Old quote from a British PM fired a warning shot after tenuous truce

President Trump’s bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities this week took the world by surprise in more ways than one.

During the US presidential campaign, Mr Trump said he would not be getting America into any more foreign conflicts. Then last week, he said he would give the Iranian regime two weeks to come to the negotiating table before he took any military intervention.

But in typical Trump fashion, two days after that statement, America bombed three nuclear sites in Iran, using B2 stealth bombers and cruise missiles.

Trump declared the mission a success – for severely weakening Iran’s ability to make a nuclear weapon – and called for a ceasefire between the Iranians and Israel.

He did in fact then announce that there WAS a ceasefire in place and that he had brought peace to the Middle East.

But if we know anything about this part of the world, it’s that nothing is that simple.

To illustrate that point, just a couple of hours later, an Iranian missile was launched at Israel and the Israelis threatened to reply with great force. This upset the American president greatly, and he let the two combatants* know it.

Drawing political cartoons about Middle Eastern peace processes is fraught with danger. Things change from hour to hour, minute to minute. And such was the case with this cartoon on Trump declaring a successful bombing mission. That is what the original cartoon was about.

My idea was to draw the President as the pilot of a B2 bomber, having returned to base after the mission and walking away from the aircraft. As he walked, I imagined him doing the little shuffle dance he is well known for, in celebration of his apparent success in bringing about a halt to hostilities. But when the cartoon was nearly finished, breaking news flashed across my screen that the ceasefire had been broken and all bets were off.

So I had to make changes to the cartoon. My deadline was close and there was no time for a complete redraw. Hmmm. How could I update the cartoon?

One of the most famous ceasefire announcements in history was in 1938, when the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Germany to appease* Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler’s expansionary* ambitions. After his meeting with the Führer and a signed agreement on avoiding the war in his hand, Mr Chamberlain flew back to Great Britain to announce that there was “peace in our time”.

Of course we know that war did ensue*, and became World War II, and the quote has become a symbol of the fragility of peace negotiations.

I decided to have Trump use the quote on his triumphant return, the suggestion being that we should show caution* and not get too excited about agreements for peace. This is the Middle East, after all, and things change on the hour.

I drew B2 bomber ground staff standing beside the aircraft making a comment to give support to our scepticism*. We hope peace succeeds, though. As I write this two days after it was declared by President Trump, the ceasefire currently still stands.

POLL

• GLOSSARY
• combatants: people fighting in a war
• expansionary: designed to increase the amount of land that a country controls
• appease: stop further disagreement or fighting by letting the other side have something it wants
• ensue: follow, result, to happen after something else, especially as a result of it
• caution: taking great care and giving something proper attention
• scepticism: doubt whether something is true, real or useful

EXTRA READING

Shaky ceasefire btwn Israel, Iran

Date night a bust at the ‘G7 Bistro’

What is the Israel and Palestine conflict?

QUICK QUIZ

1. What did Donald Trump say he wouldn’t do during the presidential election campaign?
2. Who did Neville Chamberlain visit in 1938 to try to avoid a war?
3. The 1938 pact was signed by these leaders of which two countries?
4. Did the pact succeed in preventing a war and if not, which war followed?
5. What greatly upset the American President this week?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Values, identities and actions
Study today’s Mark Knight cartoon and answer the following questions about the work:

• What values does this cartoon invite us to think about?
• Who is this cartoon speaking about? And who is this work trying to speak to?
• What actions might the viewpoint in the cartoon encourage?

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
How can cartoonists like Mark Knight encourage or change people’s opinions on a controversial subject or topic?

Do you think his work needs approval before going to print? Explain your answer.

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Describe it
Look at the cartoon and make a list of five nouns that you see. Then describe those five nouns with five adjectives. Now add a preposition to those five nouns and adjectives.

Finally, choose your favourite bundle and put all the words together to make one descriptive sentence.

(For lower reading level articles, remove “add a preposition”)