A Dick!

Friedman is totally nuts, totally self-involved of course. Only a crazed American can look at Karzai's inviting the elected (or semi-elected, or sort-of elected) leader (or semi-leader, or sort-of leader) of the large, populous, regionally influential nation that shares its, and Afghanistan's, third longest land border solely and singularly as a bit of political theater directed at us and only us. I am not naive; plainly thumbing his nose at the American administration that so recently thumbed its nose at him was part of the point, but by our enterprising columnist's own admission, Karzai is a man with a scandalous and questionable electoral mandate, a weak security apparatus, and a fraglie coalition, ruling precariously over an ad-hoc city-state in the middle of a rugged country caunght between various insurgencies, rebels, and competing claimants, the American death machine, and the machinations of other-neighbor Pakistan's own government, insurgencies, intelligence, and security apparatus. One side against the other, in bed with everyone . . . fabulous stuff, man.