Nepal, May 25 -- Prime Minister Balen Shah's absence from Parliament has dominated headlines in the last few weeks. For reasons known only to him, he has chosen not to attend, putting his own MPs on the defensive. He deputed the finance minister to respond on his behalf, but opposition parties remain livid. They call it a continued snub of the institution and accuse him of undermining parliamentary norms. It would have served him better to appear and address the house directly. Leaders are judged as much by their presence as by their actions. It's hard to fathom why he chose to stay away at a moment when his presence could have defused the controversy.

Winston Churchill once described the Soviet Union as 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery in...