In this, the year we mark 70 years since the Suez crisis, one fun fact rates a mention. Anthony Eden held a first-class degree in Arabic and Persian. The man who led Britain to disgrace in the canal had not just a fine mind but one steeped in the very region that would trip him up. Few western leaders have been as literate about what was then called the Near East. (He had met the King of Iraq in his twenties.) Few western leaders have got the place more wrong. Eden ate from the tree of knowledge but could not make up for what he so lacked in judgment.
今年是苏伊士危机70周年，有一则趣闻值得一提：安东尼•艾登拥有阿拉伯语和波斯语的一等学位。这个在运河问题上把英国带入耻辱境地的人，不仅头脑出众，而且对最终让他栽跟头的那个地区浸淫甚深。很少有西方领导人像他一样通晓当时所谓的“近东”（他二十多岁时就见过伊拉克国王）。但也很少有人把那个地方判断得如此失准。艾登尝过知识之树的果实，却无法弥补他在判断力上的严重欠缺。
您已阅读14%（848字），剩余86%（5027字）包含更多重要信息，订阅以继续探索完整内容，并享受更多专属服务。