If the Monarchy goes under, it will spell the end of Nepal as we know it: consider what happened in Tibet (end of the institution of the Dalai Lama) and in Sikkim (ecplise of the House of Namgyal). End of a venerated, traditional institution: obliteration of the territorial space and occupation of the vacuum by the next-door dominant force. Of course, it is true that there are many, many factors that led to the Maoist insurrection, some of them going back into ancient history. Also, there are other ails of Nepali society that have nothing to do with the present situation. However, at this time, when the political parties had clearly failed (after being given a free reign for so long) or were incapable in doing any thing about the challenge or practically siding with the Maoists (perhaps in the naive belief that they would be spared if the Maoists ever came to power) what was the King to do? What would anyone do in his place? He has now staked his all: it's for all patriots to side with him, unless, of course, they want to take their chances with the Maoists who make no bones about their admiration of the Gang of Four, Pol Pot and so on.