…all the good domestic political stories got taken*, let’s look at an international one. India’s surprising results went more surprising: Gandhi ‘Humbly Declines’ India Leadership.
NEW DELHI – Stunning her supporters, Sonia Gandhi announced Tuesday she would “humbly decline” to be the next prime minister of India, sidestepping Hindu nationalist outrage over the prospect of a foreign-born woman leading the nation.
Gandhi, an Italian who became an Indian citizen 21 years ago when she married former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, did not say whom she would nominate for the post. The favorite appeared to be Manmohan Singh, the architect of India’s economic liberalization program during the last Congress-led government from 1991 to 1996.
Reading between the lines, I think that Ms. Gandhi was going to take the position up to the point where the Indian stock market started going south; investors there are apparently worried about economic policy changes, especially regarding the continuance of the current privatization campaign. Letting someone else be prime minister is probably the best solution for that problem, perception counts for a lot, especially with stock markets. Needless to say, best of luck to her and her party, and may they continue to work with Pakistan to chart out a peaceful future.
Moe
*Well, the ones that I felt like blogging about, at least.
Holy crap. I’m genuinely stunned. Gonna take me a while to process that…
Now there’s a chance for some insider trading that I’d aprove of.
Sonia Ghandi invests in stock just before announcing she won’t take the PM seat. Anyone losing on that particular trade would deserve what he got. Sometimes, it should damn well pay to be nice!
Gandhi. Gandhi. Gandhi.
This one particularly drives me crazy, along with “Tolkein,” “Hienlein,” and “Azimov,” amongst others.
The Indian situation is still in play, by the way, and it’s hard to tell how much of what is going on is planned ploy and how much is genuine out-of-control flux. But it’s clear that nothing is yet settled.
She should have gone short.