Why Sheikh Mohammed found talks between his father, British PM funny

Politicians use the diplomatic language, but reality has a different language - one of power.

In the 25^th chapter of his latest book, Qissati, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, talks about a conversation between his father, Sheikh Rashid, and the then British prime minister, Harold Wilson, in the summer of 1969 and why he found it funny.
The then British Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced that they would withdraw from the region on January 16, 1968, due to the internal economic conditions. Although they said they would withdraw within three years, we received hints that signalled otherwise. They signalled to us about our inability to protect ourselves. My father never accepted these signals and requested a meeting with Harold Wilson in the summer of 1969.
When the meeting started, I suppressed laughter when I heard the Yorkshire accent of Wilson in conversation with the Bedouin-style English of my father. I listened to them talking about many important things. The British Prime minister suddenly lit his pipe. My father was happy, as he also wanted to use his pipe. According to our etiquette, one should not smoke till the guest does. Our Arabic pipe is a small version of the English one, yet the tobacco we used was stronger.
After my father took a drag from the pipe, he hit it gently on the ashtray to clean it. Wilson saw him and said: "Sheikh Rashid. My pipe is way bigger than yours."
My father smiled, looked at me and said: "Tell Wilson that I agree his pipe is bigger, but the tobacco in my pipe is much stronger."
Wilson smiled and took a deep breath. They never intended to talk about pipes, but it was the language of the politicians.
With his pipe remark, Wilson intended to showcase the size and power of Britain. My father's response intended to communicate that our strength shouldn't be underestimated. The talks ended positively and both stressed the importance of the withdrawal.
Politicians use the diplomatic language, but reality has a different language - one of power.
hesham@khaleejtimes.com
In what he is calling his "incomplete biography", His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has broken his latest book, Qissati (My Story), into 50 chapters, narrating 50 stories in his 50 years of serving the nation. Khaleej Times got a signed copy of the book from the Dubai Ruler and every day, we will be featuring excerpts from each of the 50 chapters.

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