Ever present high wind
Sweeps the fog in Blocking all that is dear to the eyes.
There is a lull, the air rests.
The fog remains.
–Gujarati poet Sitanshu Yashchandra in Encirclement
American stimulus is still working wonders in South Asia. Hamid Karzai, the 'former' UNOCAL employee, has convinced General Musharraf that the benefits far outweigh the costs of pursuing local warlords in the Hindukush. Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, His Military Lord's most loyal premier of Pakistan, has realised that the promise of Pakistan-India talks is a good ruse to push the controversial Legal Framework Order to the back burner. Musharraf can remain president-in-uniform as long as he can assure the Islamabad elite that he has the blessings of the top brass in the 'war on terror'.
In the excitement of being invited to the high table of the G8 in Evian, France, Atal Behari Vajpayee is once again singing the kavita of the Lahore-Amritsar peace process. Vajpayee's promise that he will retire from active politics if he fails to normalise the relationship between the two nuclearised twins is largely symbolic – the Bhartiya Janata Party's agenda is firmly in the hands of its hawks who dream of an America-Israel-India military axis.
Weak kneed – no intended dig at the septuagenarian Atalji – politicians of the non-aligned school have no place in the hyper-power scheme of things fashioned by Subcontinental and American Bushies. The loyalty of South Asian neocons is rewarded with invitations for Musharraf to the White House, and some fancy Israeli toys for George Fernandes (he of the 'China is the main enemy' fame).