THE MARCH TO WAR

The world's real terrorists are the United States and Israel. They have both acted in violation of international law.

 

DONALD TRUMP'S decision to go to war against Iran has been met with barely contained enthusiasm from the American commercial news networks. From CNN to Fox News and several in between, the American attack on three Iranian nuclear sites has been framed almost as a sports game, with the United States entering the fray to score the winning goal. A series of ex-army generals and right-wing pundits have marched across our television screens, all hailing America's military capabilities and 'expertise'. I can't help but be reminded of the old XTC song 'Generals and Majors': Generals and majors/ They're never too far/ From battlefields so glorious/ Out in a world of their own/ They'll never come down/ Till once again victorious.'

There has been zero consideration given to the fact that the United States is in violation of international law as enshrined in the United Nations Charter: '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.' 

There has also been zero consideration given to the fact that the Trump administration is in violation of the US Constitution. As Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said: 'Instead of listening to the American people, Trump is listening to war criminal Netanyahu, who lied about Iraq and is lying once again about Iran. Congress must act immediately to assert its war powers and stop this unconstitutional act of war.'

But America's attack on Iran has not occurred in isolation. It comes at a time when western countries, like New Zealand, have continued to blindly follow the United States. They have joined the United States in shielding Israel from accountability for its actions. There has never been a red line that Israel has not been prevented from crossing. It is committing genocide in Gaza and attacked Lebanon and Yemen and now Iran. And not only with impunity, but with weapons supplied by the United States, Britain, and other western countries.

And now the United States has attacked Iran, repeating Netanyahu's lie that Iran is 'close' to possessing nuclear weapons, which Netanyahu has been claiming for the past thirty years. Even Trump's own Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, told Congress in March that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. Indeed, as far back as 2019 she said:

'A war that has no frontlines, total chaos, engulfs the whole region, is not contained within Iran or Iraq but would extend to Syria and Lebanon and Israel across the region, setting us up in a situation where, in Iraq, we lost over 4,000 of my brothers and sisters in uniform. A war with Iran would take far more American lives.'

But, under threat of losing her job and her career she said, less than twenty-four hours ago, that 'America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks.' She's lying. She knows she's lying. We know she's lying. But it's what her political master wants.
 
As the world hurdles into the unknown, and as Israel's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza continues to escalate, tens of millions more are now at risk from a catastrophic regional war. Dr Geoffrey Miller, a New Zealand geopolitical analyst, says that we could be on the brink of World War Three.

A Government of principle and integrity would make a stand against the madness and condemn America's attack. But that is not the New Zealand Government of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. It is not prepared to make a stand against the war drive, preferring to continue its policy of kissing American arse instead.

If countries like China and Russia (who both have close ties to Iran) decide that they can no longer remain uninvolved observers, then the future does look truly frightening.