M Santhananaban
Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper carried a headline on 22 April that read: ‘At the request of CDF Munir, PM Shehbaz’, Trump announces extension in ceasefire until Iran submits proposal.
The full picture, as reported widely, is that US President Donald Trump extended the truce at the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, holding off any further attack on Iran until its leaders could come up with a unified proposal.
Trump has now made Munir his main character and channel of communication in its Operation Epic Fury war of choice. Should the effort to end the war fail, any blame can now be laid directly at Munir’s door.
Trump deserves credit for one thing: manufacturing the mother of all excuses for his formidable failures. He cuts the figure of a man with no clear plan, credibility or course of action in a war many argue he started.
A divided house
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The world’s other great powers, his allies and adversaries alike, are watching the tangled maze he has created – both at home and abroad. He speaks of a fractured leadership in Iran, yet his own country is deeply divided along its own fault lines.
The world’s news media continue to apportion considerable importance to whatever a beleaguered, erratic and temperamental Trump says – and the consequences are real.
The cost of war
The global economy has been adversely affected by this Trump-inspired war, his warmongering rhetoric and the restrictions imposed on logistics and transport.
Meanwhile, millions of people in West Asia have been displaced. Distress, disease and disaster threaten tens of millions more.
Something has to give within the US for things to change for the better. It cannot wait.
Dato’ M Santhananaban is a former Malaysian ambassador with 45 years of public sector experience.
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
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