Amidst the Disgraceful Conduct of U.S. President Donald Trump, the Unheralded Prime Minister of Pakistan is the Ceasefire Hero.

Shehbaz Sharif

The U.S.-Iran ceasefire may be shaky but much of the credit for it goes to Shehbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan who regularly refers to his country’s “brotherly relationship” with
​Iran, even though Iran is much bigger, richer, and more populous.
 
Sharif is a Sunni Muslim, a religion that also makes up a small share of the Iranian population, which is overwhelmingly Shia Muslim, the official state religion. Nonetheless the Pakistan Prime Minister is in an excellent position to show brotherly affection for Iranians and take a lead role in ceasefire talks.
 

​Sharif, and countries such as Great Britain have been hugely disappointed that the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not joined the ceasefire and has continued to pound Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Netanyahu, who faces corruption charges in Israel, has long been waging war in Gaza, Lebanon, and until very recently Iran, as a way of holding on to power in Israel.
 
It is long past time for Israel to give up its offensive in Lebanon.
 
Leading up to the crisis point in this Middle Eastern war, U.S. President Trump’s conduct has been atrocious, venal, and scary for most citizens of this world.
 
On Sunday, Trump warned: “Open the Fuckin’ strait or face living in Hell.”

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On Monday, he continued his tirade: “We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated…where every power plant…will be out of business, burning, exploding and will never be used again.”
 
The first American Pope Leo XIV said it was “truly unacceptable” to threaten to wipe out Iran’s “whole civilization.”
 
Another sane observer, Canada’s former Ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, described Trump’s threat to destroy Iran as “genocidal.”

​Rae dismisses Trump’s claims that he is helping the Iranian people. “Frankly, I don’t think that’s what motivates him in the slightest.”
 
Throughout this latest crisis and leading up to it, Trump has viewed his closest neighbours – Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, and Cuba – as countries the USA can and will push around.
 
For his part, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, took a cautious approach to the U.S. President’s ultimatum to Iran, perhaps because, mistakenly, he initially supported the U.S. bombing campaign in Iran.
 
Like most Western European heads of state, Carney was conscious of the impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz yet unwilling to commit troops or ships to any effort to forcibly reopen the Strait.
 
Carney is riding high in Canada right now as evidenced by another Conservative member of the Commons, Marilyn Gladu, joining the Liberal caucus. This marks the fifth opposition MP, four Conservatives and one New Democrat, to cross the floor to the Liberal side.
 
Despite Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s 87 per cent approval by party delegates just in January, the recent defections show that he has serious problems with his caucus.
 
The Liberal Party is holding a convention in Montreal this weekend, and with three by elections scheduled for this coming Monday, it is very likely that the Carney government will then have a majority in the House of Commons.
 
The two safe Liberal ridings in Toronto aside, the most interesting by election race is the Terrebonne riding just northwest of Montreal where the closest competition for the Liberals is the Bloc Quebecois. After last spring’s general election, the Supreme Court of Canada annulled the result because of voting irregularities.
 
On the world stage, during his various rants surrounding the Iran war, Trump again threatened to withdraw from NATO and pull American troops out of Western European counties.
 
After angering the Greenlanders and the Danes, as well as his closest neighbours in North America, who can Trump now count on as his friends? He also has domestic American troubles and appears to be in trouble for the U.S.A. mid-term elections in November.
 
The Prime Minister of Pakistan has done the U.S. a huge favour by opening a path out of the U.S.-Iran war. If Trump were smart, he would strongly back the bold Sharif initiative.
 
We may be seeing the decline of the strongest empire in the world, but fortunately, future U.S. Presidents may be wiser than this one.
 
Trump covets the Nobel Peace Prize, but he will never win it.