Nepalis have so lost their dynamism that they feel they cannot do anything. By that same token, there are not a few expatriates who feel that they can do anything here. This sense of incapacity on one side and omnipotence on the other creates a dangerous brew at a time when the Maoists are mounting an ever-more-dangerous challenge to the democratic state.

To be sure, there are a lot of outsiders among us who have shown more caring and commitment than many Nepalis to the long-term welfare of the people during these terrible times. They are concerned enough to speak up for human rights, provide humanitarian aid, and make arrangements for sustainable assistance necessary because of the way the political parties have messed up our society and economy.

And yet, for the very reason that they hold the chequebook, the involvement of donors is a double-edged sword. It can misused not so much with malafide intentions, but as an attempt to help in a complex situation that should be even more incomprehensible to the outsider than to the insider. It was not too long ago that a government and prime minister responsible for wrecking Parliament and killing local government ruled from Singha Durbar using, to a large extent, the purported support of the two allies in the \'War against Terror\'.

The expatriate community is often one step removed from the marketplace of Nepali ideas. There is a divide of class, social circle and language. It is quite easy for so many in the donor and diplomatic community to miss out on the strident debate out there simply because most of it happens in the Nepali language. A case in point is that the heads of major agencies involved in food-aid seem to have been alerted to the media\'s interest in the possible future famine in the far-West because of an article in the Nepali Times, whereas the Nepali language press had covered it more than a week earlier. The way embassies and agencies get their news must be spruced up, for the power they have in Nepal today. And perhaps we should request the eminent, ailing scholar Mahesh Chandra Regmi to restart the press digest, which used to make the Nepali-language discourse available to interested expatriates.

The cultural chasm that separates the donor/diplomat from the Nepali politician/administrator and civil society gatekeepers makes us accept every panacea on offer. While the latter may be sceptical of the outcome, they will not disagree when those dazzled by the success of the Norwegian mediation effort propose to mediate, offer good offices, provide conflict resolution consultants, and otherwise help Nepal find a way out of the maze of violence.

And so it is, today, conflict resolution season in the central Himalaya. Seminars, workshops, conferences are on order to help Nepalis resolve the problems amongst themselves, with comparative analyses, analytical exercises, focus groups, what have you. Good intentions abound.

We need all help in trying to resolve the civil war that is tearing our society apart, but such aid must be provided intelligently, and with a sense of respect for Nepal and Nepalis. This means, understanding Nepal and the Nepali discourse to fathom the undercurrents which have led to both the rise of the Maoists as well as the ever-tumultuous political landscape.

There must be some use for facilitation exercises where it is claimed sometimes that the interlocutor need not even know what the conflict is all about in order to help resolve it. The key to successful negotiation is thought to lie in the framework of the exercise. We can only beg to differ, and state that Nepal is in a mess today because this is a country of great complexity that is historical, demographic, geographic and geo-political, all of which have to be understood.

Anyone is welcome to mediate, interlocute, resolve, referee-even facilitate-as long their homework is done. But, this we must insist on because it is ultimately what counts: it is in the end Nepalis in positions of power and opinion-making who have to wake up to the true state of our country. If we wake up, then help from the donors/diplomats stands a chance of working. Otherwise, the fate of failed state looms large.