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In a Barbie world
When the image, fattened on soundbites, assumes mega proportions, reality vanishes into thin air. What's left then is a synthetic world, where the difference between a flesh-and-blood creature and a doll may be just incidental. It really does become a Barbie world as a consequence, where everything right from smiles to shrugs is plastic.
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And the issue is...
What is the issue? Stability? Whose? The people's or the politicians'? Corruption? Amongst whom? The people or their leaders? And those who serve the latter? Bureaucrats, hoodlums of the police, hoodlums of the underworld? Communalism? Whose? Not the people's. At best they are religious, at worst dogmatic. Who leads them astray? The country's security? Which great leader has sons and daughters serving in the armed forces? Which does not have one or more settled in the US? Poverty? No, the issue is Clochemerle - a small town in France.
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Will Sharif go for the third option?
In the past year, two reports by US study groups concerning the Indian sub-continent have been released. The first is the Haass Report. The second report, more focused on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), was released by the Kashmir Study Group (KSG) in October 1997. A factor influencing the KSG's desire to give greater salience to participation by representatives from J&K is the understanding it received about Sharif accepting the Third Option as a possible consideration to resolve the Kashmir issue.
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Gun-toting campaign
Each new BJP public rally brings signs of a growing obsession with Bofors. United Front leaders, reacting defensively, are pushing the campaign agenda in the same direction.
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