Edit writers and the Iran accord

BY Darius Nakhoonwala| IN Opinion | 26/11/2013

You don’t say!
Darius Nakhoonwala

Further proof of how newspapers are now led by television and its need to focus on masala instead of the really important news came at the start of this week. Mr Tarun Tejpal’s none-too-elevating adventures in an elevator overshadowed the Iran nuclear agreement with its six interlocutors.

Only The Indian Express had an edit on it on Monday. Clearly, the others, as usual ignoring readers, take their weekends seriously. But on Tuesday most of them had their say.

It quickly became clear that they didn’t really know what to make of it. So they hedged even as they hummed and hawed. 

All of them, except the Hindu Business Line which devoted half an edit to the India angle, dealt with the implications for India in just one or two sentences. This despite the fact that India has been in a huge dilemma over just how to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

The Express, perhaps because it was in such a hurry, uncritically called the accord ‘historic’ and gave two reasons for it. In fact, however, they were not reasons but merely hopes.   

Thus, it said “… the deal promises to end Iran's prolonged nuclear confrontation with the world, strengthen the global non-proliferation regime and reduce the dangers of war in the Middle East. Second, emerging from secret talks between Washington and Tehran over the last many months, the deal lays the foundation for a long overdue rapprochement between America and Iran.”   

The Hindu was more cautious. “West Asia has taken a small step away from the nuclear noose... it is important to understand that this is just a reprieve.” Indeed. Full marks.    

It then pointed out how “the international regime that was intended to control the proliferation of nuclear weapons has steadily frayed over the decades..” This indeed is the key issue.   

The Telegraph said, “the United States of America knows it has not scripted a fairy tale….(It) is acutely aware that things are likely to get more difficult from here. Its dalliances with Iran have soured its relations with its long-time allies — Israel and Saudi Arabia — both of whom may go their different paths and upset the power balance. Israel may unilaterally decide to bomb Iran, and Saudi Arabia may start developing its own nuclear capabilities.”   

The Hindustan Times’ first sentence was so long that it needed to be read thrice by even a sharp mind like mine. Here it is in its fullest glory. “The degree of relief that has greeted what is, on reflection, an interim agreement between the United States and Iran on the latter’s illicit nuclear programme reminds us of the stakes that are involved. Israel has signalled as loud and clear as it can be that it is prepared to carry out military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities if the programme continues down its present path.” Duh?   

Only then did it say what it should have said at the outset. “The US-Iran deal has provided a reprieve…the gap between what Tehran is prepared to give and what Israel and Saudi Arabia want is considerable. The challenge of US diplomacy is to bridge this gap.” Yeah, man, you got it. Finally.    

The Times of India had the usual ‘on the one hand, on the other hand’ opening. “The interim international deal reached in Geneva on Sunday to reduce the risks of Iran producing nuclear weapons has the potential of radically redrawing global geopolitics. There are, of course, hurdles along the way.”       

It is the only paper that had the courage to state the problem in its total nakedness, namely, the Shia-Sunni divide in the Middle East. “…Iran's rapprochement with the US is bound to lead to a new balance of forces between Shias and Sunnis and Muslims and Jews...”      

The Tribune said “the deal is the key to laying the foundation of a more positive relationship between the post-1979 Iran and the rest of the world.” The rest of the world, surely, minus Iran’s Middle East neighbours. 

Sadly but importantly, no one mentioned the most obvious takeaway: if you go nuclear, you get taken seriously. Moral: go nuclear. 

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