Caitlin Johnstone:
Full-Scale War Is Avoided And Trump Goes Right Back To Warmongering
The United States and Iran entered into a direct military exchange for the first time ever with the drone assassination of General Qassem Soleimani last week and a retaliatory strike from Iran via surface-to-surface missiles upon two US military bases on Wednesday.
As usual it was the less powerful nation who exercised restraint, with Iran skillfully targeting the bases’ military capabilities but taking measures to successfully avoid any casualties. The two nations de-escalated back down to their previous high level of dangerous hostilities with an understanding between them that neither side wants a full-scale war. Both sides played “chicken” and both sides swerved, and they know that about each other now.
So that was a relief. We were all forced to hold our breath and hope against hope that cooler heads would prevail after the senseless assassination of a sovereign nation’s top military official, and they did. A full-scale war that would have dwarfed Iraq and Vietnam in terms of death, destruction and destabilization was averted.
And then Trump immediately went right back to warmongering.
(...)
So things are only continuing to heat up with Iran, and there is no reason to believe more eruptions like the direct military confrontation we just experienced won’t occur again, with the world perhaps getting a lot less lucky next time. Trump and his supporters are trying to claim the evasion of full-scale war as a victory for both peace and for America, but it is neither.
All of the defenses of Trump’s warmongering that you’ve been seeing are premised upon the unquestioned assumption that it is both reasonable and acceptable for the United States to maintain a military presence in the Middle East, even in nations whose governments don’t want them there like Iraq and Syria. If the US didn’t insist on maintaining an enormous military presence in this one area on the other side of the planet, there would be no debate about the need for America to “defend” itself by attacking the Iranian economy, assassinating government officials, and conducting airstrikes upon Iraqi militias. It would just be another country on the other side of the world, doing its own thing in its own way.
Most Americans haven’t thought very hard about this premise. They are fed some lines about the need to protect American “interests” and some unexplained need to defend Israel, and because those lines are spoken in an authoritative tone of voice most are content to leave it there. But if Americans actually laid out all the facts in front of them and thought deeply about what their government’s Middle Eastern military presence costs them and risks for them compared to what it actually gains them, it would be seen for the insane imperialist power agenda that it so clearly is.
Entire article here.
Neven
The reason most Americans haven't "thought very hard" about the Trump keeping a military presence in countries that would prefer to show them the door, is because
that is what America has been doing since before I was born. (and I was born in 1946)
Blaming Trump for policies that have been in place since the presidency of FDR, if not much earlier, is IMHO as dangerous as attacking him for Russiagate or Ukrainegate.
Aerial Assassination, with Presidential Participation, has been openly acknowledged by both political parties. How does one (successfully) attack Trump for activities that you approved of when your leader(s) were the ones drawing up the weekly death lists.
If Trump can't be brought down for policy decisions that his administration has made, perhaps he hasn't been as malignant a force as we believe. - At least that's liable to be the position taken by undecided voters.
We've had 3 years to attack Trump for:
Domestically:
Actions against Mexican migrants.
Attempts to preserve coal mining & usage.
Successfully weakening the EPA.
Foreign:
Disruption of trade through Nafta rewrites,
Sanctions even against allies.
China trade agreements.
Pulling out of the Paris Accords.
He's guilty of plenty of other nastiness, but these are generally straight from the Republican Playbook, and the guilt lies close to their doorstep.
By the end of 2019 Trump was tied with Obama as "America's most admired man", his highest ranking in 3 years!Pelosi's dreams of a tight race for the Presidency have come true. Hundreds of Millions will flow through the DNC's hands and a percentage of this will grease the sweaty palms of democratic consultants, pollsters & "leaders". They don't make donations, they pocket them.
Trump in 2020 went from a longshot to a 50/50 pick-em. In 11 months it may be a shoo-in.
Thanks Nancy
Terry
