There's no pleasing some people

ON the eve of the Republican presidential debate in Charleston, South Carolina, on Jan 13, the video images of 10 US sailors seized by Iran were broadcast for the world to see.

The sailors were captured after their two small boats went off course and entered Iranian waters due to a combination of poor navigation, failed communications equipment and a jammed engine. Incidents like that occur almost every day, and the governments involved usually resolve them through behind-the-scenes negotiations.

While the Iranians did not hurt the nine American men and one woman who were held for 16 hours, they decided to use the opportunity to humiliate the sailors and their country by photographing and videoing them.