With Iran directly challenging the United Kingdom by seizing its embassy in Tehran and multiple hostages, you might be interested in some 13-year-old relationship Herman Cain may have had with the former drummer of Cream. No, wrong Ginger.

Anyway, Iran is without question the most important story of the day, unfortunately for actress Anne Hathaway, who finally made news. But yes, Iranian protestors got out of control (meaning, they were following orders) and seized the British embassy in Tehran after the West imposed new sanctions on Iran.

Why the British? As much as Iranians have a propagandized hatred for America and Israel, Iranian officials have long had a peculiar obsession with the British, and view them very much as a source of most ills in their world. Why? Well, the answer is weird and complicated.

For one practical reason, the British are still there. Americans are largely absent, so if you need a convenient source for excuses to lash out, the Brits are always there. But more so, anger at Britain dates back centuries, even before 1872 when England took over most of Persia’s industries and took off with most of the profits. More recently, modern Iranian mullahs still recall the CIA-led overthrow of the popular Mossadeq government in 1953, when Britain (and the British oil companies, if you’re an Iranian nationalist) helped the US restore the horribly unpopular Shah to power. Yes, that Shah; the 1979 one. Countless books and movies continue to portray Brits as villains in order to reinforce the stereotype that the British are behind nearly everything the government does not like.

Point is, the Iranians need to blame somebody, and you always have those conniving, piratic Brit bloodsuckers to blame. They have helped the Great Satan so many times that the government views them as America’s factotum anyway. Hence, it makes sense that Iranians storm the British embassy only to chant Marg bar Amrika.

Anyway, as ‘Puter remarked at breakfast this morning: “If Britain ignores this casus belli in Tehran, we need to rethink the definition of casus belli.&#148 The Czar observes that when Iran seizes an embassy and takes hostages, what happens next is all too clear.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.