News, Views From Nepal

 Yuba Nath Lamsal French anthropologist and historian Emmanuel Todd says “Third World War has started”. Todd, in his book “The Third World War Has Started”, says “United States is already waging the World War Three”. His assertions are based on the two premises. One is the Ukraine war and its worldwide ripples. The other is the economic warfare the United States has announced against Russia and China. According to him, many countries are in a way or the other involved in the war.  Russia and Ukraine are physically face to face on the battleground, whereas several countries are fighting proxy war. Economically, the war is tougher and wider as the entire world has suffered from its consequences like disruption in the supply chain, energy crisis and rising inflation.  The economic sanction that the United States and Western countries have slapped against Russia has sent further shockwaves worldwide. The number of countries that are engaged in this war ...

 Yuba Nath Lamsal There goes a strategic narrative: The world cannot be controlled without controlling Asia and Asia cannot be controlled without controlling South Asia.  This manifests South Asia’s greater strategic significance. With global geopolitical pivot shifting to Asia, South Asia’s strategic prominence has been further elevated. Global powers are, thus, scrambling hard in coaxing South Asian countries to bring into their strategic fold and tilt the balance of power into their favour.  Given its strategic location, South Asia has always drawn global attention and attraction. It is against this background, European powers vied to control or influence South Asia right from the time Vasco De Gama explored sea routes to South Asia in 1498. In the race for strategic upper hand, British colonial power outweighed other European powers and controlled major parts of South Asia except a few nations including Nepal. After British left South Asia in 19...

 Yuba Nath Lamsal It is said that a momentous day rarely comes but comes once in a century. There are a few momentous days in the political history of Nepal. One of such momentous days in Nepal is the declaration of the Republic Day. The day was May 28, 2008, or Jestha 15, 2064 BS. This was the day when the elected Constituent Assembly formally abolished the 240-year-old monarchy and declared Nepal a Federal Democratic Republic. This indeed heralded a new era in the history of Nepal. With the advent of the 21st century, liberal democracy has emerged as a global political lingua franca. Democracy is the people’s polity. In a democratic polity, the government is formed by the elected representatives of the people and works for the broader interests and causes of the people. This is perhaps the reason why former American President Abraham Lincoln called democracy 'the polity of the people, for the people, and by the people.'  In a true democracy, people fee...

 Yuba Nath Lamsal Foreign policy agenda remained in periphery in the priorities of most governments in the modern history of Nepal. However,  this appears to be high on agenda of the government since Puspa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ took the mantle of premiership third time in December last year. Prithvi Narayan Shah’s dictum ‘yam between the two boulders’ guided our foreign policy for a long time. Given the geopolitical reality, non-alignment has been Nepal’s stated policy stance and the present government, too, pursues. The geopolitical compulsion requires the nation to strictly adhere to the balanced foreign policy especially with our two immediate neighbours.  Non-alignment is, therefore, not our choice but a compulsion about which the present government seems to be cautiously aware.  Nepal is between two big powers competing for dominant position in the region. This position cannot allow the country to choose one at the expense of other. We, ...

 Yuba Nath Lamsal Here goes an African story: Once an aging king asked his son — the crown prince, to go to the jungle and listen the rhythm of forest. Next day, when the crown prince returned, the king asked what he heard in the forest. The Prince said he heard roar of lions and howling of jackals. The king asked him to listen more. Son again goes and carefully listens the hissing and rustle of snake, buzzing insects, singing birds and the beat of butter-fly wings, which he reports to the father king. Still unsatisfied, the king asked the son to listen until he can sense the danger of silence and stillness. To be fit to rule, one must hear that which does not make sound.   Like the African story, a ruler must sense and understand the message and meaning of silence and stillness in the society. If rulers, politicians and political parties fail to feel the pulse and mood of the people, they are doomed to suffer. In the society, a large majority of th...