Every day we wake up is another opportunity to either recommit to war criminals or to choose a sane path
The terrorist U.S./Israel attack on Iran comes as no surprise to anyone who has followed current events anytime in the last 20-odd years. Netanyahu has openly and repeatedly called for this war. It's part of Israel's plan to conquer neighboring countries and create "Greater Israel." Netanyahu's position is also not unusual in Israeli politics. His “liberal opposition” openly shares the same dream.
The fact that U.S. taxpayers are the ones forced to fund this attack is also no surprise. Most national level U.S. lawmakers of both parties are bribed by AIPAC to unconditionally support any and all of the wishes of Israel's government, in return for Israel being the U.S.’s military command post in the Middle East. This support comes in the form of years of weapons, lies, U.N. Security Council vetoes, biased reporting, and stupendous amounts of ordinary Americans' money.
What has made this latest catastrophe possible is a relentless propaganda narrative about Iranians being the world's arch-villains. The ground was methodically laid by years of speeches by Netanyahu as well as his political "opponents," as well as years of speeches by both Democratic and Republican politicians in the U.S. Kamala Harris famously called Iran the U.S.’s greatest enemy.
The fact that this war is completely illegal should also come as no surprise. We have Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Anthony Blinken, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Party, legions of Dem apologists, and corporate media to thank for the total normalization of international war crimes, as long as they are committed by the U.S. and Israel. They are the ones who rolled out the red carpet for Trump's lawbreaking.
Unlike invading Iraq, in which Bush and Cheney had to work hard to sell their fiction to the American public, the U.S. government no longer even bothers. Iran has no nuclear weapons and is no threat to the U.S. The U.S. had a nuclear agreement with Iran and Trump tore it up. Cue the Democrat standing ovation for Trump's lies about Iran's nuclear threat. This is unvarnished terrorism for profit, pure and simple.
This is also not about bringing democracy to the Iranian people, whom the U.S. and Israel are now murdering. Iranian democracy would mean that the will of the Iranian population would prevail, and the Iranian people have every reason to hate Israel and the U.S. What the imperialists want is to prevent Iranian democracy, and install a puppet regime willing to be subservient to U.S. capitalism and Israeli apartheid.
For all the Democrat/Republican/Israeli boasts about their own "lethality," the chances of "winning" this war and getting the Iranian population to submit to a pro-American, pro-corporate system willing to join up with Israel’s hatred of Islam are obviously zero. If we couldn't win in Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq, we can hardly be expected to prevail against a modernized, industrialized, militarized country of 92 million people.
"Winning" is not the actual goal. Mass killing has become a sort of casino for the rich and powerful. They risk their customers' and taxpayers' money on what they hope will be the prolongation, or better yet, escalation, of their genocides, civil wars and imperial conquests.
This includes "progressives" like AOC who vote to fund Israel's "defensive" weapons, which magically transform into "offensive" weapons whenever the mood strikes Benjamin Netanyahu or the IDF. There is nothing "defensive" about Israel's war crimes in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen or Iran. And none of them could be carried out without the massive infusions of ordinary Americans' income being diverted away from their own well-being and to the government of Israel.
Although some of them may quibble with certain procedural issues, the Bezoses, Trumps, Schumers, Theils, Eks, and Newsoms of the world want you to think that A.I.-assisted military adventures and genocides are a safe bet, a sound investment in American prosperity. In fact they risk Jewish safety, Israeli safety, American deaths, American bankruptcy, ecological collapse, world war, and nuclear Armageddon. Almost the entire world opposes our continuous lawlessness, and the outcomes of these global controversies are still very much up in the air.
The greatest threat to world peace is the U.S.A. This didn't start with Trump. Since the end of WW2, we've had the largest military in human history, and both parties publicly brag about its "lethality." Our military bases span the globe and hold the entire human race at gunpoint. Our sanctions, military actions, and C.I.A. have murdered over 100 million human beings in that time. And for the past 20 years, our most important partner in the killing has been another country with nuclear weapons: Israel.
Contemporary violence is being increasingly entrusted to A.I. weapons, for those who can afford it. The goal is more profitable war-making, more efficient genocides, and an expanded prison population. The main testing grounds have been Gaza, Ukraine, and ICE. Big Tech that ordinary people use every day, including OpenAI, Amazon, and Google, are collaborating with the U.S. government to make this reality possible.
A.I. takes human emotion out of the equation of mass killing. A.I. is shown to recommend nuclear war in 95% of war game tests. It's up to all of us to bankrupt military A.I. companies like Palantir (U.S.) and Elbit Systems (Israel) that risk blowing up the world. We also need to stop using companies like Amazon and Spotify that are heavily invested in A.I. warfare, which is why Deerhoof has quit both. We also need to stop voting for politicians of either party who support A.I.-assisted violence by ICE, police, or the U.S. military.
Every day we wake up, it's another opportunity to either recommit to war criminals or to choose a sane path. For anyone -- politician, pundit, or taxpayer -- who is not on board with Israel's psychopathic plan for the violent and criminal expansion of their racist apartheid state, and escalating world war, now would be a good time to withdraw your support.
To any politician still approving funding to Israel, taking money from AIPAC, or parroting Netanyahu's talking points: Your political career will improve by facing reality, meeting the moment, and changing course. To any voter still apologizing for Democrat or Republican politicians who fund these crimes: It's not too late to change your mind. And to those on the left who have been right this entire time: Do not give up.