Whether inept, driven by survival or corrupt, they are unfit to lead their countries, let alone make decisions that imperil the whole world, says Guardian foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisdall
This was not inevitable. This is a war Israel chose. It could have been prevented. Diplomatic talks were ongoing when the bombers took off for Iran. Israel’s continuing, illegal, unjustified airstrikes are unlikely to achieve their stated aim – permanently ending Tehran’s presumed efforts to build nuclear weapons – and may accelerate it. They must stop now. Likewise, Iran must halt its retaliation immediately and drop its escalatory threats to attack US and UK bases.
This conflict is not limited, as was the case last year, to tit-for-tat exchanges and “precision strikes” on a narrow range of military targets. It’s reached a wholly different level. Potentially nothing is off the table. Civilians are being killed on both sides. Leaders are targets. The rhetoric is out of control. With Israel fighting on several fronts, and Iran’s battered regime backed against a wall, the Middle East is closer than ever to a disastrous conflagration.
Reasons can always be found to go to war. The roots of major conflicts often reach back decades – and this is true of the Israel-Iran vendetta, which dates to the 1979 Islamic revolution. The so-called “shadow war” between the two intensified in recent years. Yet all-out conflict had been avoided, until now. So who is principally to blame for this sudden, unprecedented explosion?
Answer: three angry old men whose behaviour raises serious doubts about their judgment, common sense, motives and even their sanity.
Illegal, maybe. But... Unjustified? Maybe the author is unaware of Isreal's recent divulgence of Iran's plan to sprint for a nuke while its militant religious zealots in Hamas and Hizbullah are hobbled? Or how openly the mullahs state that they will use it?
Bruh when Israel can just do a genocide and bomb countries left and right with no consequences AND they have nukes, it's perfectly normal to want nukes to even the odds. Nothing justified about any of Israel's crimes.
Never thought a lemmy.ml user would not be campist and see the evil of the leaders of Iran. Thank you my friend. It's good to see that not everyone on Lemmy is supporting Khamenei and his regime. It's though watching people white washing the regime that has ruined my homeland, Iran.
Illegal, maybe. But... Unjustified? Maybe the author is unaware of Isreal's recent divulgence of Iran's plan to sprint for a nuke while its militant religious zealots in Hamas and Hizbullah are hobbled? Or how openly the mullahs state that they will use it?
The mullahs have never shown the people any actual usage of the nuclear program. We are having planned blackout outs everyday for almost 1 hour and a half. So they don't use the nuclear infrastructure to make up for the electricity shortage. From the day I was born Iran was sanctioned for it's nuclear program but I have never seen an actual usecase of it outside of regime propaganda.
From the beginning of the regime they made many enemies. But Israel was the one they vowed to earase from the map. So if someday Iran makes nukes Israel will be the most in danger.
Khamenei seems to legitimately believe that he is some kind of chosen person to make things ready for the 12th Imam (Mahdi) to come. Yeah it sounds wild but remember, Khamenei is the leader of a theocracy. So to "make things ready" they tried to intervene and influence in the middle east. Assad in Syria, Hashad al Shabi in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebonan, etc.
More like "Trust me bro I'm on the Iran desk at Eglin Airforce Base." There are Iranians yapping on Facebook etc, even the critical ones don't use US State Department lingo to refer to the Iranian government like "the mullahs" lol.
Israel has nuclear weapons, its neighbours that it threatens have every right to nuclear weapons. You just want Israel to achieve its expansionist goals with no pushback.
Since before its founding it has been engaged in ethnic cleansing, massacres and expansion. Right now it illegally occupies the West Bank, parts of Lebanon and Syria, enforces a brutal siege on the Gaza Strip and is guilty of genocide. You are talking about it as if they are victims and not a violent and racist settler colonial project based on apocalyptic and messianic ideologies.