India, April 3 -- The much awaited address to the nation by US President Donald Trump turned out to be a damp squib. The world tuned in - eager to see whether Trump would announce an end to the war against  Iran - but it instead got several minutes of the President's usual self-praise and little else. The fact that no dramatic announcements were made is in itself interesting, as it raises a key question: Why did Trump choose to speak, and what could be the end-effect of this?

First, the speech was clearly aimed at rescuing the President's approval ratings at home, which have dropped sharply, with even the Republican approval falling from 52% in January to 43% now. Last week saw the largest non-violent march against Trump's policies...