Eric Umansky

Democracy is Job #1 (Afghanistan and Iraq exempted)

The NYT backs up the LAT's recent reporting: The U.S. is trying to influence the coming elections in Afghanistan--and in the process is "cutting corners" on the election--as the NYT puts it. "It's hard not to conclude that this was so much about getting an end result and not having a meaningful process," said the director of the indepedent Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit.

Anybody notice a pattern?

P.S. Any particular reason the NYT relegates the evidence of the U.S. undercutting democracy to navel-gazing central--aka the Week in Review?

Let's make "this young century liberties century," Part X?

"U.S. HAND SEEN IN AFGHAN ELECTION; Some candidates say the embassy pressured them not to run against President Karzai. American officials deny the accusations." - today's Los Angeles Times.

The candidates told the LAT that the U.S. ambassador--who has apparently earned the nickname "The Viceroy"--tried to essentially bribe them with various posts in order not to run. "Our hearts have been broken because we thought we could have beaten Mr. Karzai if this had been a true election," said one now former candidate.

It's worth noting that most of the guys complaining seem to have been members of the Northern Alliance, a group not known for it's adherence to high fact-checking standards.