Revolutions

As Egypt comes to terms with a new order, searching for the promised freedom post Mubarak under an army and institutions ruled pretty much by the same old order, Libya's embattled people are fighting for survival against an increasingly maniac Gadaffi, who has vowed to fight till the end, and for whom sending air fighters to bomb his own cities is a very acceptable strategy. The Saudis and the Sheikhs of the oil rich gulf are pumping in billions of dollars in social schemes, aiming to quash any revolutions before they take unmanageable proportions, like they threatened to do in Bahrain. China, having already blocked Facebook and Twitter, is ensuring that any online calls for meetings and demonstrations are quickly overwhelmed by a huge show of force, with police officers completely outnumbering any potential trouble makers. Iran has also responded in a pretty similar fashion. After Tunisia, Ivory Coast and a bunch of other smaller nations threaten to follow suit, but the governments there have responded with ruthless show of brutality and power. The next few months will tell if this is good or bad for the world - will we see the rise of true democracy and human rights in the Middle East and Africa, or will these nations degenerate into a boiling cauldron of terrorism and fundamentalism? Interestingly, the US, its faithful alliy UK, and pretty much all of the West, is uncharacteristically quiet - concerned, but unsure how to engage in the region.

In India, another revolution is quietly but surely taking place. From religion and caste based politics, the focus is shifting to corruption. A resurgent Supreme Court, a revitalised BJP, and a very involved common man is ensuring that corruption is top of the agenda. Kalmad is facing intense scrutiny on the CWG scam, and is likely to be arrested any time soon. The high rollers of Adarsh society are nervously waiting for the inevitable demolition. Raja has spent close to a month in jail now, while head honchos of dozens of corporates are very worried about the fall out of the 2G scam sucking them in as more and more skeletons fall out of their closets under investigations by the CBI, CAG and a bunch of other enforcement agencies under tight supervision of the SC. The PM and his government, unfortunately, seem to be clueless on how to tackle this, unable to read the minds of the people, allowing blow after blow to sully the government's image, and allowing the BJP to resurrect itself from near extinction. With the CVC's appointment being quashed by the SC for his involvement in earlier corruption cases, the PM has had to suffer a very public humiliation, given his open support to the CVC and his feeble attempts at justification of the appointment earlier. How many of these cases will ultilately go to closure, how much of the black money will eventually be recovered, and will the BJP be able to wrest control is yet ot be seen... but the departure from religion and caste is a result well deserved by this country!

And finally, the WC continues to lumber along, the pace slowly picking up... but into its nth week now, the excitement and passion is yet to really explode, the minnows ensuring that most 50 over matches end up finishing faster than T20s! Yes, Ireland beat England and Indians will have just that additional crease on their foreheads today when they take on the Guiness guzzlers today, but come on, if ODIs are to survive, we need a lot more of the India-England action from last week.

And finally, Mazda is recalling thousands of a popular model on fears that a particular yellow spider might have built nests in its fuel tanks. It's a spider's world!