Hostilities between India and Pakistan are over (perhaps). And Donald Trump, who is clearly trying to run for the Nobel Peace Prize, has thrown his hat into the ring by announcing on Twitter on 10 May: 'After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a COMPLETE AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE. Congratulations to both countries for showing good sense and great intelligence..." The announcement followed a night of fierce fighting on both sides of the border and, above all, a war in the Indian and Pakistani media to see who could make the biggest claims, which was won hands down by DGISPR Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, acting as army spokesman. According to Chaudry, not only did New Delhi fire ground-to-ground missiles at its own positions and the city of Amritsar to attack the Sikhs and shift the blame onto Pakistan, but it also fired missiles at Afghanistan. Chaudry was contradicted the next day by both the Taliban and all analysts, but that's how it was reported. On the other hand, the media in India were not doing any better: according to local TV reports, the port of Karachi had been destroyed, Lahore reduced to rubble, and so on and so forth. As is usually the case in such situations, sticking to the proven facts requires steady nerves and a certain amount of concentration. Proven facts: the Pakistanis damaged Indian bases in Udhampur, Bhuj, Pathankot and Bathinda, albeit not substantially, and killed a number of civilians by bombing villages and towns on the provisional border line. Everything else, including the shooting down of one or more Indian fighter jets, is fog and words. The Pakistani Defence Minister himself, when asked for proof of the downing of the jets, stated live on TV: “It's all over social media”. There is also no proof that Islamabad launched a ballistic missile with Delhi as its probable target, which is said to have been intercepted by the Indians and triggered the attack on military posts in Islamabad. What is certain, however, is that India struck a dozen Pakistani military posts, causing varying degrees of damage, as confirmed by satellite images from both the Indian army and independent, verified sources. The greatest damage, both material and in terms of image, was reportedly suffered by the Nur Khan military base in Rawalpindi: the heart of the Pakistani army headquarters. According to Islamabad, the Indian missiles were largely intercepted and the damage was minimal. However, videos posted online by locals immediately after the incident clearly showed the base being hit and a series of secondary explosions. Satellite images also show quite extensive damage. The Nur Khan air base is a key hub for the air force, supporting logistical air transport (C-130), in-flight refuelling (IL-78) and pilot training. There is no definitive evidence that the base houses nuclear weapons or warheads: however, its proximity to sensitive military and strategic facilities, including the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) which oversees the country's nuclear arsenal, has raised doubts and concerns that are more or less well-founded. These are said to be linked to American “mediation”. In fact, it seems that things did not go quite as The Donald claimed. Immediately after the announcement, the NYT published an article based on the usual, very useful “anonymous sources” close to the intelligence services: according to the article, the Americans had received “credible intelligence” about a potentially disastrous event that was about to happen. JD Vance allegedly called both Modi and the military command in Islamabad asking if there was an “honourable” way out of the situation, and the two countries reportedly agreed on a ceasefire. There are no further details, but according to various speculations, “something” happened to Nur Khan: something that set off alarm bells in Washington and prompted the Americans to pick up the phone. The honourable way out, as expected, sparked a series of collective hysteria in Pakistan, with streets filled with people celebrating “victory”. Generals and colonels had their photos taken with their thumbs up, while Chaudry proclaimed at a press conference the total destruction of India's arsenal, the destruction of a fleet of jets and spaceships and, of course, the total absence of terrorists and terrorist camps in Pakistan. However, he wanted to overdo it. According to Chaudry, in fact, the state funerals held in Muridke in the presence of senior military figures were not for members of Lashkar-i-Toiba but for poor civilians. And the cleric who led the prayer was a “local cleric” whose identity card number was even provided by the good lieutenant general: it matches perfectly with that of Hafiz Abdur Rauf, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on the US Treasury Department's list. On the other hand, Chaudry himself comes from an impeccable dynasty of jihadists: his father, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, was on the US list of international terrorists and his organisation, Ummah Tameer-e-Nau, was sanctioned by the UN for sharing nuclear technology with Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. To tell the truth, Mahmood's father was also a nuclear scientist who wrote several books on Islam and science, coming to the astonishing conclusion that electricity can be usefully produced by djinn (spirits). Chaudry's press conference was reported by all the international media, but perhaps because their stringers report slightly watered-down information, they missed the statement that “the Pakistani army is guided by Islamic theology and jihad and that, fortunately, General Asim Munir is a devout believer”. Incidentally, General Asim Munir has disappeared from the radar for about twenty days. No one has seen him, not even to celebrate the great victory of his troops. This victory was amplified by another tweet from Trump: "I am very proud of the strong and unwavering leadership of India and Pakistan, who had the strength, wisdom and courage to fully understand that the time had come to end the current aggression that could have resulted in the death and destruction of so many people and things. Millions of innocent people could have lost their lives! Your courageous actions have made your legacy even greater. I am proud that the United States was able to help you reach this historic and heroic decision. Although it has not even been discussed, I will substantially increase trade with both of these great nations. I will also work with you to see if, after “a thousand years”, a solution can be reached on Kashmir." The tweet, only seemingly boastful and stupid, raises a couple of not insignificant issues and probably offers Pakistan the pound of flesh necessary for the honourable solution mentioned above. It establishes the equivalence between India, a democracy based on the rule of law, and Pakistan, which, as Washington knows perfectly well, breeds and sponsors terrorists and is effectively ruled by a military dictatorship. And it effectively internationalises, as the Pakistanis demand, the infamous “Kashmir issue”: which for New Delhi has not been an “issue” since at least 2019, when Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh became union territories. According to observers, Donald's newfound affection for Islamabad is part of the American strategy of recent years towards India: a necessary ally to contain China, but unwilling to do everything the Americans ask and to align itself unquestioningly with Washington's policies. Keeping a sword of Damocles hanging over New Delhi's head would go hand in hand, they say, with having facilitated the Islamist coup in Bangladesh.