The new barbarians ante portas

These days, the videos of those captured British soldiers can be seen on the tellies, worldwide.
They are eating and puffing cigarettes, the woman changed her battledress against this strange black Muslim cloak, looking like a Sicilian char woman.

Some of those soldiers offer excuses for having crossed the maritime border into Iran and urge Tony Blair to order his troops back.

Everybody knows that a soldier is not a politician. He has to go where his government tells him to go. He is no hero and no martyr, just doing his duty. When captured, he has to give his name and the number of his company and that's it. This is common practice for over hundred years now and has been laid down in the Geneva Convention.

I hate to see what I see on the telly, because those who ordered this kind of display stray away from civilized practice that took centuries to establish. Unfortunately, the Iranian government is by no means alone in throwing away civilized procedures. A government that orders to invade a country like entering a supermarket, just to make a quick buck, is certainly not better.

Here we see the new barbarians squatting on top of the nations who do not know what to do, how to get rid of them. In the West, at least, we can vote them out of office at next elections and I hope the people of the countries concerned will do so. That is our strength right in the middle of this misery.