John Chuckman
COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY ASS’AD ABUKHALIL IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“THE ANGRY ARAB: Iran’s Military Options
“As’ad AbuKhalil weighs Iran’s position at a dangerous point in U.S. relations, but says the prospects of war are not as high as Gulf regimes and Israel want them to be”
Why does the author use the term “regime” right from the beginning, repeating it several times?
It is the government of Iran.
Using the word “regime” in that fashion represents classic American propaganda mode and is off-putting for continuing with the article.
Poor choice or hidden agenda?
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Response to a comment saying, "Any analysis that is based on the notion that Israel wants war lacks credibility, because it defies logic":
Then how do you explain almost continuous war for seventy years?
And Israel is the cause of far more war than just the many it has been at the center of.
The horrible American Neocon Wars, killing a couple of million people and creating millions of refugees, are Israeli-inspired.
Ariel Sharon and others were pitching for them, behind the scenes, many years ago.
And it is very important to recognize that while some Israelis might not want war with Iran, that clearly is not the case for their dreadful government, especially if it can manage to arrange it so America and its allies do all the fighting while Netanyahu sits back, with his feet up, watching the show on television with a big bowl of popcorn.
"These Arab nations are armed to the teeth by China, Russia, and the US. Note that it is Iraq, not Israel, that gets the lion’s share of US aid. In spite of impossible odds, Israel persists in surviving."
Quite inaccurate. The Arab states are not armed at all on the same level with Israel. Just to start with, none have nuclear arsenals.
And it is important to recognize Israel is the most subsidized entity on earth. The total of all its public and private subsidies, coming in many shapes and forms, are like nothing ever seen before.
"US involvement in the Mideast is about protecting US oil interests in the region. Period. Israel is a separate issue"
No, it is not. Israel is de facto a colony of the United States in the region, a rather peculiar colony and one covered in religious myths and legends, but still a colony serving most of the purposes colonies have always served.
That is precisely why it so subsidized and privileged with many special arrangements from free trade to being given all kinds of large contracts.
Israel has been a tremendously hostile force from the start because it adopted the "iron wall" notion of dealing with its neighbors instead of trying to establish good relationships.
The only nations in the region Israel has good relations with are those ruled by absolute kings and tyrants, ones loyal to American policy. Israel pretty much hates and fears democracy in the Arab world and is a major factor in working against it on many fronts.
Israel played a large secret role in the overthrow of Egypt’s first elected leader, Mohamed Morsi, and it despises Hamas in part because it has worked as a democratic party. Israel is much more comfortable with an unelected figure like Mahmoud Abbas, even though, as is its way with all Palestinians, it often treats him with contempt.
That's because Israel has so little in common with its neighbors. It is populated largely by people of European origin - the Ashkenazi Jews - and will always feel rather alien in the region. Holding several million Arabic people as seemingly-perpetual prisoners also certainly does not work towards any kind of relationship with neighbors.
