides with accompanying photos. You really can’t make this stuff up…and to add icing to the cake one of the commenters provides the link to one Mr. Miloon Kataii of India no less–another paradise on earth for slumdog millionaires (didn’t say if his hometown was Calcutta, but would have been just too,too perfect if he was)–lecturing Canada as the UN rep about the inadequacy of Canada’s housing stock allowing as how he was “shocked” at the “scale” and “depth” of the “chronic” and “visible” miserable conditions of such housing in Canada. Priceless. View his comments @
http://www.youtube.com/watcn?v=bJTPRfOf8-dY&feature=related
(To get Kate’s main story & photo you’ll have to hit archives for OCT as it was just pushed off home page.)
Sorry guys, link doesn’t work for some reason, tho I copied it direct. Just go to comments under Kates’ main story: “Where’s John Bolton When He’s Really Needed?”