I took this picture so many years ago that I can’t remember too much about it. We had run across a group of buildings that all had these trompe l’oeil murals. This one is my favourite because it’s almost Montmartre. In preparing it for this post, I realised that I could crop the top and bottom and it would look like no more than a bad copy of a Utrillo, but then the point would be lost.

Trompe l’oeil has always fascinated me. There must be that willing suspension of disbelief as one stands in front of the fakery. That’s what makes it fun. What if you could just walk into and down that street? Would that be the ultimate extension of Existentialism? It’s tempting, to walk into another dimension and out of the so-called real world.

Yes, the reality of it becomes all too real when your head hits the wall. But, what if you could walk right in? Of course, everyday we are faced with this very dilemma: real politik is an exercise in existentialism.

Okay, let’s create some reality: On 3 March 206, Mr. Bush flew into Islamabad in the dead of night with the wing lights off and the windows shuttered on Air Force One. The runway lights were similarly off. The parameters of the airport, American Embassy and Presidential Palace in Islamabad were secured. As a matter of fact, Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, was shut down and the streets were temporarily deserted.

Why? You might ask. Well, because Mr. Bush was flying in to meet with America’s very good friend, General Pervez Musharraf, the “President” of Pakistan. Why the inverted commas? Musharraf seized control of Pakistan in a military coup and even though there have been elections since then; they are all tainted by corruption. There have several attempts of Musharraf’s life and he doesn’t seem to have won the hearts and minds of many of his citizens.

But, Musharraf is our good friend based on the Arab proverb: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. How good a friend is he? Well, A.Q. (Abdul Qadeer) Khan (the father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb) is still a free man and national hero in Pakistan even though he sold atomic secrets to every rogue nation that could pony up the cash. Madrasas (sponsored by our very good friends the House of Saud) that promote the cause of Wahabi Islam, have been operating in Pakistan because there is no universal k-12 education model in the country. And Osama (remember him?) is more likely hiding in Pakistan than in Afghanistan.

Our friendship with General/President Musharraf is rather like that trompe l’oeil in the photo. The one-point perspective might fool you for a while, but try walking into it. This is the existentialist world of the Bush administration. Watch your head.

Please give what you can to Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders).

And, of course

(hewa ni hataraki: work for peace)