I don’t know whether to laugh or be terrified when I hear that President Trump is now threatening Iran.. most of it is of course unfolding on Twitter!!
It’s worrying when a country reneges on international agreements. These are supposedly implemented to make the world a safer place. America has never been on friendly terms with Iran, but tensions stepped up a level when the US pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal last year. I understand that the contract was not perfect, but at least a step in the right direction. At the time many leaders tried to intervene; and even Russia and China expressed regret on America’s withdrawal. Ultimately, I think it comes down to oil, as it always does… I don’t believe that Iran is innocent by any means, but I do wish our world leaders could carry themselves with a little more decorum. It doesn’t help when the Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani retorts “the White House is afflicted by mental disability….”
I am bewildered by the Trump effect, I don’t understand why so many people, especially those who declare they despise his immaturity and name calling, stoop down to his level. If we really want the world to be a nicer place we have to start by behaving with a little more dignity. It’s a dreadful shame that the tensions with Iran have been reignited, for so many reasons but I feel particular empathy with British citizen Richard Ratcliffe and his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was jailed in Iran back in 2016 after being unfairly convicted of spying. Richard has been campaigning in Britain for her release, which at one point looked imminent, until Boris Johnson (who was Foreign Secretary at the time) reinforced the claims by clumsily declaring she was teaching journalism, which is apparently illegal in Iran! Yet another example of the lack of diplomacy amongst our current breed of politicians! His careless words were even used as evidence in her court case. Sadly, there is a lot of proof that points towards Nazarin being a pawn in a much bigger scarier scenario. The Times broke a story that revealed she is basically being held hostage until the UK government fulfills a £400 million debt owed to Iran for an arms trading deal back in the 1970s.
Even worse is the fact that their young daughter Gabriella Ratcliffe, (who has British citizenship only) had her British passport confiscated, and is still stranded in Iran with her grandparents. Nazanin started a hunger strike earlier this month in protest, and in a touching stand of solidarity Richard set up camp outside the Iranian Embassy in London and began his own. As he rightly pointed out “A hunger strike in prison, nobody gets to see it – a hunger strike here is much more public. I will keep her story public.” .
One of our Brits In LA members Beverly, made a visit to him earlier this week. He was in surprisingly good spirits in spite of it being Day 10 of his hunger strike. He said the compassion of others has really helped to keep him going. She asked him ‘what more can we do to help?’ His answer was to keep sharing their plight – on social media, within your local communities, with your local MP etc. the more noise people make the more chance the Iranian regime will be forced to listen. So here I am sharing his story, in the hope that it will contribute to resolving this horrid situation. If you want to help and are in London, perhaps you too could go along and show your support? The embassy is not far from Hyde Park. Or you could write to your local MP? If you are further afield like me, you can sign the petition on change.org and then share it with your friends.
Here is the link – which is also where they post updates: http://chng.it/LpkmHgfbFs.
We may not be able to make big changes as quickly as we would like, but we can certainly start by making a big impact on the individuals around us.
I want to let our new readers know that we aren’t always political, but sometimes we wander that way, when you are given a platform it seems morally wrong not to use it occasionally for the greater good, right?
For a little light relief visit us on Facebook @BritsinLA or go to our website www.britsin.la This is where we also list all of our upcoming events, and this month an awful lot of you have fabulous things going on too! Our featured member, Adrian Merritt has something for the kids, Sinatra fans will enjoy Richard Shelton’s show at the S. Mark Taper Ampitheatre in Beverly Hills and there are a plethora of plays to see as well. Hollywood Fringe ends this weekend. With over 400 shows registered to perform & over 2,000 performances it can be hard to decide what to go and see. A little easier if someone you know is in it. I caught The Seven Year Itch starring our very own Sandro Monetti (highly recommend – was sad it only lasted 45 minutes), meanwhile Craig supported the Raymond-Kym Suttle show ‘Yes, No, Maybe’ . Try and catch their final performance.
I think for next year’s HFF we will have to create a list of all the shows featuring our members as there are far too many to mention here! Make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter (via our website), that’s where you will find a more of our community events.
And email us at info@britsin.la if you want to share yours…
Cheers!
Eileen
