What in the world is Iran doing? Are these guys trying to bring even more negative perceptions upon themselves on purpose? They cant be that crazy...can they?
It was one thing to tell the world that you are pursuing a nuclear program, and it is one thing for for their president to sugest that Israel be "wiped off the map," but its another thing to hold foreigners hostage, especially when they are not engaged in a conlfict with you.
Now Iran has been put on notice with their nuclear program. It drew international condemnation and just recentley the UN voted 15-0, 15-0!!!! to impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt their program. Now they have 15 Brits in their possession.
Iran has now put itself in a precarious posistion. They already have the international spotlight shining bright on them and now that light has been cranked up to high. There may be a possiblity that Iran may decide to try and use the Brits as leverage in trying to get their way or this may turn out to be just like 1979-80 all over again.
Iran has already used some of the Brits as tools to spread negative messages of the US and British prescence in Iraq. It seems that those who did appear on tv and those who wrote the letters did so under duress. They also "confessed" to being in Iranian waters. This power play by the Iranians will only infuriate the west even more and could lead to more problems for them down the road.
Maybe Ahmadenijad is doing this to try and divert public attention away from his poor domestic political record. He has reverted to his anti-western stance that got him elected, and he is doing this to remind people why they elected him. But when this is all said and done, Iran is going to be seen as a pariah and a rouge state that can not be trusted by the international community.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I think this might have been the smartest political move that he could make. Not only does he have the ability to hold 15 captives since march 23, with no retribution, he now has "bestowed" a gift of the sailors back to the UK, awarded the captains responsible for the capture. His street cred just jumped.
Now how long will his "street cred" last? When this event fades into obscurity and the realization that sanctions are about to isolate Iran even more set in, the people are going to be unhappy again. Does he go out and kidnap some more western "crusaders?" Its a freaking roller-coaster in that country and it seems the people dont want to get off of it.
Do the citizenry of Iran even have a choice to get off? Also collective national memory lasts more then 100 years in other nations besides America. Can you really tell me that anyone can remember when the white house was destroyed.
War of 1812, but Im not a victim of the Arkansas public school system...but than thats all the Iranian government has to go on. "Remember that time we took a bunch of Americans hostage in '79, yeah those were good times." The citizens do have a choice, but they shouldnt count on the Americans to help them, i.e. Shi'a uprising in Iraq 1991-92
Post a Comment