Freedom Rider: Iran and Endless War

Margaret Kimberley, BAR editor and senior columnist

19 Jun 2019

Americans are, indeed, exceptional – the most gullible public in the world, always ready to believe their leaders’ lies.

“The increasing closeness between China, Russia and their central Asian partners is a reaction to U.S. threats and aggressions.”

The latest in the saga of the desperate empire is the execution of one of the most obvious false flag operations of all time. On June 13, 2019 explosions took place on two oil tankers, one of which was Japanese owned, in the Gulf of Oman. Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe had just concluded meetings with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Japan is caught up in the U.S. sanctions scheme against Iran, which forbids their continued purchase of Iranian oil. The Trump administration and their friends at the New York Timesand other outlets would have us believe that Iran would take such risky action during delicate negotiations that determine its ability to survive as a nation.

But the absurdity is accepted, not just by Trumpian neocons and not only by the New York Times. Democratic congressman Adam Schiff, point person in ginning up Russiagate hysteria, sounds just like the administration he allegedly opposes. “There’s no question Iran is behind the attacks,” Schiff opined on the Face the Nationnews program. Obviously there are many questions, such as who among the rogues gallery of U.S. proxies carried out the deed on behalf of the criminal enterprise. Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are the obvious suspects.

But Schiff is not alone. Ever the proud vassals, the British immediately backed up their partner in crime. They can always be counted on to follow Washington’s orders.

“Who among the rogues gallery of U.S. proxies carried out the deed?”

The rest of the Democrats have been silent. Bernie Sanders issued his standard mealy mouthed statement. He rightly pointed out that war with Iran would be disastrous but fell back on the worthless demand that Trump ask Congress for permission to start the disaster.

Thus far no one in the Democratic Party has stated the obvious, that Iran would not have carried out these attacks and that the pretext is as phony as the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. It is sad but true that National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have every reason to believe that their ruse may succeed. They have friends like Schiff, who otherwise pretend to oppose them.

We have seen this movie before and we know how it ends. If the lie is told long enough and often enough Americans can become a blood thirsty mob ready to accept anything that their supposedly exceptional government tells them.

The Trump team are desperate. They know that Iran can close off shipping in the Straits of Hormuz and send oil prices soaring. That is why they hoped to quickly dispatch the Venezuelan government and snatch their oil. But none of their plans have come to fruition thus far. They are left with telling obvious lies in order to keep their shaky and shady plan in operation.

“The pretext is as phony as the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.”

Every day brings a new gambit. John Bolton fed the New York Timesa story of U.S. hacking into Russia’s electric grid. But one never knows with Bolton, the man who held up a notebook with the words “5,000 troops to Colombia” written on it.

According to this tale the U.S. began its interference in 2012 and continues till today. As if the story is not dramatic enough, they claim that Trump was kept in the dark and knew nothing about what is arguably an act of war. It is possible that the U.S. would do this, it is possibly a lie, perhaps Trump was aware, and perhaps he wasn’t. It would help to have an independent and adversarial media at times like these.

One thing is certain, the U.S./European alliance is in serious trouble. While America displayed endless nonsense Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and other leaders met at the Shanghai Cooperation Summit in Kyrgyzstan. Rohani attended as an observer. The increasing closeness between China, Russia and their central Asian partners is a reaction to U.S. threats and aggressions. So was Abe’s trip to Iran.

Endless war is all that the U.S. and its puppets have to offer. Russiagate is a cynical ruse meant to obscure the bipartisan war party consensus. Neither Bernie Sanders nor any other Democrat will put up true resistance. They are either true believers in America’s self-proclaimed right to do whatever it wants or they are cowards who won’t speak up. In the end it doesn’t matter which label fits. If they don’t object the war of terror against the rest of the world will continue. One moment the government hatches a plot against Venezuela and when that stalls they fall back on making Iran look like a villain. The only certainty is that America is the true villain and its threats endanger the whole world.

Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com . Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.

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