here in america. but first, here s my take. the news today is buried in to ne tunisia. it came in arab spring, after the prime minister had been assassinated. it got he mithinking about one the fundamental rules in politics. the best recent work on this subject comes from a remarkable pair of scholars, darren nosinglu and eric carter. history is littered with places where gangs, warlords and tribes rule and the state is never able to effectively have power and govern. that was afghanistan s past. it might be its future.