" Given the king’s notorious past records, there is a distinct possibility of him ordering the troops back into the barracks once again, making it extremely difficult for the new government to rule.:" There's a contradiction here, Anil ji. If the political parties are so concerned with peace, why do they need the Army to rule? What do you mean here: Are you implying that the Army should keep on fighting the Maoists, while they negotiate with its (maoists) leaders? If the poeple and civil society is abcking the new "people's govt." why do they need the Army? All should be fine now, no? Since they have already reached some covert and some overt agreements with the Maoists, it will make more sense if they can bring the Maoists to negotiations and finally into the political mainstream, without the help of the Army. If they still insist to use the Army or rely on its support for peace, then you know, the parties do not really are about the situation in the country. All they care about is their own petty personal interests. "The Maoists must give up violence and their extreme communism. " Why? What would make them give up their beliefs just because the parliament is reinstated. The maoist are confused now- just look at their recent "contradictory" press releases. Just tell me, what makes you think that the parties and the Maoists will sit down for a nice dinner and chat, and after a hearty meal of good food and wine, declare that they (the maoists) will don new clothes from now on. Its not going to happen. You are right about the international community. A nation that relies so much on aid, and foreign political intervention rather than its own resources and institutions and people, is bound to follow what the donors and foreign masters want them to follow. The world opinion is still not favorable to the Maoists and having the Maoists either join the mainstream or form their own governmnet is a no-no for them. They would rather have a long civil war engulf Nepal rather than let the fighting parties reach a truce. Its that simple. So the conflict is going to be nasty, brutal and long. We are indeed a sad example of a nation without any political independence and these days, a nation without any self-respect. Where in the world you will see even the diplomats engaged in local politics and make "sensetive" comments? Now let's talk about the internal structure of the parties: Our parties follow the Bihri model. Its one step short of communism's personality cult, but 3 steps above of ordinary/normal leadership. Again the same people are the Sava;patis/Sachibs for 20 years, and don;'t even talk about resigning/retiring. They will have the parties break than change the leadership. Remember the formation of Deuba Congress. These totally out-of-sync oldies who cannot think anything except their own ineterests, have created all the political problems in Nepal, rather than the institution of monarchy. Think of it, maybe because we don't have a fully developed politically consciouss population, maybe we do need a Patriarch like Girija, despite all his flaws - and our tremendous hatred for him -- to lead us. Why didn't the crowd that wated democracy in the nation, didn't want democracy within the parties? Now that Girija is back again, are all his and his cronies past crime sof curroption etc. whitewashed? Its amazing when we forget the past, because the past is probably the most realibel guide to the present and the future. Given these peoples' past, I am not very optimistic and I don't even see this alliance holding strong after 3 months. In party and inter party bickerings will soon begin and again one of the parties will rely on violent street protests and boom! back to where we were!!