Where do you look?
I'm naturally an optimist, but current events are challenging my sunny disposition. The conflict in the Middle East seems to be getting rapidly worse, with suggestions of a Mubarak-hosted peace negotiation falling on largely deaf ears. And in the world's second most populous nation, communal violence is at its worst level in years.
Like so many people who have visited India, I try especially hard to remain positive about the future of the subcontinent. Few other countries combine the vibrancy, culture, democracy and intellectual resources of India. But the software wonders of Bangalore, for example, are still just scratches on the surface of the country. The precarious job of holding India together has proved, eventually, beyond the endurance of politicians. Now it looks like the government of prime minister Vajpayee -- with two years left on its mandate -- will be polished off by the terrible violence in Gujarat.
I haven't mentioned Zimbabwe, where my flickering optimism is hoping that Morgan Zsvangirai may topple Robert Mugabe this weekend, despite the most extraordinary and brutal attempts to crush the opposition. Fingers crossed.
10:54:01 AM 
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