Not a democracy

Apropos of a recent post, it’s not democracy that Afghans dislike:

What is objected to is the lack of democracy in the voting process in Afghanistan; the vote-rigging, the corruption, and the skullduggery.

Perhaps its not a good idea to ask whether or not Afghans like democracy when they don’t have it. Its even worse to call it a democracy when it clearly is not one.

Just another day

In today’s news: Fraud. Corruption. Violence. Intimidation. Insecurity. Anti-American protests.

Perspectives

If Mullah Omar came to my office and said, “You know, Barak, I don’t think this democracy thing is going so well in the US. I’ve read the public opinion polls. The president is unpopular, you view Congress as somewhat of a joke, and your idea of freedom of speech is the right to burn other people’s holy books. I think you might like a society based on Pashtunwali and Sharia. Its worked very well where I come from for hundreds of years.” Continue reading »

C is for corruption

Is the opportunity for graft the reason they are so interested in being in the government in the first place?

MENAPIA

I was writing about the broader Middle East tonight (i.e., the Middle East, North Africa, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan) and my language was very unwieldy. The problem is that we don’t have any term that refers to these countries, despite their importance (singly and as a group) for US foreign policy. The Arab world doesn’t work as Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are not Arab countries. The Muslim world doesn’t work because lots of Muslims live outside these countries (think India, Indonesia, and Nigeria). The best I can think of is to use an acronym. Everyone knows MENA (Middle East and North Africa), so how about MENAPIA (Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan)? I like it because it rhymes. MENAPIA, MENAPIA!