Iran
Apr 8th, 2007 by Eats Wombats
Today the Sunday papers are full of stories and opinion about whether or not Britain’s sailors, recently released by Iran, should or should not have been so eager on camera to be nice about their captors and their treatment, and to confess to an offence they officially didn’t commit.
In the middle of all the indignation there’s a fine article by Ali Ansari, a lecturer in Iranian history at St.Andrews University and author of Confronting Iran. It ends perfectly:
Nearly a century ago the British minister in Tehran, Sir Percy Loraine, with characteristic condescension, was bemoaning the difficulties of Iranian politics to Reza Khan, the Iranian minister of war. Listening patiently, Reza Khan responded with a Persian proverb that, according to Loraine, completely disarmed him.
‘When a wise man argues with a fool’ noted Reza Khan, ‘the greater part of the blame lies with the wise man.’
Let history judge who was the wise man and who the fool.
As for righteous harrumphing about keeping up appearances and dignity: should someone post on YouTube a video of what happens when the seatbelt lights are switched off as planes leave Tehran? By the planeload, chadors are cast off to reveal Hermes scarves, jewelry, indeed the adornments of peacocks not peahens. They know when to argue.
Patience, while the Iranians decide quietly for themselves who the fools are, on both sides, seems wise–confontations tend to end up vindicating the cosmic law of unintended consequences.
It should not have amused me but I did laugh at a stunt of the Sun newspaper while the soldiers were in captivity in Iran. It kept calling the Iranian embassy in London and asking for various businesses within 1.7km of it–florists, pizzaerias, dry cleaners etc. Very foolish!
There aren’t many silver linings or laughs in this story.
