A game of chess?
Is politics a game of chess, or it is a guessing game? It shouldn’t be a game at all, of course, but it provides material for discussion.
There was a clever cartoon by Ella Baron in The Times this morning, so clever that I had to read the comments to understand it! Nothing unusual there.
I have not reproduced it here, as I don’t want to infringe copyright.
It was a satirical comment on the latest unsuccessful talks between the US and Iran, and showed J.D. Vance and his team facing Iranian negotiators across a table. Vance is holding a handful of playing cards, interestingly all showing Kings, and declaring, ‘We have all the cards.’ Their opponents have a chess board in front of them, so the two sides are not even playing the same game, which is a telling point. The Iranian spokesman is saying, ‘Checkmate,’ even though the chess position is not showing that.
‘Checkmate’ is a corruption of the Persian phrase. ‘Shah Mat,’ meaning ‘The King is dead.’
Putting JD in charge of any negotiations is a stupid move.
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
DeleteThat’s clever and slightly scary.
ReplyDeleteI’ve never learned chess and probably never will.
Alison in Devon x
I've tried several times to learn chess, but it just won't stick!
DeletetRump also claimed to have all of the cards when it came to canada. It turns out that they don’t.
ReplyDeleteUS tried five times to conquer Canada and obviously never learnt the lesson!
DeleteI gave up chess when a 6 year old grandchild said I'll win granny. He did.
ReplyDeleteI did much the same with running!
DeleteI love playing chess as a hobby, but I am not a professional with a high ELO rating. I once had a memorable experience playing against a professional chess master who defeated me in only a few minutes. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI think that's quite an achievement. I can never remember the rules.
DeleteMy hubby loves chess and so do my grandsons.. Too difficult for me to learn. I try to steer clear of politics on my blog....Enjoy this beautiful Sunday.
ReplyDeleteI reached the conclusion a long time ago that I just haven't the right brain for chess . . .
DeleteI‘m too lazy to learn chess properly, although my sister made an attempt to self-teach her and me when we were about 12 and 13 years old.
ReplyDeleteYes, politics should not be a game, but for some it seems to be, all about „winning“ in terms of money and power. Scary indeed.
We have tried several times to learn chess but it just won't stick. I could never be a politician.
DeleteI often played chess as a child. Definitely different from playing cards. I agree the two sides in the US-Iran war are playing different games, but then the American ones change the rules as the game goes along.
ReplyDeleteThat's the way my eldest daughter played board games - she would change the rules to suit her hand.
ReplyDeleteThank you for explaining what 'Shah Mat' means. Chess in Hebrew is 'Shach-mat,' and all the years I took my boys to after-school chess classes, it never once occurred to me to ask what the name actually meant!
ReplyDelete😊
DeleteWell, that pretty much sums up the current situation, all right!
ReplyDeleteIt does!
DeleteThat is a very sharp observation about the current state of world affairs. It is quite a powerful image to think of two sides sitting at the same table but playing completely different games. When one side is looking at cards and the other is focused on a chessboard, it is no wonder that finding a common ground feels nearly impossible.
ReplyDeleteNeither can see the other's point of view.
DeleteThe US has no idea what they are doing. No plan, no ending.
ReplyDeleteToo true!
DeleteA very clever cartoon!
ReplyDeleteI thought so.
DeleteI taught my grandson how to play chess last year.
ReplyDeleteWell done. Does he enjoy it?
DeleteIran is impressing us, even though the culture there is loathsome for the women folk...Iran know strategy!
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is showing us a thing or two - I agree, there is a sneaking admiration . . .
DeleteMy dad taught me some basics of chess back in my childhood/youth, but I never got really good at it. He also introduced the card game of bridge to our family of four (a game where one plays in teams of two) but I never took to that either. I guess both involve too much strategic thinking ahead for me - and trying to guess what others are planning as well! ... Strikes me now that perhaps that also answers why I never felt drawn to politics!
ReplyDeleteI've never been any good at card games, apart from Snap, Cheat and various forms of Patience.
DeleteI was given a chess set as a child. I tried to teach myself. No surprise, that didn't work. But while in high school, I sat with. a group of girls and boys. Two of the boys would play almost daily games of chess. It was interesting to watch but I didn't have the intellectual skills to really play it.
ReplyDeleteI'm no good at strategy, so chess and poker and such are completely beyond me.
DeleteI can't sit down or stay focussed long enough to play chess - it bores me senseless hut i recognize it is an intellectual and strategic exercise.
ReplyDeleteYou use your brain in far more practical ways, quite beyond most chess players.
DeleteI've never played chess ...
ReplyDeleteA clever cartoon!
All the best Jan
We have tried . . . just not very hard.
DeleteI have tried to play chess, but it only takes a couple of moves before I get overwhelmed with all the strategy.
ReplyDeleteThinking umpteen steps ahead is confusing. Just one step ahead is enough for me!
DeleteVery interesting indeed. I have played chess all my life but never understood what 'checkmate' actually said.
ReplyDelete😊
DeleteThanks for introducing me to Ella Baron. Impressive satirist.
ReplyDeletePolitics is theatre; Vance and the MAGA cronies are merely players and in their case, sadistic jesters and ghouls and we're all forced to pay to watch them destroy democracy. Nauseating.
We're certainly getting a dramatic series of theatrical histrionics . Can no-one stop them?
DeleteI just shake my head at all that's going on.
ReplyDeleteAs we all do - it's unbelievable.
DeleteOnce I heard that Vance was doing the negotiating it was inevitable there would be no.progress.
ReplyDeleteHe's not impressive.
DeleteI find myself agreeing with C J Kennedy, no idea, no plan. Just keep changing the rules to suit whatever Trump wants on any particular day. Vance is an idiot.
ReplyDeleteThere's no exit strategy, ever.
DeleteI saw a similar cartoon, with opposing sides both playing cards, with the Iranian leader having a 'strait' hand.
ReplyDeleteThere's so much material at the moment that cartoonists are really spoilt for choice.
DeleteJD Vance negotiating? C’mon! Dictating maybe, but certainly not negotiating.
ReplyDeleteHe didn't succeed, no matter what.
DeleteThat cartoon is just spot on! xxx
ReplyDeleteYes!
DeleteBrilliant cartoon! I'm going to bookmark Ella Baron's website. Political cartoons have a way of weaving through the garbage.
ReplyDeleteShe's clever. Not my favourite cartoonist, but sharp.
ReplyDelete