Is 2007 the new 1938?

Am I the only one who feels pretty ambivolent about Iran's "magnanimous" gesture in letting the marines come home to the UK?

Let's be honest, Ahmadinejad, a tinpot ruler if ever there was one, has humiliated the once mighty Kingdom of the Disunited, in front of the world's media. His generous "gift" to the British people is nothing but an calculated and ultimately successful operation, whose sole purpose has been to cruelly mock Britain before the world's eyes.

As much as I am genuninly glad that these young soldiers have been returned to their families, I do wonder what price this country will pay for their return. Talking of which, I have yet to see Gilad Shalit and his co-soldiers being embraced into the bosoms of their mothers.

Will Ahmadinejad, in his oh so generous mood, give out more goodies to the our?

I doubt it.

When I heard the news that Il Presidente had released the soldiers in such a manner, my blood chilled. I immediately thought of the famous worthless paper held by Chamberlain in 1938 and wondered whether this "peace in our time" was only the precursor to a much more deadly outcome.

Hitler too pretended to play ball with the British and we all know where that led.

I was also not particularly impressed with an article I read this afternoon in a mass circulation newspaper, which questioned whether Iran was building nuclear weapons. If this weren't bad enough, the shmuck of a journalist then stated that if this were the case, that country would be justified in carrying on with their programme - for "defense purposes".

The famous Empire self-imploded many years ago...and when I see how criminally naive and stupid the British politicians, journalists and the general public are with regard to Iran, I fully understand why.