Editorial Note WE, as a nation, are much less imprialisrn-conscious than per- '• haps any other in the Third World. Given the long and bitter history of colonial rule that we exprienced, this is rather curious; and it cannot be entirely explained by the fact that in the years since independence we have not had Latin-American style intervention by imprialism in our affairs. For one thing, the very experience of colonialism should have made us extra sensitive to imprialist interventions, which, no matter how they measure up on the Latin American scale, have been plentiful and persistent. Besides, like the "dog that did not bark", the absence of Latin American-style operation! by imperialism itself requires an explanation. In other words, if imperialist operations in India have been less overt and blatant than elsewhere, then that is a matter for particular investigation, and should not make us oblivious of its sinister and ubiquitous presence, including on our own soil. Whatever be the elements of our intellectual psyche that explains this ostrich-like attitude towards imperialism, the attitude itself constitutes a major weakness of our intellectual life. And in the emerging situation in India, this weakness is likely to be a seriously debilitating one. The assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the carnage which followed in its wake in several parts of the country, but above all in the capital city, have revealed the magnitude of the crisis facing the country. Never since independence has the very being of the country so emphatically cotne into question. An important contribution to tlie vertex in which we arc caught has undoubtedly been made by imperialism, notably U S imperialism. And obliviousness of this fact can prove exceedingly costly. It is in this context that we have decided to devote the current number of Social Scientist to a study of U S imperialism, particularly its involvement, viewed in a historical perspective, in Asia. __ The lead article by R R K-rishnan and the note by G V C Naidu, capture between them significant aspects of the history ofUS imperialist involvement in the Asia