May 20, 2019
By Jan Oberg
Remember President Trump’s tweet and accompanying statements by the Trump administration officials concerning Iran – as reported here by CNN on May 19, 2019.
Trump’s statement amounts to a de facto declaration of war on Iran.
Objectively speaking, it is a lie that Iran threatens the US. It is a lie that the US sends aircraft carriers to the region in self-defence. It’s lies as blatant as the one about Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction.
You may think that this is just psychological warfare and positioning. It is not. Because: Over time, this type of statements develop its own dynamics and the US will not be able to back down from what it threatens to do without
President Trump’s statement is a blatant violation of international law, the UN Charter’s Article 2.4 which states:
“All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”
In this extremely worrying situation of years of step-by-step US build-up to war with Iran, every and each government that does not issue a formal public protest distancing itself from this type of rogue state behaviour that endangers world security must be considered co-responsible for a war on Iran if and when it breaks out.
In this extremely worrying situation of years of step-by-step US build-up to war with Iran, every and each government that does not issue a formal public protest distancing itself from this type of rogue state behaviour that endangers world security must be considered co-responsible for a war on Iran if and when it breaks out.
Check out whether your government has the statesmanship and courage to do so, no matter where you live. Protest if it doesn’t.
This is not the way the world’s strongest military and a world leader should behave – against a state that has, according to every report including US assessments, adhered to every word in the JCPOA, the Nuclear Deal with Iran of 2015.
The only – gross and repeated – violator of that agreement is the United States of America, by
Additionally, the US continues and has stepped up sanctions that amount to (economic) war crimes and collective punishment of 85 million completely and indisputably innocent civilian Iranians.
NATO and the EU – as collective organisations – must now distance themselves from this policy and, in the field of US Iran policies, defy any pressure exerted by Washington, issue statements to the effect that this type of policies by a friend and ally is completely unacceptable morally and a crystal clear violation of international law as well as civilised behaviour among members of the global society.
Secondly, each member state must practice civil disobedience against the US in this field, step up all types of cooperation with Iran and – in actions and not just words, words and more words – isolate the US.
Any government that keeps silent in this extremely dangerous situation are philosophically as well politically complicit in every violent
To quote Albert Einstein: “The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it.”
When it comes to its Iran policies, the United States must now be made clearly and unequivocally aware that it does not have and will not have any support – ethically, politically, militarily or economically – from allies and friends – neither when making such statements not if it is mad enough to start a war on Iran and destroy one more civilisation and sovereign state in the Middle East.
This is in the service of the US itself: One more war will make the US the most hated country on earth. It will devastate the US economy further. It will weaken and spell the end of the US Empire. It will – like all the other wars – be what I have repeatedly ermed a predictable fiasco on its own terms.
If you love America, act now. If you want to see it crumble and fall, keep silent and let it fall into its own – tendentially fascist, militarism-addicted – trap.
Distance yourself from US Iran policies or be responsible for the next catastrophe in the Middle East added by JO on
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It is clear that U.S. military operations abroad, especially the belligerent actions towards Iran by the Trump administration, are not supported by all Americans. In fact, opinion polls show that despite massive anti-Iranian propaganda and demonisation of Iran by a large section of U.S. media and neocon-dominated think tanks, over 60% of Americans are against war with Iran. However, this has not stopped former administrations from engaging in disastrous unpopular wars and will certainly not stop the current administration dominated by a number of neocons from committing this madness.
The United States has been almost constantly at war since the end of the Second World War, and since the the end of the Cold War it has been waging war against one Middle Eastern country after another causing massive damage, killing millions and at great cost to U.S. taxpayers.
However, US governments have not learned any lessons from those costly and failed wars. A war against Iran will be more disastrous than either the invasion of Iraq or the Vietnam war. It may spell the end of U.S. empire in the Middle East and will strengthen China and Russia, if in fact it does not lead to a world war. It is incumbent upon the international community, as well as all patriotic Americans to stop these wars which only benefit arms manufacturers and the Military-Industrial complex.
Thank you, Jan, for posting this essay. As a citizen of the U. S., I have long been frustrated, angry, discouraged, and sad about U. S. foreign policy specifically, and U. S. government conduct, in general. For the sake of the rest of the world, I am so very sorry about the reckless, belligerent, antagonistic, inhumane, and psychotic behavior of my government and its sociopathic political-corporate-militarist class. Learning the truths about the entire history of my country leaves me wishing I somehow could have been born somewhere else, and now the relentlessly wanton disregard for life and peace and happiness brings daily reminders of the criminality of the government of the nation in which I must live. While I think many Americans share my concerns, we are nevertheless a nation of sheep, and I dare say exemplary leaders among us rare and becoming more so. We so easily have slipped into fascism, yet so many ardently support policies that will lead to hell on Earth.
I look forward to my personal demise, the only way out of this illegitimate, psychopathic, narcissistic society in which I’ve wasted away for too long.
I have little to leave behind, but will remember your efforts and those of other peace visionaries as I leave this mortal plane.
Dear Peter Warner – many thanks for your words of wisdom and your support for our work. I am deeply grateful that you appreciate ur work so much and, if I may add, never give up. There are millions upon millions of good-hearted people all around the world who do all they can to create a better world for all. It’s just that we never see them in any news programs. Many elitist people in power would like us to give up, being fearful, think that it doesn’t matter what each of us citizens does. But I know it does and there are tons of examples. And even f the peace-oriented people may lose at some point in the future, we should light that candle every day rather than curse the darkness. It is not darkness all over, for sure – and I see from your beautiful website that you love nature and beauty – that too is important. My best, dear Peter – Jan