Snakes On A Plane.

Dexter Filkins: It’s not as if the Americans and their NATO partners don’t know who the corrupt Afghans are. American officers and anti-corruption teams have drawn up intricate charts outlining the criminal syndicates that entwine the Afghan business and political elites. They’ve even given the charts a name: Malign Actor Networks.

“There are 50 of them,” says Mr. Ahmed Shah Hakimi, who runs a currency exchange in Kabul. “The corrupt ones. All the Afghans know who they are. Why do the Americans support them? What the Americans need to do is take these Afghans and put them on a plane and fly them to America — and then crash the plane into a mountain. Kill them all.”

Program on International Policy Attitudes: Both the Israeli and Palestinian publics want to reach a peace agreement, but both sides deeply distrust the other and are pessimistic that negotiations will soon resolve their conflict. Negotiators on both sides also are constrained by extremists opposed to major Israeli-Palestinian compromises - Hamas which favors a posture of "resistance" to Israel, and the Israeli settler movement which opposes yielding territory or settlements to the Palestinians. (Put them on a plane and fly them to America — and then crash the plane into a mountain).

Kuala Lumpur: A Malaysian man pleaded guilty to wildlife smuggling after his bag bursting with 95 live boa constrictors broke open on a luggage conveyer belt at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, an official said Friday.

(You just can't win.)