Friends + Interlocutors,

This is the most informative discussion about Iran and the Iran war and about the whole Middle East situation that I have seen in recent memory. The host Tom Switzer asks all the right questions. Professors John Mearsheimer and Vali Nasr have the answers. They know what they are talking about.

You can throw out all copies of Foreign Affairs for the last two years. Ditto all the opinion pieces on this subject in the New York Times and the Financial Times over the same period.

But I can’t accept all the answers. I mean, I’m skeptical and not optimistic. Washington and Tel Aviv may well have lost the war against Iran. Netanyahu and Trump's predatory objectives have certainly not been achieved. And the tide of public opinion has turned against both of them worldwide and in the Middle East itself. Their lies and machinations are out in the open.

But I can’t see Washington taking steps to unfreeze Iranian assets, much less paying reparations to Iran for the damage and lives lost in the sneak attacks. I think it is more likely that we have a frozen conflict, and Trump walks away after declaring some kind of victory. Iran is left standing but not unscathed, its economy in shambles.

For Israel, that would be a partial victory, although a far cry from what Netanyahu had in mind. In the interim, Israel, the instigator of the war, the cause of it all, comes out way ahead. Its invasion of Lebanon stands. Its murderous occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is ongoing. Washington will do nothing to stop it. Indeed, Washington is in the process of formally joining the Pentagon with the genocidal IDF! Another act of lunacy.

So after the smoke clears, Tel Aviv and the Greater Israel project prevail. The big losers are Uncle Sam, the American taxpayers, the U.S. Treasury and the Republican Party. Not to mention the long-suffering Palestinians and Lebanese. It is yet another American foreign policy scandal, added to a long list of fiascoes.

Patrick

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