A ceasefire

It has been 12 days of all kinds of emotions, exacerbated by US President Donald Trump's relentless social media pronouncements. Early on Tuesday morning, Trump took to Truth Social and announced that a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was finally in effect. As of now, the ceasefire holds tenously, less a product of mutual understanding and more the result of one man’s volatile diplomacy and a world increasingly fed up with US-Israeli aggression. Regardless of the how of it, at least there is some relative peace in one part of a region set on fire by Israel. The events of the past few days lay bare the reckless brinkmanship at play. Iran, reeling from a joint US-Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities, responded with precision-guided restraint, targeting the Al Udeid airbase in Qatar -- America’s largest military installation in the Middle East -- without causing casualties. Tehran's intent was unmistakable: respond, but avoid escalation. Israel, on the other hand, continued to test the boundaries of international patience even claiming Iran had violated the agreement -- an assertion Iran denies. It took a stern phone call from President Trump to Prime Minister Netanyahu to bring the Israeli strikes to a halt. In keeping with Israel's penchant for genocidal violence, had the decision been left to Tel Aviv, the bombing would have continued.

Trump’s expression of frustration with both parties, particularly with Israel, may be uncharacteristic and frankly very welcome, bu