Today in Bizarro World Lefarkins…
By Even Mickey Kaus is scoring points off Charles Krauthammer:
Am I missing something? Why exactly was the resolution of the latest Iran hostage crisis a “success” for Iran and a “humiliation” for Britain, as the hawkish Charles Krauthammer argues (and Geoffrey Wheatcroft insinuates but doesn’t quite come out and say in his own voice, as opposed to John Bolton’s)? The hostages were released in a one-day propaganda stunt, maybe in exchange for the release of an Iranian we were holding and Iranian visitation rights for some others. But the Iranians were also looking at an awful lot of aircraft carriers steaming around their neighborhood. Didn’t they blink? If that’s humiliation, it’s not far from what a U.S.-U.K. victory in the crisis would look like.
I doubt that the release had much to do with fear of an impending attack, but it could certainly be understood that way. The only interpretation that doesn’t make any sense is the one that Krauthammer and so much of Right Blogistan have forwarded; that the incident is a dramatic humiliation for the UK and the US. Mickey further points out that the Krauthammer et al interpretation only makes sense in the context of the disappointment that crowd must have felt when no airstrikes were launched.