PARTLY FACETIOUS: Rock is Biden and the hard place could well be Trump

“I reckon there is extremely poor leadership on display.”

“Hey, when you are between a rock and a hard place, decision making suffers.”

“That comment begs two questions: what hard place are you referring to and who do you think I am referring to?”

“Hmm, the hard place is exile in one of the poshest parts of London purchased from income of around a million dollars a month, or so claimed to have been earned from the Dubai leader, delivered on the back of sixty large camels or was it one of the sons who purchased the property from the interest free loan as per Islamic traditions that was claimed in the tax returns to have been given to the son…”

“The income was to ensure that whatever the father recommended would be shot down…”

“Don’t be facetious.”

“Anyway, the sons have not done their dads proud. I mean, Nawaz Sharif was convicted for not declaring income that he got from his son and the Samdhi, with a small ‘s’, was accused of income beyond known means.”

“As our political wheel turns, all those standing fall and the fallen rise!”

“Hmmm, anyway in terms of poor judgment on display I was referring to Nawaz Sharif’s faith in his samdhi’s ability to manage the economy and this in spite of all indicators that indicate his gross ineptitude…”

“The first and only rule of Nawaz Sharif: never admit to a mistake.”

“That statement assumes he knows he made a mistake, and that is just not right.”

“OK I reckon he does not realise that before 2017 when Ishaq Dar slunk out of the country, that was two years before Nawaz Sharif could leave courtesy his brother, Dar controlled the rupee dollar parity supported by massive external borrowing which led to the largest ever current account deficit in the country’s history which compelled the then PML-N government to depreciate the rupee…”

“Ironically, it was Dar’s control of the rupee that was the reason Nawaz Sharif reappointed him as finance minister on 27 September 2022 wherein he then proceeded to control the rupee dollar parity again and lost the country 4 billion dollars in remittance inflows.”

“Well there you go anyway, when I said poor leadership I was referring to Biden and his comment in the aftermath of our counterattack on Iranian territory - that Iran is not liked in the region. Leave alone his stumbling and sustained support for disproportionate Israeli offensive in Gaza that continues to this day, opting to attack Yemen rather than display leadership as a powerful negotiator/mediator, then just for good measure heckling China with respect to Taiwan – China which incidentally has already brokered a breaking of the ice between Iran and its Arab neighbours…”

“I studied in the US and am therefore biased, but I have to admit that the rock is Biden and the hard place could well be Trump.”

“What about the poodle in the UK?”

“No issues there - he is expected to be voted out if he survives till the elections later this year.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024