AnnaPurna Consulting

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All Spaced Out

I wonder what it felt like to be an astronaut aboard the NASA-managed International Space Station when the news came through that the US Federal Government was closing down due to the Congressional impasse over the budget.

“Don’t worry folks. Keep orbiting. Try not to break anything and we’ll be back in a week or two.” You hope these were not the parting words from the scientists at Mission Control as they along with thousands of other federal workers headed home while the politicians in Washington DC remain deadlocked in near-mortal combat.

This is not a good advert for democracy (or indeed space travel) and makes the task of promoting democratic values in the Middle East and elsewhere all the more difficult. With the Russians calling the shots over Syria and the president having to cancel a planned visit to the APEC Forum to stay home and try and sort out the mess, it has been a bad week for Brand America on the world stage. [Read more…]

Behind the Veil

When you have worked for AnnaPurna Consulting for a long time, people often assume you know the inside story behind the tales of intrigue that dominate the headlines. Just occasionally you do, but cannot say that you do. When you don’t, people nevertheless think you really do and assume you are just being discreet. Better to be regarded as an international man of mystery, I suppose, than just plain clueless.

As for the Bo Xilai case in China, I genuinely don’t have a clue what is happening. There is lots of speculation in the press about what may be going on but my sense is that those who do understand the whole story are remaining tight lipped. Even if the details of who did what to whom when are thin on the ground, the case offers a fascinating glimpse into the workings of China’s political elite. [Read more…]

C Words

India is newspaper heaven. It has the world’s biggest English speaking population so undertaking a media campaign (in this case a series of twelve interviews to mark the Indian launch requires deep reserves of stamina. There are so many newspapers, journals and magazines each with an unquenchable thirst to talk about India and its changing place in the world.

Each interview has followed a similar line of questioning: are international investors losing confidence in India as a high growth, dynamic market? Each journalist pressed us on whether India’s reform agenda has stalled through political paralysis and pandering to narrow vested interests. [Read more…]

Ploughs and politics

When I turned up at university to study history in the early 1980s I was in need of inspiration. Reviewing the optional courses, I despaired of yet again examining the causes of the First World War or nineteenth century parliamentary reform. Important as these were, I felt I had studied nothing else at school – probably because it seemed a good number of my teachers were old enough at least to have served in the trenches if not to have agitated for political reform in the 1830s. So imagine my enthusiasm when I spotted a new course entitled: “South Africa: apartheid and the roots of segregation”. I signed up with alacrity. [Read more…]

Libya in the balance

As I write this, the battle for Sirte, Colonel Gaddafi’s birthplace, seems to be entering the final phase. As many as 10,000 people have fled the city, NATO airstrikes continue and reports of major casualties and an acute shortage of medical supplies reinforce the hope that the fighting will cease soon. Then only Bani Walid will remain among Libya’s major cities in the hands of Gaddafi loyalists.

Last week in Tripoli the sense of triumphalism was palpable. [Read more…]

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