Victory for Ahmadinejad!

The news that the 15 members of the Royal Navy are being "pardoned" and released as a "gift" to Britain is a total public relations victory for Iran and humiliating defeat for a weak, self-loathing Europe that will continue to bend to the will of the mullahs in the years ahead. Ahmadinejad has nothing to fear - full steam ahead on the nuclear program, boys. What just took place here with this hostage situation was the geopolitical equivalent of that famous scene from "Deliverance".

And the spinoff benefits are many. A consolidation of internal power among the Iranian hardliners? Check. An assertion of regional authority as the one Middle Eastern state willing to stand up to the West? Check. Evidence that Tehran can play the game of diplomacy and public relations with a defter hand than Europe or America? Check. Most people lacked the courage to even call them hostages, lest we offend.

The game of belligerent incrementalism is underway, and the mullahs are far ahead. Goodness me - look at the picture on the CNN homepage. Those smiling, apologetic sons (and daughter) of once-noble England, emblematic of the stockholm syndrome and dhimmitude of a civilization.

But at least they're coming home, right?

Tags: Iran, Blair, Eurabia