QUESTION: Do you support the unilateral withdrawal of the US from the Iran deal?
ANSWER: Iran has no intention of actually conforming with that agreement. But that is really a side issue. There is a significant displeasure with the religious government in Iran among its own people. No nation is ever 100% left or right. There will always be dissent against whatever government is in power. This rising discontent has appeared since the Arab Spring. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 will be followed by another counter-revolution probably in 2022. Iran has suppressed its people for far too long and it will rise up in yet another revolution. The government is at war in the Middle East against Saudi Arabia because of a political-religious philosophy. They seek to export their beliefs to others and that is the problem. If they would just adopt live-and-let-live policy things would be much calmer.
I do not support the USA sticking its nose into everything. This is the inherent problem when you have military establishments. As I have said before, the days of Empire Building are gone. China, Russia, and the USA have no desire to occupy each other. Both Erdogan and Iran are still clinging to this idea of reestablishing Empires. The major powers are engaged in proxy wars. It really makes no sense to intervene for it only inspires hatred.
Franklin Roosevelt lied to the people to get into World War II because the American people were isolationists. You have to understand that you MUST always separate the PEOPLE from the Government and its POLITICIANS. The European Americans fled Europe and wanted no part of the political nonsense there. FDR appeared in Boston and said he wanted to send arms to Britain but not troops. Boston was predominantly Irish. They did not want to go to war to defend Britain when they viewed Britain as the oppressor of the Irish. FDR lied to the people and claimed ending the embargo and shipping arms to Britain would KEEP America at peace. He said:
Let no group assume the exclusive label of the “peace bloc.” We all belong to it … I give you my deep and unalterable conviction, based on years of experience as a worker in the field of international peace, that by the repeal of the embargo the United States will more probably remain at peace than if the law remains as it stands today … Our acts must be guided by one single, hardheaded thought — keeping America out of the war.
Governments have ALWAYS lied about every war to justify it. Watch the movies Fair Game and Shock & Awe. It is the people who pay the price of war while the politicians reap only the glory and not the hardship. Even if we look at ancient times the civil war between Octavian and Marc Antony, he always distanced himself from making it outright appear as a civil war against Antony. His victory coin simply stated Egypt was Captured – not Antony. In this manner, he always managed to keep it as a war between himself and Cleopatra.
If Marc Antony did not commit suicide as the story is told, Octavian surely would have killed him anyway and possibly did. There was just no circumstance where Octavian could proclaim a victory over a Roman who had at least been a friend of Julis Caesar and a Roman of distinction. There were people who supported Antony against Octavian. The image of the war had to be against Cleopatra politically. Antony was simply portrayed as being delusional and under her spell. Hence, he was not really culpable for his actions and Antony and Cleopatra are portrayed as great lovers. Cleopatra was very ambitious and she bore the son of Caesar for she sought to have Egypt conquer Rome by using her body and brains. Women have been doing that for centuries and intelligence agencies still routinely use women to infiltrate as spies and perhaps the 007 is really more for the assassination types.
So how we portray war and an enemy has always been subject to manipulation. I would NEVER accept what is said by any side as being the truth. Winston Churchill said: “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”
