Doug's Darkworld

Scene during the Iran/Iraq War. Photographer unknown, public domain image.

I was writing a lovely post involving tanks and Hitler, can’t go wrong with that combination, but realized there is a topic in the news I have been sidestepping around. Two intertwined topics really. This would be Venezuela and Iran. intertwined in that in both cases the sabre rattling coming out of Washington and the Pentagon is reaching unhealthy proportions. Several small species have already been driven to extinction by it. OK, that’s an exaggeration, but with headlines like “US Warns Iran Might Attack Commercial Ships as US Military Buildup Continues” and “Guaido ‘Open’ to Accepting a US Offer to Invade Venezuela” there is room for concern.

Sigh. I sigh a lot lately. Beats rage. Well, so much for Trump backing down on our overstretched imperial ambitions. At least he’s consistent, he’s broken all his populist promises and then some. So here we are threatening two countries that essentially pose zero threat to the USA. I’d say it makes no sense, but alas it makes perfect sense.

Let’s break this down. First, there is the Washington version. These countries are undemocratic dictatorships, being ruined by their respective governments. Socialist on one hand, Muslim theocracy on the other. Their people yearn for democracy, and to boot, Iran is a big regional threat and cause of regional instability! In both cases US military action may be required. In Venezuela to restore democracy, and in Iran to prevent them from attacking US allies and interests in the region. Yes, we’re the good guys defending the world against evil.

Sigh. (see?) Pernicious nonsense. The reality is both far more nuanced, and not nearly as flattering to Washington. Basically Washington’s function is to defend the petrodollar as the world’s reserve currency, and American business interests. Fossil fuels and weapons sales being the number one and two. It doesn’t mean there isn’t some concern for democracy, human rights, and defending America in some Washington quarters either. And I’m not advocating Illuminati conspiracies or 9/11 truther nonsense, just pointing out that the function of national governments is to protect the wealth and property of the rich. Has always been the case, likely always will. Washington is no different, shining light on hill nonsense to the contrary.

How do I convince people of that when I can’t sway flat earthers or anti-vaxxers? Just to name two widely held beliefs despite mountains of evidence and logic showing them to be, well, in error. Reminds me of when a University did a study, they wanted to study people who believed stuff that just wasn’t so. And as one of their study cohorts they chose people who believed they had been abducted by aliens. To their amazement, a lot of people got very upset at this, because alien abductions were very real!

So, I won’t. Not my job to change people’s minds. Not directly at least. All I can do is present info and let the discerning reader decide. In Venezuela, we have a country that broke from the US orbit, and did quite well with their “socialist” policies for a decade or longer. Then a collapse of world oil prices, corruption, and mismanagement destroyed their economy. Encouraged subtly and not so subtly by the US. And now the US is backing an opposition leader, wildly exaggerating his legitimacy, and threatening to install him by force. The US has also been encouraging a military coup, because that’s a tried and true method of getting rid of inconvenient governments with a thin veneer of legitimacy. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I will point out that “humanitarian interventions” have like a ten percent “success” rate, so this path we are on likely leads nowhere good.

In Iran in many ways it’s worse. Iran is a major regional power with 80 million people. And a country the US has a shameful history with. In 1953 the USA had the democratically elected government of Iran overthrown and installed the Shah, who ruled as a brutal dictator until the Iranian revolution in 1979. And then from 1980 to 1988 the west blatantly supported Saddam’s invasion of Iran. Let’s see, decades of US supported dictatorship, followed by a US sponsored war that killed hundreds of thousands. Just maybe they might have some ill feelings towards America in Iran? In any event since about two minutes after the Iranian revolution the US and Israel have blamed Iran for every problem in the Middle East, plus claimed Iran is “about to get” nuclear weapons.

Then of course the US sanctions against Iran, effectively an act of war. American has surrounded Iran with military bases, endlessly threatened Iran, and done their best to scuttle the nuclear deal that was painfully worked out between Iran and the west. Frankly the Iranians have been remarkably patient despite these endless provocations. I’m not exactly even sure what the goal of all Trump’s sabre rattling is. The chances the Iranian people will rise up, depose their government, and install a US friendly one is about as likely as Charlie Manson being elected president of the US. And the chances the US could do the same via invasion are even slimmer.

So I guess the whole point is to justify the US military presence in the Middle East while giving Israel a free hand. I find it hard to believe that in either country the US is seriously contemplating war. Hopefully it’s all just sabre rattling. Sabre rattling sometimes leads to wars. Wars are a bad thing. That’s the point of the illustration, wars destroy things and kill people. Point of the post really. Calling for peace and restraint, not war.

Have a good week everyone!

(Copyright © 2019 Doug Stych. All Rights  Reserved.)