Iranians Decide to Slit Their Own Economic Throats

Captain Ed reports on the decision by the Iranian nutcase president to cut economic ties to any nation which has run the Muhammed cartoons:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the cancellation of economic contracts with countries where the media have carried cartoons of the prophet, the ISNA news agency reported.

The report said the hardline president had ordered the creation of an official body to respond to the cartoons, saying the regime "must revise and cancel economic contracts with the countries that started this repulsive act and those that followed them." ...

The list, which already included Denmark, where the 12 caricatures first appeared last year, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain, expanded Saturday to take in New Zealand and Poland.

As the Captain points out, Europeans may not have to impose sanctions on Iran for their refusal to cooperate with nuclear inspectors. They just imposed sanctions on themselves.

Is anybody else started to feel a little deja vu about this whole thing - something to do with the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914? That assassination in Sarajevo blossomed into a huge mess and triggered WWI, and I'm beginning to wonder if WWIII won't be triggered by a dozen cartoons published in a Danish newspaper.