Construction work for the first phase of the Chinese-funded Gwadar port on Pakistan's Makran coast was inaugurated by President Pervez Musharraf and Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Bangguo recently. The strategically located Gwadar seaport situated near the Pakistan-Iran border on the mouth of the Persian Gulf is another example of China's long-term interests being seeded with a commercial joint venture. The $1 billion project envisages land connections with Karachi port and a road linkage to Asghabat, Turkmenistan's capital. While both Beijing and Islamabad have denied that Chinese naval vessels will be allowed to dock at Gwadar, the stage is set for the two countries to exercise influence along the vital shipping lanes near the Persian Gulf.

Besides giving a boost to Sino-Pakistan ties, Gwadar will allow Beijing to reach into the Indian Ocean, something that China has been aspiring to for a while. The port will also heighten regional threat perceptions as far as energy security is concerned since more than $500 billion worth of Gulf oil exports to Asian countries including India and Japan, passes through these sea-lanes.

-Shishir Gupta

VIRTUOSITY

A self-confessed failed poet, a dotcom has-been or a philanthropist without the pocket to match his generosity. Any of these tags could be used to describe Ravi Gunvant Desai, the 30-something businessman who has been named by Slate.com, Microsoft's online magazine, for using a phony name (Robert G Klingler), designation (North American representative for BMW) and e-mail id to publish stories on its site.

He had shot into the media limelight first for proposing to donate $2 million to the Seattle-based University of Washington and then for failing to cough up the money. His philanthropy claim trail includes a $2 million promise to the University of Florida, $1 million to the University of New Hampshire, and $150,000 to Warren Wilson College in North Carolina with the professed intent of turning their writing programmes into "crucibles for the next generation of American poets". The Harvard under- graduate (1991) and Chicago Business School MBA (1994) continues to fox everyone by his motives. So far he has only been an embarrassment to a host of institutions and not caused any pecuniary loss. Strangely, the man who holds the key to all these queries is himself not traceable. All leads to him so far have gone cold. Only till such time that another e-mail turns up in the next victim's inbox.

-Anil Padmanabhan

Binding Terror

Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's visit to India comes at a time when both countries are concerned about the links between Nepal's Maoists and pan-Islamic jehadi elements. Suspicions about this arose after an examination of bodies of suspected Maoists killed by the Royal Nepal Army in an encounter in Rolpa in western Nepal. Some of the dead were not ethnic Nepalese and are thought to have been jehadi fighters from Bangladesh. The issue was discussed in a meeting between the Nepalese Royal Intelligence Bureau chief and his Indian counterpart.

The prime worry for Deuba, though, remains the Maoists themselves. Their links with Indian groups like the MCC and the PWG are well known. Deuba, who has already lobbied US support, will want more help from India now.