It's the world's job to spin around, our job is to be the axis
But being devoid of logic or precedence is no disqualification these days. A handful of years ago, we were stalked by a genocidal virus. Half a season ago, we had war. A small spat in a nuclear family. Both sides complained to Papa. He came and sorted it out. His fondness for young, attractive model democracies is, anyway, all over the news in America.
This is one version of the story, not particularly unprecedented if you look at Indo-Pak history. And Donald J Trump speaks only the truth. His social media platform is named for that. Every time you repost what he writes there, it's apparently called a 'retruth'. Those fervently 'retruing' his version in Parliament included Rahul Gandhi, who threw that into the debate along with a gauntlet to the government. If you believe otherwise, he thundered, say it clearly that Trump is no Mahatma Gandhi. But we know that in classical Indian logic, for every assertion, the opposite is equally untrue.
Meanwhile, across the border, in Pakistan, it seems America has struck oil! No one from the colonial British to the contemporary Chinese had the foresight to dig beneath those bungalows in Abbottabad. Snake oil, perhaps? The Pakistan army is known to have inexhaustible reserves. Well, in material terms, past US prospectors have talked about shale. Hope our sensitive radars don't get alarmed by the sounds of fracking. Actually, no, this is just Trumpspeak. It means they have dug deep and discovered a new kind of strategic depth. Old-timers may recall that Rafi song which Lalu Yadav once quoted in parliament and got even Manmohan Singh grinning like a Cheshire cat: it's okay if you don't love me, as long as you don't love that—other—guy. Alas, it is happening.
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Trump's war against the world comes at America's expense
Trump seems to visualise that what is good for the globe is not good for the US. AFP President Donald Trump has unleashed an economic war against the rest of the world from the very inception of his second administration. American people, American companies and the entire political class of the United States are not with President Trump's economic policies—domestic or foreign. However, the principal difficulty lies in the fact that not many within the United States who oppose Trump's tariff tantrums are able to counter, resist or confront an administration that is vindictive against the opponents and resorts to retribution or revenge. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD President Trump does not spare anyone who makes statements or brings out reports on issues that run counter to his policies. 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The think tanks and the American universities, where academia plays a constructive role in the policymaking ecosystem, are struggling hard to make compromises with the Trump Administration to ensure restoration of federal funding. But still, the American academia can elucidate whether the proverbial emperor is without clothes. But how the international community responds will also determine if the current American imperial presidency is a passing phenomenon. The European allies have been left high and dry by Trump and are clamped with a 15 per cent tariff, which is much higher than the 2.5 per cent tariff that was imposed earlier. The Nato member countries have been bulldozed into spending 5 per cent of their GDP on defence when they are undergoing economic downturn and energy shortages. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Japan and South Korea are forced to pay more to keep the alliance structure alive. India was one of the first countries in 2025 to start negotiations with the Trump team on bilateral trade. After months of negotiations, the Trump Administration keeps pressuring India to open its agricultural sector, which would surely hurt the millions of Indian farmers. This pressure is compounded by its insistence on India to stop buying Russian energy resources, which would again grievously affect India's energy security. China stood firm and responded by restricting rare earth materials. It pinched the US, and Trump promptly relaxed its restrictions on technology and chip trade. But China's export controls hurt many other countries, including India. As the world is facing Trump's tariff war, it remains utterly divided. There were some whispers about the EU, China, Japan and many others coming together to confer on how to manage the uncertainties in international trade and overall political economy. But whispers have not given way to any concrete steps. 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