“The American foreign policy elite blanched at the massive fraud allowing President Hamid Karzai to win a second term handily. The election fraud then led to a thorough examination by the American media of Afghanistan’s corrupt government and questions about whether such a venal government could ever win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. Of course, the implication was that it couldn’t and that the U.S. war effort, attached to this sinking anchor, would ultimately fail. Odds are that the U.S. war effort will ultimately fail, not primarily because of a tainted election or a corrupt government — but because the U.S. elite and ordinary Afghans have such different worldviews that they might as well live on different planets.” (12/09/09)