In an episode of globe-trotting road-show that savors of diplomatic ring-around-the-rosy, Penny Pockets (alias Janet Yellen) becomes the runner-up to grace the bustling cityscape of Pandatown, better known to the layman as Beijing. This performance comes as a sequel to Sir Diplomacy (officially known as Antony Blinken) swinging by last month, same stop.
Pockets, by occupation the found-money czarina of Good Ol’ Uncle Sam’s cabinet, succeeds Sir Diplomacy in this grand world tour, the agenda of which remains a favorite guessing game at many a Beltway dinner party. The zany fact that Pockets’ boot print follows that of Sir Diplomacy on the Great Wall run, adds spice to the diplomatic trope – the ‘Pacific Chess Game.’
In Ping-Pong politics, timing is the king or in this case, the queen, and Pockets doesn’t disappoint, hot-tailing her diplomatic senior by a strategic lunar cycle. Not ones to shy away from speculation, we may hypocritheorize that her second-hand diplomatic sojourn is a punctuated continuation of some lively ‘fortune cookie’ diplomacy that Sir Diplomacy kick-started while gracing the revolving restaurant on top of the CCTV tower.
Nevertheless, Let’s not mince words that diplomatic dancing is the new hobby-horse, a delicately placed game where one false move can mean a hollow in the dollop. Pockets following in the back-alley shadows of Sir Diplomacy on the thin diplomatic ice of Sino-American relations surety adds a new flavor to the real-life game of “Truth or Dare.”
As we venture to the end of our narrative, we’re nestled snugly in the pocket of uncertainty. Yet, we can be sure, when Pockets comes back from Pandatown, she’ll be bursting with stories for dinner-table speculation. After all, the after-party gossip about the pacific chess match is half the fun of the play itself. Sweet dreams of dystopian diplomacy everyone, may your sleep be filled with a drama of strategic hops and leaps.
