❖
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday that the US is going to be launching major strikes in Iran, while President Trump says he’ll “bomb the shit out of” the Iranians if they don’t agree to a deal of his liking.
The latest wave of US airstrikes has already reportedly damaged critical civilian infrastructure, which according to the Iranian government has cut off some 20,000 Iranians from their water supply amid sweltering heat.
Meanwhile the US war machine is acting like a poor widdle victim and claiming it’s only bombing Iran in order to defend itself from unwarranted aggression.
CENTCOM released a statement on Wednesday saying “U.S. Central Command forces began launching additional self-defense strikes today at 5:15 p.m. ET against multiple targets in Iran at the Commander in Chief’s direction. The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression.”
Yep, sure, I know what that’s like. I just drove across town to break into someone’s house and he tried to stop me from pouring gasoline all over his living room, so I had to kill him in self-defense.
The US is like a malignant narcissist who begins with the assumption that everyone is obligated to provide him with deference and validation, and then takes it as a personal attack whenever they set normal boundaries. Empire managers really do believe the entire planet should submit to their authority and that it’s an unprovoked act of aggression when this isn’t given to them.
❖
The claim “Iran is the world’s largest state sponsor of terror” only makes sense when you remember that the western empire labels any group which opposes US/Israeli interests as a terrorist organization.
They even designated the IRGC as a terrorist group for fuck’s sake. If you define a major part of a country’s actual military forces as a terrorist entity, then obviously that country will per your own definition be a major “sponsor of terrorism” just by having a military.
Other Iran-backed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah are counted as “terrorist organizations” by the western empire, even as the rest of the world declines to classify them as such. For the overwhelming majority of the world’s governments those organizations are not terrorist entities, they’re just armed factions who oppose Israel and its western backers. They only get to define Iran as the top “sponsor of terrorism” because they say anyone who doesn’t like them is a terrorist.
It’s like if I said anyone who doesn’t like Caitlin Johnstone is a Nazi and then went around punching them, and if anyone objected I said “But they’re Nazis! Why are you defending Nazis??” Really they’re just people who don’t like me, but because I’ve changed the definition of “Nazi” to “someone who dislikes Caitlin Johnstone” I can then use that label to justify physically assaulting them.
That’s all the “terrorist” label exists to accomplish these days. It’s just a label they affix to any faction which poses an obstacle to the empire’s goals of planetary domination.
❖
Trita Parsi has a new article out arguing that Iran’s attacks on Israel in response to its Lebanon onslaught could represent “a new regional equation” where the Zionist entity is no longer free to do whatever it likes in the middle east, because Iran may start imposing consequences for its actions. It’s an intriguing possibility.
I hope the US/Israeli efforts to topple the Iranian government continue to fail. I hope Iran gets stronger so that it can hammer Israel whenever Israel does evil things. I hope the US war machine implodes, I hope the US empire ends, and I hope Palestine is freed from the scourge of Zionism.
❖
Israel: [ignites regional war]
Israel: [never abides by ceasefire agreements]
Israel: [bombs southern Lebanon every day]
Israel: [openly sabotages US negotiations with Iran]
Israel: [begins bombing Beirut]
Iran: [bombs Israel]
Zionists: They attack us because of our religion!
❖
Look it’s very simple. If you want to wear a small hat and pray Jewish prayers, that’s awesome. If you want to support a genocidal apartheid state, you’re a piece of shit.
People always try to add in extra layers of complexity, but that’s really all there is to it.
______________
The best way to make sure you see everything I publish is to get on my free mailing list. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece here are some options where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you want to. Click here for links for my social media, books, merch, and audio/video versions of each article. All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.
Bitcoin donations: 1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2
Caitlin Johnstone 