Advantage Outsiders
With the balance tilted against it, the Taliban regime will soon find itself vanquished.

Lull Before The Storm
Amid calls for a quick and decisive end to the conflict, Afghanistan has been abuzz with talk of an imminent Northern Alliance ground war against the Taliban.

History's Pointers
The Soviet Union's 10 years campaign in Afghanistan — a conflict that led to a humiliating withdrawal and, some say, its eventual breakup
— can be a learning experience for
the US.

NEWSNOTES

	FORGING TIES: Putin (left) with deposed Afghan president Rabbani

Russia: The former superpower is in revival mode. The after-effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks have given the Kremlin both an opportunity to consolidate its position against the Chechen rebels and regain a foothold in the Afghan political
set-up.

Russia has supported the US-led coalition's fight against terrorism and used the plank to strengthen its underbelly in Central Asia. Moscow has got the US to endorse its campaign against pan-Islamic jehadis in Chechnya. Russia has also strengthened its strategic links with China, which faces unrest in Xinjiang, a Muslim-majority province. This will help counter the terrorist threat radiating from the Afghanistan-Pakistan arc.

After securing its southern flanks and Chechnya, Russia is now busy confabulating with Afghan leaders on post-Taliban government formation in Afghanistan, quite independently of Washington's efforts. President Vladimir Putin visited Tajikistan, where he declared that the Northern Alliance was the "sole legitimate government" of Afghanistan and that the Taliban should have no role in a future government. More importantly, Putin closed ranks with Iran and India by categorically rejecting Pakistan's "moderate" Taliban theory.

By upping the ante, it has signalled to the US that Moscow has legitimate concerns in Afghanistan which it has every intention of protecting-even if it makes things difficult for Washington's new-found ally, Pakistan. Russia has also told the US not to sow the seeds of division within the Northern Alliance and Central Asian republics by supporting Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum and moved closer to Uzbekistan.

It is no coincidence that Russia has started hinting at greater flexibility on the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

—Shishir Gupta

SPOTLIGHT
DD News: Zero No 1
Low ratings and hefty bills force closure

	Big Chunk: Sharma and Shukla

It was projected as India's answer to the BBC. But two years after it was launched. DD News, the 24-hour satellite news channel is all set for a quiet burial. The reasons are not far to see: since August 1999, the channel has doled more than Rs 85 crore to private producers. The top 10 producers of commissioned programmes on the channel received nearly Rs 50 crore for making programmes which had virtually no viewership. Among them Rajat Sharma's Independent Media and journalist-turned-politician Rajiv Shukla's Bag Films got Rs 9.71 crore and Rs 6.04 crore respectively.

Though two years old, DD News never really took off. A survey earlier this year showed it had a pitiable average of 1,000 viewers as compared to 29,000 for Aaj Tak and 13,000 viewers for Star News and 5,000 for BBC. Further, its channel share was 0.02 per cent as compared to Aaj Tak's 0.45 per cent and Star News' O.20 per cent. Enough to prompt PB CEO Anil Baijal to recommend closure of the channel at the Prasar Bharati Board meeting last month.

—Shishir Gupta

Lucrative Launch

For the second time in two years, India has successfully launched an indigenous commercial rocket. The $30-million (Rs 144 crore) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) took off from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, on October 22, and placed into polar orbit three satellites-India's Technology Experiments Satellite (TES), Belgium's proba and the German Space Agency DLR's bird.

—Stephen David

MetroScape

Looking Glass

Mumbai Restaurant:
India Jones

Mumbai Puppetry Festival: Toccata

Bangalore Restaurant: Chung Wah

Kolkata Exhibition : Life Is Beautiful