In his inaugural speech July 25, India's new president, Pranab Mukherjee, called the fight against terrorism the "fourth world war," and portrayed his own country as a frontline state. Said Mukherjee: "We are in the midst of a fourth world war; the third was the Cold War, but it was very warm in Asia, Africa and Latin America till it ended in the early 1990s. The war against terrorism is the fourth. India has been on the frontline of this war long before many others recognised its vicious depth or consequences." (Hindustan Times, July 25)

Mukherjee, a stalwart of the ruling Congress Party, was elected to the largely ceremonial post by members of the national and state parliaments. (BBC News, July 22) He joins numerous others who have adopted the term "World War 4," including Malaysian elder statesman Mahathir Mohamad, former CIA director James Woolsey, neocon pundit Norman Podhoretz, and Mexican revolutionary Subcommander Marcos.

See our last post on the politics of the GWOT.