India in particular faces an increasingly untenable balancing act in maintaining its current accommodation of the junta, and will be under growing pressure this year to move toward a policy that better aligns its values and interests.
April's surplus will raise hopes that the Chancellor will meet his "golden rule" of balancing the budget, excluding investment, over the current economic cycle.
The fact of the matter is that, in his present capacity and under current circumstances, Mr. Ashcroft has to make hard decisions every day about where to draw the line in balancing the need for enhanced security while trying to protect the free and open society that all Americans, and particularly those on the Right, hold so dear.