The Enemy of my Enemy?

Last month, Nepal’s King Gyanendra abolished democratic rule in a coup against the parliament and took absolute power for himself. His stated goal is to counter the Maoist insurgency with more effective control of the armed forces, but the West didn’t buy it. The US, Britain, and India were loudest in their condemnation of the King’s actions. Not surprisingly, the King was pissed—he was suspending democracy to save it, he said—and soon found himself with the strangest of bedfellows: Kim Jong Il.

Ideologically, this is bizarre. The insurgents are the commies! The king is an autocrat! But this is geopolitics, and the enemy of the enemy is the ally. In the past month, the Nepal Korea Friendship Association, the Nepal Institute for Juche Studies, and the Nepalese Committee for Supporting the Reunification of Korea (yes, those are three separate institutions) made a joint statement in support of North Korea, and the King has criticized the Bush administration for “stifling” the poor DPRK.

Since this new transnational lovefest, the KCNA has included lots of sundry tidbits on Nepal.

Congratulations to Nepalese Foreign Minister – Pyongyang, March 4 (KCNA) – DPRK Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun sent a congratulatory message to Ramesh Nath Pandey upon his appointment as Nepalese foreign minister. Convinced that the excellent friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries would continue to develop on good terms in the future, too, the message sincerely wished him success in his new job.

Cute propaganda. Anyone for placing bets? Whose head will end up on a spike first: Kim Jong Il or King Gyanendra?