Trump's mathematics

Just like us?

Published in The News on January 26, 2026   

Way back in the 1970s, Pakistan had a health minister who claimed in an international conference that he had got prices of medicines reduced by 1000 per cent by introducing generic drugs. He was asked how this was possible, as reducing the price of anything costing Rs 100 by a hundred percent would mean it would be available for free, and a reduction of a thousand percent would mean that the buyer would get Rs 900 as well as the free item. I do not remember what the minister said when this was pointed out to him (if at all it was), but it was forgotten in a few days.

I was reminded of this when I heard US President Trump promise a thousand per cent reduction in drug prices. I could understand a Pakistani minister saying it, as we know the state of education in our country, but how is it that even the US president does not know what a seventh grade student does? Should we then assume that the US is just another third world country?

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.thenews.pk/print/1395166-just-like-us

US Iran tension and property prices in Karachi

There are credible reports that Pakistanis in Dubai and other countries in the region are moving their wealth to Pakistan to buy property in their homeland. Prices of bungalows, apartments and plots have skyrocketed, particularly in Karachi's DHA. The main reason is that the US may attack Iran any moment, and the resulting war will cause destruction in Arab countries neighboring Iran (if it retaliates, as it has threatened).

It's been evident for a long time that the glamour of Dubai, Qatar and Kuwait is a sham. If there is even a minor disturbance there, like the public coming out on the streets to protest, the resulting panic will see a mass exodus of foreigners from these countries. The attacks on Iran six months ago by the US and Israel led to the shutdown of Dubai's airport. In fact, yesterday some major airlines cancelled their flights to Israel and the region, expecting an attack by the US on Iran. 

Let's hope sanity prevails and Trump can be persuaded to back down. 

Jungle rule: Trump's invasion of Venezuela

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For weeks, Donald Trump had been talking of invading Venezuela and arresting its president. Yesterday the unthinkable happened: US forces captured the Venezuelan president and his wife while they were asleep. This is pure jungle rule. Trump is behaving like the neighborhood bully. Last week he said that the US would bomb Iran if demonstrators in that country were killed by the government. Of course, if he does attack Iran again, the Iranians would become more united. But would he threaten the Saudis if they did the same thing?

What I don't understand is how the US could simply walk into Venezuela and arrest its sitting president. Obviously, there must have been agents on the ground who kept the US informed of the Venezuelan president's whereabouts. But why hasn't the same thing been done to Cuba, which is avowedly anti-US? Is it because the Cuban people support their leaders?

It seems that Trump wants to control all the oil left on earth. He doesn't realize how much fossil fuels are responsible for global climate change. 

Trump's million dollar gold and green card

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I'd never have guessed that the US economy is in such a bad state that it needs foreigners to get US citizenship for a million dollars (which is equivalent to 300 million Pakistani rupees. I know a few people among my near and distant relatives who have that kind of money, but I can't understand why anyone like that would like to live permanently in the US, now that we know how unstable that country is. But then, there are gangsters in Russia and Africa who would definitely love to settle there. In fact, as Trump said, there are about 40,000 who have applied for the gold card, some of whom may be Pakistanis.

Come to think of it, I've never wanted to live anywhere other than in Pakistan, even though I could have gone to the US in the 1960s, even though most of my life has been spent in struggling to survive. If I'd gone to the US and spent 50 years working in jobs I didn't like, I'd have gone crazy. So I suppose it's been a good decision to remain in the country I grew up in.

Why is Trump pardoning criminals?

President Trump is behaving like a modern-day Julius Caesar. Not only does he think he's above the law, he's apparently thinking that he can do anything illegal and get away with it. His bullying tactics to coerce the president of Venezuela to resign prove that he's mentally unbalanced. His order to attack all boats on the Venezuelan coast, his order to all airlines to stop going to that country is not something that the president of a democratic country should do. Yet he's doing it, and apparently no one can stop him.

His latest is a string of pardons to hardened and convicted criminals. The president of Honduras was serving a 45 year jail sentence, but Trump simply pardoned him. Then there was the Ponzi scheme guy who defrauded 17,000 Americans of 1.2 billion dollars. He has been pardoned after serving only 12 days in prison. The latest is a senator belonging to the Democratic party (Henry Ceullar) who was scheduled to be tried next month (together with his wife). Yet he too has been let off by Trump. Obviously, Trump is not doing such things because he loves them. There must be something in it for him too. We'll know soon enough. 

Trump being cordial to Mamdani shocks Americans!

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Lo and behold, we saw another side of Trump when he met Mamdani. He even asked Mamdani to say yes when the New York mayor-elect was asked if he still considered that Trump is a fascist. This is definitely not the Trump we know, as we've seen how rudely he treated Zelensky. Let's hope that Trump changes and becomes a really nice and lovable person. 

But the question remains: will Mamdani be able to persuade billionaires like Trump to pay more taxes on their properties? It will indeed be a miracle if that happens.

I can't help comparing the situation of New York with that of Karachi. If only the taxes paid by Karachi residents were used for the city's development, it would not be the world's least livable. That can only happen only if the city is made a province. Unfortunately, that won't happen for a long time.

The great hack: how elections were rigged in the US and elsewhere

  I saw a Netflix documentary ("The great hack") and was astonished to find that Trump won the 2016 election by what can only be described as rigging. Cambridge Analytica, a British company "persuaded" thousands of US voters to vote for the Republican party, and Trump was the winner despite Hilary Clinton getting more votes. It seems that only 70,000 voters in three US states (called the "swing" states) decided who the next president would be.

This happened not only in the US, but in many other countries as well. The referendum in the UK that led to that country breaking away from the UK was influenced by the company, using Facebook to find out which voters were "persuadable". In Trinidad and Tobago, an Indian origin woman became the country's prime minister, and Facebook data was used to influence the result of the election. I have noticed a significant decline in the use of Facebook, perhaps due to this reason. But everything I write on Whattsapp is also being observed, since Facebook owns it.

As someone in the documentary said, it's impossible to hold free and fair elections anywhere in the world. 

Racism in the US

We saw a lot of racism and prejudice against Muslims when we were kids in school. Even though our Catholic teachers were brown (like us), we could see that they thought Muslims were inferior. There was one male teacher who used to say that Muslims were backward and inferior to Christians and others. But we assumed, as the years went by, that most Americans and Europeans were now free of prejudice, despite occasional incidents of policemen killing blacks in the US, and Pakistanis being beaten up in the UK.

It seems that we were wrong. I've seen so much hatred of Muslims on social media that I'm shocked. A class fellow of mine (a brown Catholic and a US citizen) posted a video on Facebook in which a young boy is spewing hatred against Muslims in general and Mamdani in particular. He warns residents of New York that if Mamdani is elected mayor, they will soon see Sharia law in their city. 

But the most surprising thing is Trump's racism. He has allowed only white South Africans to immigrate to the US, and today he's asked the Pentagon to be ready to invade Nigeria to save the Christians in that country. I wonder why he didn't say anything when the Israelis were killing Christians in Gaza. In fact, all churches in Gaza have been demolished and the Christians there pray in the open. 

Israel's so-called "victory" is anything but that

Both Trump and Netanyahu have proclaimed that the Gaza cease fire agreement is a victory for Israel, but they're both mistaken. Israel has actually lost the war and has lost the support of most Americans and Europeans. In years to come, Israel will do everything it can to sabotage the agreement, but it won't have the backing of those who were its allies until now.

Even a significant number of Israelis have turned against Netanyahu's government. During Trump's speech in the Israeli parliament, some members openly called for recognition of Palestine. In the US, opinion polls show that a majority (including Jews) believe that Israel has committed genocide. It seems that every American under the age of 30 is against Israel, and there will be immense pressure on the US government to curtail military aid to the apartheid state.

The best thing would be for Netanyahu and his hawkish ministers to be tried by the International Court of Justice and sentenced to prison terms, but of course that is not likely to happen soon.

Trump's new blows on india: H-1B visa fees and sanction on comstructing Iranian port

Suddenly, Trump has dealt two new devastating blows on India (in addition to the 50 percent duty on Indian goods). First, he removed the exemption India enjoyed for constructing Chahbahar Port in Iran. Now, he has increased the H-1B visa fees from about 2000 dollars to 100,000 dollars (which went into effect yesterday, 21 September 2025). About 75 percent of these visas are given to Indians who are mostly employed in the US IT industry. 

Even though the government made it clear that this fee would be imposed only on new applicants, and those who already had the visa need not worry, there was panic in India. Thousands of Indians working in the US were visiting India due to the marriage season and a religious festival (Durga Puja). They desperately tried to get back to the US before the deadline, as a result of which air fares to the US surged to five times the normal cost. Those already seated with boarding cards in San Francisco and other US airports begged to be off-loaded, fearing that they would be deported on returning to the US from India. One Indian IT executive even said that his annual salary is not US $ 100,000, so how could he pay that much to renew his visa.

What Indians can't explain is why they need to work in other countries, since (as they claim) India has the fourth largest economy. Already Indian exports have declined so much that a 100 million Indians have been rendered jobless (due to the 50 percent tariff on Indian goods imposed by Trump).

India has warned the US that imposing this high amount is detrimental to humanity, but Trump will not budge. People are wondering why he has suddenly turned against India. Perhaps it's because the US has now realized that India can no longer be depended upon to fight a war with China, which became evident after Pakistan inflicted a crushing defeat upon it in May this year.

After Israel's attack, will Qatar give another plane to Trump?

When Trump began his second term eight months ago, Qatar surprised everyone by gifting him a 400 million dollar plane, while Saudi Arabia pledged to invest 600 billion dollars in the US, thinking that Trump would protect them against Israel and persuade it to agree to the formation of a Palestine state. But now, after Israel has killed thousands of innocent Palestinians (the majority of them women and children), attacking Iran and finally bombing Qatar, they must be wondering if they should remain allies of the US. Of course, with American troops guarding all the royal families in the region, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for them to switch sides.

The day before yesterday, when Hamas leaders in Qatar were discussing the latest US peace proposal, Israeli planes bombed the building where they were meeting. Of course, all Arab states were shocked, and I doubt if any of them believed Trump when he said he didn't even know about the raid until his military told him about it. As usual, Arab and Muslim leaders will make a lot of noise protesting against the raid, and Israel will continue to act with impunity, as it has full US backing. So, the question arises, will Qatar give another 400 million dollar air plane to Trump?

As expected, Trump makes a U-turn on India

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Like all narcissists, US president Donald Trump frequently backs out when he finds out he was wrong. He slapped a fifty percent tariff on almost all goods India exports to the US, not knowing that India had the option of rushing into the arms of China (with whom it has had a very bitter relationship due to its alliance with Pakistan). In fact, all BRIC countries regarded India as a Trojan horse due to its special relationship with the US. So, when Trump saw that his policy had backfired, he started calling the repulsive Modi his friend, and now it seems that India will soon start sleeping with the US.

This doesn't mean that India will get everything it wants from the US, like for instance the stoppage of military assistance to Pakistan. India's recent misadventure against Pakistan proved that it is not the superpower it pretends to be. The only thing favoring India is that it's a huge market, which is why US companies have already invested heavily in India. But unless India agrees to Trump's demands, like access to its agriculture, Trump will never agree to restore the special relationship it had before with the US.

Suddenly, Indians have grown fond of China!

Until a few days ago, Indians hated China. They would explain India's humiliating defeat in the 4-day war with Pakistan by saying that India couldn't have won against 3 countries (Pakistan, China and Turkey), ignoring the fact that India had Israeli weapons and French and Russian warplanes as well as American weapons. There was much vitriol spewed against Turkey and Azerbaijan as well, Indians cancelled their vacations to both countries.

Suddenly, everything changed after Trump imposed the huge tariff of 50 percent on all Indian goods. Now, Indians even say that Pakistan had been supported by the US in the war, forgetting that it was China which did so.

But is the new fondness for China going to last? I doubt it. India has hired a US lobbying firm to persuade Trump to change his mind, which will happen anyway if Trump wins the Nobel peace prize. Then everything will be as before, India becoming a strategic ally and all that BS. China will of course never give up its claim to Indian-occupied Arunachal Pradesh. Indians will suddenly remember that their much-touted Rafaels were shot down by Pakistani jets manufactured jointly by China and Pakistan. 

Indians promoting fake news about Trump calling Modi four times!

As the deadline approached for Trump to impose 50 percent duty on Indian goods, Indians desperately tried to tell the world that they are not beggars, and Trump had called Modi four times. Why would the most powerful person in the world try to persuade the leader of a desperately poor country like India to agree to his demands? If it had been China, he'd have called ten times, but India? Indians most probably think that the rest of the world are very stupid and would believe any good fake news about their prime minister. The world knows that seventy percent of Indians are hungry and desperately trying to survive on a dollar a day. In fact, Modi should stop spending so much (90 billion dollars a year) on defense, he can buy fighter jets and other equipment from Pakistan and easily save 70 billion dollars every year to feed hungry Indians (besides providing them with toilets).

Of course, Trump didn't back out, he imposed the highest duty on India, and Indian exporters are spending sleepless nights.

But I know that the well-being of Indians is far from Modi's mind. He just wants his friends Ambani and Adani to earn billions in kickbacks so he will continue to buy Rafales from France and MIGS from Russia.

Failure to get Imran Khan freed

A key difference

Published in DAWN on August 17, 2025

THIS is with reference to the editorial ‘Another attempt’ (Aug 6). The fact that there has been no popular movement to get the jailed opposition party leader freed despite two years of incarceration proves that the party and its leader are not as popular as they believe, or they want others to believe.

They fully expected that United States President Donald Trump would secure his release from prison. That did not happen. They spent millions on lobbying in order to persuade US Congressmen to do the bidding, but to no avail.

Recently, his two sons flew to the US for the same purpose, and returned without any result. They even spent a huge amount placing an advertisement in the New York Times, calling attention to the man’s ‘plight’ and appealing for his release. Where is all this money coming from?

Other Pakistani leaders, past and present, have been jailed for periods much longer than the former prime minister, but they did not go to any such length to secure their release.

And, this is despite the fact that the man has been jailed for corruption after an extended legal process on the basis of tangible evidence that was available against him. Perhaps the other political leaders who were jailed in the past did not have as much wealth as he surely has.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.dawn.com/news/1931427/a-key-difference

 

Indian Air Force Chief's desperate attempt to save Modi!

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I've always believed that most Indians and Pakistanis are so similar that they might be first cousins. The people of our Punjab are remarkably like those who live in Indian Punjab. They are both good technicians, they are good fighters, they look alike, they speak the same language and they have the same customs. They even have the same primitive beliefs about women (but that is true of most Pakistanis as well).

So I wasn't very surprised when the Indian Air Force chief (Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh) suddenly declared that his air force had shot down six Pakistani planes in the four day war in May this year. In fact, I wonder why he didn't make this fantastic statement earlier, why did he do it three months after the conflict? Better late than never, I suppose.

The timing is very significant. It came after Trump repeatedly said that five or six jets had been shot down, as Pakistan has proved. So even Indian analysts are amazed. One of them even says that it's a lie, and it will have a demoralizing effect on Indian air force officers, who know the truth. Obviously, it's a desperate attempt to save Modi from humiliation. But I doubt if it will succeed.

Trump should realize he's making Modi very popular

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The more Trump says things that make him look stupid, the more convinced I become that there's something terribly wrong with the American education system. Trump has antagonized Indians with his threats to further penalize India for buying oil from Russia. He hasn't stopped after imposing a high duty rate (25%) on Indian goods that are being exported to the US. On the contrary, he's threatened to increase the duty rate even more. He tried the same thing with China, but it didn't work. The same has happened in India.

India has pointed out that both the US and the EU are importing from Russia (including oil and gas), so why shouldn't they be allowed to do it? India's resistance to the threats and refusal to bow down to Trump are increasingly making Muslim-killer Modi even more popular. I doubt if India will ever agree to stop importing arms and oil from Russia. In fact, being a member of BRICS, it will have the support of Brazil as well as China in its defiance of Trump. I believe it would be appropriate for Trump to stop issuing threats to India immediately, otherwise the situation will no longer be in his control. 

Why is Trump favoring Pakistan and penalizing India?

Indians are in a state of shock. US President Donald Trump has made it clear that he doesn't like India and has imposed a 25 percent tariff on Indian exports to the US. Not only that, he has penalized India for buying Russian oil despite a ban. He has also described the Indian economy as "dead".

Indians must be wondering what happened. Modi has spent the past ten years trying to get Pakistan declared a terrorist state. The Indian cricket team has been prevented from playing matches with Pakistan. Last April, Modi got a terrorist attack staged in which thirty two Indians were slain, just to provide him with an excuse to bomb some so-called "terrorist havens" in Pakistan. That attempt ended with six or seven Indian Rafael fighter jets being shot down. After that, Pakistan has been viewed by the international community as a more reliable and trusted country compared to India.

Modi and his cronies of course refuse to admit that India was beaten. But opposition politicians are baying for his blood, one of them even asking him to prove that the thirty six Rafael fighter jets India bought are still there. I doubt if he'll remain in power for long, despite his attempts to disenfranchise Muslims (who have traditionally voted against his party).

I believe that Trump has now realized that India is not the superpower it has pretended to be. He's against Apple setting up a factory in India. Perhaps he knows that India is useless at containing China. He may have realized that it's better to be friends with China. Whatever the reason, India is the loser. It will have to bend backwards to appease Trump, like buying at least a hundred F-35s for instance, for which it will have to spend billions of dollars. The Indian economy will be "dead" and the common Indian will suffer.

 

Iran Israel war ends with a whimper

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Just when it was getting interesting, the 12-day war ended with a whimper after Iran fired six missiles at the US base in Qatar. All flights to the Gulf states were cancelled, and I'm sure most people in Qatar and UAE spent a sleepless night wondering if they would be killed. But then, Trump realized that if the war lasted longer, it could get out of hand and spread throughout the Middle East.

So at first sight it looks like Iran was the victor. Israel lost because it wasn't able to kill Khamenei, Iran is still capable of making the bomb (although a "dirty" one at present), and the Iranian people didn't overthrow their government. Besides all this, Israel also suffered immense damage, as its Iron Dome was not able to protect it from Iranian missiles. Israelis must be wondering why they have to pay such heavy taxes if they are not safe from Iranian missiles.

What I don't understand is why Iran had to inform the US and Qatar that it was going to send missiles towards the latter. All six missiles were intercepted and shot down. This proves that Iran was also eager to stop the war, perhaps because it would soon have run out of missiles. 

The only winner appears to be the US. Rulers of Arab states must be thanking their stars that they have US soldiers to protect them. If the bases hadn't been there, it wouldn't have taken Iran simply walk in and overthrow their corrupt regimes. And Trump is now closer to getting the Nobel peace prize.

Trump's attack on Iran: start of the Third World War?

It's now evident that Trump cannot be trusted. Israel attacked Iran while talks were still ongoing with the US. Trump, despite saying that he would wait two weeks before deciding whether to attack Iran or not, bombed Iran within two days (while Iran was negotiating with EU countries and only a day after Pakistan recommended that he should be awarded the Nobel peace prize!). Trump evidently thinks that the Iranian public will thank him!

I'm amazed that Trump can be so stupid. Suppose it had been Iran attacking the US: would he have quietly surrendered? So why does he expect Iranian leaders to do so? 

Arab leaders are making a big mistake. They should break off diplomatic relations with Israel and support Iran. If they don't, Israel will not stop until it's occupied all Arab countries. 

One thing we now know: Pakistan should increase spending on its defence. Iran is weak because it subsidized prices of essential items so its people would support its authoritarian government. It should have acquired latest weapons to defend itself.