RENEE PARSONS—Does any precedent exist, outside of a formally declared war, where the leader of one country personally threatens the life of the leader of another country? This sounds more serious than just a “bad hair” day but rather that someone was off their meds. As Trump frequently demonstrates a bombastic nature with a non-functioning filter to refine his every whim and thought, he has more recently exhibited a deep dark side that has emerged for many Americans to witness.

As expected, the corporate media and many politicians are spreading lies to justify the murders and further aggression towards Iran. It is important for us to understand the facts so we can respond to this misinformation and avoid being lied into yet another war.

BEN NORTON—This is far from the first time that Trump has made such threats against civilians. During his presidential campaign in 2015, the Republican leader vowed to kill the family members of militants. “The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families,” Trump repeated.

STEPHEN GOWANS—Insisting there should be no limit to its global influence, Washington targets for elimination any force that insists limits must be imposed. Advocacy of local independence and national assertiveness, in the US view, is an act of war against the United States, and must be met by aggression. That, at its base, explains Soleimani’s demise, and explains the character of US foreign policy—thuggery in the service of an international dictatorship.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The Russian…

JAMES COGAN—The indifference shown by the Morrison government towards the bushfire crisis and its victims is simply the sharpest expression of the attitude of the political establishment as a whole, including the Labor Party opposition. Governments at the state and federal level, Labor and Liberal, are responsible for the lack of funding for fire services, the lack of disaster planning and, along with governments around the world, for the climate change that is a major factor in creating the conditions for the widespread bushfires…

PEPE ESCOBAR—There cannot be a more startling provocation against Iran — in a long list of sanctions and provocations — than what just happened in Baghdad. Iraq is now the preferred battleground of a proxy war against Iran that may now metastasize into hot war, with devastating consequences.

EOIN HIGGINS—The Iraqi Parliament voted on January 5 to ask U.S. forces to leave the country.
The State Department on Friday made clear that the American military will not abide by the requests of the Iraqi government to leave the country and instead will stay indefinitely.

“America is a force for good in the Middle East,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus claimed in a statement reaffirming that the U.S. will remain in Iraq.

DANNY HAIPHONG—It is difficult to have optimism for the future when you live in the United States. A large section of the population is completely alienated from the truth about the unjust system that dictates their lives. Corporate media lies protect a class society which is dedicated to the impoverishment of over half of the planet.  The violence of white supremacy, endless war, and economic catastrophe is coupled with the ongoing destruction of the natural world.

AJAMU BARAKA—In the cynical spectacle that is called politics in the United States, the latest insult to the intelligence of the people is the Democrats who are posturing as anti-war champions in reaction to the Trump Administration’s assassination of Qassem Soleimani and the possibility of further attacks on Iran. 

We are supposed to buy that the Democrats are concerned about war with Iran. The same Democrats who opposed de-escalation with North Korea; who blocked any attempt to remove U.S. occupation forces from South Korea; who continue to champion the NATO white supremacist structure; who were silent on Obama’s war on Yemen; who supported the assault on Libya; who were unmoved by the over 40,000 people who reportedly have died from U.S.-imposed sanctions on Venezuela; and who gave the Trump Administration another obscene increase in military spending. 

ANDRE VLTCHEK—It appears that all boundaries have been crossed. Washington and its NATO allies have lost all restraint, shame and decency. They actually never had much of those, but now they have almost none. Everything appears to be primitive, as in a badly directed mafia film.