Trial Balloon Continues To Sail

Only befitting a man who--wins a rigged election, declares to wipe Israel off the map, claims nuclear energy for peace while shouting "Death to America!", offers Americans the rope to kill themselves with, initiates proxy wars through Hezbollah and Hamas against free individuals, and aims to spread a global caliphate--can we expect such brazen displays off force shown when Iran captured 15 British servicemen and holds them hostage.

This is obviously not a simple border dispute. If it were, Iran would have simply informed the British vessel it was in their territory and advised them to leave. Such action would not have garnered such attention as it has now. Instead this is Iran thumbing its nose at Western governments and on a much larger scale it's an attempt to see what they can get away with.

As Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, pointed out:

The Iran/Iraq maritime boundary shown on the British government map does not exist. It has been drawn up by the British Government. Only Iraq and Iran can agree their bilateral boundary, and they never have done this in the Gulf, only inside the Shatt because there it is the land border too. This published boundary is a fake with no legal force.

Of course the worst part of the story is the U.K.'s response to its aggressors. Instead of showing the full support for its citizens lives and issuing a direct ultimatum backed by the threat of force, the British government thinks it can better resolve the situation with diplomacy. Since this demonstration of force is more a test of British conviction, is diplomacy really going to better London in the long term? How long before it's too late will Iran be allowed to fester?

In the mean time Cox & Forkum offers a therapeutic alternative.