Sir Salman Sounds Right

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I should begin this with a disclaimer: I'm a huge fan both of Salman Rushdie the author and Salman Rushdie the person. I applaud when his contribution to intellectual life is recognized as it has been by the British Government in deciding on a knighthood for him. My rationale? Let me begin with the author. Rushdie brought magic realism into the mainstream as he did Indo-Anglian writing, setting the stage (and a market) for the likes of Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai, who succeeded him as Indian (or at least Indian-born) Booker Prize winners. He started all that off with the magnificent Midnight's Children. Of course, his first book was the neglected work of fantasy/science fiction Grimus, but Midnight's Children was the one that got him noticed. He's written many books since then, mostly amazing literature. Among them are Shame, Haroun And The Sea Of Stories.....

Conflict Worse Confounded

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It's very possible you aren't aware of this story. The United Nations' Office of Internal Oversight Services is undertaking an investigation into apparent irregularities in its peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Congo has a fragile democracy, one that is threatened by armed militia in the country. It was to bolster democracy that the UN commenced a strong peacekeeping mission there. Then came the revelation from the BBC that the mission may itself be somewhat responsible for keeping the militia armed! According to that report, a peacekeeping contingent in The Congo was under investigation for allegedly disarming militants, then returning the weaponry to them in exchange for gold. The contingent in question was from Pakistan. Now, Pakistan provides the largest contingent of peacekeepers to the UN: 10,619 out of a total of 83,312. Those numbers are for May 2007. And diplomats in New York say a message....