The Indian discourses on Myanmar are increasingly looking surreal. The official mantra is that New Delhi and the leadership in Myanmar (dominated by the military) have one hell of a Faustian deal between them to crush the Naga insurgent groups advocating separatism within Myanmar and in India.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury met prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina at Dhaka on May 29. He was accompanied by CPI(M) Central Committee member Gautam Das. During the meeting that lasted for more than 40 minutes, Sheikh Hasina thanked the CPI(M) for its endeavour in the successful endorsement of the Land border agreement in the Indian parliament. Yechury noted that the problem was longstanding and all the political parties have helped towards its resolution.

AN electoral upset was always on the cards given the ham handed way President Goodluck Jonathan was dealing with the key issues of corruption and terrorism. But previous elections were marked by widespread electoral fraud and vote buying. Besides, in the checkered history of Nigerian politics, no ruling party was ever defeated since the country gained independence in 1960. Regime change was always effected through the barrel of the gun not through the ballot box.

THE Summit of the Americas held in the second week of April in Panama City has been an eventful one. Besides the handshake and meeting between the American and Cuban presidents, what was on show was the unity shown by the Caribbean and Latin American countries on key issues. The trend has been continued form the last Summit held in 2012 in the Colombian port city of Cartagena. That summit was notable for the solidarity extended to Cuba. Barring the United States, all the other countries in the continent were united in their opposition to the American economic blockade on Cuba.

THE Second World War, or, the war against fascism, was one of the truly epochal events of the 20th century. The war was like no other in history because of its global scale and the immense destruction of human lives and productive capacities. It also exemplified the collision of various historical forces set in the background of the worst crisis faced by capitalism and imperialism. The barbarous force which emerged in the inter-war period, between the First and the Second World Wars, was the phenomenon of fascism and its German variant Nazism.