Morons. Absolute fucking morons.

The hikers, AND the Iranians. They missed a golden opportunity to score diplomatic and public relations points.

screw these idiots. If we ignore them, their presence serves no purpose to the iranians, and they will be released earlier. Who the hell goes to Iran "to hike"? Something fishy from all sides here.

> They missed a golden opportunity to score
> diplomatic and public relations points.

What makes you think so? I think they achieved precisely the desired effect. They love blowing raspberries for all the world to see.

I was surprised when composing this link, because I coulda sworn that it had happened earlier, during the Dubya administration.

Turns out it had... too.

A Martian might think our incessant and mutual snot-blowings with Iran don't represent the best of statesmanship by either nation.

Maybe they were spying. The Iranian government would be stupid not to ask, "What American comes HERE to f'king HIKE?"

But...but...BUT...if they were just some American morons, well, blowing raspberries in this situation is probably not the best idea. Iran is a country divided against itself between north and south, modern and ancient, and held together with repression that does not allow it to project any meaningful power, economic or military, beyond its own borders.

We might not be on the friendliest terms, but it would have been wiser, assuming that these are just morons, to have staged a very public event for a "compassionate" release of misguided idiots, and maybe win some positive pr points leading up to the next election, if for no other reason than you never know when another dubya would end up in office with a much more militant outlook on diplomacy.

> Something fishy from all sides here.

Nah, incidents like this are more easily explained by American idiocy than by American venality... If we're probing international borders, we're not doing it with backpacks full of Hot Pockets and Pellegrino.

So there I was, waiting in the Fiji airport, looking forward to a return flight from a wonderful scuba trip. And there's this casually pretty young blonde in the terminal, all chatty but exhausted. "They threw my boyfriend in jail in Nadi," she says. "I gotta go home and call President Clinton...."

Now, this was not a woman with a lot of old social connections to the political machinery of Little Rock or any other capitol. Mostly she was an idiot who wanted to drop the name.

And for fuck's sake, the Fijians are some of the sweetest people on the surface of the planet. Lord God knows they're more patient with American tourists than they oughta be. If her boyfriend got drunk and got into a bar fight, he freaking well deserves jail, and she knows it.

But that's America's view of the rest of the world. Deluded, naive Americans imagine themselves to be super-compassionate "citizens of the World, Man" first, and Americans second. This delusion is based on no experience of the planet whatsoever. And they further imagine that when something bad happens, Daddy Government in the District of Columbia will send out the troops to lovingly bring them home.

They're mistaken, and Amy's impatience is sensible.

I read that if a chimpanzee wanders off into the territory of a different tribe of chimps, they will have no hesitation about killing (and even eating) the intruder. That's what these imbecile hikers remind me of.

Americans having a sense of a protective force field bubble around them abroad Is, I believe, known as the Marylin Monroe Doctrine.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/271844/marilyn-monroe-doctrine-clifford-d-may#

That article ought to be red meat to this discussion or I really am losing my marbles.

It is not just Americans it can be other western idiots too. I am surprised how many people never read their countries State Reports about countries they go to or live in.

It is surprises how many people who get into trouble in another country thing their country will go to bat for them. When things do go wrong all they get is .... nothing. Okay not nothing! If you can get your embassy to help you will get a list of lawyers which you will have to pay for and maybe a check up by some offical once in a while to make sure you are not being tortured.

But sorry no Chuck Norris/Delta Force is coming to your rescue. No secret meetings and handshake between diplomats in suits.

Never mind these are Americans who are going near countries that HAVE NO EMBASSY OR CONSULATE. General advice if your country does not have an Ambassador in said country. do not got there! Even farther away if it is a country like Iran that does not even want to be friendly or get something in return. Those two reporters captured in North Korean are lucky the regime is bribe able.

These three hikers where all what is called useful idiots with a very liberal bent.

While I do have some sympathy for the hikers and think it was more stupidity than the prospect of them spying, I think that you have to have a reasonable expectation that you could run into problems in certain parts of the world. Since I was a kid I've always wanted to travel to exotic places but I recognize that certain places are too dangerous and know that should I decide to go, I have to accept that not every country thinks or acts like the US. If there's even a chance of accidentally trespassing in Iran on a hike, you're taking a big risk and that's not the fault of the Iranian government.

I can see why the Iranians thought they were spies... I'm not sure they weren't.

Sorry, Im all out of sympathy for stupid people.

Who hikes along a trail, or thru an area, where one side is a country offically at war, and the other side is an unoffical enemy state who are government refuses to have diplomatic relations with?

>> “Eiri fik, ya gahba!”

Thanks Abersouth!

As an ex-USAF member who spent three years in South Korea -- we were there under the Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA). Even with that bubble, the knowledge that there were various other G.I's were in the area, and the majority of Korean population favored us -- we still had no go zones.

I wouldn't even consider going into many countries as a civilian.

They are Larry, Mona, and Curly, and should be treated as such.

They are idiots. They are activists just like those stupid ones in Korea. They deserve whatever they got. Also, nice to see the filthy feminist throw her buddies under the bus...is anyone surprised? Oh , and now she is considered a big "hero" by the rest of man-haters. Hero my ass. Whoever paid her "bail" is never going to see that money again.

FYI, there are five countries with no US ambassador. Three are obvious no-gos (Cuba, Iran, and North Korea). The other two are Bhutan (the US operates there from its India embassy and all the surrounding consulates) and Taiwan (due to pressure from Red China--the American Institute in Taiwan acts as the de facto consulate).

travel.state.gov
voyage.gc.ca

You could probably go to Cuba without a major concern for your safety. At least, major by the standards set by Iran, North Korea, the Sudan, or a few other places. I'd feel safer traveling to Cuba than Columbia.

I'd feel safer going to Cuba than certain neighborhoods in my city. If the Cubans shot me, they'd have a reason.

Failure to maintain situational awareness may permanently negate the need.

I have a friend in Florida who visits Cuba a couple of times a year. There are a lot of people who think they're prohibited from going, but it's not true. And US policy towards Cuba is nuts. Once WalMart, Target, McDonald's and Best Buy get going there, it'll be irrelevent who's in charge.

I know this is a late entry, but...

A few years back, an acquaintance asked "Hey, what's your favorite GaGa song!"

I noted a couple that I liked, but that her first big hit, "Just Dance" drove me nuts, because I thought the behavior of the girl in the song - drunk, separated from friends, unaware of where her phone, purse, etc. - was incredibly self-destructive in the sense that she was hanging a huge "I am prey" sign on herself, and rendering herself completely unable to deal with the trouble that would almost certainly result.

I was told not to be a hater and not to play "blame the victim" games.