The New Iran Hostage Crisis?
"Oh, the more it changes, the more it stays the same
And the hand just re-arranges the players in the game"
-Al Stewart, Nostradamus, Past Present and Future (1974)
It was twenty-five years ago today that the Iran Hostage Crisis ended, coinciding with the inaguration of President Reagan. These two events marked a transition in American politics. The campiagn of 1980 had become the fulfillment of Barry Goldwater. Iran demostrated how the liberal policies of negotiating had failed.
James H. Joyner, Jr.:
And the hand just re-arranges the players in the game"
-Al Stewart, Nostradamus, Past Present and Future (1974)
It was twenty-five years ago today that the Iran Hostage Crisis ended, coinciding with the inaguration of President Reagan. These two events marked a transition in American politics. The campiagn of 1980 had become the fulfillment of Barry Goldwater. Iran demostrated how the liberal policies of negotiating had failed.
James H. Joyner, Jr.:
The Iran hostage crisis, which began on November 4, 1979, gripped the nation. Our impotency in the face of some thugs in a Third World country symbolized the decline of America. During the previous decade, we had been defeated in our longest war, gone through two energy crises, seen our economy tumble to its post-Depression worst, and lost all trust in our political institutions. That all changed in that one hour.We not stand poised along the road to victory in Iraq, after months of doubt and bickering at home, and a threat from the horizon of 2002, included in the Axis of Evil but approached with stern diplomacy, has taken center stage. With each passing week, Iran has done more to defy the West's expectations, and it seems Holocaust denials may only be the beginning. Drudge right now has five stories on Iran. They are defying the West, and laughing while they do so:
In the next decade, the economy was booming, the military rebuilt, the Communists were defeated, and public confidence was restored. Bravado in the face of a would-be assassin’s bullet, a firm stance against the illegally striking air traffic controllers’ union, declaring the Soviet Union an “Evil Empire,” and bold military action against the likes of Muammar Qaddafi made Reagan an iconic figure. His admonition, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” was heeded much more quickly than any dared hope.
American politics began to sway to the right, the Presidency oscillating back from Reagan towards center with Bush, then towards the left with Clinton, and somewhat back towards the right with Bush.
Iran removed some U.N. seals from its main uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, central Iran, on Jan. 10 and resumed research on nuclear fuel _ including small-scale enrichment _ after a 2 1/2-year freeze.This is now affecting oil prices, and could very well upset stability in the region, as well as the world:
Over the weekend, Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, hinted that his country might be willing to use the "oil weapon" - that is, curbing Iranian oil exports - if faced with international sanctions. At the same time, some members of the U.S. Senate said Iran should be sanctioned regardless of the consequences for oil prices. Such talk may be mere a negotiating tactic, but it is stirring anxiety in oil markets, which have been rattled since Jan. 3, when Iran announced its decision to resume a nuclear research program that was suspended under an agreement with France, Germany and Britain in late 2004.Jimmy Carter's lack of courage allowed the first Iran Hostage crisis to occur, and we need to make sure our leaders have courage enough to act in the best interests of freedom and human life.
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