It is often said that in politics and diplomacy there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests — pursued through various tools of power: economic leverage, political manoeuvring, religion, media influence, threats, sanctions, war, terrorism, nationalism, and flattery.
The recent spectacle at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit revealed how, from Washington to Islamabad, political actors have turned the tragedy of Gaza into a stage for self-promotion, applause, and power games. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s effusive praise of Donald Trump — calling him a “man of peace” and suggesting a Nobel nomination — was not merely a moment of enthusiasm but a calculated gesture rooted in Pakistan’s political culture. In a country where survival depends less on merit and more on appeasing the real centres of power, such displays of flattery are not accidents; they are political rituals — a defining habit of national politics.
Before astonished world leaders and billions of bewildered viewers watching through the media, a prime minister from a financially indebted nation declaring, “I like to salute President Trump for saving millions of lives,” revealed less about statesmanship and more about survival in a system where sycophancy replaces merit. In Pakistan’s hybrid political order, those who salute the “real powers” — whether military, bureaucratic, or foreign — are elevated through Form-47s, while dissenters are crushed beneath the machinery of control. The system rewards obedience, not intellect; allegiance, not competence. History offers ample proof of this truth. Those who dared defy the powerful — Liaquat Ali Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, and Nawab Akbar Bugti — paid with their lives. Others, like Imran Khan, now face prison for challenging the invisible hands that shape Pakistan’s political destiny.
In such a landscape, sycophancy becomes a survival strategy. As Dostoevsky wrote, “Nothing in the world is harder than speaking the truth, and nothing easier than flattery.” In Pakistan’s corridors of power, this truth resounds daily. Flattery requires no courage — only a keen instinct for submission. Through this performance of praise, the prime minister not only startled the hall filled with the world leaders but also sought to win American favour for his deeply unpopular government. After all, in Pakistan’s political system, no leader can rule securely without a nod of approval from Washington.
On the other hand, Donald Trump’s so-called “golden age” of peace, as celebrated in Sharm el-Sheikh, reflects less of humanitarian compassion and more of calculated self-interest. Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch (1993-2022), writes: “Trump’s conversion from embracing the Israeli far right’s goal of ethnic cleansing of Gaza to accepting the right of Palestinian civilians to remain was probably driven by a remarkable shift in US attitudes toward Israel. Young Christian evangelicals, a core Maga constituency, had become sickened by Israel’s genocide, which was aimed at inducing the forced deportation that Trump had endorsed with his vision of a Gaza “Riviera”. Always concerned foremost with himself, Trump could see the political costs of the largely unqualified green light that he had given Netanyahu and his quest for endless war. This is something Netanyahu has needed to maintain his governing coalition and avoid pending corruption charges and a political reckoning for the intelligence failures that Hamas exploited ruthlessly on 7 October 2023.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was Netanyahu’s belief that, having gotten away with genocide, he would have no trouble attacking and trying to kill the Hamas negotiators in Qatar. That outraged the Gulf Arab leaders, whose combination of wealth and autocracy plays to Trump’s sweet spot. He read Netanyahu the riot act, forcing him to accept a plan that fell far short of his maximalist wishes…It is disconcerting to have to rely on Trump, whom Netanyahu just called “the greatest friend of Israel”, to advance the Palestinians’ cause. But Netanyahu’s gushing praise cannot obscure Trump’s repeated willingness to break from Israel’s far-right government and impose better behaviour. He has just taken a big step toward ending the unspeakable suffering of the Palestinian people. We must keep up the pressure for him to finish the job.”
It is also a fact that Trump thrives on praise. He is less a statesman than a celebrity-CEO, governing more like a brand manager than a peacemaker. His so-called “20-point Gaza plan,” though hailed as historic, lacked substance. It was policy as performance — a humanitarian gesture carefully scripted for applause. As Marina Hyde observed, everything Trump does “is redolent not of a politician, but an ego-driven entertainment industry behemoth.” His peace summit in Egypt resembled “The Official Release Party of a Peace Process” — a global photocall for applause. Obsessed with ratings, allergic to rivals, and addicted to spectacle, he governs less through ideology than performance.
In the end, both Gaza diplomacy and Pakistan’s political theatre share a moral vacuum. The world’s applause for Trump’s ceasefire echoes the hollow cheers of Pakistani elites congratulating themselves on “saving democracy.” Both are performances — driven not by principle, but by calculation. Both rely on flattery to mask failure and self-interest to sustain power. Until nations learn to speak the truth without fear, peace and stability — whether in Gaza or Islamabad — will always be for show.