New Year Promises

To listen to Nepal's political parties, you'd think the Himalayan kingdom is about to get a new government. Last Friday, Nepal's New Year's Day, an alliance of the country's seven main parties issued a statement vowing to continue their recent protestssupported by the country's Maoist insurgentsagainst King Gyanendra, who seized power 14 months ago. Once the King is gone, they said, "the democratic government"i.e. themselveswill reimburse health centers for the cost of treating protesters, reinstate government employees sacked for taking part in the unrest and punish soldiers and police deemed responsible for the brutal crackdown on demonstrators. "There can be no...