News, Views From Nepal

Yuba Nath Lamsal: The United Nations General Assembly on December 2, 2009 adopted a resolution, declaring August 29 as the International Day against Nuclear Tests. Since then, August 29 is observed every year as the International Day against Nuclear Tests. The 29th of August was chosen to mark the anti-nuclear test day to coincide with the anniversary of the Soviet Union conducting the first nuclear test in 1949 in Semipalatinsk currently in Kazakhstan and also the day this site was permanently closed in 1991. This is also the date when Kazakhstan ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2019. Since then, August 29 is marked globally with appeal to all countries and people in the world to ban all kinds of nuclear tests and also cease to proliferate nuclear weapons in the world. Nine countries — the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel — are currently the nuclear powered states possessing nuclear weap...

Yuba Nath Lamsal:- For Immanuel Kant, politics is a moral vocation and morality should be the paramount concern of politics and politicians. However, that is not the case in the present day politics in the world. In the public eyes, politics, now, is viewed as an unpredictable enterprise. Politics is no longer a philanthropy but appears to be lucrative enterprise motivated by personal and partisan interest, wherein morality, values and principles have taken a back seat. This is not an isolated case of Nepal but a general trend everywhere in the world. However, this trend is more in developing and least developed countries. According to US International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, state of global democracy is on the decline. Similarly, the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU), a research wing of the Economist Group, says in its annual global democracy index that the overall state of democracy is eroding. According to EIU report, currently 45.4 per cent global popu...

YUba Nath Lamsal:- Domestic policy can defeat us but foreign policy can kill us” John F Kennedy, former president of the United States, once said amplifying the role and ramification of foreign policy on domestic politics. It is generally said that foreign policy is the extension of domestic policy. However, Kennedy’s this famous statement manifests how powerful and significant is foreign policy in setting domestic agenda. In the present globalised and inter-connected world, external events and international politics influence and impact domestic policy and politics more than ever before. Geopolitics is the study of inter-relations between geography and politics and geography’s impact on politics. In other words, geography is the principal determinant of a country’s power and leverage in the international politics with powerful impact in domestic politics. The location, geographical features within and around the country, access to sea and its nature, territorial conditions, natur...

YUba Nath Lamsal: With the formation of the new coalition government, headed by KP Sharma Oli, expectations abound nationwide. The three key areas that seek immediate attention and focus are governance, economy and foreign policy. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has also won the vote confidence in parliament with more than two-thirds majority of lawmakers. Now the Prime Minister and the government are expected to double down their efforts in addressing these three fundamental issues currently facing the country. It is said ‘well-begun is half done’. Firstly he has made the seven-point understanding reached with the Nepali Congress public in parliament, which reflects the broader outline of new government’s priorities. Secondly, Prime Minister appears to be well aware of the problems of the country and seems to be focused on addressing these problems. The Prime Minister has chosen competent and experienced persons for three key positions — finance minister, chief political advisor and e...

Yuba Nath Lamsal:-- Singha Durbar once again saw a change of guard this week with CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli sworn in as the 45th Prime Minister of Nepal, leading a Nepali Congress-CPN-UML coalition government. Maoist supremo Prachanda was sent packing by more than two-thirds of the 275-member House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, in a vote of confidence motion, thereby paving the way for Oli to rise to the seat of prime minister fourth time. While the UML and NC cadres and leaders appear to be jubilant in the wake of the change of government, the latest political twist has sent a shock wave to the rank and file of the CPN (Maoist Center) which was also reflected in the speech of Maoist supremo Prachanda in parliament in the course of facing the vote confidence. The overnight change of coalition was the making of KP Oli, about which Prachanda and his other comrades in arms did not have even the slightest hint. This speaks of how frail and feeble was the infor...