So, Afghan elections. After the IEC showed that the presidential elections wee fraudulent and a second round of elections could be held, Karzai's main rival Abdullah Abdullah has decided to step down from the second round. He gives his reason as basically knowing the elections will still be far from fair the second time around- with corruption abounding. So basically the international community and UN are screwed, as they all thought that this election would show Afghanistan as being democratic- with fair and free elections. Obvi not.
So looks like Karzai will continue on as president. Most likely continuing as nothing more than a figurehead as mass corruption, poverty, and injustices swell around him. Hilary Clinton said that even though Abdullah Abdullah has left the race, that the second round of elections will still show Afghan democracy in action. (Or should we say inaction.)
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In other news, Venice has a new trouble that doesn't have to do with sinking. Apparently, the Venitians- people of Venice are moving out of this expensive touist trap of a city. There was even a 'funeral' held for the city as the population of Venice falls below 60,000. According to the article, the cost of living is too high and tourism does not bring in the money that one would think it does (i.e. people only come for a day trip- half don't spend the night in Venice). I guess we shall see what happens there.
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Five days of formal negotiations in Barcelona among the countries of the world are the precursor to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December. The conference is supposed to bring about a treaty in which all the world's countries will work together to combat climate change. The Guardian calls this the 'most complex international agreement in UN history.' To read more about the conference, see the website. More to come on this one I'm guessing.
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