Lazy Sunday Morning Tabs
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, March 22, 2026
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2 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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Regarding the topic of food (etc.) getting in to the gulf states, I posted this yesterday:
The key words being “long term.”
I got this response, which kind of missed my point:
Which missed my point, which I admit was not all that clear.
This is not the first time Iran has closed the strait, it did it several decades ago.
So after the present crisis is resolved, in 2 months or 6 months or whenever the food runs out and something must have been done – Iran will still be there, still controlling the strait, still occupying the entire north shores of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
So there is nothing to stop Iran from doing this again 5 years from now or 8 years from now or whenever. This is untenable, there needs to be other ways to get stuff in and out. Which means building more pipelines and roads.
In the 80s, as part of the Iran-Iraq War, both sides began to attack each other’s tankers in the Gulf. Inevitably third party tankers were damaged as well. there was some laying of mines, too.
This led to deployment of US naval assets, reflagging Kuwaiti tankers so the navy could escort them, a great many misunderstandings, an inexplicable Iraqi attack on a US frigate, and a US Navy Aegis cruiser shot down an Iranian airliner.
And all that was far less damaging to the world economy than what’s happening now.