PARTLY FACETIOUS: ‘We don’t talk shoes, we talk pages’

“The word blitzkrieg comes to mind.”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Blitzkrieg means lightning war – an offensive warfare method responsible for German successes in the early years of the Second World War.”

“That would be the period when Hitler was in-charge, right – a man responsible for the present day German foreign policy supporting genocide of Palestinians.”

“Well, there are other Western nations supporting Israel, and perhaps the reason is the US unconditional support for Israel.”

“Right, but the Germans are kinda different. Anyway, the US has reportedly asked countries to stay away from the UN conference scheduled for next week sponsored by Saudi Arabia and France on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…”

“Yes, that is according to a US diplomatic cable.”

“Cable or cypher?”

“Are you by any chance referring to the charge levelled by the Man Who Must Remain Nameless and Faceless…”

“If the shoe fits.”

“We don’t talk shoes, we talk pages.”

“Shut up anyway, the difference between the two situations is that the one was sent by the US diplomats and the cypher was sent by a Pakistani diplomat. And there I rest my case.”

“But…”

“Stop, no more discussion anyway, when I used the word blitzkrieg I wasn’t quite referring…”

“Let me take a guess: the US is pulling out non-essential staff from countries around Iran and sources reveal that it is because Israel has informed its ally that it is going to attack Iran, which would almost certainly pull the US into the fray and…”

“No, not that either. When I used the word blitzkrieg I was actually referring to the presence of the Finance Minister and the Chairman of FBR whichever channel I surfed yesterday.”

“Ha ha yes indeed they first antagonized the independent media then said sorry then Finance Minister displayed some Marie Antoinette like mind set…”

“What that, if the people don’t have bread, why don’t they eat cake?”

“Let me put it this way, this was not the time to justify the massive increase in salaries of publicly elected representatives and…”

“But the two men displayed a great sense of ease during the post-budget press conference, so what changed?”

“I reckon the Prime Minister told them to explain to the people of the country….”

“Ah, right, I didn’t think of that.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025