Virtual diplomacy: Can Nepal benefit from it?

Madhav Shrestha

Thanks to the Geneva-based DiploFoundation, the concept of “Virtual Embassy” has finally materialised. Run with the help of internet, the virtual embassy occupies what is dubbed “Diplomatic Quarter of Diplomacy Island in Second Life” in cyberspace. The services and facilities of the virtual embassy are especially intended for the countries with limited human resources and severe financial constraints — the countries incapable of putting enough people on the ground. Considering its diplomatic efficacy, small and weak countries with limited diplomatic outreach may opt for it. In fact, smaller countries are ideally suited for the conduct of virtual diplomacy.

Recently, the Maldives became the first country in the world to bring to use the services offered by virtual embassy developed by DiploFoundation. Although the concept of virtual embassy is still in an adumbrative state, Sweden, a highly advanced Nordic country, intends to use it. The Philippines, too, along with other countries, is likely to follow suit soon. No doubt, this latest innovation will be brought to wide use if its worth as an effective diplomatic and cost-efficient tool is proven while it is used by the first few countries that embrace it.
Nonetheless, the virtual embassy looks like it’s here to stay. For it is likely to prove highly effective in diplomatic dealings in both regional and broader international settings. Any government can use virtual embassy for representation and negotiation on bilateral and multilateral concerns should two or more countries choose to adhere to the techniques and methods developed by the DiploFoundation. Certainly, cash-starved governments which are short on good diplomats may choose this option. However, no safe predictions can be made at a time when its concept is slowly evolving. Unseen complexities and outcomes cannot be ruled out in the atmosphere of highly competitive and self-interested negotiations among nations.

Modalities of the virtual embassy will gain popularity if governments believe state secrets and intelligence services will not be compromised by its use. Viewed in this context, the concept of virtual embassy might not take off comfortably, although it might be considered convenient to handle diplomatic business bilaterally and multilaterally. Moreover, its scope and activities are likely to be limited only to non-sensitive areas for aforementioned reasons.
Virtual embassy may not prove to be of much help if it is intended to replace the “substantial groundwork” of diplomats accredited to specific countries. Indeed, that is not its purpose. The reports Net diplomats send to their governments — prepared without ground-level observation and analysis — might not prove useful. Realistically, diplomats in question will be made worthless who contribute nothing substantive. Such practice will make diplomats look like boys at the other end of the keyboard who are not very aware about the ground realities of the place he is talking about. Their stature and personality will not be held in high esteem, the way traditional diplomats are looked upon.

The most defective side of diplomacy through virtual embassy is that it completely ignores the great value of the human touch and cordial contacts able diplomats make with other diplomats, politicians, officials and important persons through real embassies. Thus it is less likely to promote understanding and cooperation between countries. The physical absence of diplomats on the spot would, in effect, create a situation of non-linkage rather than generate an atmosphere of warmth and cordiality that are so important in diplomacy. Hence the question of importance of physical presence of diplomats, be it for diplomatic business or important ceremonial occasions, should be considered seriously before deciding if virtual diplomacy should be adopted.

However, considering the financial crunch that afflicts Nepal, it is advisable that the country adopt virtual diplomacy, which was especially designed for the countries weak in both financial and manpower resources. As such, its set-up cost will be far less as compared to the huge cost involved in putting in place a real embassy in a faraway place. Hence it will be a wise option to cut down on the number of real embassies from the capital cities of the countries of lesser political, diplomatic and economic importance.

The government should be prepared to work for education and training of staff and officials needed to conduct virtual diplomacy in places considered appropriate for the purpose. If our aim is to trim down swollen budgetary expenditures, why not turn to the DiploFoundation in Geneva for necessary advice and consideration? Is the government prepared to do this? If virtual embassies can be geared towards the intended purpose, it would truly help develop Net Diplomats who will sincerely work for the welfare of the Nepali people.

Source: The Himalayan Times, June 10, 2007

India to help UN on Nepal's transition to democracy

India has told the United Nations that it will strengthen its hands to help Nepal's transition to democracy, Indian diplomats said here Thursday.At a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the two sides discussed the situation in Nepal in terms of the ensuing elections in the Himalayan country, arms management and the UN resolution 1740.

'Both the prime minister and the secretary general said that they looked forward to helping Nepal to achieve her democratic transition in a peaceful and orderly manner,' Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said after the meeting. 'UN has an active role in Nepal,' he said and added that India will also extend all the help it can in helping its South Asian neighbour that is slated to elect its constituent assembly in November. After being criticised by the international community for delaying the crucial election, regarded as the key to peace and stability in Nepal, the ruling eight-party coalition had announced last week that the polls would be held in November.

Manmohan Singh and Ban also discussed other issues like climate change and felt that the right forum to raise the issue should be under the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change. The secretary general, who has served in India in the past, proposed a meeting of world leaders, ahead of the General Assembly in September, to discuss climate change.

Source: Malaysia Sun, June 7, 2007

Prachanda tells India to keep hands off from Nepal

A series of meetings between top Indian officials and leaders of two of Nepal's biggest political parties in New Delhi has given rise to deep unease among Maoist guerrillas here, with their chief Prachanda lashing out at "Indian interference". Maoist supremo Prachanda, who was touring the Terai plains as top leaders of the Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) were in New Delhi to attend a conference of MPs from South Asia, on Wednesday accused India of trying to suppress the Maoists by playing a divide and rule game. "India has no right to say which Nepali parties should come close or which ones to stay away from," the Maoist leader said.

The anger was caused by a meeting on Tuesday between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UML chief Madhav Kumar Nepal, who was also accompanied by two former deputy prime ministers, K.P. Oli and Bharat Mohan Adhikari. The Maoists are smouldering at the Indian prime minister reportedly urging close ties between the UML and the Nepali Congress, two of their biggest rivals in the upcoming November elections. Though Maoist MP Dinanath Sharma is also taking part in the parliamentarians' conference, he had not been included in the meetings between UML leaders and the Indian authorities, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The Delhi meets come at a time there has been a fresh war of words between the Maoists and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. Earlier this week, Maoist cadres handed over to the police a businessman wanted for nearly a year for defrauding a bank of about Nepali Rs.200 million.

The "arrest" of wanted businessman Sitaram Prasain, who is considered close to Koirala's Nepali Congress party, triggered an angry reaction from Koirala, who called the cadres of the Maoist Young Communist League the 'Young Criminal League'. The comment has given rise to widespread anger and criticism, both among the Maoists and the public, who are accusing Koirala of shielding corrupt businessmen. Maoists MPs on Wednesday threw a challenge to the prime miniser in parliament, saying he should ban the YCL if it was a criminal organisation, or else, apologise. Information and Communications Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who is the government spokesperson as well as one of the top Maoist leaders, said Koirala's comment smacked of bias towards criminals.

Source: The Peninsula, June 8, 2007

WILL US REVISE ITS NEPAL POLICY?

Though unstated and undeclared, the American administration appears to have concentrated its entire efforts on mainly two key points wherein it would wish the stated two points established.
Those two key points, opine analysts, rests upon the presumptions, for example, uniting the liberal and the democratic forces scattered in different political camps, and secondly to keep the communists, more so the Maoists at a comfortable distance. Undeniably, the US appears to have got the point as to what it meant by the inclusion of the Maoists into the mainstream politics of the country. The US too can’t escape the blame for having worked in “tandem” with the countries in Nepal “axis” around 2005 which in effect facilitated the Maoists entrance into the government structure.

It was a Delhi sponsored 12 point agreement which the then agitating seven party alliances signed with the Maoists right in Delhi which allowed the smooth entry of the Maoists into the country’s political scene. Needless to say, the efforts of the countries in the said axis-Delhi-Washington-London not only brought the down fall of the King’s regime but also paved the way for the Maoists to have a “bold and determined” say in the country’s politics.
Nevertheless, Ambassador Moriarty is on record to have denounced the 12 point pact saying that it was the Maoists who brought the SPA to their political sphere of influence contrary to what had been propagated by the SPA partners after the Delhi agreement.

Ambassador Moriarty, for example, though he fathomed in advanced that the SPA were inviting trouble not only for themselves but for the entire country as a whole then why he could not convince his friends in the “axis” not to encourage the Maoists and the SPA members to come together through the 12 point agreement. Analysts very well remember that during the agreement period in Delhi, Ambassador Moriarty made several declared and undeclared trips to the Indian capital and is on record to have met the notorious Indian Foreign Secretary-Shyam Saran and discussed with him over the unfolding political events then in this country.

Question thus becomes pertinent as to when this innocent Ambassador knew every thing in advance then why he could, as a representative of the lone super power, not veto the entire game being played by London and Delhi which had only a single motive: unseating of the what they used to call the “autocratic monarch”? Now that the monarch has been out of the political scene, the Maoists have certainly gained what they wanted. Clearly, the Maoists in the government structure have allowed them to impose their say in the cabinet. Add to this the Maoists new incarnation in the form of Young Communist League that has already become the synonym of terror and panic in the entire country whose reverberations could also be felt in the international media.

Clearly, the US Ambassador was ditched, cheated and deceived by his two friends in the axis. Ambassador Moriarty just wanted the King to step down. However, London and Delhi worked in tandem and very skillfully brought the Maoists into the government structure. Nevertheless, both London and Delhi must have come to their senses looking at the current political events that have unfolded of late more so after the YCL men dared to vandalize a UN car which was ferrying American Ambassador Moriarty last May 25 Friday in Damak, Jhapa district. Nonetheless, London-Delhi-Washington managed peace in this country with the Maoists entrance into the mainstream politics. However, analysts say that the peace that has heralded in this country is a “negative” one. The second attack of the growing YCL activities would be India for sure. (Read in-depth analysis) Be that as it may, now look at the chain of events.

Exactly after five days of such a YCL attack on its Kathmandu posted envoy, the US sent comparatively a high level functioning State authority to listen to the unfolding events in this country and apparently to sound the Nepal government that the US would not tolerate any more if such YCL vandalism continued in the future that targets the US authorities here.
The US Assistant Secretary Barry F. Lowenkron who just concluded his four day Nepal trip talking to press prior to his departure has said that “one can’t have ballots and bullets in a democratic process and that intimidation and violence have no roles whatsoever in the democratic process of any country”. In saying so the US dignitary sounds that the US still views the Maoists and its YCL boys as trouble makers and that the US wanted the Maoists to behave that is demanded of them in a democratic system.

In addition, the US still believes that the Maoists have not abandoned the acts of intimidation, and violence even after joining the government structure. “Nothing justifies the use of violence as a legitimate political tool”, concluded Barry. All in all, the visiting US authority must have been briefed by his embassy colleagues about the nature and the feature of the YCL boys of the Maoists. More so Ambassador Moriarty must have told Secretary Barry in private as to how he felt when he was stoned by the YCL cadres in Damak. Now that the Ambassador of the lone super power has been mentally tortured by the Maoists and their kids, how the US influences the country’s politics in the days ahead is any body’s guess. It is therefore no wonder that the ailing Prime Minister Monday described the YCL as Young Criminal League.

Perhaps this explains so many things unspoken. Perhaps Koirala’s stern warning to the Maoists is a message to the US that things must change and he will change the Maoists in the days ahead or else the ex-rebels will be taken to task. However, what is intriguing is that how Koirala will penalize the erratic Maoists? Neither he can expel the Maoists ministers from the cabinet nor he can check the increasing high handedness of the YCL outfit. For Home Minister Sitaula appears still sympathetic to the Maoists. So to expect that Koirala can tame the Maoists in a matter of days or even weeks appears a remote eventuality.

Yes! What is for sure is that Ambassador Moriarty will not settle for less. But how he proceeds with his political cards, if left any under his sleeve, to cut down the size of the Maoists will have to be watched. Nevertheless, this time he enjoys the backing of the entire diplomatic community who have very promptly denounced the YCL attacks on Ambassador Moriarty. The otherwise European Ambassadors who appeared less energetic in denouncing the Maoists not so in the distant past too have openly condemned the YCL erratic behavior. This adds to the strength of Ambassador Moriarty definitely. Will he then advise his administration to go in for a revision in the current US policy on Nepal? Who knows what is in store? However, what is for guaranteed and taken for granted is that the erratic activities of the YCL and the Maoists’ combined is surely benefiting the now silent monarch though in a subtle manner. What is going to his pockets for free is also from the dismal performances of the EPA leaders being in the parliament and in government as well. The more the leaders lose in the process would mean, by default indeed, a sort of windfall to the now sleeping monarch.
Politics is simply the art of the possible.

Source: The Telegraph Nepal, June 8, 2007

NEPAL: MAOISTS TO REVISE ITS INDIA POLICY

With Shyam Saran-the former Indian Foreign Secretary, gone, the Indian establishment appears to have now shifted its sympathy from the Maoists to the unity in between Nepali Congress and United Marxist-Leninist, the UML-party. It was none less than the Indian Proxy Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh who “instructed” the visiting UML delegation led by Madhav Kumar Nepal to forge a sort of alliance with the Nepali Congress led by Girija Prasad Koirala. Now that the Indian PM has said so, the UML, as a good student of India since a decade or so, would go by the Indian instructions. Naturally, the news itself is a disturbing one for the Maoists.

Reacting to this fresh Indian political overture aimed at “cornering” the entire Maoists paraphernalia, Comrade Prachanda sees an Indian “design” in the instructions provided to Comrade Madhav Nepal the other day. “If this is so, then we are also free to frame an entirely different policy on India”, said a fuming Prachanda today. Prachanda made these declarations upon listening to the changed Indian stance in Butwal. Analysts say that the Indian politics in Nepal has ever remained “divide and rule” which they copied from their colonizers.

Now that the UML and the NC would certainly come closer as per the Indian sermons which mean that the Maoists will be left in the cold. An extension of this would mean that India wants now the unity among the SPA but not the EPA. The Maoists are not fools, any way. They know how to tame India. Kalapani, the continued land encroachment and the Susta issues are some, among others, which would be more handy for the Maoists to torture India in Nepal. The stage is thus set for Maoists-India face to face. No wonder one fine morning India could even declare that it has revived its “Three-Pillar Theory”.

Source: The Telegraph Nepal, June 6, 2007