Yesterday, most Americans tuned in for the President’s prime-time address to the nation about the ongoing war in Iran. Many watched with the expectation that the war would be winding down. That was not the case.
I tried watching the address myself-more than once-and couldn’t get through it. Lately, I find it very difficult to watch the President speak at all. That’s strange for me; I’ve never had this reaction to any world leader, not even Bibi. I literally feel discomfort in my ears when I hear him talk. Part of that is because he can barely finish a sentence without mixing outright falsehoods with traces of truth. It’s exhausting.
Still, one statement stuck with me during the first few minutes I managed to endure. He said that America doesn’t need Iranian oil because we are energy-independent here at home. That might be technically true, but it ignores a critical reality: the countries that depend on Iranian oil are also vital to Americans’ everyday survival.
China is the world’s factory. Much of what we use in this country is manufactured abroad,particularly in China, India, and Japan, all nations reliant on overseas energy supplies. The President surely knows this. So why make that statement? What purpose does it serve?
And why is America still locked in a war of attrition? Why are ordinary people sending their kids to go and die for a war that will not benefit them? These and other questions are worth pondering.
If anyone expected the U.S. to enter this war and be out in a week or two, that expectation reflects weak and lazy reasoning. We were told the war was instigated by our ally Israel, and that the U.S. joined in. Israel’s prime minister, Bibi of Israel, has been pushing for confrontation with Iran for over three decades, and now it has finally arrived. His wishes have come through, and now the agenda has to be served.
To the ordinary mind, Iran cannot have nukes, that has always been the claim. Well, nukes are dangerous, and responsible states should have them. But what are their purposes to begin with? To deter adversaries. Russia is alleged to be the number one nation on earth with the most nukes, and the U.S. second. These weapons are expensive to make and require serious technical skill to develop. Israel has never fully declared they have them, but multiple sources believe they possess over 300 of warheads. As you can tell, nobody knows exactly how many they are. In fact it's not publicly confirmed that they have have them. They are not part of the nonproliferation agreement. What if Iran already have nukes by other means? It's a secret nations can keep. Will that be a mutually assured destruction (MAD)?
We have to be careful.
And the point here is that any country in the 21st century concerned with its survival believes it must possess these weapons. Say what you will about North Korea, they are a nuclear-armed nation. When was the last time you heard anybody trying to attack them?
We believe we have come a long way as a civilization. Why can’t we use diplomacy to solve our problems, but instead fuss and fight, kill and maim? I am not naive; I do know a thing or two.
So if the war is going on longer than expected, that is by design. It feels eerily similar to the “two weeks to flatten the curve” narrative during COVID, a short-term promise that stretched into months and then years.
There are a few observations here worth sitting with, especially for those paying attention. People should get their affairs in order. If anything, we are cooked. This is not a joke.
Have a great day.
-Pal Ronnie
No comments:
Post a Comment