GLOBAL BLOODBATH HAS NO REFEREE

Mediation is the message. Whenever a conflict arises, politicians seeking the tag of statesmen rush in and claim credit.

- PRABHU CHAWLA

MEDIATION is the message. Whenever a conflict arises, politicians seeking the tag of statesmen rush in and claim credit. When Donald Trump boomed into the headlines in June 2025 claiming to have brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, the only thing louder than his announcement was the silence from New Delhi—until it was shattered by a phone call.

Narendra Modi, with the practised precision of a man who has heard it all before, reportedly spent 35 minutes dismantling Trump's fantasy. The prime minister made it clear that the ceasefire was a result of direct military-to-military understanding rooted in the 1972 Simla Agreement. "India has never accepted third-party mediation, nor will it ever," Modi declared, according to sources familiar with the call. His disdain was unmistakable. This sharp exchange exposes a deeper crisis—that in a world fractured by wars like Iran-Israel, Israel-Hamas, Russia-Ukraine and India-Pakistan, there is total absence of credible, universally-accepted mediators. This has paralysed diplomacy, leaving violence unchecked.

Going back to the 1970s, Henry Kissinger's secret diplomacy with Mao Zedong during the Cold War to check the Soviet Union exemplified the kind of strategic mediation absent in today's conflicts. Unlike today's self-promoting dealmakers, Kissinger operated with Cold War gravitas, using realpolitik to reshape global alliance. It's a stark contrast to the opportunistic mediation attempts plaguing 2025's fractured world order.