October 13, 2017
President Donald Trump has put the United States on the course for war with Iran. That was clearly his objective last Friday when he refused to certify the international nuclear accord with Iran and proclaimed heavy sanctions against Tehran’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Trump’s move was also a clever ploy to deflect blame for abrogating the key 2015 Iran nuclear treaty that the US signed with Iran, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union.
Accusing Iran of ‘terrorism’ and ‘violating the spirit of the accord,’ Trump threw the Iran issue into the hands of the Republican-dominated US Congress. He had to. All of Trump’s senior national security officials and those from the treaty partners and UN reported that Iran had kept its end of the deal.
So Trump trotted out the old song and dance about terrorism – which means anything Uncle Sam does not like. The same United States that supports the murderous Islamic State and its allies in Syria and Iraq.
There won’t be much doubt about how Congress handles this hot potato. The leading senators and congressmen who will deal with the issue, like Bob Corker, Tom Cotton, and Marco Rubio, are all firmly in the pocket of pro-Israel lobbies.
The US vociferous ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, is almost a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Las Vegas gambling mogul and uber Zionist billionaire, Sheldon Adelson – who is also a key financial backer of Trump and Netanyahu.
In fact, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have more influence on Capitol Hill than President Trump. He used to show it off by humiliating former president Barack Obama.
Israel has just scored a major triumph by using Trump to sabotage the Iran nuclear pact. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long been adamant in insisting that the pact be scrapped. Having pushed the US to destroy its old foes, Iraq and Syria, Israel now has its big guns trained on Iran, the last regional power that can challenge Israel’s domination of the Mideast. Iran, we should remember, is also the only important Mideast power backing the Palestinians and calling for a Palestinian state.
Trump is surrounded by a coterie of ardently pro-Israel advisors and cronies aligned to that nation’s far right wing. So far to the right, in fact, that their Israeli opponents often call them ‘fascists.’ Trump, with this Mussolini complex, fits right into this mind-set.
In addition, Trump’s virulent hatred of Islam and his deep support from America’s evangelicals fuels his antipathy to Iran. The Israeli lobby and so-called Christian Zionists that make up his electoral base are beating the war drums against Iran.
If the Iran nuclear deal is abrogated, America will have shot itself in the foot and shown the world it has fallen under the control of special interests for whom America’s national interests do not come first. Europe, already disgusted by the Trump carnival in Washington and its religious supporters, will pull further away from the US and closer to Russia and China. Who would trust America’s word after deal-break Trump?
Europe has lately signed billions in new trade accords with Iran, most notably and $18 billion deal with Airbus for the sale of commercial aircraft. Boeing wants to sell 80 aircraft to Iran worth $16 billion. Thus Trump’s jihad against Iran will likely deny high-paid jobs to tens of thousands of American workers. This from the president who was going to create jobs, jobs, jobs.
Iran handed over ten tons of medium-enriched uranium as part of the nuclear deal. Will Tehran get this trove back if Congress scuppers the Iran deal? Doubtful. Iran destroyed many of its uranium centrifuges as part of the deal. Can it sue Washington for breach of contract?
Meanwhile, the US heads towards some sort of military conflict with Iran at a time when it may go to war any day with North Korea. Trump, who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War due to a trivial foot problem, is now clearly thrilled by all his new military toys. Many of Trump’s close advisors fear Trump will trigger a nuclear war. It may be time for his top officials to step in and take away the president’s nuclear launch codes.
Israel is determined to destroy Iran so that it can never pose a military or political challenge to the Jewish state. Call it Iraq II. This means turning Iran’s nuclear industry and its civilian economy to ruins. And maybe even breaking up Iran – as was done with Iraq – into Iranian, Azeri and Kurdish mini-states.
Rome’s famous statesman Cato the Elder used to end every speech with ‘Carthago Delenda Est’ – (Carthage, bitter rival and enemy of Rome, must be destroyed.’) Now, it’s Iran’s turn.
Copyright Eric S. Margolis Oct 2017
Did the US back IS, or, did they create it… I think the latter.
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As far as his Mussolini complex… he swears he will get those trains running on time…
More ramblings:
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By the Donald including Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as terrorists… he has included them with Green Peace… also on the terror watch list. If other countries were to maintain a terror watch list, the US might be included on it.
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Breaking the US ‘word’ in scrapping the nuclear agreement with Iran has cause derision within the main countries that the agreement had been agreed among… further weakening the stature of the US among these countries. I suspect strongly that they didn’t have much ‘faith’ in the Donald to start with. You notice not many of them are going out of their way to make any deals with the US.
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There is no use in suing the Americans for breach of contract. The US supreme court, in recent decades, has sided with the government, and not with what one could consider as ‘the rule of law’. The whole American system is terribly corrupted/broken… Canada suffers the same problems.
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The internet ‘faked’ photo with Daniel Craig (James Bond dude) talking to Queen Elizabeth… and James bond questions, “…and the Donald”, and the Queen responds, “…make it look like an accident.” Pretty funny, but, there are likely a lot of leaders in Europe and Asia that feel the same way.
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We have a similar problem in Canada with the re-negotiation of the NAFTA. It’s strictly one sided and we don’t have the people with the integrity or intelligence working for Canada’s long term interest. One of the three functions of a government is to look after the long term interests of the citizenry; they seem to have forgotten. I would walk away from it, asking for the Americans to put in writing what they were expecting… I would review the list and if unacceptable, simply not agree. It’s not quite that simple, but, something of that ilk. We need to expand out trading markets.
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Under the Donald’s watch, the Palestinians are done… their lot will not improve and will only go downhill. The UN should step in and put Israel on notice that they are to withdraw to their original territory… but, it won’t happen. The UN Charter has to be rewritten to include three times the number of countries on the Security Council with each of them having a single vote, and no abstentions. In addition there should be no veto ‘rights’… They have to have the authority to ‘do things’; in this manner, maybe the UN can really work as a United Nations and help clear up some of the world’s problems. The major countries would not like this and it will never happen.
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I can see Iran starting back on their nuclear program with increased haste. They are not a stupid people and can clearly see the position the Americans are forcing them into. They will not agree. What is surprising is that the Middle Eastern states don’t have the wherewithall to form a group or alliance; this is likely due to religious differences. They need to do this for self-preservation, or, like the Kim, start a nuclear program. They have the financial reserves… just not the cohesion.
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There used to be an ending to statements made by one of the North American tribes that roughly translated into, “it is so, because I have stated it.” I don’t recall it now, but, knew it as a child. What it means is that ‘I have stated the truth’. This attitude is sorely missing.
If the compliant American media had even a trace of credibility they would ask #45 the single most important question about the Iran deal, Have you actually read it?
It is obvious the fool hasn’t even glanced in the general direction of the American constitution and has all his briefings reduced to a single page, because his critics describe him of having the attention span of a gnat. So there is no way in hell he has even the slightest clue of what he is talking about.
Another great article. I loved the reference to the Islamic State (notice that we don’t hear much about it these days!) and the fact that the US backed it. How likely are we to ever see that in the NY Times or on CNN and Fox? The other comment I laughed at is the reference to Trump’s “Mussolini complex”. Yes, Trump is quite brave with his threats against Iran and North Korea, considering that he never served even one day of military service. But, not knowing what war is really like, he probably wouldn’t lose any sleep over the horrendous loss of lives on all sides if he were to take the US into a war against either country.