The West Moves Against Iran!

As only the West can, of course:

Britain has frozen most contacts with Iran. The U.N. Security Council has expressed "grave concern" about the incident. The EU has demanded the sailors' unconditional release and warned of unspecified "appropriate measures" if Tehran does not comply — a position the Iranian Foreign Ministry called "bias and meddlesome."

Pathetic, says Damian Penny:

The European Union has refused to support Britain's call to freeze $28 billion in export trade with Iran until 15 British sailors are freed.
France urged avoiding inflaming the confrontation and the Dutch noted it was important that the dialogue with Iran continue, the Times of London said Saturday. EU ministers met in Germany Friday night to discuss the impasse about the detention of the British naval personnel for allegedly trespassing in Iranian waters.

Reminds me of this scene from Team America: World Police -

Hans Blix: I'm sorry, but the UN must be firm with you. Let me in, or else.

Kim Jong Il: Or else what?

Hans Blix: Or else we will be very angry with you... and we will write you a letter, telling you how angry we are.

At least the fictional Hans Blix was honest...meanwhile, back in the "real" world, the Foreign Secretary whimpers:

Speaking to reporters in Bremen, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett urged Iran to resolve the crisis over the military personnel peacefully, saying London remains open to dialogue.
"We encourage Iran to peacefully resolve this issue," Beckett said.

"We continue to express our willingness to engage in dialogue and discussions with Iran," she added. "That is very much in the best interest of our people and that is our foremost concern."
"I think everyone regrets that this position has arisen," she said. "What we want is a way out of it."

And where does Beckett's cowardly 'regret" get her? Bitch-slapped by Ahmadinejad,who knows to kick a woman when she's down:

In his first statement on the arrest of the crew, he told a rally marking the Persian New Year that Britain should have 'apologised and expressed regret' but had failed to act 'in the legal and logical way'. The crowd shouted 'Death to Britain', Iranian media reports said.

Ahmadinejad added: 'The British occupier forces did trespass our waters. Our border guards detained them with skill and bravery.'

Now, many are asking themselves, "WWAD?" (What Would America Do?) - in case you're curious, our soldiers have come across similar types of Iranian snag attempts in the very recent past, and as may be expected, reacted a tad differently...via The Belmont Club:

The soldiers who were there still talk about the September 7 firefight on the Iran-Iraq border in whispers...

...a platoon of Iranian soldiers appeared and moved to surround the coalition patrol, taking up positions on high ground. At that point, according to the Army's statement, the Iranian captain told the U.S. and Iraqi soldiers that if they tried to leave they would be fired on. Fearing abduction by the Iranians, U.S. troops moved to go anyway, and fighting broke out...

Why go after the Brits? Maybe becuase the Iranians had already probed American forces in incidents like the one above, and feared they would wind up in a true "shooting war". Knowing how eager the British were to avoid escalation (and how indifferent the U.S. armed forces were to possibly causing one), they became perceived as the low-hanging fruit on the tree. If our troops were operating under the same rules of engagement as the British, we would have had our own hostage crisis running into its seventh month...

Lesson in there for anyone anywhere?