Do the king and his praetorian guard realise they have gone too far in alienating the people and thumbing their noses at the international community? There are hints they do.

Many went along with 4 October 2002, others may have even felt February First was necessary, but few in their right minds had any doubts when the names were announced of the handpicked Panchayat apparatchiks who would carry out the king's plans. Even those who went along with the choice of two vintage vice-chairmen despaired when they saw the line-up of the expanded cabinet. Some of these royal decisions were deliberately taken immediately after meetings with foreign emissaries.

King Gyanendra is presently on walkabout in the district headquarters of the far and mid-west, and the throngs appear to suggest a spontaneous outpouring of goodwill. This is a useful photo-op to cancel out the monarchy's tarnished image. But although the palace's spin doctors may try to portray the crowds as a sign of support for February First, almost everyone knows it is just people desperate for peace clutching at straws.

The king has even been shown on candid camera calling for a "torrent of peace" in the country, and this will no doubt strike a chord in many people who have suffered the conflict. But in the back of everyone's mind is the question: if he is so serious about restoring peace why doesn't he get on with it instead of taking the country back 30 years?

No amount of spin is going to salvage the king's forthcoming Europe and America tour, however. World leaders are in no mood to be seen shaking hands with someone who says one thing and does just the opposite. Nepal's military may get a reprieve this week with a US waiver on non-lethal arms supplies, but the spotlight is now on the actor and not the act. High level emissaries have said they now want to see "action, not more words".

The bottom line is that King Gyanendra hasn't convinced even friendly world leaders that he needed to disassemble democracy to defeat Maoism. In fact, they appear more convinced than ever that it'll have the opposite effect.

Time is running out, and there will have to be some dramatic and drastic rollbacks before 16 September if our head of state is not going to be treated like a pariah in the corridors of the UN General Assembly hall.