re: "Tehran's embassies: Targets of popular rage since 1829"

Uri Friedman at PASSPORT ("A Blog By The Editors of FOREIGN POLICY") put the Iranian attack on the British embassy in its proper historical context.

Money quote(s):

"The storming of the British embassy in Tehran on Tuesday capped a week of diplomatic wrangling over the United Kingdom's decision to slap new sanctions on Iran in response to its nuclear program."

Just in case anyone actually believes this was the unsanctioned action of a "spontaneous mob," here's a link to some information that bears on that subject.

(Of course, if you equate, as I do, the term "spontaneous mob" to "state-sponsored assault team," then only the "unsanctioned" part of the above should be any bother.)

"(E)mbassy storming is a recurring phenomenon in Tehran, though Iran certainly isn't the only country to experience such attacks. The most infamous incident, of course, involves young Islamic revolutionaries seizing the U.S. embassy in 1979 and taking 63 Americans hostage for 444 days to demand that the United States hand over the recently ousted Shah. But there are other examples."

In addition to some post-Revolutionary examples, there's also this:

"Tehran also witnessed what may be the earliest instance of an embassy assault (if an earlier example comes to mind, please share it with us). In January 1829, Alexander Griboyedov, a famous Russian playwright tasked with imposing a humiliating peace treaty on the Persians, was murdered along with nearly his entire staff when a furious mob stormed the Russian embassy in Tehran following a series of disputes between Griboyedov and the Shah."

In addition to Britain closing its Tehran embassy and order Iran's diplomats out of London, France's mission will also be going on some sort of Ordered Departure.

11/29

re: "BREAKING: Government Backed Protesters Storm US Embassy Grounds In Damascus . UPDATE: US Says Embassy Grounds Cleared Of Attackers"

DrewM. at Ace of Spades HQ remarked on a purely-spontaneous-mob attack.

Money quote(s):

"I have to admit, I wasn't thrilled when Obama decided to send an ambassador to Syria after Bush had left the post vacant for a few years in protest of the Assad regimes behavior. Honestly though, I like the cut of Ambassador Ford's jib.

Ford took an unauthorized visit to the town of Hamma and then went on facebook (yes, sounds lame but that's where the anti-government activist types are) to call out the regime."

Credit where credit is due, even from consistent critics of the administration.

Damascus is one of those places (I'm sure you can think of at least one other, they tend to be police/counterintelligence states) where "spontaneous mobs" don't just assemble out of nowhere and overwhelm the ubiquitous host nation security forces that surround Western diplomatic missions.

Some years ago, OBO bureau (Overseas Buildings Operations) got tired of having to wait months to get replacement forced entry/ballistic (FE/BR) glazings for the mission's exterior doors and windows out to Damascus every time the Assad regime would be annoyed or bored enough to bus in a "spontaneous mob" to trash the place.

(The FE/BR glazings are quite robust and well up to prevent any "spontaneous mob" members from breaching through them into our buildings, but they can get pretty messed up in the attempts, which rather interferes with the whole transparency thing you expect from an actual window. Marvels of American technological know-how that they are, you can't exactly run down to the Tent Depot and walk out with a replacement. They have to be custom-built at one of a handful of manufacturing companies in the U.S.)

So rather than have to wait months for a set of replacements every time Assad's "spontaneous mob" would visit, OBO got approval (and funding) to simply procure, and store in Syria, a set of replacement window glazings. That way they just had to install them as soon as it was safe to do so and re-order the damaged part, so the next time there was a "spontaneous mob" attack, they'd be ready.

So far as I know, Damascus is the only place we've ever had to do that.

(An expensive hobby (for us), these "spontaneous mob" attacks seem to be.)



7/11