Business Recorder Column June 2, 2026

Trump’s constant goalpost shifting

 

Rashed Rahman

 

Every day, the news from Washington about the Iran war is wearingly the same. President Donald Trump seems to be in the habit of constantly shifting even agreed goalposts, reiterating with new verbiage demands that have reached closure, and accompanying all this shilly-shallying with threats of further military aggression. That leaves Iran justifiably reluctant to trust Trump’s everyday menu of ‘new’ and old demands, without any end in sight. The underlying reason may not be just Trumpian idiosyncrasies but in fact the failure of the US-Israel combine to achieve any of the declared (or undeclared) objectives of the war, chief amongst these being regime change. Naturally this fills the Iranian people with pride for having held off the mightiest military power in the world (the US) and the most aggressive (Israel) and salvaged its honour and respect in the eyes of the world.

On May 31, 2026, Trump once again proposed more changes to what he called a “largely negotiated” agreement, ostensibly to “toughen” the deal, leading to Iran’s parliamentary speaker and lead negotiator Bagher Ghalibaf responding with a statement that Tehran does not trust Washington and demanding tangible outcomes instead of “words and promises”. Speaking at a virtual session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, he said: “There is no trust in the enemy’s words and promises. Our only criterion is to achieve tangible results before we fulfil our commitments in return.” He went on to reiterate that Iran will not approve any agreement until it is sure that the decision protected the rights of the Iranian people. CNN reported that the president insisted on “tougher language surrounding Iran’s nuclear commitments (Iran has consistently, for decades, reaffirmed it does not contemplate making nuclear weapons) and its pledge to reopen the Straits of Hormuz” (Iran envisages a temporary toll on shipping through the Straits pending the lifting of the US embargo on its ports and the fulfilment of its demand for war reparations).

While Trump’s buffoonery on Iran continues, Israel appears to have been given a free hand to continue its aggression into, and capture of, southern Lebanese territory as part of its anti-Hezbollah campaign. It bears recalling that Iran has insisted Israel’s aggression in Lebanon must cease as part of any solution of the Iran war. Killings of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and provocations by Israeli settlers at Al-Aqsa all form part of the by now familiar Israeli expansionist habit. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given the Israeli military instructions to expand Israel’s control over 60 percent of Gaza to 70 percent. So much for the Gaza ceasefire. Meanwhile Trump’s much trumpeted Board of Peace for Gaza, which was touted as the instrument for turning Gaza into a Mediterranean Rivera, boasts of an empty kitty. Outlandish schemes by Trump, which later wither on the vine, are the hallmark of his crazy presidency.

In the process of the constant roiling by Trump, the world is left reeling at the destabilisation of oil flows and the global economy as a whole. Even the American public is paying for the inflationary effects of Trump’s mad adventure.

Israel’s seizure of a historic castle, Beaufort or Qalaat al-Chakif, in southern Lebanon is a repeat of its aggression against the country in 2000. France now feels a call for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council is called for. Condemnation of Israel's advance and capture of the castle by Arab regimes remains so much hot air without any tangible effect. None of this is likely to stay Israel’s bloody hand. It is disappointing that despite stirrings of protest earlier against Israel’s aggressive expansionism, it all seems to have ended in a whimper.

The world needs a campaign against Israeli expansionism at the expense of the benighted Palestinians and now their Lebanese brothers-in-arms and US aggression against Iran on the lines of the past glorious solidarity campaigns against the Vietnam War and South African apartheid. Or has internationalist solidarity too had its day?

 

rashed.rahman1@gmail.com

rashed-rahman.blogspot.com

The June 2026 issue of Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) is out

The June 2026 issue of Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) is out. Link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com

Contents:

1. Ashraf Jehangir Qazi: A War Lost or Won: A New World emerging?

2.Zongyuan Zoe Lin: What the Iran War means for China.

3. Rashed Rahman: The advent of capitalism and its impact on shaping the world.

4. Notes from the Editors (of Monthly Review).

5. Vijay Prashad: Could Capitalism have thrived without Colonialism? – I.

6. Sara Kazmi: The Marxist Punjabi Movement: Language and Literary Radicalism in Pakistan – I.

7. Roshaan Khattak and Thomas Jeffrey Milley: The spiral of violence in Balochistan.

8. Alea F: I was incarcerated for attending Aurat March on International Women’s Day.

9. Cuba: The Bay of Pigs Invasion 65 years later.

10 & 11. Letters to the Editor: (i) Letter fromCuba; (ii) Urdu letter on Left Movement.

Rashed Rahman

Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)

Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC) (on Facebook)

Filmbar screening of François Truffaut's Day for Night (1973) at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC) on Friday, June 5, 2026 at 5:00 pm

Filmbar screening of François Truffaut's Day for Night (1973) at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC) on Friday, June 5, 2026 at 5:00 pm. 

In Nice, the Studios La Victorine is producing the film "Je Vous Presente Pamela" about a French man who marries the English Pamela in England and brings his wife to France to introduce her to his parents. However, his father and Pamela fall in love with each other and she leaves her husband to live with him. The producer Bertrand and the director Ferrand invite British Julie Baker, who had a nervous breakdown and married her Dr. Nelson, for the role of Pamela. During shooting, the cast and crew are lodged in the Hotel Atlantic and Bertrand and Ferrand have to deal with problems with the stars Severine, an aging actress with drinking problems that affect her performance; the immature, spoiled and needy Alphonse, and Julie who is emotionally unstable. But in the end, they succeed in completing the film.

Rashed Rahman

Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)

Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC) (on Facebook)

Business Recorder Column May 26, 2026

On the verge of peace?

 

Rashed Rahman

 

Indications from both sides of the US-Iran war point to progress towards an interim agreement to bring about a cessation of hostilities for a 30-60 day period, with the difficult questions on which the public postures of both sides differ being relegated to further detailed discussions within the framework of the broad interim agreement. However, even at this stage, the differences are there to be read on the surface on even the eve of the interim agreement.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said a final decision to sign an agreement with the US will be made by the Supreme National Security Council, with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei to have the final last word. Khamenei was injured at the start of the war in the attack that killed his father and other family members and wounded him. Since then, he has remained underground. US President Donald Trump on the other hand insists that time is on the US’s side and the negotiations with Tehran are underway in an “orderly and constructive manner. He says he has informed his team “not to rush into a deal” as “the blockade (of Iran’s ports) will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed. Both sides must take their time and get it right. There can be no mistakes!” (as though there have not been a myriad already!). In any case, he said, Tehran could not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons at any cost. Pezeshkian has reiterated his country’s stance that Iran was not seeking nuclear weapons but would not compromise on its honour and dignity. It should be remembered that Tehran only went from 3.5 percent uranium enrichment for civilian use to 60 percent after Trump negated Iran’s deal with the Obama administration, which included International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections. These remarks by both sides are accompanied by global leaders hailing the progress made towards reaching a peace deal in the light of reports that an agreement has been “largely negotiated”.

However, Iranian media reports that disagreement on two or three clauses persists. These issues are: the nuclear question, management of the Hormuz Straits, sanctions, the release of frozen Iranian assets and cessation by Israel of the war on Lebanon. On the nuclear issue, despite its repeated statements that it does not contemplate developing nuclear weapons, Iran is still reluctant to allow its 60 percent enriched uranium to be exported to the US (definitely a no-no) or even to neutral countries such as Russia. This simply reflects the level of distrust of Washington’s words and deeds, contradictory as these have proved in the last year or so. Iran insists on its control and permission to allow shipping through the Hormuz Straits while levying service charges. In this context it insists on the withdrawal of the US blockade of its ports. The world too is anxious to see the 20 percent of global oil flows through the Hormuz Straits restored. Iranian assets frozen by the US-led west are sorely needed by the struggling Iranian economy and must be accompanied by a phased or otherwise withdrawal of sanctions to allow Iranian oil and gas to flow freely to global markets, of whom China is the major destination. Last but not least, Iran insists Israel must stop its war on Lebanon, aimed primarily at Hezbollah. Iran has not as forcefully focused on Israeli continuing attacks in Gaza and the West Bank, which are taking a daily toll of Palestinian lives, sparing not even women and children.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has followed up on the recent flying visit to Tehran by Field Marshal Asim Munir by expressing hopes that Islamabad will soon host another round of US-Iran talks in Islamabad, even if no signs of preparation for such talks is so far visible. A senior Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) official is quoted as saying the Prime Minister is currently in China and it seems that the next round of dialogue will not take place very soon. Here too, contradictory signals rule the roost.

The US President, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s urging, seems, despite the contradictory signalling that is the hallmark of his Presidency, to have come to the conclusion that continuing the very expensive war on Iran will provide little benefit and may further degrade his popularity at home. Whatever the aims of the war were (and there are as many versions as speakers on the issue), it now appears Trump has accepted the impossibility of attaining those goals through military means and has instead plumped for negotiations under the umbrella of an extended ceasefire. If only he and his administration had quelled their exaggerated vision of global hegemony being available on a plate because of US military might and calculated soberly, the loss of lives, weapons and materiel could have been avoided. What a waste.

rashed.rahman1@gmail.com

rashed-rahman.blogspot.com

Business Recorder Column May 19, 2026

Cuba next?

 

Rashed Rahman

 

The US is intensifying its long standing campaign of collective punishment of the Cuban people for daring to resist since 1959 (the year of Fidel Castro’s revolution) the diktat of Washington’s drive for global hegemony. Escalating sanctions have further worsened the punitive decades-old US blockade. Oil imports have forcibly been blocked, from Venezuela after the Maduro raid, Russia and Iran since Trump came to power. The energy deficit resulting therefrom has deepened a deliberately created crisis, threatening supply of electricity, food, water, healthcare, fuel and other basic human needs. This cruelty is accompanied by the broader assault on Cuba’s sovereignty and socialist development.

Trump has been studiously dismantling since 2017 (his first term) the limited normalisation measures in US-Cuba relations agreed with the Obama administration. Cuba has once again, in Trump’s second term, been subjected to maximum pressure economic warfare, with severe consequences. This pressure has degraded material needs supplies across Cuba, accelerated the exodus of one million Cubans to the US, and imposed extreme suffering on the country’s already vulnerable population. This economic warfare has increased the infant mortality rate in Cuba, to take but one statistic,  from 4.0 deaths per live births in 2018 to 9.9 in 2025, largely because of the shortage of medical supplies. Cuba attracts the hostility of Washington solely because it continues to insist on its right to determine its own political and economic structure and future, one based on its aspiration to construct a socialist society free of inequality. Meanwhile the US’s self-declared right to impose across Latin America, the Caribbean and the wider globe its domination, inflicts suffering that is a central feature of such a project.

Since 1959, Washington has pursued a singular, fanatical obsession with reversing the Cuban Revolution and restoring the neo-colonial shackles once defining the US-Cuban relationship. Presently, it is no longer the fear that Cuba would aid revolutionary movements in Latin America or further throughout the developing world. Now even the example the revolution represents, an alternative to US hegemony and capitalist underdevelopment, sends the US leadership into a fit of gnashing its teeth. Recent threats to ‘take’ Cuba (part of a growing list that includes Greenland, Canada and what have you) cannot therefore be understood in isolation but help reveal a fundamental reality: a US invasion would not inaugurate a new conflict, but mark the bloodiest phase of a long war against Cuba for the ‘sin’ of reclaiming its national sovereignty from a US-dominated neo-colonial status that favoured not just US businesses, but even the Mafia controlling Cuba's now extinct gambling casinos and their accompanying decadence, including widespread prostitution. Cuba is being severely punished for its defiance and refusal to submit meekly to the dictates of the US empire. What Washington fails to understand is Cuba’s belief that nothing is more precious than freedom and independence.

Cuba’s independence has long been imperilled by its proximity to the US, just 90 miles away from Florida. Starting from the 19^th century, Cuba occupied a central position in the US imperial desires. Washington viewed Cuba not as a soon to be sovereign nation when it fought Spanish colonialism for its freedom. It saw the conflict with Madrid as an opportunity to seize upon Cuba’s War of Independence to replace the colonial master in 1898. What followed was the debasement of Cuba to the status of an offshore island of moral corruption and decadence, held up by collaborative regimes in Havana. It was one such military regime led by Baptista that Castro and his dedicated, brave guerrillas overthrew in 1959. Fidel has passed away, so Washington is now looking at a repeat of the Venezuela operation playbook, starting with a federal indictment of Raul Castro for, as defence minister in 1996, ordering the shooting down of two planes attempting to break into Cuban airspace as part of counter-revolutionary campaigns by Cuban exiles in Florida. But the Cuban Revolution would prove a harder nut to crack than Trump can possibly dream of. Every Cuban man, woman and child will stand in the way and beat off any repeat attempt of the Maduro kidnapping.

Another lie being peddled currently to justify Washington’s aggressive aims against Cuba is the allegation that Cuba is gathering drones to attack the US! More absurdity would be difficult to imagine. Why would Cuba invite a military retaliation that, difficult as it may prove, it would then have to stave off? Absurdity Profundis.

 

rashed.rahman1@gmail.com

rashed-rahman.blogspot.com

Filmbar screening of Zoltan Fabri's "The Fifth Seal" (1976) at Research and Publication Centre (RPC) on Friday, May 22, 2026 at 5:00 pm

Filmbar screening of Zoltán Fábri's The Fifth Seal (1976) at Research and Publication Centre (RPC) on Friday, May 22, 2026 at 5:00 pm.

Set in Budapest, 1944, towards the end of World War II, it tells the story of a group of friends hanging out in a bar owned by Béla, drinking, talking and having as good a time as they can, trying to stay out of trouble. Miklós a watchmaker, László, a book seller and János, a carpenter, are one night joined by a fifth man, who asks an innocent question: "Just imagine you are about to die, but you will be reincarnated in to one of two people; a slave or the rich master. The slave suffers under the master. He has his tongue and an eye removed and his wife and child are killed. He goes on living knowing he is a good person, as he never committed such appalling, sadistic acts on another like his master has done. The rich master has no moral qualms about it at all. He doesn't think what he did was wrong; the slave needed to be punished. You have the choice, whether to be a poor and righteous slave or be a rich and corrupt master." This hypothetical question changes their lives.

The screening will be followed by a discussion over tea. Lift is operational.

Address: Research and Publication Centre (RPC), 2nd Floor, 65 Main Boulevard Gulberg, Lahore (next to Standard Chartered Bank, above Indesign showroom). 

Rashed Rahman

Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)

Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC) (on Facebook)

Email: rashed.rahman1@gmail.com

Cell: 0302 8482737

Filmbar screening of Věra Chytilová's "Daisies" (1966) at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC) on Friday, May 15, 2026 at 5:00 pm.

Filmbar screening of Věra Chytilová's Daisies (1966) at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC) on Friday, May 15, 2026 at 5:00 pm. 

Marie 1 and Marie 2 don't give a hoot about traditional morals and social norms and seduce the men who are attracted to their carefree exuberance – mostly older men – with ease. They prey on their suitors' purses and simply try to enjoy any fun that comes their way. Their escapades are a game played by the two boastful Maries as they plunge blindly from one adventure to the next. But their 'depraved' nature – as highlighted at the end by a moral underlined by Vera Chytilova – is just an innocent rebellion against the backdrop of a troubled modern world. The protagonists of 'Sedmikrásky' – embodied by the amateur actresses Jitka Cerhova and Ivana Karbanova – serve primarily as a demonstration of female liberation in the sense of the feminist currents of the time. The two Maries stand – albeit in an extreme form – for women struggling to survive in a man's world.

The screening will be followed by an informal discussion over tea. Lift is operational.

Address: Research and Publication Centre (RPC), 2nd Floor, 65 Main Boulevard Gulberg, Lahore (next to Standard Chartered Bank, above Indesign showroom).

Rashed Rahman

Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)

Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC) (on Facebook)

Email: rashed.rahman1@gmail.com

Cell: 0302 8482737