What an Eggplant Uproar Says About India's Economy

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  Obama Meets Dalai Lama, and China Is Quick to Protest:- President Obama met with the Dalai Lama on Thursday, welcoming the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader to the White House for a low-profile meeting that nonetheless raised the hackles of China. The two men spoke about democracy, human rights and the need to preserve Tibet�s religious identity and culture � all issues that, predictably, irritated Beijing.

• Sri Lanka Arrests Defeated Candidate:- The retired general who sought unsuccessfully to defeat his onetime ally in Sri Lanka�s presidential election last month was arrested on February 8 by the military police, raising concern that the country was veering into political vengeance and autocracy after having barely emerged from a quarter-century of war.

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  U.S. Encounters Limits of Iran Engagement Policy:- For two days this month, Gen. James L. Jones, President Obama�s national security adviser, and Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister, were in the same place at the same time, attending a high-level security conference in Munich with a number of high-ranking officials from around the world. And yet the two made no plans to meet with each other.

• Chinese court upholds Liu Xiaobo's punishment:- A Chinese court upheld last week the unprecedented 11-year sentence given to a prominent scholar who had called for political reform, the latest in a string of harsh punishments for dissenters. The ruling -- the third legal defeat this week for veteran Chinese activists -- drew a rare public rebuke from the U.S. ambassador, who said Liu Xiaobo should be released immediately.

• Call for �Green Revolution� in India :- At New Delhi�s Bhogal Market, pushcarts are piled high with fresh fruit and vegetables, and small shops are lined with burlap sacks filled with an array of lentils. But for 40-year-old Jamilla Khan, who has to feed three hungry teenagers on the Rs5,000 ($107, �78, £69) her husband earns each month as a driver, such foods are increasingly rare treats.

• Another week, another clash :- Was this round ever going to end any differently? Never say never in Pakistan but the odds were heavily against it. Here�s why: none of the jobs of the big players were on the line. Be honest. Does anyone even know what justices Saqib Nisar and Khwaja Sharif look like? Justice Ramday may be a slightly more familiar figure  but he�s still more likely to be mistaken for someone�s grandfather than a central figure in a near constitutional crisis. This is Pakistan. Nobody is going to risk their jobs for the sake of some second-tier figures.

• Why China Needs the U.S - And Vice Versa - It hasn't been a banner few weeks for U.S.-China relations. In mid-January, Google announced that it was contemplating pulling out of China because of repeated attacks on its network as well as censorship constraints. In the past week, the U.S. government authorized $6 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, and the White House announced that President Obama would meet with the Dalai Lama after having postponed that visit last fall on the eve of Obama's trip to China.

• Listen to the Iranian People:- Thursday promises to be another dramatic day in Iran, and to lift hopes here in the West. It�s the 31^st anniversary of the 1979 revolution, and opposition leaders have scheduled rallies of the sort that the increasingly repressive government has had trouble gracefully repressing. As we watch reformers once again face off against the black-clad motorcycle-riding Basij militia, it will be tempting to hope that maybe, somehow, the good guys will win this time.

• Indian Motion:- India may well feel slighted when it comes to gratitude from the global community on Afghanistan. Currently, New Delhi is the fifth-largest donor of civilian aid to Kabul. India has constructed the new parliament building, the Palace of Democracy; trained the country's parliamentarians; and donated aircraft to resuscitate Afghanistan's national airline, Ariana. But from New Delhi's perspective, the AfPak debate is all about 'Pak'. In the WSJ, Sumit Ganguly makes a case for Indian training of the Afghan Army.

• In Pakistan Raid, Taliban Chief was an Extra Prize:- When Pakistani security officers raided a house outside Karachi in late January, they had no idea that they had just made their most important capture in years.American intelligence agencies had intercepted communications saying militants with a possible link to the Afghan Taliban�s top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, were meeting. Tipped off by the Americans, Pakistani counterterrorist officers took several men into custody, meeting no resistance.

• Why China�s Naval Rise Could Help the World:- Foreign observers of China's growing naval prowess might be worried by what they�ve seen in recent years. Around a hundred new warships have come off the country's slipways since 2001, while another dozen are under construction. Chinese ships are getting bigger and more powerful as Beijing builds what is shaping up to be the world's biggest submarine fleet, as well as new types of anti-ship missiles and aircraft carriers.

• Politics of terrorism:-  A couple of years ago when President Bush visited New Delhi he pointed towards Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to say that here was a person who had no Taliban in his country. This was not really true even at that time. The then security advisor, M.K. Narayanan, said that he had his fingers crossed because the terrorists could strike anywhere, at any time. A bomb blast in Pune a few days ago, has confirmed that Indian sleeper cells are very much there.

• UN Climate Chief Resigns:- Yvo de Boer, the UN's top climate change official, says he will resign after nearly four years in the post. His departure takes effect from 1 July, five months before 193 countries are due to reconvene in Mexico for another attempt at a global deal on climate. Nations failed to reach a binding deal at the Copenhagen meeting in December. Mr de Boer said he was announcing his departure now so that a successor could be found well before the Mexico meeting later this year.

• Global Weirding is Here:- Of the festivals of nonsense that periodically overtake American politics, surely the silliest is the argument that because Washington is having a particularly snowy winter it proves that climate change is a hoax and, therefore, we need not bother with all this girly-man stuff like renewable energy, solar panels and carbon taxes. Just drill, baby, drill. Thomas Friedman, for the NY Times.
  

• The ever-growing population:- Just over two years ago, Rajendra K. Pachauri seemed destined for a scientist�s version of sainthood: A vegetarian economist-engineer who leads the UN climate change panel, he accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the panel, sharing the honor with Al Gore. But Dr. Pachauri and the IPCC are now under intense scrutiny, facing accusations of scientific sloppiness and potential financial conflicts of interest from skeptics, right-leaning politicians and even some mainstream scientists.