Huh. This was an odd piece. It started really micro and then ... never particularly went macro, except for this: That sums the entire article adequately. I can't help but think it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to anyone who wasn't already familiar with the Middle East in the 20th century. That said, kleinbl00 and insomniasexx y'all might like this. At least some of it.“The tragic irony,” writes Professor Gasiorowski, “is that the radical Islamists who seized the US embassy in early November [1979] did so in part because they thought US officials were plotting a coup or other nefarious activities there. In fact, US officials were warning Iran’s government about Iraqi activities that culminated in the devastating invasion of September 1980.”