“So, what do you reckon is the lesson learned?” “It’s human to err, right?”
“I am not sure what kind of errs you are talking of. I mean, if I steal, then if caught I can be forgiven and enjoy the fruits of my stealth if I plea bargain.”
“Ah, but punishment is in both worlds, my friend.”
“For your information in the Land of the Pure, complete exoneration is possible if you delay the court proceedings till you are in government again.”
“Hmmm, but over time the word err has been scaled down – it now refers to a blunder or on a scale of 1 to 10 err maybe….maybe a 2 at best.”
“Is 2 akin to having an offshore account, say in Panama, whose source of income…”
“Oh shush, in any case, when I asked if any lesson was learned I wasn’t referring to such matters.”
“Were you referring to the hullabaloo in the Western mainstream media over the US National Security group sharing war planning in an unclassified chat that included a journalist from the publication The Atlantic.”
“Didn’t Benazir Bhutto lose some classified documents in a hotel in England when she was Prime Minister?!”
“In those days there was paper and now there are these chats. Anyway my point is that the release of the chat did not change the course of the war planning.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s not as if Yemen has air power and could take measures to counter the US attacks.”
“Oh, I suppose that is right.”
“I mean, had this chat related to an attack on Iran, then the situation would have been different.”
“Indeed anyway, that wasn’t what I was referring to when I asked if a lesson had been learned. I was actually referring to the recent court decision to bar anyone who meets The Man Who Must Remain Nameless and Faceless and repeating his message, political message, outside the jail to the world at large.”
“Who gets to define whether a message is political?”
“The jail superintendent who requested….”
“But he isn’t a political animal so how would he know….”
“He will be informed – in all bureaucracies the chain of command as you are aware…”
“What if his toilet is clogged and no plumber is….” “Hey, I ask you, is any other inmate allowed to have his or her say after a visit?”
“He is not anyone, he is a former….”
“In jail, all inmates are equal.”
“Indeed. I suggest after a meeting they must quietly file out of the jail and develop their capacity to use analogies….”
“Oops, that may mean the lawyers are out and politicians are back in!”
“And the merry-go-round continues to go around.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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