Smoke With Big Chief

New Delhi sprung a surprise in backing Shashi Tharoor, an NRI, for the post of the next UN Secretary-General. Tharoor, a UN undersecretary general for communication and public information, is a career UN man. But the move does raise questions. What kind of consultations preceded this announcement: is there a good chance Tharoor will be backed by the P-5 of the UN Security Council? Forget the Americans, popular wisdom holds the next unsg should be Asian. But even here Thailand’s deputy PM Surakiart Sathirathai has a headstart. All 10 ASEAN countries are backing him.