https://freerepublic.com/tag/anotherswampnik/ en-us Sun, 5 Apr 2026 05:17:25 GMT Focus Forum 15 https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4373688/posts Sixty years ago, I first gazed out on the Strait of Hormuz from the Musandam peninsula of Oman. I was there as private secretary to my godfather, Selwyn Lloyd, who had been Britain’s foreign secretary during the Suez Crisis. The previous evening our host, Sultan Said bin Taimur, the ruler of Oman for nearly 40 years, commented gloomily: ‘When two fish are fighting in these waters, the British are behind it.’ I estimate that I must have made at least 250 visits to the Gulf states in the intervening six decades. The key question which would surely now be asked... The Spectator https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4373688/posts#comment Sun, 5 Apr 2026 05:17:25 GMT