CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

The Ballroom and the Brink

Photograph Source: The White House – Public Domain

A lot of people argue that we Brits should stop obsessing over the United States. After all, we have enough on our plate, not least energy bills set to jump another 20% in July, and a right-wing press determined to see the back of Keir Starmer. But for all our domestic troubles, we are not—yet—the ones most likely to start a third world war. There may be talk here of a war footing—Russia playing silly buggers in the Channel, China accused of sending missiles to Iran. But the eye, inevitably, remains locked on the United States.

Watching a noticeably leaner JD Vance step onto the tarmac at Rawalpindi—a garrison city I remember well—it was hard not to believe that had there been any real prospect of peace, Donald Trump would have been in the capital Islamabad already, hovering, announcing, playfully shadow-boxing, enjoying the light. As it was, he was at a clammy UFC event with Marco Rubio. Vance was said by some to be in Pakistan only because the Iranians wanted him there. Some men arrive. Others make an entrance. He, it was said, was the fall guy. So when he left empty-handed, it was no surprise. This was the man after all who once said it was the UK that was turning into an Islamic state with nuclear weapons. A better definition of Pakistan today, perhaps? “They soon could be a serious threat to us in America,” he said of us Brits.

In the meantime, we are asked—again and again—to contemplate cultish images of a brand-new, self-aggrandising arch........

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