Quote:Well, there are the four prisoners/hostages, depending upon who you ask, and these ten sailors who are "hostages" until tomorrow, and beyond that, no idea. I don't count someone who has gone to a foreign country and broken their laws as a hostage, so American citizens in Iranian jails for doing just that don't really qualify.

 

IMO, give it ten years, and Iran will be as westernized as anyplace else in the Middle East. Per someone who just spent two weeks there (not me), the "death to the great satan" crowd is roughly akin to the Westboro Baptist Church. Larger, sure, but most modern Iranians don't really listen to them or pay much attention. As the "death to America" crowd fades from power, the new generation will recognize that an economic standoff with the west is a bad thing and work more towards normalizing relations. It's already happening. We have far, far greater problems in the world than Iran, and at the top of that list is the cold realization that if China were to call in its debts, the US economy would be destroyed instantly.