this is progress

i shit you not, i am pretty sure that, 16 undecided prime ministerial votes later, the last candidate bowing out is the most progress that has happened since i wrote this post giving a brief snapshot of nepali politics in JULY. literally...nothing. so now they start from scratch, with a grand total of five months to form a government, pass a budget, and oh, y'know, write an entire constitution. this feels familiar....

in other (less sarcastic) news, nepal's most effective legislator, sushil babu pant, once again pushes nepal past the US in terms of gender and sexuality justice, by getting the category "third gender" approved for use on the upcoming national census.

also, i'm apparently now a sagittarius ("concerned with philosophy, higher education and global thinking... typically interested in expanding their horizons through traveling abroad, learning foreign languages, or immersing themselves in unique cultures... thrive on higher education") and not a capricorn ("a businesslike approach to most everything they do... extremely dedicated to their goals, almost to the point of stubbornness...so that they can reap the benefits of success, namely fame, prestige and money... the recognition and social status they so fervently crave...They are traditional...and somewhat inhibited"), which i think makes a LOT more sense. although i do dig goats.

one of my many goat pictures from humla

china exerting undue influence? say it ain't so...

two posts in one day? someone has a backlog of possible blogging topics and a report due for work, hm?

right then.

so, i'm not sure why the revelation in the leaked Delhi cables , that China may be directly paying off Nepali police to arrest Tibetans crossing Nepal's northern border, is a particularly newsworthy one (and maybe it isn't...aside from the syndicated news story, there doesn't seem to be much commentary on teh interwebs). China makes no bones about its priorities as concerns its diminutive neighbor to the south. About two years ago, China pledged $2.6million in non-lethal security aid, in the same breath praising Nepal's support for the one-China policy. It doesn't exactly take a career diplomat to decode the expectations associated with that aid money.

what is presumably supposed to be more shocking is the direct incentivization (read: bribes) provided by the government of one country to the security forces of another country to bypass nationally and internationally sanctioned immigration policies to deliver illegal immigrants directly back to their country of origin.

but come on now...the Chinese government's reputation is not exactly one of the highest respect for international norms, and the Nepali security sector is notoriously corrupt and inefficient (in a country where there is a historically instantiated, institutionally incentivized and generally accepted attitude of official impunity in pretty much every sector). surely this can't be that much of a shock.

what's also always interesting for me is the huge disparity between Nepalis' opinions of India (and Indians) and China. there is a LOT of distrust and dislike for India and Indians* (which, to be fair, is reciprocated by the feelings I've heard some Indians express about Nepalis, which are more than a little racist). dislike for the Indian government stems from what Nepalis describe as a long history of gross interference in Nepali politics. now, i'll give you that India likes to keep its hand in, so to speak, and that there has been a history of border disputes going back to the formation of Nepal as a country.

on the other hand, China has just as much interest in influencing Nepali politics, especially as it seeks to maintain regional dominance. Nepali hydropower, for instance, is an area in which China is eager to have a say, and one in which Chinese investment is probably going to be detrimental to India's interest...with no particular stake in promoting Nepal's interest except as a tool for gaining geopolitical leverage. while it's not like that's a zero sum game for Nepal, hydropower is essential both as the main power source for Nepal and as one of the only exploitable natural resources in this small, landlocked country defined by its lack of development and inaccessible terrain....and it's not like the Nepali government or private sectors have the capacity to really compete (let alone cooperate to compete together) against the staggering efficiency and economic power of Chinese state-owned hydropower interests.

i happen to think that China does these things more "quietly", exerting economic influence both openly and discreetly, while India tends to exert more open political pressure on its neighbor. it's for others to decide if one of these is "better" or "worse", but i guess i find it kind of ironic that some individuals rail against India, but have no concerns about China, and especially odd that political parties, mostly certain maoist factions, rally popular sentiment against India to score political points, while still cuddling up to Beijing.



* i am in no way arguing that a nation's people and its government SHOULD be conflated, i'm just saying that they are here, inevitably for worse.

THE ARISTOCRATS! (or the reader's digest version of the last 15 years of nepali politics)

starting to blog again resolution: do not fear the short and mediocre in posts.

now, i'm not an expert, but i do try to keep my finger on the pulse of just what is going on in nepali politics. it is absolutely fascinating, for the most part. as a (really) brief rundown: 1991 was really the first true seated multiparty parliament (a sort of royal parliamentary system with the king in place) since nepal was "unified" in 1768. after a series of schisms, the Communist Party Nepal-Moaist (CPN-M) began a civil war in 1996 to topple the monarchy (among other things) that lasted for 10 years in which about 12000 people died. in 2001, the crown prince went on a shooting spree (conspiracy theories abound) and killed most of his family and himself, leaving his significantly less popular uncle to take the throne. in 2005, the king dissolved parliament and took over all executive powers, ostensibly to better control the insurgency (the political parties' success was...mixed). in late 2005/early 2006, a people's democracy movement forced the king to restrict his power. subsequently, a parliament was reinstated, the comprehensive peace agreement being written, and everyone started getting ready for the 2008 elections... which, when they happened, were considered, y'know, more or less free and fair, and in which the CPNM won the largest number of seats, one of the big three that include the . fast forward another year, and the Maoists leave the government after being prevented from firing the army chief, UML candidate MK Nepal becomes PM. fast forward yet another year (spring 2010)...the constitution remains undrafted a month from its deadline. the CPNM stage an indefinite (turned out to be weeklong) strike (called bandh in nepali), shutting down the country to push for their demands to be met (resignation of PM, consensus government under CPNM, among other things). at the 12th (no, not even 11th, literally 12th) hour, the parties came together to extend that madate of the constituent assembly (CA, the constitution writing body) under the interim constitution for another year. however, agitation against MK Nepal continued. he resigned last month, and this week elections have been held to try to replace him.

ANYWAY...sorry this was such a half-baked post. i actually wrote all of the above as a prelude to my expression of astonishment (well maybe not "astonishment") and confusion at the state of things today. again, i'm not an expert, but i usually have SOME clue what's going on. today, i'm pretty much stumped. on the bright side, now you've got the basics...if you bear with me, i promise more coherent/in depth posts on nepali politics in the future!

in the meantime, for more about nepal since the CPA (2006), check out the carter center's reports. they've been monitoring the implementation of the peace accords and constitution writing.