Srinagar, June 25 -- Having followed Trump's political trajectory for some time, I too was surprised. But for all intents and purposes, Donald Trump is a canny fox who, by seemingly allowing himself to be "played," actually played everyone else.
Trump seems to have understood the immense risks of his gamble: the upending of norms-constitutional, international, and diplomatic. Yet, through a mix of tweets and presumably backchannel manoeuvring involving cajoling and arm-twisting, he managed something, as the Chinese philosopher Chuang Tse would say, akin to "creating something out of nothing": a ceasefire between the warring parties.
While I'm not privy to behind-the-scenes manoeuvring, the outcome suggests such a scenario holds weight. Th...