A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
If war with Iran is insane, why is Obama acting crazy? “Stepping to the brink of war with Iran only makes a kind of macabre sense if the Obama administration feels in desperate need of a diversion.” The bigger the better, since the diversion must call attention from the goo in the Gulf and the air in people’s wallets.
Obama’s Iran Diversion: Forget About the Gulf Gusher, Jobs
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
“Washington seeks to create an artificial confrontation with Iran in order to draw attention from the real, profound and multiplying crises that threaten, not just the Obama presidency, but global rule of finance capital.”
If there is a consensus among the sober inhabitants of the planet, it is that an armed assault on the Islamic Republic of Iran would immediately plunge the world into economic crisis and threaten a global firestorm. Yet all signs indicate that the United States and its Israeli partner are prepared to plunge into that terrifying unknown. Israel, of course, is an inherently unstable state, that feeds on crisis. But why would the United States consider diving into the Iranian abyss at this point in time, when America’s humiliation at the hands of a determined Sunni minority in Iraq is still a fresh memory? Stepping to the brink of war with Iran only makes a kind of macabre sense if the Obama administration feels in desperate need of a diversion. Washington seeks to create an artificial confrontation with Iran in order to draw attention from the real, profound and multiplying crises that threaten, not just the Obama presidency, but global rule of finance capital.
So, what does Obama do to divert attention from the gushing catastrophe in the Gulf – a disaster that starkly illuminates the subordinate role that the U.S. government plays to the Big Oil. Every barrel of toxic goo excreted into the Gulf of Mexico is testimony to the Obama administration’s subservience to Big Oil, both in the lead-up to the blowout and the aftermath. The whole nation is a witness that BP is still in charge.
How can Obama direct the public’s attention away from the jobless “recovery” from the Great Recession, which followed the jobless “recovery” from the 2002 Bush recession – the double-whammy of which erased the brief employment gains of the Nineties for whites and Blacks and left African Americans four times further behind whites in wealth accumulation than they were 20 years ago?
“Obama needs to appear to be bashing some very unpopular people: the Iranian mullahs.”
What’s an Obama to do to hide the fact that, after passage of his sham financial reform legislation, he must resume the business as usual of pleasing Wall Street by freezing discretionary non-military spending starting next year and putting the fate of Social Security in the hands of an appointed commission dominated by wealthy interests.
How can Obama mask the reality that the U.S. has no intention of leaving Afghanistan or Pakistan or Iraq, or of vacating any of its close to 800 military bases in nearly 60 countries – ever! – unless militarily defeated or otherwise forced out? The U.S. has never in modern times voluntarily relinquished its bases, and continues to add more at every opportunity. Iraq and Afghanistan are no different, and shuffling generals around will not provide enough of a facsimile of movement for long. Obama needs a unifying cause to rally the American public, to justify the oceans of money spent on weapons of war. And for that, Obama needs to appear to be bashing some very unpopular people: the Iranian mullahs.
And so, the U.S. and Israel now dance at the edge of the precipice, amassing forces to further encircle Iran, including the recent passage of U.S. and Israeli warships through the Suez Canal enroute to the Persian Gulf. American preparations for war against Iran are well advanced. Obama may not even know if he is bluffing or not, but he does know he needs a diversion from all the current and looming crises that have nothing to do with any Ayatollah.
For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.
The Black Agenda Report team is taking our annual summer break. We will be back with a new issue on September 9, 2026. Thanks for your support, and we will see you soon!
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