Miscellaneous

Rory Stewart, I presume
He's an adventurer of the old school. An Eton and Oxford military man who is as much at home in Highgrove as in Harvard or a Kabul slum. Here, Rory Stewart explains why he and Prince Charles are working to safeguard traditional skills in Afghanistan.
By Jason Burke - The Observer

.... A century and a half ago there would have been nothing unusual about Rory Stewart. The empire was full of Eton and Oxford-educated sons of Scottish civil servants who spoke several exotic foreign languages, knew how to eat rice with their fingers, could talk for hours about local architecture or crops or religious practices, and ask questions such as, "Do you think Sher Mohammed Akhunzada or Gul Agha Sherzai did a better job as governor of Kandahar?" But Britain, indeed the west, does not do people like Rory Stewart very much these days.

India's parliamentary elections had near-metaphysical significance
By Kishore Mahbubani - Daily Star

.... But the growing conviction that tomorrow will be better will keep India's polity stable. This may well be the most important result of the Indian election: five more years of political stability and economic reform will create an irreversible and virtuous cycle of economic growth and political moderation.

The Indian middle class will grow rapidly, providing the country with valuable ballast that will keep it on an even keel in the next few decades.

.... India could take a leaf from China's success in handling the Taiwan problem. At the height of tensions, when China found the governments of Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian intolerable, it never ceased its policy of embracing the Taiwanese people and Taiwanese businessmen. Over time, this created a rich web of economic interdependence, which promotes stability.

It would be equally easy for India's people to embrace Pakistan's people. They are the same people. As an ethnic Sindhi, I feel an affinity to both. When I attend international gatherings, I am amazed how easily and naturally Indians and Pakistanis gravitate toward each other. The political divisions are artificial. The cultural unity is natural.