Sunday, July 03, 2005

Affairs of the Heart - Affairs of the State?

From the Gulf Daily News

Rice 'hates Iran after failed affair'

TEHRAN: Perplexed by the vitriol of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's attacks on Iran, one lawmaker believes he has uncovered the secret of her enmity - that she was spurned by an Iranian boyfriend at college.

"The reason that the US secretary of state attacks Iran is because she had her heart broken by a young man from Qazvin while they were students," a confident Shokrollah Attarzadeh was quoted by the ISNA agency as saying.

Somewhat mysteriously, he added: "This is the result of an investigation by a woman MP, who cannot be named."

Qazvin is an unremarkable city 150km from Tehran, hitherto not known for playing a major role in Iran-US relations, which have been frozen for a quarter of a century.

Attarzadeh did not offer any other details on the alleged affair or, for that matter, any interesting new proposal on how ties between the two arch-enemies could be warmed up.

Surprising as it may be, amorous explanations for diplomatic machinations are nothing new here.

It was rumoured last year that German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer hardened his tone towards Iran after acquiring a girlfriend who supports the exiled opposition.

Well now you know…I wonder if there is a North Korean ex-boyfriend somewhere?

No comments: