There is a common saying in American political parlance, most famously attributed to former House Speaker Tip O’Niell, that “all politics is local.”

Yet this month’s Minneapolis mayoral election seems to prove this old sentiment categorically false. Or, I suppose it may still be technically true, in that politics was local… to Somalia.

Indeed, the wartorn country that the U.S. State Department tells Americans to avoid visiting due to “crime, terrorism, civil unrest, health, kidnapping, piracy, and lack of availability of routine consular services” might have played kingmaker in a major U.S. election. Over the last two weeks, allegations have emerged that ancient tribal blood feuds — imported from Somalia — were responsible for Mayor Jacob Frey’s razor-thin re-election victory.