M.R. Josse - Latest News [Page 1]
Recriminations Mount - SPAM Alliance Schisms
Friday, 13 April 2007, 10:58 am | M.R. Josse
On the surface, everything on the SPAM or interim government front may appear fine and dandy. Indeed, Maoist Minister of Information and Communications Krishna Bahadur Mahara has even been given the responsibility of serving as the government's chief ... More >>
M.R. Josse: Maoists In Government
Saturday, 7 April 2007, 3:12 pm | M.R. Josse
With the long expected induction of Maoists into an interim government, this on 1st April of all days, it was hardly a wonder that questions such as 'is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end' were being bandied about in Kathmandu ... More >>
Gaur Massacre: Issues, Contradictions & Conundrums
Friday, 30 March 2007, 10:56 am | M.R. Josse
Understandably, the horrendous slaughter last Wednesday of 29 persons in Gaur by lathis, strangulation, and gunshot wounds, among other means, has been universally and very rightly condemned both at home and abroad. While the official version of ... More >>
Unstable Situation Gets Murkier Increasingly Scary
Friday, 16 March 2007, 10:32 am | M.R. Josse
The national political scenario, untenable and unstable as it has been for months on end, has become even murkier, more fluid and almost entirely unpredictable. More >>
Moriarty's anti-Maoist missile targets UN & India
Saturday, 27 January 2007, 9:56 pm | M.R. Josse
As observers of the Nepalese political scene well know, American Ambassador James F. Moriarty has a penchant for frequently firing verbal missiles at the Maoists. Some might go further and say he has developed this proclivity into a fine art. More >>
Nepal's Interim Constitution: Democratic It Is Not
Friday, 19 January 2007, 11:16 am | M.R. Josse
One doesn't have to be a great constitutional expert or renowned political scientist to conclude from the thrust, contents and manner of its promulgation that the Interim Constitution (IC) may be 'loktantric' – to use the ambiguous portmanteau term in ... More >>
Fury Escalates At SPAM's Nero-Like Unconcern
Monday, 15 January 2007, 3:46 pm | M.R. Josse
After a brief busman's holiday last week to Birgunj and its hinterland this commentator returned home with two names firmly imprinted on his consciousness: one contemporary and Nepali, the other a historical figure from ancient Rome. The first individual ... More >>
SPAM Combo's Zany Adventures In Blunderland
Wednesday, 10 January 2007, 4:07 pm | M.R. Josse
The quaint world of SPAM 'loktantrik' governance was put on Full Monty last week for all and sundry to marvel at. It was reflected in umpteen interlocking developments on the ground as also in the glowing pearls of wisdom and glittering nuggets of political ... More >>
Disappointments & Tragi-Comedy Of SPAM Governance
Friday, 29 December 2006, 11:38 am | M.R. Josse
If ever proof were required to demonstrate how sloppily the brave new world of SPAM governance is operating merely recall the tragi-comedy of the developments of the past week. I refer to the mayhem triggered by the SPA government's belated announcement ... More >>
Interim Statute Okays SPAM, PM Dictatorship
Friday, 22 December 2006, 10:13 am | M.R. Josse
Months after passing its original deadline, the SPAM interim constitution has finally seen light of day – paradoxically on Poush Ek (first of Poush, or 16 December) 2006, a date that its constituents consider a 'black day' in this country's political ... More >>
BP's Precepts Being Cast Aside When Most Needed
Monday, 18 December 2006, 2:03 pm | M.R. Josse
It is a crying shame that B.P. Koirala's sage, visionary insights into matters political are being ignored if not brusquely cast aside, paradoxically even by his own party and brother Prime Minister, Girija Prasad Koirala. Let me emphasise that this is ... More >>
Nepal: Flavour Of The Week A Political Smorgasbord
Monday, 11 December 2006, 3:23 pm | M.R. Josse
These heady, post-revolutionary days, every week produces a heap of chewy tit-bits for the political aficionado to savour, masticate or push aside. Be warned, the flavour of this week is a political smorgasbord, not a substantial entrée More >>
M.R. Josse: Pact - Peace For Our Time?
Friday, 17 November 2006, 2:24 pm | M.R. Josse
The six-point pact signed at Baluwatar at midnight, 8-9 November, between the SPA government and the Maoists was heralded by one English daily with a banner headline that declared: Peace At Last. More >>
M.R. Josse: Arms Management Is A Political Issue
Monday, 6 November 2006, 2:10 pm | M.R. Josse
Even as the country lurches unsteadily forward through a twilight no-war, no-peace zone, where non-governance has replaced governance and airy political rhetoric has overtaken commonsense, political absurdities are blossoming on the ground like never ... More >>
Citizenship En Masse: Demographic Fire
Friday, 15 September 2006, 9:38 am | M.R. Josse
Minister Hridesh Tripathy of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandi) was in an understandably exultant mood the other day. Then, speaking at a public forum, he confidently predicted that the House of Representatives (HoR) would unanimously approve the draft bill ... More >>
Miserable Failure Of Government – And Much More
Friday, 25 August 2006, 10:01 pm | M.R. Josse
The furious protests on Saturday and Sunday across the country following the government's announcement on Friday of a drastic across-the-board hike in price of POL products, some as high as 23 percent, led to the government having to eat humble pie soon thereafter. More >>
Arms Management By UN: Deferred Not Resolved
Sunday, 20 August 2006, 9:14 pm | M.R. Josse
There has been considerable hoopla and hype around the separate but identical letters dispatched on 9 August to the UN, signed by PM Koirala and Prachanda respectively, requesting its assistance in five specific areas. Yet, a dispassionate analysis on ... More >>
UN Debut: Brand New Ball Game Set To Begin?
Friday, 28 July 2006, 10:06 am | M.R. Josse
On the very eve of the arrival in Kathmandu of a five-member UN team led by Swedish diplomat Staffan de Mistura to assess Nepal's requirements and possible UN role to facilitate the peace process – including in the critical role of arms management ... More >>
Confusion, Contradiction And Cacophony Of Discord
Friday, 21 July 2006, 1:48 pm | M.R. Josse
The national political waters are becoming increasingly turbid and choppy as a tide of confusion, contradiction and a cacophony of discord swirl into them. Meanwhile, the uncertainty of Prime Minister Koirala's health continues as underscored by the ... More >>
Nepal: Moriarty Missile - Backdrop And Fallout
Monday, 10 July 2006, 9:49 am | M.R. Josse
Last Wednesday, American Ambassador James F Moriarty speaking at a public forum in Kathmandu, fired a political missile whose fallout is yet to be fully assessed. In essence, however, he made abundantly clear that incorporation of the Maoists into ... More >>