Democracy is great if the people are good, terrible if the people are bad. America is not a democracy but a republic which is a representative democracy, i. e, a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them. Democracy is mob rule!
Karzai's Pieces of Iranian Silver
Americans value old-fashioned notions like loyalty and countries taking sides, especially when U.S. troops are fighting and dying for someone else's independence. Mr. Karzai, though, sees no problem with a little Iranian discretionary funding and is trying to balance impermanent friends against permanent interests.
Reports emerged over the weekend that Afghan President Hamid Karzai was accepting "bags of cash" from Iran. Tehran responded with its usual red-faced bluster: "The embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran strongly dismisses [these] false, ridiculous and insulting allegations." The story amounted to "baseless speculations" spread by the press to "confuse public opinion and damage the strong ties between the governments and nations of the Islamic republics of Afghanistan and Iran."
A half-hour later, President Karzai confirmed the story. "It is official and by my order," he said, noting that he had instructed former Ambassador to Iran Umar Daudzai literally to be the bagman. After the press conference, Iran clarified its earlier confrontational statement, without apparent irony, saying Tehran is "deeply concerned about Afghanistan's stability, and has given much assistance for the reconstruction of Afghanistan."
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