Davos is becoming an increasingly happening place. Apart from bilateral deals on the sidelines, Donald Trump was juggling Gaza and Greenland. While he was forming the Peace Council for one, he was doing a deal with the rest of Europe on the other.
Pakistan’s increased diplomatic importance was shown by the fact that it was invited to join the Peace Council. However, it is not so important that it was allowed any role over Greenland. Of course, it may be that it isn’t final over Greenland. Perhaps it’s interesting that Trump’s readiness not to attack a fellow NATO member came from his decision not to impose a tariff on the rest of Europe, which objected.
Trump did reveal that part of his reason for declaring his intentions about Greenland were because he was not given the Nobel Peace Prize, something which the Norwegian government decides. It’s not so much that he took his anger out on Denmark, as because he decided that after the snub, he declared, “No more Mr Nice Guy.” I mean, what’s another war to someone whose efforts in defusing 18 wars (or 42, or whatever figure you want) have gone unrecognized. Would the invasion of Greenland have involved a paradrop on Norway? Or is that going to happen before the next Nobel Prizes are awarded?
I wonder who Trump wants to win the next Nobel Prize for Medicine? Probably the doctors who say that children are born autistic if their mothers took aspirin or paracetamol during their pregnancies. Or maybe the doctor who said bleach was a sovereign remedy for covid-19. I wonder if Imran Khan has a chance while jail, for his diagnosis of Nawaz Sharif as perfectly all right from his examination of the back of his head in a photograph.
Somehow, the Roman Emperor Nero comes to mind. No, not for the burning of Rome, nor for the fiddling. But for how when Nero went to Greece, and competed at the Olympic Games, he won all the prizes (which included one for singing), even in chariot-racing, in which he had fallen out of his chariot.
The USA is about to host the football World Cup later this year. Woe betide FIFA if the USA doesn’t win! And if Trump is selected, guess how many goals he’ll score in the final? A record, I’ll wager.
One of the things Trump is not responsible for is the fire in Karachi, in which so many people died. But not only didn’t 71 people not have to die, maybe nobody did. Whatever the reasons for the fire, the exits were inadequate, mostly closed and there were counters set up in the corridors, further narrowing already narrow passages.
Another thing Trump should not be blamed for is the mayhem during Basant. One had thought it was over. After all, 20 years should be long enough to make us forget it. But all it made us forget is why we banned it all. It was because innocent people on motorbikes were getting killed when glasscoated twince slit their throats. There have already been a couple of incidents. Glass-coated twine has been banned, but it seems the ban is ineffective.
I wonder if the ban’s lifting will enable us to earn foreign exchange? That was the reason Gen Pervez Musharraf gave for keeping the festival. It’s interesting, but the festival also takes place in Kasur, which was the site of the kiddie porn scandal. Another way of earning foreign exchange, wasn’t it?
Another way of earning foreign exchange,, by New Zealand, was almost jeopardized by England white-ball skipper Harry Brook, who had a run-in with a bouncer at a Wellington nightclub. Brook was out for duck the next day. England has got a problem with their top order, because Ben Duckett was drunk at a beach in Australia earlier. He got out cheaply the next day. They should take lessons from Ali Amin Gandapur in dealing with the problems of performing once one has imbibed too much.
I’ve heard the Board of Peace is supposed to replace the UN. Well, at a billion dollars a kick, Trump must think it’s good business. Pakistan is disappointed that the money isn’t being loaned, and that there’s no provision for instalments. So we have to go to the IMF again.
