Trump: Tunes, Ceasefire and Hormuz

• Saleem Ayoub Quna
• April 23, 2026

Saleem Ayoub Quna

The latest ceasefire by Trump reminded me of an aspiring young violinist, who every time she started playing her own written piece, the tunes of her instrument would go havoc!

Last move, the declaration of a ceasefire with no deadline, by President Donald Trump on the Hormuz virtual chessboard with Iran, did not lack the usual element of surprise. Still, it was a relief for some, annoying for others and revealing for a third group!

While at it in the White House, the Pakistani host intermediaries in the other side of the hemisphere, were stood up for the arrival of the negotiation teams, who seemingly were hindered by other conflicting schedules, while pilots of the jet fighters, in the air bases and on board destroyers, and the launchers of missiles, drones and anti–missile batteries, were all getting itchy over the delay of orders from their commanders, which left TV anchors and other commentators, boringly speculating and redundant!

After the two rounds of exchanging intensive missile and rocket attacks, between Iran and the US-Israeli axis, in less than a year, using the open skies over the Middle East from the Mediterranean to the Gulf area, as a last resort to make each party’s views clearer to the other, President Trump, the man who happens to hold most of the important cards in his hands, seems today, to have come to the conclusion, that neither his message, nor his tools, or even his sheer luck have helped making his message loud and clear enough to his opponents and to the rest of world!

Luck in this context can be associated with the totality of internal, regional and world unanticipated reactions to this complicated conflict, in terms of rising oil and gas prices for the average consumer, whether in Europe, North America or in Eastern Asia. It is highly suspected that these instruments in the hands of Trump, started producing tunes that were not written or desired by Trump himself, and if they did, it was just a kind of dissonance!

It is also very probable that Trump’s tactics as a deal maker, continuously changing his tone and vocabulary, made his listeners lose track of his true original storyline, if there was one! But more seriously, weighing and counting the odds that have befell Trump in the aftermath of the breakout of the war, some of which were

of his own making, and other developments that came out as natural by-products of the original move!

Following is a rundown of those unexpected unpleasant by-products, or side-effects, some of which might turn into chronicle headaches*, of the whole initiative which Trump had closely coordinated with his persistent ally, Netanyahu, the first in June 2025, when the two of them orchestrated the “Midnight Hammer” surprise operation against sensitive Iranian targets, and the second round “Epic Fury” on Feb28 this year, while negotiators were in session:

1. Rise of oil and gas price in world markets

2. Drop of share prices in stock markets

3. Fracture with NATO*

4. Decline in Republican Party ratings ahead of the midterms congressional elections in November

5. Resurgence of Trump’s friendship with Epstein’s scandals.

6. Firing key US generals in the midst of crisis, culminated by ousting Navy Secretary, John Phelan.

7. Emulating Jesus Christ in a replica image!

8. Personal row with Pope Leo who stands as the most respectful living figure in the Western civilization.*

9. Lebanon and Hezbollah’s connection.*

10. The Strait of Hormuz new strategic entanglement*

None of the above problems or symptoms of problems, except for point 5 and 9, existed before Trump made up his mind to go into war against Iran last year. Even back in 2018 during his first term, Trump shocked the world by tearing up the Iran-nuclear deal approved by Obama’s Administration after being endorsed by the rest of the Western powers. No one expected that Trump would go this far in his second term, except the Prime Minister of Israel!

All things considered, the whole world, minus Israel, was shocked by the magnitude of the bombings to finish Iran’s potentials to own its own nuclear knowhow and capabilities. All of which leaves me wondering if this latest ambiguous ceasefire, and the way it was presented and its timing, will prove to be a real turning point in the ongoing strife in the Middle East, or just another boring maneuvering tactic by Trump!

As for the fate of young aspiring violinist, it was said that after she had discovered that her violin was not authentic but a replica, she decided to become a soprano!

Hamlet in The White House!

• Saleem Ayoub Quna
• March 24, 2026

By Saleem Ayoub Quna

There must be something very unusual going on in the head of the 47th President of the US, to the degree that it could be detrimental to himself, to his own people and to the rest of the world, as we know it since the end of WWII; a kind of a personalized erratic approach to reality, based exclusively, on the notion of profit and loss, of take not give, especially in monetary terms.

From his younger age, Mr. Trump was not just any ordinary successful business man who would tolerate a ceiling for his ambitions. He was an over-ambitious entrepreneur with multi-branched interests. As a leading real-estate developer, thriving in a culture built on competition and affluence in all aspects of life, sometimes at the expense of choosing between right and wrong, upholding justice, tolerance versus other ethnic groups, and adherence to basic moral standards, as preached by different schools of philosophy and ideology, Trump ventured into all sorts of domains such as wrestling, movies, TV shows,
casinos, resort hotels and so forth. He was an unstoppable adventurer with strongly-rooted instinct to win every bet he made, until a more challenging idea would click in his mind!

Mr. Trump was lured to politics from the early days of 1980s, but he never made a serious move until four decades or so later. There are some reasons for that long hold of course, but one consideration that must have played a decisive role, had to do with his awareness that working in politics would not make him richer!

But as time goes by, one gets older, wiser and less adventurous! Trump reached this stage during the second decade of the 21st century; He felt he is getting older and that made him boring and bored at the
same time! So one night, his nemesis pays him a sudden call and immediately he bows to it. As a result he puts on his new mantel as the Supreme Commander of the free world for one term (2017-2021) which
ends with a historical unprecedented incursion of the Capitol by his supporters, on the grounds that his winning opponent, Joe Biden, rigged the elections!

Four years later it’s the comeback of the wounded warrior! This time Trump has learned many important lessons of how to be a Supreme Commander, while openly tampering with the idea of a third term in
2028! Trump’s first move was to fortify his newly reclaimed fortress with completely obedient entourage, so he could release all his non-depletable genius and energy reserve.

Now it’s time for closing some old accounts; it’s time to play! Within days in office, Trump expresses his wish to welcome Canada to his empire as its 51 st state. Then he changes the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, because it is more beautiful! Later he targets US monuments such as the Kennedy Center, the International Airport in Virginia and Pennsylvania Station for the same purpose!

Another morning he wakes up to tell the world that the US should take over Greenland, one way or the other. While the ‘Venezuela’ over-night expedition was seen by many, including Trump himself, as a clip from an animated action movie, where the good cops with their IA run sophisticated machinery and technology, apprehends a notorious out-of-law gangster and flies him to jail!

Trump’s latest games which was clumsily suspended last year in June, is the same one, unfolding before our eyes these days with Iran. The latest update on this dangerous game was Trump’s devious
attempt to curb the unexpected financial repercussions in the world oil market and their consequent direct impact on his domestic rating versus the Democrats vying for midterm elections this coming
November.

For Trump this would be a red line that no one is allowed to tamper with. This is one of the bet games which he cannot lose: Who will control the House and the Senate next November? It is that kind of
situation that could make him quote Hamlet the Prince of Denmark, the legendary character portrayed by Shakespeare when he shouted; “To be, or not to be, that is the question”!

Hamlet was addressing a ghost!

When The Knights Start Falling: A View From Amman

• Saleem Ayoub Quna
• February 23, 2026

By Saleem Ayoub Quna

Five years after his controversial disappearance from his cell in a Miami prison, Jeffry Epstein’s infamous legacy, remerges in unexpected ways and places.

His ex-clients, associates and “victims” are, one after the other, involuntarily, coming back to center stage, in no less embarrassing circumstances, than the ones they were, voluntarily, involved in in the first, hush-hush, part of this unfolding drama.

The released three million pages, certainly, harbor much more details about Epstein’s clandestine part of his empire, which he started in the late 1980s, and lasted for nearly three decades, than anyone could have anticipated, when Epstein was announced dead in 2019.   

Potentially, it would take life-time assignment for brigades of investigators and researchers to turn every stone out of this huge pyramid of documents, i.e. more stunning information should be expected, more names of celebrities and heads of states could be queuing to be unmasked.

One of the most intriguing pieces of information revealed so far, yet not conclusively, is the one related to former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak’s connection with Epstein.

While it is widely believed that Epstein was originally recruited by Israeli intelligence services the ‘Mossad’, to build this international web of contacts for reasons that are familiar to all, it is not clear why among other present or ex-Israeli officials, Ehud Barak’s name would pop out in the way it did!  

When asked about it, Ehud Barak, admitted that he had good relations with Epstein that lasted for the period of 15 years, during which Epstein had hosted him in his Manhattan private residence on many occasions!  

The question here is who, among these two men, was using the other? Or who was working for the other and being paid by him? Or was it that kind of swapping stuff, whose value could not be translated into cash, considering that Barak was not a playboy!

Then, other big names came out such as Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and many other VIPs, who all expressed their regret to have known or been associated with Epstein! Why any one of them did not do that, the “expression of regret”, five years ago when Epstein died? Or did they think or hope that their, behind the doors, relationships with Epstein would be buried, simultaneously, with the burial of Epstein’s body?  

But there are other big names that were associated with Epstein who, seemingly, did not have neither the time nor the will to express their regret to have known Epstein. A group of VIPs, whom I would like to nickname the “Knights” of a very special order; knights of hot nights who willingly fell into the well-orchestrated silk traps weaved by Epstein’s establishment. Instead they found themselves, practically, paying dear for their friendship with him. 

One of the most prominent knights is no other than ex-Prince of the British throne, Andrew Mountbatten who certainly was a big fish caught in Epstein’s net. He, the ex-prince, also knew how to keep his mouth shut for 5 years. But now and after his royal title and embarrassing pictures popped out, the local British police dared to book him, in broad day light, for preliminary interrogation. His elder brother, the actual King Charles III, had but to consent to the idea that his younger playboy brother should be put on trial for what he did! 

Other high status figures and “knights” who already fell off their, once immune little thrones; include: Jack Lang, the ex-French politician and Head of Arab World Institute in Paris, Peter Mandelson, from the British political establishment, the Labor Party, Mona Juul, a Norwegian ex- Ambassador, Alexander Acosta, the ex-US labor Secretary and lastly Sultan Ahmad bin Suleim, the UAE tycoon businessman.

From this angel the whole thing looks absurd and surreal: When you think how all those big names of movers and shakers of world affaires were united, by their free-will, to fall in the smallest trap hole ever known to mankind?

Saleem Ayoub Quna is a Jordanian author writing on local, regional and international affairs and has two books published. He has a BA in English Literature from Jordan University, a diploma from Paris and an MA from Johns Hopkins University in Washington.