In March 1991, as Yugoslavia was being pulled apart by the insatiable demands of its Serbian and Croat nationalists, Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic and Croatian president Franjo Tudjman - supposedly implaccable foes - met secretly at a hunting-lodge at Karadjordjevo, formerly one of Tito’s favourite retreats.

If the former treaty-prone PLO signed away Palestine to the Israelis, and if the surrounding Arab States have fallen prey to the economic and military mercy of Israel, the question arises, what is left to be lost by the Palestinians?

The dogs of war are once again barking in western capitals. US president Bill Clinton, off the hook for his sexual encounters by a promiscuous American public, feels he must now prove his virility in other ways.

Blasphemy in Europe is fast catching up with pornography as a fame-and-money-spinner, boosting the sale and popularity of worthless books, films and paintings, whose only eye-catching quality is their capacity to offend or shock.

From Nigeria through Pakistan to Indonesia, there is talk of tracing the billions of Muslim money salted away by the corrupt regimes that have taken turns to send their countries to the cleaners.

The socio-economic and political chaos that grips Pakistan today allows little room for serious intellectual debate or discussion. To the political confusion must be added the din made by various religious parties and groups who insist that their version of Islam is the only correct one and that everyone else is destined for Hell-fire.

Fighting in Kosova continued apparently unabated despite last month’s supposed ‘withdrawal’ of Serbian forces after the Holbrooke-Milosevic pact of October 13 and the lifting of the threat of NATO airstrikes against the Serbs.

When general Abdulsalam Abubakar took over as Nigerian head of State in June, following the sudden death of his predecessor general Sani Abacha, he promised to reform the country’s political system, re-introduce democracy, and ‘withdraw all charges against political offenders.’

Last month witnessed some highly unusual developments even by Pakistani standards where political events can take a sudden and unexpected turn.