Nothing concentrates a politician’s mind as well as an impending election. It helps remove the cobwebs in the form of principles, previous commitments and loyalties and focus attention on his most basic need, the need to survive. In conformity with this law (of the jungle, if you will), a number … Read More
Saudi Arabia’s rulers are keeping a strict check on the flow of information. As such it is difficult to find out what has been happening there. One has to piece together sketchy reports that manage to leak out to form any kind of picture. The resulting scenario is inevitably incomplete … Read More
America’s decision to withdraw “non-essential” staff from a number of Muslim countries is symptomatic of a crisis in its foreign policy. The move admits of two interpretations. First, the US administration has been shaken by the capture of its embassy and the continued captivity of its diplomats in Teheran, the … Read More
Rumours of Mr. Jagjivan Ram’s impending decision to quit the Janata party and to join the Congress (1) refuse to die. Every public denial by him or on his behalf is followed by fresh speculation to the same effect. Indeed, it has become difficult to find many individuals who are … Read More
Iran appears to have reversed its stand on an early meeting of the UN Security Council. Last Monday Iranian officials in Teheran welcomed the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kurt Waldheim’s initiative in this regard and wondered why the United States has withdrawn its earlier opposition to a meeting of the council. … Read More
A common thread runs through the seizure of pilgrims as hostages by gunmen in the grand mosque of Kaaba in Medina [Mecca – ed?], the world’s holiest city for the Muslims, the continued captivity of 60 Americans in the US embassy in Teheran and destruction of the US embassy in … Read More
Mr. HN Bahuguna has finally joined the Congress (I). This is a gain for Mrs. Gandhi in her bid to recapture power. For Mr. Bahuguna is a dynamic leader with considerable organizational skill and commands a sizeable personal following in the country’s most populous state of UP where he has … Read More
It is generally assumed that the intelligentsia in India constitutes a distinct class and that by and large it is distrustful of, if not hostile towards, Mrs. Gandhi on account of her record during the emergency and her refusal to dissociate herself from Mr. Sanjay Gandhi and his “cronies.” While … Read More
Mr. Raj Narain has made so many irresponsible statements for so long that it is not easy to pick on his latest one as being his worst. But it speaks for the depth to which our politics has sunk that he should name the leader of a major party as … Read More
Mr. Charan Singh has good reasons to be desperate. Among the top leaders he has drawn the smallest crowds wherever he has gone in recent weeks. His Congress (U) partner is finding the cross of his leadership too heavy to bear and may well wish to seek respite from it. … Read More
