News, Views From Nepal

Yuba Nath Lamsal:- The sixth summit meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Cooperation (BIMSTEC) was held on April 3-4 in Thailand with a declaration seeking to further foster integration and cooperation among members. The meeting in itself is a positive sign at a time when other regional organisations are faltering. The initiatives and resolve to promote cooperation among countries are good and positive. Regionalism and regional integration were once a general trend in the world, especially after World War II. Devastated by the war, the Western European countries realised the necessity of working together for the reconstruction of war-ravaged infrastructures, accelerating economic development. With this realisation, European countries paved the ground for creating a regional group in Europe. As a result, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands met in Paris, France, in 1951 and signed a treaty agreeing to establish the European Coal ...

Yuba Nath Lamsal: -- Abstract: ---- The global power structure continues to change which is a general phenomenon of history. These changes are marked by some phenomenal shifts in the international order. Wars shaped the world order and marked the shift of political power from one country to another and from one region to another. Europe at one point was the master and pivot of world power and politics, while the Europe-centric international power shifted to America after World War II with the United States dictating and the rest of the world taking notes. The Soviet Union, too, emerged as one of the superpowers but it could not sustain its prowess for a long time and collapsed in the early 1990s giving rise to a unipolar world order led by the United States. However, this international order too is in the process of change but it is not yet certain what shape the new world order will exactly take. However, it is certain that the Atlantic- centric world order and power will not last lon...

Yuba Nath Lamsal:-- Countries are like individuals. No single country resembles the other. States are different from one another on various accounts – physical size, geographical position, geopolitical significance, economic strength, military power and other characteristics. There are 193 countries in the world. The United Nations, however, has 195 members, of which 193 are full members while two - the Holy See and the State of Palestine — are non-member observer states of the United Nations. Some other entities claim to be sovereign states but they are not recognised as by the international community and are not allowed to join the UN despite their attempt and lobbying. The world is like a small global village owing mainly to greater economic and technological connectivity. No single country in the world is fully self-reliant on all accounts and they are, in one way or the other, dependent on others for various reasons. Countries thus cannot survive and prosper in isolation no m...

Yuba Nath Lamsal:-- Karl Marx has said history repeats itself first as tragedy and second as farce. Similarly, Mark Twin is believed to have said that history does not repeat but it only rhymes. Indeed, history does not repeat in the same manner as it happened in the past. Some events may seem to be identical to the events of the past but history never occurs in the same manner. People may be nostalgic for certain events of the past and they have every right to daydream. But the wheel of history can never roll back and has not been so since the human civilisation began. Politics is a game of possibilities and different kinds of narratives are created in politics. Narratives shape the course of politics. Political ideologies are also narratives that have moulded the minds of the people in the world. At times, feudalism had its heyday everywhere in the world. Capitalism replaced feudalism at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. The invention of the steam engine marked the beginnin...

Yuba Nath Lamsal:- The ‘Nuclear Ban Week 2025’ kicked off in New York on March 1 ahead of the third Meeting of State Parties (3MSP) to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The 3MSP is a group of countries that have signed and ratified the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of the Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). In the week-long events, civil society groups from across the world are engaged in various activities, calling for the total ban of the nuclear arms proliferation, testing and use. Nuclear weapons are the most fatal weapons of mass destruction, which must be completely banned, for which the civilised people across the world need to join hands and work collectively. The anti-nuke campaign marks the cluster of activities, seeking to raise higher awareness about the negative consequences of nuclear weapons for world peace, security, human health, environment, and human civilisation. The ‘Nuclear Ban Week 2025’ is a part of the overall movement of the International Campaign to...

युवनाथ लम्साल :- डोनाल्ड ट्रम्पले संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिकाको नयाँ राष्ट्रपतिको रूपमा पदभार ग्रहण गरेको एक महिनाभन्दा अलि बढी भएको छ । राष्ट्रपतिको पदभार ग्रहण गरेलगत्तै ट्रम्पले ठूलो संख्यामा कार्यकारी आदेशहरूमा हस्ताक्षर गरे, जसले स्वदेश र विदेशमा व्यापक प्रभाव पारेको छ । युनाइटेड स्टेट्स एजेन्सी फर इन्टरनेशनल डेभलपमेन्ट (युएसएआईडी) को निलम्बनले अमेरिका र विश्वभर झन् बहस सिर्जना गरेको छ । यो निर्णयले युएसएआईडीमार्फत अमेरिकी सहायता प्राप्त गर्ने धेरै देशहरूलाई असर गरेको छ । सुरुमा युएसएआईडीका गतिविधिहरू तीन महिनाकालागि स्थगन गरिएको छ र युएसएआईडीमा कार्यरत सबै अमेरिकी कर्मचारीहरूलाई फिर्ता बोलाइएको छ । राष्ट्रपति ट्रम्पका नजिकका सहयोगी एलोन मस्कले युएसएआईडीलाई ‘अपराधी संगठन’समेत भनेकाले तीन महिनापछि पनि यो एजेन्सी पुनर्जीवित हुने सम्भावना कम छ । पेरिस जलवायु सम्झौता, विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठन लगायत अन्य अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय प्रतिबद्धताहरूबाट पनि अमेरिका पछि हट्ने ट्रम्पको निर्णयको विश्वव्यापी प्रभाव पर्नेछ । ट्रम्पले गरेका धेरैजसो कार्यहरू आफ्नो चुनावी अभियानका क्रममा गरेका वाचाहरूसँग मिल्दोजुल्द...

Yuba Nath Lamsal:- Barely a month has passed since the newly elected President of the United States Donald Trump assumed office. Soon after he took office of presidency Trump signed a large number of executive orders that have created a wide-ranging impact both at home and abroad. The suspension of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has created more hue and cry within America and across the world. This decision has impacted many countries that received US assistance through the USAID. Initially, the USAID activities have been suspended for three months and all US staff working in the USAID have been called back. Since President Trump’s close aide, Elon Musk, called the USAID a ‘criminal organisation’, this agency is less likely to be revived even after three months. Trump’s decision to withdraw from other international commitments including the Paris Climate Agreement, the World Health Organisation and others will also have a global impact. Most of the ...

Yuba Nath Lamsal:- The earth surface consists of three basic components air, water and land. Water covers 70.8 per cent of total earth area while only 29.2 per cent is the land surface. The land area is divided into different continents - Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, South America and North America and Antarctica, while the water part is divided into different oceans which are - Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Arctic Oceans. Both the continents and oceans are further divided into-subsystems. The sub-systems include different regions that are classified on geographic, economic, strategic, cultural and maritime basis. Countries are small units in the broader global system. They operate depending upon their strength and capability and try to influence other countries. Different factors determine powers and strength of a country. Geography, economy, natural resources, location, demography, physical size and level of economic and other development as well as military strength are some ...

Yuba Nath Lamsal:- In ‘Kumarasambhava’ epic, great Sanskrit poet Kalidasha says ‘Himalayas is the centre of earth’. Nepal is an ancient Himalayan country in South Asia with a long history of its continued existence as an independent country, which stands as the crossroads of Chinese and South Asian civilisations. Nepal is a not only a country but a civilization - the Himalayan civilization or ‘Himabatkhanda’. Different archaeological evidences have pointed to the fact that Nepal as a Himalayas civilisation has existed right from 300 BC, which is more than 2300 years ago. But some scholars are of the view that the history of Nepal goes back to as early as 1500 BC during the Ramayana period. The history of Nepal’s international contacts and relations is long. Hindu mythology and scripts point. Legend has it that there used to exist a powerful kingdom in Nepal's southern plain called Janakpur or Mithila even earlier and its king was Janak, who was famous throughout South Asia for ...

Yuba Nath Lamsal:- It has been almost six months since KP Sharma Oli assumed premiership of Nepal third time, leading the Nepali Congress-CPN (UML) coalition government. Prior to the formation of the Oli-led coalition government, Nepali Congress and UML had reached a seven-point understanding, of which the amendment of the constitution was the principal agenda. The two parties have agreed to amend some provisions of the present constitution. However, they have not yet clearly spelt out what exactly they want in their amendment. It is, however, understood that their primary concern is the electoral system. Our electoral system is of hybrid nature - mixture of first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) and proportionate systems - , which is blamed for political instability and frequent change of governments. This, to some extent, may be true. In the mixed or proportionate electoral system, there is a high probability of a hung parliament in which a political party is less likely to win major...