Ceasefire on a Burning Pipeline

In a wide desert scene, a ruptured oil pipeline runs horizontally like a national border, split open at center and blasting a wall of fire into the sky. Straddling the break, two rival delegations in spotless dark suits crouch around a comically tiny folding table placed directly over the pipeline, signing a grandly titled ceasefire document while leaning in for an exaggerated handshake toward a bank of cameras and microphones. Their aides hold umbrellas and briefing folders to preserve the ceremony from sparks and smoke. Meanwhile, just behind each delegation, helmeted workers from both sides methodically shovel barrels of fuel into the flaming rupture, each under a flag-marked sign reading in effect 'protecting our share.' The delegates never look back; their polished diplomacy is staged as if the inferno were merely a line to negotiate, not a catastrophe they are jointly feeding.