But that’s the least of it. Try explaining to anyone in any other country, maybe also in this one, what’s happening in our politics. As a person of African descent, Barack Obama remains very popular in South Africa, and in Germany, the two countries I visited but how do you explain to people in Berlin whose history was scarred by Hitler that there are many in this country who see him as a Hitler. How do you explain our convoluted political process and the armies of lobbyists doing corporate bidding.

South Africa was once a capital of racial politics with a fanatical right-wing. That seems tepid today with armed extremists more insurgent in our land of the free. Today there are more worries there about corruption than communism. My recent article about the economic crisis there suggested that their national health plan is being jeopardized by the economic crisis. I suggested it was more socialistic than ours. A prominent economist there wrote to disagree, “On health care system, it is not so much socialist; it is similar to Canada, UK, etc.”

How could I tell her that the wing nuts in our country consider Canada and Britain hot beds of Socialist fanaticism?

The global illiteracy here is staggering, compounded by the liberal blogosphere which doesn’t seem too interested in what’s going on in the world, outside OUR wars and policy concerns. Partisan politics dominates to the exclusion of most other issues despite our professed interest in the rest of world. They want THEM to like US. That’s about it. Most of us don’t seem to interested in Africa, Asia or even Latin America as long as there is no US troops there. Our economic policies get a bored and uninformed response even though they do affect us.

PARTISAN WARS R’US

Give us a meaty story on outrages by the right and we just talk it to death. Frank Rich and many of our readers are more alarmed by whats happening in the 32nd Congressional District election where the Republican candidate was forced to withdraw because of stands that do not pleas the hard liners.

The latest there by the way, Accoring to the THE HILL, “Republican Dede Scozzafava, who unexpectedly backed out of a tough, three-way House race on Saturday, announced this afternoon that she was endorsing Democrat Bill Owens for the job.

DXM was exorcised enough about it to write:

“dunno if you’ve been able to follow all the twists and turns of this story, but here’s one more more or less unexpected bit that may or may not affect the process and end result; having the Democrat Bill Owens prevail over the “conservative” (Republican) Independent Doug Hoffman. With the Republican Scozzafava’s endorsement of the Democrat, the “establishment” Republicans in NY-32 have effectively disintegrated. So we watch to see who gets elected on Tuesday, and one way or the other, this particular race is a way of seeing what’s going to happen to the GOP, nationally, in the future. The Texas governor race between a nutso and a special interest corporation Republican as usual will be another good one to watch to see the future (trend)”

FRANK RICH’s TAKE: The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York

Of course I am concerned, but the way Democrats cave to Republicans and take money from the lobbyists is of more concern. I guess I am out of it.

Let me take on the news starting with news of Double A—Abdullah Abdullah who I actually met two years ago at a media conference in Kazahkstan. We talked about whats happened to the followers of Massouud and the Northern Alliance, who with CIA help, actually defeated the Taliban the first time around.

Now he has defeated a sham re-election effort which he fully expected to lose. He pulled out. The result announced this morning:

NYT: Afghan election commission declares Karzai victor

Election officials on Monday declared Hamid Karzai the winner of Afghanistan’s disputed presidential poll after cancelling a planned runoff following the withdrawal of his rival, Abdullah Abdullah.

Now the US is fully wedded to the corrupt Karzai regime,after he announced that he’s pulling out of a new election designed to legitimate the US backed regime there.

As has been said when the center doesn’t hold, things fall about as they are.

This is yet another big setback to the Administration which Knows that a military effort alone cannot prevail. But rather that engage with the Taliban, we try to kill them, and guess what and who is getting killed. This will now be hailed as a victory for democracy, flawed as it may be be , and lead to Obama’s delayed and “reluctant” decision to pour more troops in.

The Daily Beast relayed the original report from Washington Post that imtimated that a new run-off election would itself be sham. Good to know that BEFORE it happens than having to suffer through an endless post- mortem.

Abdullah Pulls Out of Runoff

The runoff election planned for November 7 in Afghanistan was thrown into turmoil Sunday when President Hamid Karzai’s challenger said he was pulling out of the vote. Abdullah stopped short of calling for a boycott of next Saturday’s election. Some analysts think that Abdullah is trying to win a last-minute power sharing deal with Karzai. “We don’t want to boycott, but Mr. Karzai has not accepted any conditions, so he left us with no other choice,” one member of Abdullah’s political team told the Washington Post. “There is no guarantee that a second round would be free and fair. It would only create more problems than it solves.” A cancelled or marred election could throw the nation into chaos at a time when the Obama administration is deciding whether to send more troops to the area. Hillary Clinton downplayed a possible boycott, saying the elections would still be legitimate even if Karzai were the only candidate. It’s unclear if Karzai will still participate in the runoff, if the race will be postponed until the spring when there’s a viable challenger, or if the vote will be cancelled and Karzai declared president.

Here’s the always Informed Juan Cole’s Take:

Abdullah’s withdrawal is not good news for the Obama administration

Matthew Green of the FT, reporting from Kabul, suggests that Abdullah
Abdullah may still be open to a post in Hamid Karzai’s cabinet.

Juan Cole: “That outcome is not impossible given Afghanistan’s
mercurial politics. But it seems to me unlikely, since Abdullah is
accusing his rival in the country’s presidential contest,

Here’s some perspective from an ex CIA agent (and ex Bronx resident and friend) Ray McGovern:

Kipling Haunts Obama’s Afghan War by Ray McGovern

The White Man’s Burden, a phrase immortalized by English poet Rudyard Kipling as an excuse for European-American imperialism, was front and center Thursday morning at a RAND-sponsored discussion of Afghanistan in the Russell Senate Office Building.

McClatchy Newspapers: PAKISTANIS “WELCOME” HILLARY

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — After three days of encounters with America-bashing Pakistanis — who rejected her contention that the U.S. and Pakistan face a common enemy — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that “we’re not getting through.”

Prominent women and tribesmen from the North West Frontier Province delivered the same hostile message that she’d heard the two preceding days from students and journalists: Pakistanis aren’t ready to endorse American friendship despite an eight-year-old anti-terrorism alliance between the countries and a multi-billion-dollar new U.S. aid package.

Clinton put her case directly to the public Friday in televised appearances in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, fielding angry questions about the alleged activities of U.S. contractor Blackwater in Pakistan, the tough conditions that came with a $1.5 billion-a-year American aid package and alleged U.S. favoritism toward Pakistan’s archenemy, India.

One tribesman bluntly told her: “Your presence in the region is not good for peace.”

“We are fighting a war that is imposed on us. It’s not our war. It is your war,” journalist Asma Shirazi told Clinton during the women’s meeting. “You had one 9-11. We are having daily 9-11s in Pakistan.”

NATIONAL INSECURITY

AP: U.S. spy agencies spent $49.8 billion in fiscal year 2009, $2 billion more than in 2008 and the second such multibillion-dollar increase in as many years.

National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair released the aggregate intelligence budget Friday. Congress in 2007 passed a law requiring that overall intelligence spending to be made public, as the 9/11 Commission had recommended.

Elsewhere in the world, AP reportS

BARCELONA, Spain — Negotiators from nearly 180 countries hope to nail down the outline of a plan to provide tens of billions of dollars a year to fight climate change, in their final round of talks before a decisive conference
in Copenhagen next month.

The five-day meeting beginning Monday will resume work on the draft of an agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the first international accord on controlling emissions of carbon dioxide and other climate-changing gases.

They are charged with whittling down a thick draft document full of = competing proposals, disputed wording and minority-backed options, and crafting a workable agreement that can be accepted by all 192 nations due to
attend the Dec. 7-18 Copenhagen conference.

But with time swiftly running out, skepticism is mounting that one of the most complex treaties in history can be reached in the Danish capital, as envisioned when the negotiations began two years ago.

JUSTICE IN BOSNIA?

Scotsman: Warcrime tribunal weighs up next move as Karadzic refuses to appear

RADOVAN Karadzic will be told this week whether or not his war crimes trial will proceed without him.

The former Bosnian Serb leader looks set to continue refusing to attend proceedings of the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague tomorrow.

That will force Judge O-Gon Kwon to schedule a special session on Tuesday to make up his mind on whether to press ahead with prosecution in the absence of the lone accused.

NEWS FROM WAR TORN SOMALIA IN AFRICA: THE REAL PIRATES MOVE IN—FROM MEDIA LINE:

Somalia’s first ever debit card system has been launched.

Dahabshiil, the largest international money transfer business in the Horn of Africa, has launched an “eCash” service that will enable Somalis to pay for goods and services at participating vendors, gas stations, hotels and restaurants.

Analysts say providing Somalis with the ability to make and receive electronic payments has the potential to revolutionize the way money is transferred.

”It’s a miracle, really just a major development,” Bashir Goth, a Somali analyst, blogger and the editor of Awdal News, told The Media Line. “Remember this is a country that for the time being doesn’t even have a banking system. Now suddenly people can have debit cards and within minutes Somalis overseas can send money home. It’s amazing and will facilitate a lot of business.”

ISRAEL: Jerusalem Post: NETANYAHU AND THE USA

“Abbas spokesman: Netanyahu has more influence in US than in Israel

“The Netanyahu administration has more influence in the United States than in Israel, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said on Sunday.

“Following US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s meeting with Abbas in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, Rudeineh had said that a settlement freeze in all “occupied” territories including Jerusalem would be the only way to renew peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.

“Damascus also criticized the latest round of US peacemaking efforts in the region, saying that Washington had failed to put pressure on Israel.

“Clinton on Saturday night rejected Abbas’s demand that Israel freeze all settlement activity as a precondition to negotiations.

“Stopping construction in the settlements ‘has never been a precondition, it has always been an in issue within the negotiations,’ Clinton said at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.”

FICTION MEETS “FACTION”

IRAQ: Michael Corleone: “I saw an interesting thing happen today. A rebel was being arrested by the military police, and rather than be taken alive, he exploded a grenade he had hidden in his jacket. He killed himself, and took a captain of the command with him.”

Iraq bombing suspect kills officer

“A man being questioned in connection with a massive bomb attack in Baghdad has killed his interrogator before being shot himself.”

WORRIES ABOUT NORTH KOREA INTENSIFY

SEOUL (AFP) - The United States and its ally South Korea have drawn up a
contingency plan to cope with emergencies in North Korea, including a possible
regime change there, a report said Sunday

Operational Plan (OPLAN) 5029″ was completed by Seoul and Washington recently,
Yonhap news agency said, quoting an unnamed Seoul source.

It dictates how to respond case-by-case to such emergencies in North Korea as a
civil war, an outflow of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), a mass influx of
refugees or a natural disaster, Yonhap said.