Re: that pathetic U.N. resolution declining to “deplore” the Iranian action but agreeing to express “grave concern”:Damn straight. Get 'er done, etc.What difference would that make either way? Would “deploring” persuade Tehran to release the sailors while “grave concern” lets them humiliate them for another few weeks?
Oops:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirmed at a press conference earlier in the day that he had freed the British crew captured March 23 in disputed Gulf waters.
Blair thanked allies in Europe, at the UN Security Council and friends in the Mideast region for their help throughout the negotiations.
Steyn gets bonus points for positing the Falklands War as a possible model for how the British should have handled this latest provocation by uppity third-worlders. The Falklands: a bunch of tiny islands off the coast of South America with less than four thousand people on them, where the biggest industries are sheep farming, fishing, and tourism. Sounds just like Iran, doesn't it?
2 comments:
Steyn implies (states, rather) that the Russians and "ChiComs" agreed to pass a resolution against Argentina because the British ("ThatchLimeys"?) didn't dawdle and hesitate. I wonder how much of their motivation was prompted by the factor Steyn emphasizes in his analysis. I don't know much detail about the history of that event, but something tells me that other explanations besides Steyn's hyper-macho logic are credible.
Finn,
You're right. Leg humpers like Steyn always assume that, to get anything done, some sabres must be rattled.
Never mind that the Falklands War is one of the more pointless and embarrassing conflicts of the past 50 years. Imagine: the Royal Navy speeding down to take back some tiny islands with no strategic value and more sheep than people. Over a 1000 people died to get those back.
Steyn assumes that no amount of diplomacy would have convinced those Argentinians to give them back, and he may be right - they still consider the islands theirs. Still, a pretty dubious assumption.
But how this relates to the capturing of the British soldiers in Iran only he knows.
He also gets hubris for throwing Darfur and Rwanda in there - two more upheavals with not a whole hell of a lot in common with the Falklands.
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