Trump and his tantrums
There are so many types of real estate professionals that even agents sometimes confuse themselves. Some real estate agents add titles and certifications after their names to help them stand out in a crowd in the US.
They might be associates, real estate consultants, salespersons, independent brokers, or realtors - but they are all licensed to sell (buy) real estate.
The latest to join the club is American President Donald Trump. Here is a man who does not talk beyond buying, selling and brokering. Even in America, real estate brokers can work as agents, but agents can't work as brokers, the rules say. But Trump is just one step ahead of all of them being the President and so he wanted to buy Greenland, a semi-autonomous region under the sovereignty of Denmark.
Trump could not take it. Not surprisingly so, as the world knows of his bloated ego. How could Trump even think that Danes and Greenlanders would agree to his whimsical plan. So angered by the reply, he said, "Then I am not going to visit your queen".
What kind of a weird man he must be? Just imagine. He is the President of the United States, the most powerful nation on the earth and he is sulking because he has not got his birthday cake or so. As the American media put it, here is one of the more astounding plays by a President who finds new ways to amaze, alienate and infuriate almost daily.
Buying Greenland is a real good proposal as it contains a trove of rare earth materials whose market is now dominated by China. Of course, China did not buy any of those lands that contain the same materials, it simply occupied them. For that matter, Trump is not the first one to say he wants to buy land. Harry Truman failed in one such attempt in 1946.
Thomas Jefferson did conduct the Louisiana purchase with France. Andrew Johnson brought Alaska and Woodrow Wilson brought Danish West Indies. No one laughed at Truman when he failed. Trump's ignorance becomes the talking point in everything he says and does.
His hallucinations are legendary by now. Only the other day he told Pakistan Prime Minister, Imran Khan that Narendra Modi asked him to mediate on Kashmir. And now he said while reiterating his desire to broker peace in the Indian sub-continent that Kashmir is all about Hindus and Muslims and the problem is there because there is no cordial equation between them.
So, it is a problem with one's religion and no further geo-politics are involved in it? Does he even understand that Danes, Greenlanders, Indians and all such civilisations have their own cultures, backgrounds and above all self-respect.
Or is everything just a real estate piece for him? Even in case of Afghanistan, he now wants India, Russia, Iran and others to play a role in keeping peace there.
Why would anybody get into the quicksand of Afghanistan? Moreover, to claim that the US is intervening in the world for the sake of peace sounds not just illogical but downright foolish. Someone rightly said ignorance is bliss.