News Brief: Tony Blair, What’s ‘the Next Phase’?
Was Iran just not thinking when they captured the 8 sailors and 7 marines, one of whom is a woman? Or is everything from them a knee-jerk reaction and they don’t know how to handle this one? At a time when Britain was ratcheting down there published involvement in the Iraq conflict seems a particularly poor time to risk annoying them. Whatever Tony Blair does, he has no reason to worry about re-election. And this piece from Times Online may be the first subtle warning of things to come. Perhaps Mr. Blair is providing the new millennium version of ‘go ahead, make my day.’ So go ahead Iran, play the punk.
Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com
PM warns of ‘different phase’ in Iran crisis
Iran must obey international law and release 15 British military personnel or face the consequences, says Tony Blair
“What we are trying to do at the moment is to pursue this through the diplomatic channels and make the Iranian government understand these people have to be released and that there is absolutely no justification whatever for holding them. I hope we manage to get them to realise they have to release them. If not, then this will move into a different phase.”
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March 27th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
ah yes …big decison here…which way should we appease them and let our soldiers die!
March 27th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
The interesting thing to note is that since the start of the 20th century, with regard to foreign affairs, the UK and the US have almost always been at the hip of the other.
Given Mr. Blair’s freedom of action vis a vis his “lame duck” status, and the vulnerability of President Bush - with Congressional Dems not being far from calling for impeachment hearings, it will be difficult for the UK to do antthing more than the consequences being more wasted words by the UN and someone rushing to fill the void at whatever consequence is given out.
However, this situation may call for more than a verbal lashing. Sometimes its not a bad idea to let the little sprites know that if they tick you off long enough you’ll still pack a big punch, even if they claim they wear glasses.
March 28th, 2007 at 3:27 am
Tony Blair is in a unique position. Whether he seizes the opportunity or not probably depends on whether he has anything left. Looking at the exit door and a stressful administration, he may just play games until time to give it to the next guy. But I don’t think he’s real fond of the next guy. Then what would he care how he leaves it for him? Take your best shot and if it is not concluded on exit, luagh at the next guy who offered no help before hand.