Word: britain
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Richard Dowden is director of the Royal African Society, which promotes cooperation between Britain and African nations
Although the current crisis with the increasingly radical Iranian government began less than two weeks ago and seems to have been resolved yesterday, it has become a media event that is monopolizing media coverage in Britain and in the rest of Europe at large. Understandably so. On March 23, Iranian Revolutionary Guards captured 15 Royal Marine sailors. Though at first, the Iranian government claimed they were held at gunpoint in the Iraqi waters that the Brits were supposed to be patrolling, it swiftly changed its mind...
...comparison between the current Prime Minister and Iron Lady Thatcher, who exactly 25 years ago imposed the British will by force, defeating an Argentine military invasion of the Malvinas islands. Remembering Teddy Roosevelt’s famous quote of diplomacy by sticks and carrots, the sensationalist Sun grudged that Britain “appears to have lost the stick...
...Today, Britain lacks the muscle, economic and military, to intervene by herself. And this is where the EU comes in. Initially conceived partly as a vehicle to stop European decline in international influence, the organization was right to stress publicly that an affront to Britain is an affront to all Europeans. All foreign ministers and the German EU presidency used strong language to condemn the Iranians, to the point that Iran warned them against using “unguarded statements...
...only should the EU leadership continue using strong language, but also they should meet them with tangible and forceful economic and diplomatic consequences. After helping topple the Iranian government repeatedly for oil interests in the age of empire, Britain understandably has a rocky relationship with Tehran. But Europe is the main negotiator with the regime on its nuclear ambitions because of its perceived status as a counterbalance to American dogmatism. Furthermore, it is the largest trading partner of an increasingly isolated but affluent government. Using Professor Timothy Garton Ash’s terminology in a recent Los Angeles Times piece...