StrategyPage reports on the latest goings-on in Nepal and India’s response –

March 25, 2005: India is threatening to blockade Nepal, to force the king to reinstate elected officials in the government. India has used blockades before to force Nepal to do what India wants. There was a blockade in 1989, to force Nepal to not buy weapons from China. In 1974, there was a blockade to force Nepal to stop protesting India’s annexation of nearby Sikkim. But in this case, India does not want to aid the Maoists. It is pretty clear that the Maoists want to establish a radical dictatorship in Nepal, which would be less democratic than the king, and a lot more prone to violence against the Nepalese people. India also has its own Maoist rebels, and knows how violent they can be. But the actions of the Nepalese king are very unpopular in India, and everyone knows that India has the final say, by cutting off the flow of vital supplies to Nepal.

Peace marches and “not in my name” rallies to protest India’s threats have been scheduled by Western activist groups…. details to follow. In the meantime, an earlier Stratpage entry provides some of the background on the 3-way civil conflict engulfing Nepal –

March 9, 2005: Nepal is becoming a mess. The country is split by a three way civil war. There are the monarchists, which include wealthy land owners, and many poor rural people. The country is a constitutional monarchy, but the king still has emergency powers, which not everyone agrees on, but which are being used now. There are the democrats, who are largely urban and educated, who currently cannot figure out how to cooperate with each other on how to deal with the Maoists. Then there are the Maoists, who are led by educated urbanites, and used armed, brainwashed teenagers to terrorize the rural, and then urban, population into support a communist dictatorship. The Maoists want to destroy the ancient pattern of feudal land ownership.

Continue reading →

Newsweek reports on an unlikely heroine emerging in Pakistan –

Soon after Mukhtar Mai was savagely gang-raped on the orders of a village council three years ago, she considered her options. She had never been accused of any crime. (The rape was carried out as supposed retribution for an alleged and implausible affair between Mai’s teenage brother and a 30-year-old woman.) But according to rural Pakistan’s strict Islamic code, she was forever “dishonored.” The local Mastoi clan, which dominates the village council, expected her to keep her mouth shut or simply disappear. Her own Gujar clan refused to support her. “My choice was either to commit suicide or to fight back,” Mai recalled last week. “I decided to fight back.” …Mai also has become a model for Pakistani women pressing for more rights. She’s been a guest speaker at women’s forums across the country, and has even taken her message to Spain and India. By broadcasting her case, she has embarrassed authorities. The Pakistani government, aiming to show its support, has paved the dirt road leading into Mai’s village and is now connecting local homes to the electricity grid. “The U.S. civil-rights campaign had Rosa Parks, who helped to spark an entire movement,” says Sherry Rehman, a Pakistani activist and opposition member of Parliament. “We have Mukhtar Mai.”

Somehow, a “you go girl!” just isn’t enough in cases like these. Still, as a technologist myself, I can’t help but notice the degree to which broadcast media, the Internet, and cheap/easy air travel transformed this case into an icon when undoubtedly so many before her were simply lost in a sea of statistics. Continue reading →

Salman Rushdie will be speaking at the Dallas Museum of Art. The venue is, well, an interesting one I suppose but, the real hook to the story is this small catch – the airlines won’t fly him –

Salman Rushdie has apparently been denied a flight to Dallas, where he is scheduled to speak tomorrow night to 800 people at the DMA for Arts & Letters Live. Mr. Rushdie is apparently too dangerous to board an airplane. Well, he’s not dangerous, he’s a pussycat, but you get my meaning.

But, luckily, the spirit of volunteerism is alive and well –

Salman Rushdie will make it to Dallas tonight for his Arts & Letters Live appearance, courtesy of the indefatigable editor of Texas Monthly who already had a plane flying in from New York to Austin bringing some celebrities for the Texas Film Hall of Fame awards. Turns out he had an extra seat.

So instead of being sandwiched in the center seat between a crying baby and smokaholic, Rushdie will share a private plane with Lauren Bacall, Marcia Gay Harden, and Dennis Quaid. Note to Mr. Quaid – think carefully before speaking of Padma.

(hat tip – Virginia Postrel’s Blog) Continue reading →

The first step to solving a problem is admitting you’ve got one –

`Proper sanitation will boost Indian tourism` There is a need for a hygienic environment with a well-regulated sanitisation mechanism to boost the Indian tourism industry as it has good prospects even in the face of stiff competition from neighbouring countries like Thailand and Malaysia.

It seems that fed-up tourism officials are raising a Sepia Mutiny of a different sort. Continue reading →