Collective Self-Flaggelation
May 15, 1952 — The Advertiser

The Mossadegh Project | August 24, 2020                              


After the Australian Associated Press reported that the lubricating section of the nationalized oil plant in Abadan had broken down, The Advertiser (Adelaide) published this smug editorial.



The Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia) newspaper

NO WHIPPING BOY

Were the effects or Persia’s expropriation of the oil industry at Abadan not so serious, grim amusement might be gained from the difficulties being met by Dr. Mossadeq and his associates in their efforts to get the refinery working again. Last year, the Government at Tehran was warned repeatedly that Persian engineers were not sufficiently trained to take control.

Only three weeks ago, however, the Premier confidently announced that a section of the refinery producing lubricating oil “would be in full production in six weeks.” There seems to have been a hitch even in this limited programme, “improvised spare parts” having now failed to function.

A recent visitor to the refinery said that the workshops were the busiest section at Abadan, as the supply of spares was running short. Though thousands of employes enter the refinery gates each day, there is little other activity. As an American has aptly observed, it all offers an extreme example of collective self-flaggelation.

The Persians’ readiness to blame the British for most of their troubles has shown little sign of diminishing; but even Dr. Mossadeq, in proclaiming that he has been “betrayed” over the Abadan breakdown, has not had the hardihood to reproach Britons for Persian ineptitude. He might find the betrayer nearer home.


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Related links:

Australia and the Middle East | The Advertiser, Oct. 15, 1951

Iran Oil to Russia | September 26, 1951 editorial

Some Signs Of Sanity In Persia | Sydney Morning Herald, May 29, 1952



MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”

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