paradoxnemesis, you are almost right. history is almost being replayed. historically, nepal has had its share of uprisings. hisotrically, the nepalese people have been duped. this time, a lot more is at stake, and i hope history does not replay itself. democracy has been a failure, eh? well' i'm sorry about your disillusionment. what did you think? that once we had a mulit-party form of government, nepal would quickly be on it's way to joining the G*? 12 years is barely enough to unddo the damage caused by centuries of oppression, lack of education, underinvestment in infrastructure, and most importantly, this perpetuation of a culture of cronyism. this kok-sucking starts all the way at the g-spot if you know what i mean. those 12 years were growing pains of democracy, and we would have overcome those initial hurdles had we been given more time. despite those initial difficulties, the level of economic grown and prosperity, as reflected by an increase in the number of new businesses, jobs, new education institutions and infrastucutre developent during those 12 years has been unprecedented in nepal's history. and you make sweeping accusations about corruption. i have no doubt that corrupt officials betrayed people's trust and misused their positions of responsibility. but the democratic machinery would have eventually sorted those problems out. what then do you say about his royal highness's 300 fold increase in compensation and his conspicuous consumption of imported cars, at a time when the nation was on the brink of an economic and demographic collapse? since the royal fuk-over, nepal has advanced inexorably towards depression and collapse. your choice of the term "failed state" would indeed be apt. i once believed that the monarch would provide the leadership that we so despertaely needed at such a critical time; i have now completely lost faith. the monarch believes that just because an ancestor united some princely states, that his future generation can continue to suck and oppress the country as if it were it's own. we are no longer indebted to anyone. this is the 21st century, and nepal cannot afford to regress, while it's own neighbors are now charting paths to world leadership. i agree with you on one point- that nepal needs to address its basic core issues of poverty, education, infrastructure, job creation, etc. i don't believ that teh self-serving monarch can do that any better than the rest of us! "we are blessed with a King ..." you say! "Cursed" would have gone better with that sentence. we need to establish a system of equitability and responsibility. the lives of 28 million people cannot be dependent on the whims of one man. how long do we propose we have monarchy? forever? one day, it's got to go. it's not very often that forces strong enough to bring about change emerge. now is that time!!! jai nepal.