EDITOR—Israel has long had a beef with Iran, the only nation in the Gulf capable and willing to stand up to its crimes and provocations. The events of 10/7, which some regard as a false flag designed to allow Israel to carry out a systematic genocide of Palestinians (with open encouragement and support by the US empire), have also sharpened the conflict with Tehran, triggering a dangerous cycle of Israeli aggressions and Iranian well-measured escalatory responses, which have now put the two nations on the brink of an all-out war. Some analysts suggest that the US, despite its “pro-peace” mask, and using “plausible deniability”, is actually pushing Israel to lead the way in the military conquest of Lebanon, Hezbollah, Iran and other parties of the “Axis of Resistance”. The panel is however dubious about the seriousness of Tel-Aviv’s thirst for a major war with Iran, and so is Iran for that matter. Everyone has much to lose in this confrontation, which could easily get out of hand and escalate to WW3 dimensions and complete economic collapse. Israel—despite its bellicosity, born of a sense of impunity given its close connection with the US and Britain—is extremely vulnerable to an Iranian attack on its infrastructure, as Iran could easily destroy its desalination plants, electricity stations and other vital resources. While the US is clearly the main force behind the Palestinians’ genocide and the expansion of Israeli territorial ambitions, the US ruling class, itself pathetically led at this point, and fractured into several factions with different priorities and imperialist approaches, seems unsure about the consequences of a regional and possibly global war with the multipolar alliance.
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PAUL EDWARDS—War between Israel and Iran with the participation of The Empire cannot be contained, and all potential combatants know it. If The Empire assists Israel to ravage Iran, Russia will enter the war on Iran’s behalf. If this occurs, it will threaten the entire world.
The morally cowardly world runs less risk in uniting to stop Israel’s mass murder now, based on international law, than in watching passively as Netanyahu attacks Iran. Uniting to stop the murder can and should be done forcefully and diplomatically, thereby greatly lessening the risk of war.
The Empire would have to be confronted, but not militarily. It could still opt for world war if Israel attacked Iran massively but, facing united opposition to that lunacy, it would have to act in defiance of the wishes of the nearly united world. Even our jejune, shallow, reckless minders would have to give that decision grave thought, or their defective version of it.
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BRUCE LERRO—At the same time, the Eurocentrists had no problem imagining war with the East if it was profitable. But when it came to the civilized states of Europe, war was seen as unprofitable. Also, as we shall see later, racist theories bemoaned Europeans fighting because this would result in the depletion of the white race. Colonial annexation was entirely appropriate when it came to Europe’s relation with the East. The East has conditional agency, such as Japan during World War II. However, the East cannot take the lead in historical development without being predator (as in the Yellow Peril).
As for the Global South, (Africa) for it to be a respectable civilized state, Western core countries took a page out of Calvinism and insisted that these “savage societies” have a duty to develop their land productivity (meaning agriculturally) and abandon their primitivism (hunting and gathering). Non-Western politics, whether they be monarchies without constitutions or the egalitarian political consensus societies of hunting and gathering, are not recognized as sovereign.
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MARK TAYLOR—In mid-August, British journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested on arrival at London’s Heathrow Airport, detained under the Terrorism Act (2000), and had his phone and recording devices that he used for his journalism seized.
“Richard Medhurst’s arrest and detention for almost 24 hours using terrorism legislation is deeply concerning and will likely have a chilling effect on journalists in the UK and worldwide, in fear of arrest by UK authorities simply for carrying out their work,” Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary of the UK’s National Union of Journalists and Anthony Bellanger, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, said at the time in a joint statement.
“Both the NUJ and IFJ are shocked at the increased use of terrorism legislation by the British police in this manner,” Stanistreet and Bellanger added. “Journalism is not a crime. Powers contained in anti-terror legislation must be deployed proportionately – not wielded against journalists in ways that inevitably stifle press freedom.”
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MAIN EDITORS—Profs Michael Hudson and Richard D Wolff, both among the most original and articulate critics of globalism (aka Neoliberalism, Free Marketism, etc.), offer an incisive view of Western civilisation in its global imperial phase as the US Empire and its satellites struggle to keep the system’s hegemony afloat in the midst of incurable structural issues, and an indefensible foreign policy grounded in reckless chaos creation.
