Your Eyewitness knows that to “parley” means to discuss or bargain about ending a dispute between two groups. But in the “Pirates of the Caribbean”, he was struck by the explication of Captain Barbossa, that the parley wasn’t a rule, as Elizabeth, the leading lady, thought, but merely a “guideline” adhered to by pirates. They were all thieves, after all, and a bit of flexibility on how they “parleyed” was expected. Nobody exemplified the spirit of “parley” more than the rakish Captain Jack Sparrow – as played by the inimitable Johnny Depp!!
Anyhow, your Eyewitness always saw these conclaves of world leaders, like G7 and G20, as “parleys” more than anything!! After all, who’re bigger pirates than today’s world leaders – excepting perchance the corporate interests they represent in their home countries?!! The question he had on this G20 meet in Bali was: who’d play Captain Jack Sparrow’s role now that Russia’s Putin wasn’t attending?!! Can you think of a more rakish world leader than Putin, who rides horses bareback and bare chested, not to mention wrestling bears!!
Your Eyewitness had to settle for USA’s bleary-eyed Biden huddling with China’s newly self-appointed President-for-life, Xi Jinping. Maybe their enablers suspected they’d raise the ennui level to sleep-inducing proportions, so they’d built up the meet as possibly triggering a “New Cold War”. Well, excuse your Eyewitness for asking, but how do you trigger a “Cold War”?? Hard stares between leaders? No “shaking of “hands” – like we saw one leader in Guyana practice?? Calling each other names, like “Doddering Joe” or “Wannbe Mao”??
Can’t be the economic war. That’s been going on for decades – during which America committed hara-kiri by building up China as the ‘factory of the world’, while allowing its own factories and infrastructure to fall apart!! And China has won that hands down, since it’s not only gonna pass the US in the size-of-economy contest – “let’s see whose GDP’s bigger!!” – in a decade or two. Biden’s “export controls” (read ban!) on chip technology ain’t gonna matter much, save to make the Chinese more self-reliant!! Just as Russia’s becoming more self-reliant after the Western sanctions – while the West are hurting!!
Anyhow, the two “big boys” did meet on the sidelines – as they say – and it’s NOT like our sidelines, which are dams!! Their “sidelines” was some posh presidential suite in some luxury hotel!! Predictably, it was a damp squib – certainly NO fireworks!! No mention of China squelching Xiguirs’ human rights and supporting Russia in Ukraine. Just a tepid, “We’re going to compete vigorously, but I’m not looking for conflict,” from Biden and “Taiwan’s the first red line that must not be crossed in U.S.-China relations,” from Xi!!
This ain’t even a parley!!
…among US Republicans
Well, if you thought that the Republican’s less-than-stellar performance in their midterms meant they’ll be slinking into some corner to sulk – think again!! As your Eyewitness writes this, Trump’s expected to announce he’ll be running for the presidency in 2024! And from where he sits – in dear old mudland – your Eyewitness thinks there’s no way Trump’s gonna retire to Mar-a-Lago!! This fella lives for the world stage!! And he’s discovered that what everyone thought was just an outrageous schtick is now the gold standard for “presidential” behaviour!! So how do you keep him down on the golf course, when he’s EXPERIENCED all those bright lights!!
Have you seen him ripping into Republican de Santis for winning Florida’s governorship so massively?? HE certainly hasn’t seen all those whom he endorsed sinking like lead weights in the bottom of the lagoon!! Trump, let’s remember, creates “alternative facts” – in the unforgettable phrase of his erstwhile press secretary, Kellyanne Conway!!
Grab your popcorn for an unbelievable next two years!!
…on Venezuelan migrants
There’s been a high-level meeting on the Venezuelan migrants who keep pouring into or troubled land. As a people whom Burnham pushed as migrants into every country on Planet Earth, let’s welcome them.
