"What is so wrong with contrubuting in WHATEVER way they can, or choose to, for the cause of democracy in a far away land?" Nothing wrong with it as long as those people in the far away land know exactly what is happening in Nepal and what the people there are hoping for. "What is so wrong with throwing in ideas that perhaps can be used by people fighting on the grounds? " Nothing wrong with it, but how many people are using your (your as in democrats) ideas to fight on the grounds. The reality is, there's not even a fight at the moment as far as I can see. " What is so wrong with making people THINK -- at home or abroad -- by generating and sustaining debates? " Nothing wrong with it as long as you do not force your ideas on others. When you at times dismiss even the valid points raised by people who do not agree/believe in what you ( you as in General you) say by saying " like the likes of Lokman has been doing REPETITIVELY -- I mean, come one now, come up with something new so that we can enjoy debating!", while you yourself repeat the same abstract textbook concepts of empowerment and democracy, and be totally oblivious to what your comrade-in-arms say to others, I don't see any debates.. All i see is the drive to prove that look "we are better because we are democrats" and because we are better, you either believe in what we say, or be damned. Let's admit, there's no debate going on here, what we are doing is, we are spreading our own agendas and propaganda and we are acting like radicals. You think your's is the best view, I think mine is the best. And when we both start to think this way, its not debate. Its not negotiations. Its not conflict resolution. :-).. Either we are liberal ardicals here, or conservative radicals (like me) here. But the thing is, we both are radicals. We both belong to the extreme ends of spectrum. " What is so wrong with EMPOWERING people -- again, at home and abroad -- with resourcing them with varying thoughts? " And how many people in Nepal have access to your or for that matter my thoughts? And when we say our thoughts empower the people, aren't we becoming more and more like the early Christian missionaries who "cared" about the people and that's why they had to "convert" them by hook or by crook, even if the people themselves didn't want to convert to Christianity? Or the hardcore communists of the early days? :-) Let's agree, there's no debate going on here. Debtaes/discussions follow certain patterns, certain rules. you know like setting the protocol, setting the agenda, be willing to listen to the valid points raised by the other side.. be willing to not to impose oursleves on the others, and most importantly, not taking things that come up in the debates PERSONALLY and be willing to accept that there are many people in the world who do not necessarily agree with what I say.. let's agree both the democrats and non-democrats (not Un- demcorats) have failed to do so. la ja maile ni thoki diyeko ek dui paragraph!!! and just so that there's no confusion later, you here means GENERAL you, not YOU as AniljShahi.