Partly Facetious: …negotiate deals as if you were strangers to each other

“A deal or no deal?”

“There is a German proverb; it is better to deal with a whole fool than half a fool.”

“Maybe they were thinking of Donald Trump – if you recall he was…”

“Is that a dig at The Khan?”

“Excuse me — you Khanzadehs must accept that all statements are not about The Khan.”

“Well, The Khan stated during his interview with CNN that he got on well with Donald Trump, who by the way is not liked by the liberal media, the liberal politicians, the liberal general public in the US, the liberal…”

“It’s not as if the Americans are liking Biden any better — 54 percent disapprove of him and just for your information a Yougov poll gives Trump a disapproval rating of only 46 percent with neutrals at 12 percent…”

“You being facetious?”

“I live in this country and wouldn’t dare my friend.”

“Anyway an Arab proverb says that know each other as if you were brothers negotiate deals as if you are strangers to each other.”

“Good advice but more relevant to monetary instead of political deals.”

“You mean if you want to use the ID card of your office boy to transfer huge amounts…”

“Or use Farah Gogi to transfer people rather than cash…”

“I guess that is checkmate to the both of us…anyway an Italian proverb is he gains a great deal who loses vain hope.”

“In Pakistani politics, I have numerous examples of vain hope, past, present and one would assume future, but somehow they become reality, so not applicable to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”

“Oh OK, so as a last resort let me quote a Chinese proverb to you. When the deal is done discuss it no more, it is difficult to collect dispersed water.”

“That is certainly relevant though our airwaves are full of sound bites on whether there was a deal, what the deal is, and…”

“And the end.”

“Needless to add the end justifies the means.”

“You have to learn to acknowledge that you will not always be allowed to have the last word in all matters.”

“Never.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022