02/08/2004 Whod’ve thought?

2004 seems to be the year when the world is going to prove Portia, of Merchant of Venice fame, wrong. Mercy falleth not from the heavens, as she seemed to think. This year it droppeth from the lips of our great national leaders right here on good ole earth.

It’s not just Pakistan and India who are on the reconciliation, no-recriminations trip. Everybody’s in the mood to forgive and forget. Musharraf has pardoned Khan. The US has pardoned Musharraf.

And now the Chinese. I wonder who’s going to pardon them. Much as the US would like to, I’m afraid they’re going to be disappointed. The Chinese are not going to ask them.

At this rate, it’s going to become an international diplomacy fad. Some countries will go around asking “Will you pardon me?”, “Will you pardon me?” Others, like the US who can afford to, will go around saying “I pardon you”, “I pardon you”.

Well, I knew the Indopak peace moves would get some good results. But so good? Whod’ve thought? I guess I must have ‘missunderestimated’, as Bush would say, the power of these two countries to change the world.