Red line (phrase)

Red line (Hebrew: קו אדום‎, Kav Adom) is a phrase used in both English and Hebrew to mean a figurative point of no return or line in the sand, or "a limit past which safety can no longer be guaranteed."[1][2]

Origins

The origin of the phrase in English traces to a red-coated Scottish regiment at the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, at an action known as The Thin Red Line.[3][2] A journalist described a "thin red streak tipped with a line of steel" with the appearance of the 93rd (Highland) Regiment and parts of the Turkish army as they stood before (and repelled) a vastly superior force of Russian cavalry. This action was famously described by Rudyard Kipling in the poem Tommy as "the thin red line of 'eroes [heroes]."[2] The term "the thin red line" later referred to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and their job to defend the Empire and the United Kingdom after the incorporation of the Argylls and Sutherlands into a single regiment now known as the Argyll and Sutherland battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

History of usage

Political cartoon "His red lines" by Ranan Lurie. Drawn soon after the 2013 Ghouta chemical attacks.

Notable literary uses included George Orwell who in A Clergyman's Daughter invented a book-within-a-book called the "Hundred Page History of Britain, a 'nasty little duodecimo book' of 1888, which declared anachronistically that Napoleon 'soon found that in the “thin red line” he had more than met his match.'"[4] American author James Jones later used The Thin Red Line as the title of his 1962 novel about a World War II battle, helping to further popularize its usage.

The phrase has been extrapolated to other areas, for example in car racing the "red line" on a tachometer indicates an engine's safe limit.[2] The 1965 American movie Red Line 7000 is an allusion to the maximum 7,000 RPM of engines at the time. As Ben Zimmer says, "Its use among pilots and drivers alike probably did much to help extend it into the more figurative meaning of a limit past which safety can no longer be guaranteed."[2]

In Israel, the phrase has a long history as political metaphor.[2] In 1975, Foreign Minister Yigal Allon said that Washington "has managed to draw a red line which all the Arab countries know they must not cross - that America is not going to sacrifice Israel for the sake of Arab support."[2] Yitzhak Rabin once used the phrase to refer to the line past which the Syrian army should not be allowed to cross after the 1976 occupation of Lebanon.[2] In 2013, speaking of Iran's nuclear program, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "They're edging up to the red line."[2] Its usage in Israel may be related to the red line at the Sea of Galilee which represents the level below which the countries main supply of freshwater runs low.[2]

According to Ben Yagoda, a professor of English and journalism at the University of Delaware, in 1987, there are references to "red lines" in conflicts between Chad and Libya, and in a 1999 New York Times article, Muslim clerics in Iran are reported to draw a "'red line for the revolution' that no one should cross."[5] These references occurred earlier as well, appearing a Milwaukee Sentinel article of 26 January 1984 regarding French intervention in Chad and a "red line" held by French forces in southern Chad.[6]

The phrase has been used by U.S. diplomats going back to the 1990s. For example, U.S. officials, quoted by Reuters news agency in May 1994, used the term in reference to negotiations with North Korea over the withdrawal of reactor fuel; and Martin Walker in The Guardian used the same phrase in June, in reference to statements by United States officials.[7] Secretary of State Warren Christopher used the phrase in reference to NATO control over the peace-keeping mission in Bosnia on the CBS program Face the Nation on 22 October 1995.[8] Barack Obama used the phrase on August 20, 2012, during the Syrian civil war in relation to chemical weapons,[4] saying that "We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation."[9][2] The phrase then became a source of contention when political opponent John McCain said the red line was "apparently written in disappearing ink," due to the perception the red line had been crossed with no action.[5][2] On the one year anniversary of Obama's red line speech the Ghouta chemical attacks occurred. Obama then clarified "I didn't set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are abhorrent and passed a treaty forbidding their use even when countries are engaged in war," in reference to the Chemical Weapons Convention.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Redline - Definition". Merriam-webster.com. 2012-08-31. Retrieved 2013-08-28.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 Ben Zimmer (July 19, 2013). "The Long History of the Phrase 'Red Line'". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Overview, "The Thin Red Line" Balaklava, 1854". The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Wordsworth, Dot (8 June 2013). "What, exactly, is a 'red line'?". The Spectator magazine. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Smith, Roff (7 May 2013). "red line". National Geographic News. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  6. ↑ "French plans attack invading Chad rebels," Milwaukee Sentinel, 26 January 1984.
  7. ↑ Steve Pagani, "U.N. Nuclear Experts in North Korea," Reuters wire article, 19 May 1994; Martin Walker, "North Korea 'has crossed red line' " The Guardian, 1 June 1994.
  8. ↑ "1,000 Muslims start trek home as Bosnian truce finally holds," Toledo Blade, 23 October 1995.
  9. ↑ BAKER, PETER (May 4, 2013). "Off-the-Cuff Obama Line Put U.S. in Bind on Syria". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  10. ↑ Michele Richinick (September 4, 2013). "Obama: ‘I didn’t set a red line, the world set a red line’". MSNBC. Retrieved September 4, 2013.