India, Sept. 24 -- If the negotiations were multilateral, rather than bilateral, consensual, rather than dictated by a single leader, and competitive, rather than one-sided and biased, the representatives of the various nations could have sat around a table, and played trade-tariff poker. As the hands changed, some people would capitulate and fold, others would raise their bets, and the

casino owner could show his power, influence, anger, love, hate, desperation, frustration, deceit and revenge by simply changing the rules of the game.

In the process, while the casino would never lose, as it never does in real poker, it would force realignments between the various players. Age-old enemies, who were defined by their centuries-old hatred ...