Did the King of Nepal purchase the services of this British firm for his February 1st shenanigans? Something that made me think . . . as I was listening to a podcast of this article. oohi ashu ************* "Strategic Communication Laboratories, a small U.K. firm specializing in "influence operations" made a very public debut this week with a glitzy exhibit occupying prime real estate at Defense Systems & Equipment International, or DSEi, the United Kingdom's largest showcase for military technology. The main attraction was a full-scale mock-up of its ops center, running simulations ranging from natural disasters to political coups" AMONG the company's selling points: "In another doomsday scenario, the company assists a newly democratic country in South Asia as it struggles with corrupt politicians and a rising insurgency that threatens to bubble over into bloody revolution. SCL steps in to assist the benevolent king of "Manpurea" to temporarily seize power. "Oh, wait, that sounds a lot like Nepal, where the monarchy earlier this year ousted a corrupt government to stave off a rising Maoist movement. The problem is, the SCL scenario also sounds a lot like using a private company to help overthrow a democratically elected government. Another problem, at least in Nepal, is that the king now shows few signs of returning to democracy." Read all about the rise of this private-sector company, and wonder about its role in Nepali politics. Sept 19-20, 2005 Text version - http://www.slate.com/id/2126479/ Podcast version - http://media2.washingtonpost.com/media/slate/Podcasts/Slate_05092001.mp3