I’m no admirer of B S Yeddyurappa. But I respect the fact that he’s an elected Chief Minister who cannot be trifled around by moneybags and mining mafias.

There indeed is a factional dimension to the crisis arising out of the Bellary mining syndicate’s rebellion against the Karnataka CM. [Read more]

My friends in Pakistan tell me that careers of two key figures are at stake in their country:  President Asif Ali Zardari and Army Chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. The latter’s future will be determined by the outcome of the South Waziristan operation and the former’s on the view Parliament and the judiciary take on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). [Read more]

President Barak Obama has signed the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill named after its sponsors and passed by the US Congress. In the statute book, it’s titled Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009.

The new law triples non-military US aid to Pakistan to $ 7.5 billion over the next five years at the rate of 1.5 billion dollars every year towards healthcare, education and creation of infrastructure in the social sector. [Read more]

I wouldn’t say that nemesis caught up with the Pakistan Army when its Rawalpindi-based General Headquarters, better known as GHQ, came under terrorist fire followed by a siege that lasted nearly twenty hours. [Read more]

I agree broadly with the CPM’s Prakash Karat’s interpretation of reactions in India to reports of border incursions by Chinese troops.  His charge of a US hand in the exaggerated response — bordering on jingoism—by a section of the media and security experts has about it a ring of certainty. My reading of the situation is based on suspicion, a kind of putting two and two together. [Read more]