Charles Krauthammer: Where was the EU in the capture of the British sailors?
Where then was the EU? These 15 hostages, after all, are not just British citizens, but under the laws of Europe, citizens of Europe. Yet the EU lifted not a finger on their behalf.
Europeans talk all the time about their preference for “soft power” over the brute military force those Neanderthal Americans resort to all the time. What was the soft power available here? Iran’s shaky economy is highly dependent on European credits, trade and technology. Britain asked the EU to threaten to freeze exports, $18 billion a year of commerce. Iran would have lost its No. 1 trading partner. The EU refused.
Why was nothing done? The reason is simple. Europe functions quite well as a free trade zone. But as a political entity, it is a farce. It remains a collection of sovereign countries with divergent interests. A freeze of economic relations with Europe would have shaken the Iranian economy to the core. Yet nothing was done. “The Dutch,” reports The Times of London, ``said it was important not to risk a breakdown in dialogue.’’ So much for European solidarity.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CharlesKrauthammer/2007/04/06/where_was_the_eu_in_the_capture_of_the_british_sailors

Victor Davis Hanson: Please bomb me!
What should we make of the Iranians’ behavior?
Namely that the country’s leadership is in deep political trouble. The Iranian government is desperate to provoke the West to win back friends in the Islamic world, and to quell growing unrest at home. Subsidizing food and gas, providing billions for terrorists and building nukes all cost money at a time when the state-run Iranian economy is in shambles.
While the Iranian theocrats understand that the entire world, including many of their own citizens, is turning against them, they also know that this could change if a Western nation would just attack them. Their strategy seems to be to find a way to provoke someone to drop a few bombs on them, on the naive assumption that such an assault would be of limited duration and damage. Such an attack, they may figure, would earn them sympathy in much of the world .
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/VictorDavisHanson/2007/04/06/please_bomb_me!

Oliver North: The Price of Appeasement
No Western leader—not Tony Blair, not George Bush, certainly none of the leaders of “Old Europe” and surely no one at the United Nations—dares risk the wrath of the ayatollahs and the possibility that Iran might shut off 20 percent of the world’s oil. Just the chance that the most recent hostage crisis might worsen pushed the price of oil over $66 per barrel—a 7 percent rise—in less than a week.
If ayatollahs laugh, the tin-horned theo-despots ruling Tehran must be chortling in their beards. For nearly two weeks, the Islamic radicals running the world’s pre-imminent terrorist state once again had leaders of the civilized world cowering and cutting backroom deals. But the clerics are confident there will be no consequences, all because of oil.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=the_price_of_appeasement&ns=OliverNorth&dt=04/06/2007&page=2