On Jordan and Lebanon now: What created the civil war in Lebanon? Doesn't the civil war itself prove the failure of democracy in that country? And even today, even after the edning of the civil war, the Syrians control the governmnet, economy and until recently, controlled the security. Jordan, however did not have to go through civil wars. Again Lebabnon's civil war was backed and exploited by Syria.. it was not only its domestic problems blowing out of proportions. Who knows we are seeing the same thing in Nepal. Jordan's King Hassan was a Machiavellian Prince. He did what it needed to be done to protect his principality from chaos and foreign (external) influence. If he were a weak leader and had not dissolved the parliament in the 50s and "brutally" deported the Palestanians in the 70s (date confusion! I can't remember all the dates, but I am 90% sure, it was in the 70s.. correct me, if I am wrong), today's Jordan would be totally different. At least there is some stability and no overtly operating radical groups there. It is still better than the democratic Ajerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and other places in the Greater Middle East region (greater Middle East region incorporates parts of the Balkans and the former Soviet Central Asian Republics). An interesting book on the region's today's politics is "Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus" by one of my favorite writers, Robert Kaplan. We can disucss further... just for the sake of disucssion because no matter how many volumes of texts we write here is not going to change nepal in any way.. so, let's just engage in fav. Nepali passtime and just talk. :-)