India, Feb. 5 -- Military coups, noted Edward Luttwak, can be stunningly successful: instant transfer of power or abysmal failures: eating out of a mess tin in jail and waiting for a firing squad. In an era of disruption of the rule-based international order, when, according to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the rule of law has been replaced by the rule of power, last month's Gagan Thapa bloodless political coup was a masterstroke with no parallel in Nepal or elsewhere. It became a declared legitimate transfer of power which the stalwarts of the GOP Nepali Congress failed to pre-empt, Thapa achieving strategic surprise despite his declaratory stance. The old guard did not believe he could or would do it. With a trademark red tilak...