Sail away

I have sort of deliberately refrained from commenting on the recent Iranian holding of 15 British sailors and the political and diplomatic storm over their capture. I tend these days to avoid mainstream media but it's almost being forced unto us 24hrs a day at the minute with this story and all very anti-Iranian and dragging the whole nuclear issue into the melting pot too.

This smacks as just as much 'propaganda' as the Iranians are trying to achieve by the whole parading of the troops and letters possibly written under duress.

Now in context the incursion into 'Iranian' waters did happen, there was initial confusion on exact positioning, not helped by Iranian uncertainty but the 'grey area' is the patch of water concerned had been up until very recently Iranian but the borders of sea control had been changed in a UN mandate brought in as a sanction against Iran's nuclear activities a completely separate issue in my opinion. Now, how and why was the sea border changed as a sanction and were the Iranian personnel that captured the soldiers aware of this?.

It could be the Iranians acted in error and don't want to admit it, or they don't acknowledge the 'seizure' of their territorial waters by the UN. Especially with war on their doorstep, US and British 'wargames' off their coast and the potential of spying I suspect any other country may have acted in a similar fashion to say internationally 'keep your distance'

Although the British seamen and woman being paraded as they are is in poor taste, the message from Iran is they aren't being harmed, and we hope this is the case. Certainly I suspect if they thought they were in any likelihood of being put in danger by being seized by the Iranians they probably would have put up some resistance I suspect and may not have been captured by them. Unfortunately the international trouble if there had been a few dead Iranian sailors might have been worse so the better option probably was to hand themselves over.

Lets hope that this debacle doesn't give the US and Britain any more impetuous to attack a relatively peaceful country that like all others has it's own right to develop nuclear technology as per the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty that Britain seems to have ignored by replacing Trident and the US has ignored by failing to dismantle (scaled reduction) much of it's bomb stockpile. Energy is allowed, bombs are not and the hypocrisy of many countries bullying others is infuriating.

We have seen the (or rather haven't) weapons of mass destruction as a pretext for war before in a neighbour of Iran, namely Iraq and the US has looked very poor after that one and Britain even worse 'sexing up' the evidence and lack of it. Lets hope Britain doesn't act as the excuse for a US led invasion again.