The New York Times reports that Afghani President Hamid Karzai strongly suggested that NATO and America cease military operations and get out. The Czar says “suggested” only because President Karzai later clarified his comments to mean that he respectfully requests the we be more careful about civilian casualties.

Whatever. One thing the media does not understand, but is one of the worst-kept secrets in world affairs, is that President Obama despises Hamid Karzai. Sure, some folks report that US-Afghan relations are a bit strained.

But really: the US accused Karzai of substantial vote fraud and demanded he turn the keys over to someone else, with rumors that the American operatives actually rigged the election. And when Obama went to Afghanistan, he pointedly declined to meet with Karzai. And do not forget the heated shouting match between Karzai and Richard Holbrooke, in which Karzai accused Holbrooke of conspiracy to unite other Afghan candidates against his presidency, or the memorandum from Amb. Karl Eikenberry that went public, in which Eikenberry suggested Karzai was greedy, lazy, and inadequate for the job.

Basically, Hamid Karzai was George Bush’s guy. Real pals, too: the Czar’s okhrana reports that Bush would take a phone call from Karzai anytime, no matter what was going on at that moment. Karzai trusted Bush: he felt that Bush understood the seriousness of Afghanistan’s place in fighting terror and any concern Karzai had was a valid one. He also trusted GNL Stanley MacChrystal, too, and while MacChrystal resigned due to his own comments about the Obama administration, we hear that Karzai suspects Obama arranged the whole thing as a further snub to Afghanistan. He also believes that Obama selected GNL David Petraeus as a replacement, because the former is grooming the latter as the 2016 Democratic front-runner for President.

When you become openly suspicious of another person, you second-guess everything that happens, and so Karzai’s psychology is understandable: particularly when you see nothing remotely positive from the object of your scrutiny.

Meanwhile, we also hear that Obama rarely, if ever, takes phone calls from Karzai, and he certainly never initiates calls to Karzai. Instead, they communicate only through a dizzying array of intermediaries often contradicting each other with regard to whatever Obama wants this week from Karzai.

Karzai, to be blunt, is a troubled president. There are unquestionably corrupt people and practices in his administration that he could curtail if he wanted to. Bear in mind, that is common Afghani politics, though, and so Karzai does not view this is urgently as Obama does. More troubling are Karzai’s mercurial mood swings, like his comments earlier—or the many dozens of similar outraged comments has made in the past, including his October 2010 remark that dealing with the Taliban was easier than dealing with America because at least they let you know where you stand. This stuff doesn’t help either them or us, and is great fodder for enemies of either.

But the bottom line is not Karzai: it is our President, who clearly has no real interest in Afghanistan except as an academic exercise in foreign policy. Afghanistan is another pointless distraction away from progressive domestic policies, and dealing with Karzai only underscores how backwater their country is to Obama.

It is so obvious, in fact, that you wonder if someone could have predicted this early in Obama’s presidency.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.