Category Archives: Iran

Suleimani: America Is Judge, Jury And Executioner; Decides Who Lives, Who Dies

America, Argument, Conservatism, Foreign Policy, Iran, Iraq, Republicans

“Suleimani deserved to die.” That’s the consensus on Fox News. It’s also how assorted commentators on the channel prefaced their “positions” on the killing of this Iranian.

Major General Qassim Suleimani was assassinated by a US drone air strike at the Baghdad International Airport (BIAP).

Even the great Tucker Carlson—the only mainstream hope for us Old Right, America First, anti-war sorts—framed the taking out of Suleimani as the killing of a bad guy by good guys:

“There are an awful lot of bad people in this world. We can’t kill them all, it’s not our job.”

However you finesse it, the premise of Tucker’s statement is that the American government, and the cognoscenti who live in symbiosis with it, get to adjudicate who’s bad and who’s good in the world. The debate is never over right or wrong, but over whether our universal American Judges should or shouldn’t act on their immutably just moral calls.

Even Tucker, whose antiwar sentiments are laudable, conceded that this Suleimani guy probably needed killing, which is the same thing Iraqis old enough to remember America’s destruction of Iraq, circa 2003, would say about President George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld.

So who’s right? Or must we accept that it is up to the United States government and its ruling elites to determine who lives and who dies around the world.

The atavistic argument—“Suleimani deserved to die”—made on Fox News holds true only if you believe that the US is the repository of an international and universal code of law and is deputized to uphold this code of law.

This primitive argument is true ONLY if you believe the US government is universal judge, jury and executioner, deciding who may live and who must die the world over.

As to whether the US government has a right to eliminate a state actor by declaring him a “terrorist”:

Like it or not, Suleimani was an Iranian state actor, the equivalent of our Special Operations Commander.

We would not tolerate Iranians designating America’s Special Operations Commander, Gen. Richard D. Clarke, as a terrorist, although they may have plenty reasons to do so.

Our Special Operations forces and their command encroach on the Iranian neighborhood much more so than Iranians and their special forces encroach on American territory.

If Iranians took out America’s Special Operations Commander somewhere in North America—we would definitely consider it an act of war by Iran.

* Image courtesy BBC News.

Neoconservative Mark Levin Disses Tucker For Rejecting WAR WITH IRAN

Foreign Policy, Iran, Neoconservatism, Republicans, War

Tucker Carlson is is highly critical of John Bolton and for excellent reasons. Bolton has spear-headed or agitated for unconstitutional, unjust wars and other revolutionary interventions to force democracy abroad through war.

And Tucker Carlson is standing firm again war with an impoverished, economically broken Iran. Neoconservative have always wanted to go to war against Iran. The see their chance.

And neoconservatives like Mark Levin see blood in the water.  They are rushing to create group consensus within the War Party. That means marginalizing thinking dissidents like Tucker.

At 31 minutes and 19 seconds, Levin launches his not-so veiled attack against “Americans who should know better.” Clearly it’s not the Left Levin is gunning for; it’s the anti-war Right:

And, Levin misquotes and distorts the likes of Tucker when alleges this was said: “Can you point to one example when Iran committed a terrorist act?”

Tucker has merely asked when last did Iran commit terrorism against the US? He’s on the money. See this blog post of mine: “Iranians Killed ZERO Americans In Terrorist Attacks In U.S. Between 1975 -2015.”

Looks like Tucker Carlson is more likely to have Trump’s ear on Iran than Bolton, or … Levin. Is someone jealous?

If You Support Nation-State Sovereignty, You Must Reject US Extradition Overreach

Canada, China, Foreign Policy, Iran, Law, Nationhood, The State

Poor Julian Assange’s kidnapping from the Ecuadorian consulate in England, earlier this month, at the behest of American prosecutors, has faded from Fake News’s fleeting collective memory.

Assange is next due to appear before court via video link on May 2, in relation to a US extradition request over allegations he conspired with former military analyst Chelsea Manning to download and disseminate classified material.
That appearance will be a short mention, with US prosecutors expected to issue a more detailed argument for extradition in June that could include further charges.

Likewise, the US has instructed Canada, supposedly a sovereign nation, to extradite Meng Wanzhou, “a senior executive of Huawei, a telecommunications giant, and the daughter of its founder. The action was taken at the request of American prosecutors, who accuse Ms Meng of scheming to sidestep sanctions against Iran.”  (The Economist,

Am I the only one bothered by American global overreach? Left or Right, does anyone really think it’s OK for the US to tell China who to trade with? Do we really believe that the US, because supposedly good, should be able to bend the laws of sovereign nation-states to its will?

If you support such illiberal use of American power in overriding national sovereignty around the world—you can hardly claim the mantle of a populist, concerned for the survival and sovereignty of nations states.

Iranians Show Sense of Humor, But Get The US Blame Game Wrong

Donald Trump, Foreign Policy, Intelligence, Iran, Israel, Middle East, Russia

President Trump is right about the fate of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, killed in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey: It’s not America’s bag.

But things get murky when the president  tells the Nation that America First means we side with Saudi Arabia in its regional wars, among them the vanquishing of Yemen. (There, people are dying from disease and starvation in the tens of thousands, thanks to the House of Saud, also the perps implicated in 9/11.)

The Iranians, on the other hand, are berated for sloganeering against America and Israel, and for “propping up dictator Bashar Assad in Syria,” which, as I explained, is VERY GOOD FOR CHRISTIANS IN THAT COUNTRY. (Read “Lies About Putin, Syria And The Alawite Alliance.”)

Iran, which has “killed zero Americans in terrorist attacks in the U.S. between 1975-2015,” is said to be “the world’s leading sponsor of terror.” Who said so? The same intelligence apparatus that wishes to unseat President Trump. DeepState.gov?

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Tuesday:

“Mr. Trump bizarrely devotes the FIRST paragraph of his shameful statement on Saudi atrocities to accuse IRAN of every sort of malfeasance he can think of. Perhaps we’re also responsible for the California fires, because we didn’t help rake the forests — just like the Finns do?”

While the Iranians get pointers for impolitic humor, they are still confused about one thing.

The Russians are responsible for the heartbreaking California fires, not the Iranians.