Bozos

The continuing clown show in Afghanistan just put on one of its best performances. A senior US diplomat has either left the country in a huff, or has been booted out by his Norwegian superior, depending on whose spin you're listening to.

The two 'diplomats' got into it in a meeting with Afghan officials to discuss the much maligned elections. Peter Galbraith, the US diplomat, is a good buddy of Richard Holbrooke, known for his strong arm techniques. Galbraith was doing his best to emulate him, browbeating the Afghan election committee. Eide, the Norwegian, evidently thought that Galbraith was acting out of turn.

The tragi-comedy of the elections has little to do with fraud, it's all about the US getting their fair haired boy into power, whoever that might be at the moment. The more these spats continue, the harder it will be for the US to accept Karzai for another term.

But how to get rid of him? By now, it's going to be almost impossible to have even a run off election before winter. That means keeping a very precarious president in office, when the US clearly wants him out. What to do, what to do???