Nepal - Turmoil at the Top of the World (Discussion Topic - May 25, 2006)

IIF Discussion will center on Nepal and its difficulties in the transition of power. Here are some background articles:
This Backgrounder from The Economist provides an excellent summary of Nepal's recent history:
Backgrounder: Nepal
Also from The Economist, here are a series of stories that have run from the beginning of the current crisis to the present:
Chaos on the roof of the world
Feudal follies
What's the plan, Gyan?
Himalayan horrors
The king's new clothes
Crowning folly
Heat on the king
Shooting the messengers
Three into two
The ballot and the bullet
A hollow bid to cling to power
Off his head
Days of rage
The endgame
An end to violence at the top of the world?
Knights and pawns check king
Here is a link to an item I found extremely helpful, the executive summary and recommendations of the most recent report on Nepal from the International Crisis Group (which also contains a link to the full report in either PDF or WORD format):
Nepal: From People Power to Peace?

This Viewpoint by Leon J. Weil, former U.S. Ambassador to Nepal, from the Foreign Policy Association's web site was later published in shortened form in The Wall Street Journal:
Viewpoints: Nepal in Crisis: Why Americans Should Care

And here are two more opinion pieces that ran in The Wall Street Journal at different stages of the crisis:
Commentary: Nepal's Crisis
Commentary: Nepal's Honeymoon

Here are a pair of articles, the second an update of the first, that originally appeared in Foreign Affairs:
Nepal at the Precipice
My Kingdom for Some Peace

Here is an overview of the situation in Nepal from Human Rights Watch:
Human Rights Overview: Nepal

From the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, here are reports on Nepal's King Gyanendra and the recent conflict:
King Gyanendra of Nepal
2006 Democracy Movement in Nepal

The Washington Post ran this article on the King:
Nepal's Embattled King a Study in Aloofness

Finally, this article from CNN deals with prospects for the future in Nepal:
Nepal: Now for the hard part