Reports out of the White House suggest that President Trump is strongly
leaning against attacking Iran, with officials saying he wants to keep
up his campaign vows to reduce foreign entanglements.
With talk of a major fight with Iran over allegations of their involvement with a drone attack in Saudi Arabia, Trump is echoing the sentiments of a number of senators who also are concerned about the consequences of reckless US escalations in the region.
There are reasons to be concerned. The drones had some minor impact on
oil prices, but a major regional war could greatly compound that and
cause substantial economic problems the world over.
Least happy about this is Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who was
immediately demanding attacks on Iran. He also lashed out at Trump for
not doing so, saying the world would see it as a “sign of weakness.”
Trump fired back at Graham that not immediately attacking was actually a sign of strength “that some people just don’t understand.” In staking out his position against Graham, and by extension against war, Trump seems unlikely to attack Iran.
Trump has expressed support for Saudi Arabia, but has suggested he
prefers the Saudis take responsibility for any reaction to the attack.
Since the Saudis are third in the world in military spending, they would
seemingly be able to do that.
Whatever…..
Whatever…….that`s also what the impotent US Peace and Antiwar movement is saying.
Huge amounts of military spending does not equal victory, or even an armed forces capable of marching in a straight line. Yemen being a prime example of that.
One may assume that Iran is “cocked and loaded” too.
But first you create the situation in which you claim to not want. There was no threat of war with Iran when Trump took office. His actions are responsible for making it a threat now. And is war the only definition for foreign entanglements? Attempting to destroy countries economically isn’t intervening in the lives of those people affected by our draconian sanctions? Sanctions kill just like bombs.
And this little tidbits from one of the links:
“At the same time, Trump has flashes of private regret about his only new military intervention in the region: airstrikes against Bashar Assad’s government in Syria. Trump has told confidants that he wishes those 2017 and 2018 attacks, which targeted Syrian facilities after the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons, had inflicted more damage.”
The Trump Tower leans one way, then leans the other. Soon, it will miraculously collapse into its own footprint like Building 7.
Amen!
So the Saudis and US govts are supposedly all but certain Iran did it, but we won’t shoot back because doing so would shoot ourselves in the foot and wreck the global economy that is utterly addicted to oil. So whomever did this can just do it again and again. Oil is indefensible, strategically and morally. Especially when the US insists on the right to attack the weak at will and blockade countries while touting “free trade.” We cannot militarize our way into securing hypocrisy injustice and arbitrary oppression.
“Since the Saudis are third in the world in military spending, they would
seemingly be able to do that.”
“Seemingly” is the operative word. The Saudis, according to Colonel Pat Lang, are next to incompetent militarily. He describes them as “lazy and untrainable.”
Trump will probably have been so informed by the Pentagon – assuming he bothered to ask or anyone there volunteered the information.
Again, what Trump “wants” is irrelevant. What happens when the Houthis bomb the Saudi oil production again? The Houthis could target the desalination plants which is what enable the Saudis to pump oil at all.
What happens if Trump “gets his way” and the Saudis attack Iran, then lose badly. Is he going to *allow* Iran to blow up more of the Saudi oil fields *without* attacking Iran in retaliation or to “secure the world’s oil supply”? Not that he would succeed, but isn’t it obvious that even if he wanted not to, he would have no choice in his own mind?
Not that the Saudis would risk attacking Iran on their own, in my view. But who knows what MBS might decide to do – especially if he were assured by the neocons around Trump that they could get Trump to back Saudi Arabia? Whether that was true or not would not be relevant – just what they could convince Saudi Arabia to believe in order to get their war.
The desperation to believe that Trump is “somehow” going to stop a war which clearly literally everyone in power in the US – and Israel and Saudi Arabia – wants is obviously a sign of cognitive dissonance – not rational weighing of the facts.
He may not start one right now – but what about tomorrow when he changes his mind again after some new incident occurs?
What he’s *not* actually doing – other than tweeting about random “meetings” with Iran which aren’t actually going to happen – is making any effort to defuse the situation.
Yet we’re supposed to assume that somehow this Orange Mophead with absolutely no clue what he’s doing is somehow going to stop another war?
Does anyone here see how utterly ridiculous that notion is?
“Not that the Saudis would risk attacking Iran on their own, in my view.
But who knows what MBS might decide to do – especially if he were
assured by the neocons around Trump that they could get Trump to back
Saudi Arabia? Whether that was true or not would not be relevant – just
what they could convince Saudi Arabia to believe in order to get their
war”
perfectly said this is the real threat the kid is a pumped up moron and honestly no one should underestimate stupidity.
Not mentioned in this short article are the Israelis and their Zionist allies in the U.S. They are the biggest single force leaning on Trump to get what they want, which is a U.S. attack on Iran. James Petras pointed out that, in the ever shifting factional struggles in the U.S. ruling class over the use of military and covert actions overseas, “Washington provides the weapons, soldiers and financing for whichever power configuration or faction among the elite is in a position, by design or default, to seize the initiative and push their own war agenda.” (“Wars: US Militarist Factions in Command”, Nov 11, 2015, James Petras, at
). For the last 30 years the faction that has consistently moved first to get U.S. military and covert action agencies into wars were the Israeli/Zionists. This has been consistently true since the U.S. pulled out of SE Asia, the only countervailing trend was in Afghanistan where the control of opium production was the main issue (the Golden Triangle declining in importance in the opium/heroin trade as the U.S. military left SE Asia).
Trump is the most directly Israeli/Zionist controlled president in U.S. history, and that is saying quite a bit. Of course the military high command has informed him, in no uncertain terms, that the U.S. is not capable of mounting a land invasion of Iran. Even an air war, supplemented with commandos and proxy forces, most likely the Kurds, is a very risky endeavor; and the consequences of that, if Iran closes the Straits of Hormuz as they undoubtedly would do, as a result would very likely tumble the Petro-dollar reserve currency house of cards. That would be very bad for Trump and his fellow swindlers, speculators, and finance capitalists, not to mention the rest of us poor common people. And down the scale quite a bit there is even Trump’s promise, one of the many, some of them ludicrous, to his “base” that the wars would come to an end (something that is absolutely untrue, under Bush 8,750 bombs a year rained on the Earth from U.S. forces, under Obama this went up to 12,500 bombs per year, and in Trump’s first year in office this went up to 40,000 bombs). (See, “Trump’s Military Drops a Bomb Every 12 Minutes, and No One Is Talking About It”, June 19, 2018, Lee Camp, “Truthdig”, at )
Whatever a President’s personal preferences, their actions are dictated by the real rulers of the country. Those who step out of line, like John F. Kennedy, who actually did more than just blather about things, are dealt with in no uncertain terms. Anybody who thinks Donald Trump is made of the same stuff as JFK was, is deluding themselves.
Trump has already declared war on Iran by attacking them with illegal sanctions. That’s a deliberate attack on a civilian population, illegal under the UN Charter. But, when did the US ever pay attention to the rule of law? It’s the law of the jungle for us, the survival of the fittest. But, the rest of the kids on the playground are soon going to gang up on the bully and beat the crap out of him. It can’t come any too soon.
The US has weaponized everything by turning everything into a commodity. There are about a handful of people who have perpetuated siege warfare upon the entire planet.
It’s about time for a counter attack in my best estimation.
It’s time for the rest of the world to start sanctioning US.
nobody like Trump is going to launch a war that will kill tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of people, including perhaps thousands of US service men and women at 20+ bases in the area,
and sink US battleships and a carrier,
and destroy the infrastructure of at least 3 major oil and gas producing nations,
and cause a world wide Depression
BECAUSE of some damage to two oil refineries in saudi arabia.
There is no mass support for war with Iran in the US, and the Elites simply won’t do it. especially not in an election year. (and the US military is also probably set against it too.)
just because Lindsay Graham and some neo-ocon zionist shills want war doesn’t mean there will be one
You’re right, no one like DJT’s going to launch a war that will kill tens of thousands – if not hundreds of thousands – of people, including perhaps thousands of US troops at 20+ bases in the area, and sink US battleships and a carrier and destroy the infrastructure of at least 3 major oil and gas producing nations, and cause a worldwide depression because of some damage to 2 oil refineries in Saudi Arabia.
There’s no mass support for war with Iran in the US, and the Elites simply won’t do it, especially in an election year (and the US military’s also probably set against it, too).
Just because Lindsay Graham and some Trotskyist zionist shills want war doesn’t mean there’ll be one. If they want war so much, they can fight it themselves.
Trump says he will ‘substantially increase’ Iran sanctions over attack
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is hitting Iran with new economic sanctions over an attack on Saudi Arabia oil facilities.
“I have just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase Sanctions on the country of Iran!” Trump tweeted.
What’s left?
Well, maybe for now but the future isn’t certain, especially with the warmongers in Wash. who Trump surrounds himself with. For 222 out of 239 years – or 93% of the time – America has been at war. (We can quibble with the exact numbers, but the high percentage of time that America has been at war is clear and unmistakable.) Most of the military operations launched since World II have been launched by the U.S. And, just remember what Gen. Wesley Clark said about 7 countries in 5 years, ending with Iran.
“And, just remember what Gen. Wesley Clark said about 7 countries in 5 years, ending with Iran.”
That was 12 years ago, and he was referring to an earlier time. If he was wrong about the five years, is there any particular reason to believe he was right about the seven countries?
Sorry, I don’t buy it, he left the Iran deal not without a reason