OMNI
ISRAEL AND US Attack on IRAN ANTHOLOGY #10
June 18, 2026
Compiled by Dick Bennett
What’s at Stake: Preventing a war, and then if that fails,
stopping it, are the paramount values of the UN Charter and the foundation of
all of OMNI’s anthologies on the Culture of War. See the opening two articles.
CONTENTS
CONTEXTS OF IRAN WAR
What’s at Stake:
Historians for Peace and Democracy
Art Hobson. Trump’s 2018 Action: “Will
Iran Build a Nuclear Bomb?
History:
RICK STEVES’ TRAVEL DOCUMENTARIES: IRAN
Walt Zlotow. “Tortured US
history with Iran goes back 73 years, not 47.”
Scott Anderson.
King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution, A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic
Miscalculation.
Ludis. Interview of
Anderson.
THE WAR
Semler. $Costs of the War.$
Hudson. $Costs.$
Jonathan Watts.
“Epoch of Collapsing Oil. . . .” “Fossil
Fuel Fascists.”
Naomi
Klein and Astra Taylor. “The Rise of End times Fascism.”
Summer
Reyes. “Hear #VetsAgainstFascism's call
for an end to the war on Iran.”
Chris
Hedges. “Trump’s Iranian Nightmare.”
Stephen
Eisenman. “…The Waning of American Hegemony.”
Baroud
Denunciations of US-Israeli Attack Ian Williams
Middle East Monitor.
Fraser
Johnstone. Lies of War.
Conditional Ceasefire
The Cradle, News Desk
Garvey. 60-day ceasefire extension and memo of understanding analyzed.
TEXTS
CONTEXTS
“Statement from Historians for Peace & Democracy on the Iran Peace Agreement”chairs @ Historians for Peace and Democracy cochairs@historiansforpeace.org
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Art Hobson. “Will Iran Build a Nuclear Bomb? Did Trump’s 2018 Action Cause the War?” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (26 May 2026).
Civilization is faced with at least two existential
crises. Global warming is underway and certain to become
much worse throughout this century. The other calamity is highly
uncertain, it could begin today, and it could annihilate what we are pleased to
call “civilization.” I refer of course to nuclear war.
The proliferation of nuclear weapons to additional nations is central to
the nuclear threat. There are nine nuclear-armed nations, and Iran
clearly seeks to become number ten.
Iran’s 970-pound stock of highly enriched uranium is not needed for such
peaceful pursuits as medical research or nuclear power. It has no
plausible peaceful applications. Its existence was the primary cause
of President Trump’s attack on Iran.
Iran amassed this material at great expense by using centrifuges to spin
a gaseous form of natural uranium at high speeds. There are two
kinds or “isotopes” of uranium, having different weights. Spinning
causes the heavier isotope, called “U-238,” to drift to the outside of the
spinning tubes where it can be “skimmed” off, leaving the lighter form, called
“U-235,” in the tube. U-235 is “fissionable,” meaning that its atoms
can be split into two or more pieces with the explosive release of heat and light. U-238
is not fissionable. Thus, the spinning process “enriches” natural
uranium (which is about one percent U-235 and 99 percent U-238) to higher
amounts of U-235 versus U-238.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a uranium
nuclear bomb must contain at least 55 pounds of U-235 (called a “critical
mass”), and the overall mix of uranium must be at least 20 percent “enriched,” meaning
that at least 20 percent of the uranium atoms must be U-235. Simple
arithmetic shows that Iran’s bomb would require 92 pounds of Iran’s 60 percent
enriched uranium. Thus, Iran’s stock of 970 pounds of 60 percent
enriched uranium translates to about 10 bombs.
The easiest nuclear bomb design is the “gun” assembly used at USA’s Los
Alamos laboratory to build the world’s first nuclear weapon. Its
design was so straightforward that its makers felt no need to test it before
dropping it on Hiroshima. The second bomb used a more complex design
called “implosion” that was more efficient in its consumption of U-235. It was
sufficiently complex that its makers chose to conduct a test explosion before
dropping it on Nagasaki.
The Hiroshima bomb comprised a simple gun firing a wedge of enriched
uranium into a target containing slightly less than a critical mass of
U-235. A “critical mass” was formed when the wedge entered the
target, enabling the U-235 to explode.
It’s hard to know what the Iranians will do with their remaining
centrifuges and enriched uranium. The IAEA has verified that Iran’s
centrifuges at Fordo and Natanz are destroyed and not operable. The IAEA
also reports that the nuclear research laboratory at Isfahan contains
centrifuges and appears to be at least partially
operable. Unsurprisingly, the location of Iran’s 970 pounds of 60
percent enriched uranium is unknown.
Ironically, President Trump created this problem in 2018. In
2015, President Obama obtained a landmark agreement with Iran that would
have prevented Iran’s progress toward a nuclear weapon and would have been
securely monitored by the IAEA. This “Joint Plan Of Action” imposed
limits on uranium enrichment to ensure that Iran remained at least one year
away from having sufficient weapons-grade uranium to build nuclear
weapons. The allowed uranium enrichment level was capped at about 4
percent—far below the 20 percent required for a nuclear weapon and far below
the 60 percent that they have now achieved. The agreement required
Iran to enrich uranium only at its Natanz enrichment site.
President Trump arbitrarily overthrew this excellent agreement by
announcing, on May 8, 2018, his withdrawal from it. He
claimed that the agreement failed to protect USA’s security
interests. Most of the world, including the United Nations and most
of USA’s allies, criticized the withdrawal, while Israel, Saudi Arabia, a few
other nations, and U.S. conservatives, supported it.
According to Wikipedia, Iran strictly observed the requirements of this
agreement until President Trump broke out of it. Trump’s withdrawal led to
Iran’s withdrawal and, during the next seven years, Iran’s installation of new
enrichment equipment and the production of its current 970-pound stock of 60
percent enriched uranium.
It appears that Trump’s action in 2018 led to Trump’s war in 2026.
References.
An artificial Intelligence search can confirm all the points made.
Bio: Art Hobson is an Emeritus Professor of Physics at the
University of Arkansas. He has published a book and numerous
articles about nuclear weapons and spent a sabbatical leave at the Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute.
HISTORY
RICK STEVES’ TRAVEL
DOCUMENTARIES: IRAN
5-20-26
In the middle of an unprovoked US war against Iran, Steves and PBS
deserve high praise for his two programs inside Iran 5-18: “Tehran and Side
Trips” and 5-19: “Iran’s Historic
Capitals.”
“Rick Steves’
Europe: Iran: Tehran and Side Trips” reports on Tehran and the villages and
parks around Tehran praising architecture, the people, food.
An additional,
apparently separate film of Rick urged viewers to travel in order to understand
and empathize with other people and ways of living. I didn’t catch the title if there was one. (The short piece resembled J. William
Fulbright’s educational exchange program of seeing the world as others see it
to enlarge and perhaps change our manner of thinking about foreign places and
people. Read The Price of Empire).
“Rick Steves’
Europe: Iran’s Historic Capitals.” An
appreciative survey of the Persian capitals: Esfahan, Shiraz, Persepolis.
You might
recall Steves’ excellent program on the Italian Fascist and the German Nazi
regimes of about a decade ago and repeated recently on PBS. In the spirit of the United Nations, Steves’
and PBS have been trying to prevent or stop wars for many years by recounting
cautionary history and telling us about other people.
[VFP-all]. Walt Zlotow.
“Tortured US history with Iran
goes back 73 years, not 47.”
Gerry Condon via uark.onmicrosoft.com
From: Walt
Zlotow <zlotow@hotmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 7, 2026
Tortured
US history with Iran goes back 73 years, not 47.
US
neocons reveling in the current US war to destroy Iran tell the monstrous lie
Iran has been at war with America 47 years. In their deranged world view it
began with the 1979 Iranian revolution that de posed the hated US puppet ruler
Mohammed Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran and took 66 US embassy hostages. Their lie
claims that during that 47 years Iran killed thousands of Americans and no
president defended America till Trump attacked Iran February 28.
These
war lovers omit the current truth that Trump’s war is a total failure for 100
days now. Fourteen US service persons are dead. Hundreds injured. All US Gulf
States bases damaged or destroyed. Israel suffered the worst destruction in its
78 years. US offensive, defensive missiles so depleted they will take years to
replenish. America’s defeat is irreversible. Worst of all? The US forced
closure of the Strait of Hormuz choking off a fifth of the world’s oil and
vital economic supplies, likely risking worldwide recession, if not depression.
Today’s neocon war was stupidity on steroids.
Their
stupidity omits the historical truth that the US is the warmonger here, not
Iran, going all the way back to 1953 when the US collaborated with the UK
to depose the democratically elected Iranian leader Mohammad Mosaddegh. Patriot
Mosaddegh sought to nationalize the British controlled Iranian oil industry
being exploited by the UK for decades. To prevent this the Brits cooked up
Operation Ajax and brought the US on board to overthrow Mosaddegh on the
pretext he was a commie.
The US
enlisted Kermit Roosevelt Jr., grandson of premier US warmonger President
Teddy. As a top CIA official, Kermit was tasked with exploiting fake
anticommunist sentiment to oust Mosaddegh in a violent coup. Kermit used his
contacts among Egyptian Anglophiles and pro Shah forces to get Mosaddegh’s
removal started. But advance knowledge of the coup allowed Mosaddegh to
prevail, so much so, Roosevelt's CIA bosses demanded he leave Iran immediately.
Instead, he conjured up the ghost of TR, inspiring him to instigate a second
coup on his own that succeeded.
It
became the model for CIA backed coups, both successes and failures, throughout
the Cold War. A year later Ike secretly gave Kermit a National Security Medal
for keeping Iranian oil safe for the West. Apparently, Ike didn't want to go
public with an illegal, immoral and criminal overthrow of a sovereign
government.
Seventy-Three
years on the neocons of today ditched coup for all out war to reclaim Iran for
a new American sock puppet, one candidate of whom is Reza Pahlavi, son of the
Shah deposed in 1979. Unlike Kermit’s successful coup in ’53, Trump’s war is a
colossal failure that signals the end of US hegemony in the Middle East and
possibly the entire world. The Gulf States, looking at their shattered US bases
and degraded oil infrastructure, will likely turn toward Russia, China, even
Iran for security. Europe has largely given up on America. The Far East, seeing
the US claw back its missiles for its Iran misadventure is also rethinking its
defensive strategy.
Unlike
the clever Kermit Roosevelt Jr., today’s coup plotters and warmongers,
including Trump, Hegseth and Rubio, are blithering idiots.
Walt
Zlotow West Suburban Peace Coalition Glen Ellyn
IL
. King of Kings, The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation.
Publisher’s Description
PULITZER
PRIZE FINALIST • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • NEW YORK
TIMES BESTSELLER • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE
AWARD FOR NONFICTION • KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER • From the author of the
landmark bestseller Lawrence in Arabia comes a stunningly revelatory
narrative history of the Iranian Revolution, one of the most momentous events
in modern times. This groundbreaking work exposes the jaw-dropping stupidity
of the American government and traces the rise of religious nationalism,
offering essential insights into today’s global unrest.
“A masterful and propulsive account that chronicles a devastatingly
transformative series of events whose aftereffects reverberate to this
day.” —The Kirkus Prize 2025 Jury
“An exceptional and important book. Scrupulous and enterprising reporting
rarely combine with such superb storytelling.” —The New York Times Book
Review
“A masterful and gripping account. Anderson gives us a page-turning history
lesson that is more relevant than ever.” —Rajiv Chandrasekaran, author Imperial
Life in the Emerald City, a finalist for the National Book Award
On New Year’s Eve, 1977, on a state visit to Iran, President Jimmy Carter
toasted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, King of Kings, Light of the Aryans, Shadow
of God on Earth, praising Iran as “an island of stability “ due to “your
leadership and the respect and admiration and love which your people give to
you.” Iran had the world’s fifth largest army and was awash in billions of
dollars in oil revenues. Construction cranes dotted the skyline of its
booming capital, Tehran. The regime’s feared secret police force SAVAK
had crushed communist opposition, and the Shah had bought off the conservative
Muslim clergy inside the country. He seemed invulnerable, and invaluable
to the United States as an ally in the Cold War. Fourteen months later
the Shah fled Iran into exile, forced from the throne by a volcanic religious
revolution led by a fiery cleric named Ayatollah Khomeini. The
ensuing hostage crisis forever damaged America’s standing in the
world. How could the United States, which had one of the largest CIA
stations in the world and thousands of military personnel in Iran, have been so
blind?
The spellbinding story Scott Anderson weaves is one of a dictator blind to the
disdain of his subjects and a superpower blundering into disaster. Scott
Anderson tells this astonishing tale with the narrative brio, mordant wit, and
keen analysis that made his bestselling Lawrence of Arabia one
of the key texts in understanding the modern Middle East. The Iranian
Revolution, Anderson convincingly argues, was as world-shattering an event
as the French and Russian revolutions. In the Middle East, in India, in
Southeast Asia, in Europe, and now in the United States, the hatred of
economically-marginalized, religiously-fervent masses for a wealthy secular
elite has led to violence and upheaval – and Iran was the template. King
of Kings is a bravura work of history, and a warning.
Scott
Anderson is a veteran war correspondent who has reported from
Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Northern Ireland, Chechnya, Sudan, Bosnia, El Salvador
and many other strife-torn countries. A contributing writer for the New
York Times Magazine, his work has also appeared in Vanity Fair, Esquire, Harper’s and Outside.
He is the author of two novels and six works of nonfiction, including Lawrence
in Arabia, an international bestseller, and most recently King of
Kings, the story of the 1978-79 Iranian Revolution, and winner of the 2025
Kirkus Prize for nonfiction.
“Scott Anderson. King of
Kings. Story of US support of Iran’s Shah.”
Anderson interviewed by Jim Ludis on Story in the Public Square, PBS, 5-28-26.
THE 2026 WAR
Stephen Semler. “The
Real Cost of the Iran War: $72 Billion for the First 60 Days. Popular Information (5-6-26). Portside Snapshot (5-7-26).
Popular Information crunches the numbers. The official accounting is at least $47 billion too low.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Acting Comptroller Jules
Hurst told Congress last week that the Iran War had cost $25 billion through
the first 60 days. The next day, CBS reported that officials familiar with the
Pentagon’s internal assessments estimated the cost was actually closer to $50 billion —
double the amount department leadership had just stated publicly. However, even
the figure reported as the war’s “true cost” is
at least $22 billion too low.
Popular Information conducted a cost estimate of the Iran
War based on officials’ statements, military procurement and operations data,
and reporting on deployments and armament use. Through 60 days, the US spent an
estimated $71.8 billion on the Iran War, or $1.2 billion per day on average.
This includes the cost of operations, munitions, combat losses, and arming
co-belligerents. Like the estimates from Pentagon leadership and unnamed
officials, this figure refers only to direct war costs — near-term expenses for
military operations, munitions, and the like — and not indirect costs, which
include broader economic impacts, interest on the national debt and longer-term
expenses like veterans’ care. . . .
Michael
Hudson “ We Need a Guns and Butter Debate Over the Costs of the Iran War.” Forwarded by Sonny San Juan. Date: Fri, May 1, 2026
We Need a Guns and
Butter Debate Over the Costs of the Iran War.
. . .
.I have not seen any media critique, for instance, of Treasury Secretary
Bessent’s statement to Congress on Tuesday, April 28, that America’s war in
Iran so far has cost $25 billion. Some critics have commented that this seems
to be a big number. But it is only the equivalent of 50 or 60 White House
ballrooms that Donald Trump has proposed. It pales in comparison to the $1.5
trillion US military budget. It is a deceptively tiny number intended to
distract attention from the actual costs of America’s war in Iran.
The
Iraq war, for instance, has been calculated to have cost $3 trillion according
to Joe Stiglitz in 2008. His estimate took into account the fact that the Iraq
war was responsible for most of the U.S. budget deficit, financed by
interest-bearing securities at interest rates that were rising. Also taken into
account were the costs by the Veterans Administration of the injured U.S.
soldiers incurred and payments to surviving relatives of those who were killed.
Instead
of taking such long-term costs into account. Sec. Bessent’s $25 billion only
cites the out-of-pocket costs of the Iran war. There is no calculation of what
it would cost to actually replace the enormous inventory of U.S. missiles,
aircraft, guns and other armaments that have been used up in the U.S. wars
against Russia in Ukraine and against Iran.
Where
is today’s public discussion on how much the U.S. economy will have to pay to
rebuild an even vaster military-industrial complex to restock the missiles that
Trump has used up? I’m not sure that there’s much intention of paying the
Military Industrial Complex with weapons that have failed in practice. But no
doubt there will have to be new research on what kind of weapons will work
against the war that is promised against China in a few years. Raw materials
and labor for such new weaponry will be much more expensive now. It will all be
added to the U.S. GDP, but will not be “real” production for the economy at
large.
Keynesian
militarism has become a burden on the economy instead of a way of increasing
industrial production and prosperity, as was claimed back in the 1960s. How
much more will the U.S. economy have to pay for energy at the high distress
prices that Trump’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cost? How much will the
deficit spending of $1.5 trillion cost each year at, say, 4% interest? The
tentative answer is $60 billion per year – year after year. And that’s just for
this year’s military budget.
This
cost is in the trillions of dollars for the world economy, which is being
pushed into what threatens to be a great depression. The damage should include
the cost of bankruptcies, insolvencies, a crash of U.S. stock and bond prices,
and the destruction of foreign imports from the United States apart from oil
and LNG.
If
voters, politicians and their business campaign contributors are to be
mobilized to end this war spending, we need a new discussion along these lines
comparable to that which led to such public opposition back in the 1960s. As I
said, those were the days!
Michael
Hudson’s Killing the Host, The Collapse of Antiquity and The Destiny of Civilization are published by
CounterPunch Books.
IMPERIAL AND ENERGY
TRANSITIONS
Jonahan Watts. “Epoch
of collapsing oil. . . .”
Forwarded
by Sonny San Juan, May 18, 2026.
[Two long articles at the link...excerpts here]
Jonathan Watts “The American epoch of oil is collapsing.
What comes next could be ugly.”
China is dominating the energy transition with astonishing result, while
fossil fuel fascists in the US try to turn back the clock. [long essay at the link] Sun 17 May, 2026 https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2Fng-interactive%2F2026%2Fmay%2F17%2Famerica-china-energy-oil-renewables&data=05%7C02%7Csadanand%40ccsu.edu%7C57ef513c9e584bf1cea408deb4ecdb4a%7C2329c570b5804223803b427d800e81b6%7C0%7C0%7C639147126576407730%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=DZjs74B81VkMdFZeJFk%2BhSBbzeW41LmkG%2FkH%2Fra3fNs%3D&reserved=0
“Farewell,” the flag-waving Chinese children chanted to Donald Trump as he
strolled along the red carpet back to Air Force One at the end of his summit
with Xi Jinping in Beijing.
The US leader claimed he was leaving with a cluster of “fantastic” trade deals
to sell US oil, jets and soya beans to China. That has not been confirmed by
his smiling host, but one thing was crystal clear from the two days of
meetings: the global balance of power is shifting, from the declining
petrostate in the west to the rising electrostate in the east.
Trump flew home to chaos – war with Iran, surging gas prices,
spectacular unpopularity, friction with former allies and a 20th-century policy
of “energy dominance” that seeks to turn back the clock, use tariffs and
military threats to open markets, and enrich his supporters in the fossil fuel
industry. The long dominant superpower increasingly appears a malignant force
as it pushes the world towards ever greater turbulence.
Xi, meanwhile, presides over a country that has invested more than any
other in renewable energy, which has helped to buffer its economy from the gas
price shocks caused by the conflict in the Middle East, while opening up huge
new export markets for solar panels, wind turbines, smart grids and electric
vehicles. While the Chinese president’s Communist party still faces criticism
for its suppression of dissent, its soft power deficit no longer seems so great
when its main global rival is killing protesters at home and bombing
schoolchildren overseas.
Future historians may well see the Iran war as the moment the US
unwittingly ceded leadership to China
Why is this happening now? Tempting as it is to blame these global shifts on a
single malignant narcissist in the White House, a more useful – and maybe even
hopeful – analysis needs to take into account the tectonic changes that are
shaking not just the foundations of politics, but the very nature of human
power, as the world shifts from molecules to electrons.
History has proven that when the dominant form of energy changes, there is
often a shift in the global pecking order. We are now in the midst of one such
transition as the epoch of petrol, predominantly produced in the United States,
Russia and Gulf states, starts to give way to an era of renewables,
overwhelmingly manufactured in China. But the outcome remains contested, and
the process could be ugly. The new energy order is winning the economic
and technological battle – wind turbines and solar panels were already
producing record-cheap electricity even before the Iran war pushed up the costs
of gas and oil-fired power plants. But the old petro-interests still have
political, military and financial might on their side, and they are using that
to try to turn back the energy clock.
As a result, democracies across the planet are now threatened by what might be
called fossil fuel fascism – an extremist political movement that breaks
laws, spreads lies and threatens violence in an increasingly desperate attempt
to maintain markets for oil, gas and coal that would otherwise be replaced by
cheaper renewables.
Of course, there are multiple other, overlapping reasons for the war against
Iran: its nuclear program, Trump’s need for a distraction from the
Epstein files, and his willingness to adopt positions favourable to Israel’s
Benjamin Netanyahu, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince,
Mohammed bin Salman, to name a few.
But the wider context is that the Earth is becoming a more hostile
environment for humanity. This is driving up tensions, exposing economic
limits that have been ignored for centuries and redefining geopolitical
realities.
Who is actually winning? In the short term, the biggest windfall from the Iran
conflict has gone to companies, executives and shareholders in the US
petroleum industry – a major source of campaign funding for Trump – that
was struggling with low prices and a production glut at the start of the year,
but is now enjoying a spectacular revenue surge while rival suppliers in the
Gulf are choked by threats in the strait of Hormuz. Along with Russian and
Saudi Arabian petro-companies, US energy suppliers look set to cash in for
months to come, even as consumers pay more at the pumps.
At the same time, the war is forcing countries across the world to explore ways
to increase their energy independence. In the next few years, that will happen by
increasing domestic production of oil, gas and coal. By one reckoning, this
has increased the likely 2030 output of fossil fuels by a fifth – an alarming
setback for global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and a victory
for the petroleum industry and the far-right political groups it funds.
But that will not be the final reckoning of this war, which has reinforced the
argument for both renewable energy and a concurrent shift in geopolitical
alignments. With major oil and gas producers now led by ever more erratic and
menacing authoritarian leaders, other countries are looking for alternative
ways to generate power. Electric cars, for example, have never been more in
demand.
The prime beneficiary is China, which suddenly appears a relative oasis
of pragmatic, internationally minded diplomacy and energy independence.
Beijing’s bet on renewable power and EVs over the past two decades is paying
enormous dividends. Not only has this made it less reliant on fuel imports, it
now has a wind, solar and battery export industry that looks set to dominate
global markets for many decades to come.
Future historians may well see the Iran war as the moment the US unwittingly
ceded leadership to China. If so, it would not be the first time that a change
in the world’s energy matrix led to a reordering of the political hierarchy of
nations. When humankind taps new power supplies, new empires rise and old ones
fall. Realignments tend to be violent.
How empires fall. . . . [Also see: https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2Fng-interactive%2F2025%2Fapr%2F13%2Fend-times-fascism-far-right-trump-musk&data=05%7C02%7Csadanand%40ccsu.edu%7C57ef513c9e584bf1cea408deb4ecdb4a%7C2329c570b5804223803b427d800e81b6%7C0%7C0%7C639147126576438991%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ps3uWSvBzZt2ibBM28TUxezXdM9LSKUbrgOvpkr43Oc%3D&reserved=0
Naomi
Klein and Astra Taylor. “The Rise of End times Fascism.”
The movement for corporate city states cannot believe its good luck. For years,
it has been pushing the extreme notion that wealthy, tax-averse people should
up and start their own high-tech fiefdoms, whether new countries on artificial
islands in international waters (“seasteading”) or pro-business “freedom
cities” such as Próspera, a glorified gated community combined with a
wild west med spa on a Honduran island.
Yet despite backing from the heavy-hitter venture capitalists Peter Thiel and
Marc Andreessen, their extreme libertarian dreams kept bogging down: it turns
out most self-respecting rich people don’t actually want to live on floating
oil rigs, even if it means lower taxes, and while Próspera might be nice for a
holiday and some body “upgrades”, its extra-national status is currently being
challenged in court.
Now, all of a sudden, this once-fringe network of corporate secessionists finds
itself knocking on open doors at the dead center of global power.
The first sign that fortunes were shifting came in 2023, when a campaigning
Donald Trump, seemingly out of nowhere, promised to hold a contest that would
lead to the creation of 10 “freedom cities” on federal lands. The trial
balloon barely registered at the time, lost in the daily deluge of outrageous
claims. Since the new administration took office, however, would-be country
starters have been on a lobbying blitz, determined to turn Trump’s pledge into
reality.
“The energy in DC is absolutely electric,” Trey Goff, the chief of staff of
Próspera, recently enthused after a trip to Capitol Hill. Legislation paving
the way for a bevy of corporate city-states should be complete by the end of
the year, he claims.
Inspired by a warped reading of the political philosopher Albert Hirschman,
figures including Goff, Thiel and the investor and writer Balaji
Srinivasan have been championing what they call “exit” – the
principle that those with means have the right to walk away from the
obligations of citizenship, especially taxes and burdensome regulation. Retooling
and rebranding the old ambitions and privileges of empires, they dream of
splintering governments and carving up the world into hyper-capitalist,
democracy-free havens under the sole control of the supremely wealthy,
protected by private mercenaries, serviced by AI robots and financed by
cryptocurrencies. [more at the link]
Summer Reyes. “Hear #VetsAgainstFascism's call for an end to the war on Iran.” Forwarded by Summer Reyes via uark.onmicrosoft.com May 18, 2026.
What will this war
cost?Rei Lopez
Our flag folding in Washington, D.C., represented the lives already lost in the
war on Iran on both sides, and the many more to come if the Trump regime
doesn't end this war. Full video of the program, along with powerful
testimonies by vets and military family members, is now on YouTube.
SEE THE FULL VIDEO
This program included speeches by:
Robert Cheng, About Face member and Army veteran
Jessica Serrato, military family member, MFSO member
Yadira Perez, military family member, MFSO member
Michael McPhearson, Executive Director, Veterans for Peace; Army veteran
The event was
organized by About Face: Veterans Against the War, in coordination with
Veterans For Peace, Military Families Speak Out, 50501 Vets, Fayetteville
Resistance Coalition, and the Center on Conscience and War.
As we called for
House Speaker Mike Johnson to take the folded flag and answer for what he's
done, Capitol Police arrested 67 of us, including some of our disabled and
elderly members, for simply speaking up and calling for an end to this illegal
and unjust war. As veterans, we know
from experience that this war -- like the ones before it -- will only make a
handful of companies, billionaires, and politicians rich and devastate the
people of Iran, the Middle East, and ultimately, working people here at home.
Meanwhile, many of our brothers and sisters overseas will pay the price. That's why we stood up in Washington, D.C.,
and why we'll continue fighting against these endless wars.
Our veterans,
military family members and allies won't let billionaires continue to rob us of
our sons and daughters. We can't afford another war!
In solidarity, Summer Reyes, Communications Coordinator,
About Face
ALSO
SEE Military
family members call for U.S. troops to be brought home What's
this "election integrity army" Trump is on about? Donate to support the cause
Chris
Hedges. “Trump’s Iranian Nightmare.”
May
19, 2026. Iran, Israel, Military, Oil, United States.
Trump’s
catastrophic miscalculation in Iran and refusal to accept the inevitability of
defeat is pushing us towards a global depression and ensuring the suffering and
immiseration of millions. Read here.... By Chris Hedges. ScheerPost.
Portside Snapshot (5-18-26). Consortium News (5-19-26).
America’s
newest quagmire in the Middle East is like its old quagmires in the Middle
East. It is based, as were the wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq, on a gross misreading of our adversaries, a catastrophic
failure to understand the limits of imperial power and no discernable strategy. It swells the profits of the war industry, wasting billions of public funds, alienates our allies and erodes the global
power and prestige of the United States.
Dying empires, governed by the corrupt and the
incompetent, are blinded by militarism and hubris. They are unable to read the
world around them. They stumble into self-defeating cul-de-sacs — as the U.S.
did in Iraq, Afghanistan and earlier in Vietnam — where military adventurism
accelerates self-inflicted wounds.
The war on Iran is one
more chapter in America’s precipitous and ultimately fatal decline.
Tehran’s 10-point
temporary ceasefire proposal —
brokered by Pakistani mediators and presented to the U.S. 40 days after war
against Iran had begun — is tantamount to surrender terms. It demands the end
of U.S. and Israeli attacks, including in Lebanon. It calls for the
removal of U.S. military bases and installations from the region. It solidifies Iran’s control over the Strait
of Hormuz. It refuses to abandon uranium enrichment. It calls for the end to
sanctions and termination of anti-Iranian resolutions by the United Nations
Security Council and International Atomic Energy Agency. It also requires
release of frozen assets — estimated at $100 billion —
and reparations for the U.S. and Israeli attacks.
This is too bitter a
humiliation for the U.S. and Israel to accept.
Within hours of the Iranian proposal, Israel — determined to
sabotage any agreement — launched a devastating air attack against Lebanon. The attack,
which was carried out over 10 minutes, included the bombing of central Beirut.
It involved 50 fighter jets and 108 airstrikes that dropped around 160
bombs, killing 350 people and wounding 1,000 others.
The lightning and
unprovoked massacre, known as “Black Wednesday,” is a potent reminder that Israel
has no intention of allowing this war to end. With the U.S. not ready to admit
defeat, and Israel’s bloodlust, we are in for a very rough ride. Iran submitted an updated proposal last week, which Trump said is “totally unacceptable.” But Iran, with its stranglehold over the
Strait of Hormuz, can afford to wait. The longer it maintains its blockade over
shipping — roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquified natural
gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz — the more global economic pain it
inflicts.
There is no good outcome
for the U.S.
Trump’s Catastrophic
Miscalculations. . . .
A Long and Costly War
Trump is desperate. He
spews out expletive-laden threats to Iran on social media, writing “Open
the Fuckin’ Strait [of Hormuz], you crazy bastards.” He also posts Artificial
Intelligence generated images showing the U.S. military obliterating the
Iranian military. He has threatened to bomb Iranians “back to the
stone age where they belong,” and lambasts his critics as traitors:
“When the Fake News says
that the Iranian enemy is doing well, Militarily, against us, it’s virtual
TREASON in that it is such a false, and even preposterous, statement.”
He declared on Truth Social, “They are aiding and abetting the
enemy!”
This screed was followed by an image of a map with Venezuela overlaid with the
U.S. flag. The caption read: “51st State.”
Before leaving for China,
Trump claimed: “We have Iran very much under control. … We’re either
going to make a deal or they’re going to be decimated. One way or the other, we
win.”
The rants are pathetic and
unhinged. But they are also ominous.
U.S. aircraft on the
flight deck of USS Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 28 in support of the U.S.-Israeli
assault on Iran. (U.S. Department of Defense /Wikimedia Commons/Public
Domain)
The U.S. is building up troop levels in the region. It
has deployed the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group with the 31st
Marine Expeditionary Unit — composed of about 3,500 sailors and Marines — in
addition to transport and strike fighter aircraft and assault and tactical
assets. It has deployed the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group along with about
2,500 Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit equipped with F-35B Lightning II Stealth Fighters, MV-22B
Osprey, tilt rotors and attack helicopters.
The U.S. has also sent around 2,000 paratroopers to the Persian Gulf and is
reportedly considering augmenting these forces with an
additional 10,000 troops.
A resumption of the
bombing, coupled with even a limited ground assault, would
ensure a long and costly war. It will fulfill Israel’s objective — which seeks
to bomb Iran into a failed state — but will be another mortal blow to the U.S.
empire. [Trump said Monday that he was about to launch a strike on Iran
but only pulled back after Gulf Arab states convinced him not to. They
stand to suffer heavy retaliation vowed by Iran if the U.S. resumes the war.]
A ground assault on Kharg
Island — which lies 16 miles off Iran’s coast and serves as the country’s main
oil storage and export terminal, processing around 90 percent of the
country’s oil exports — would send seismic shock waves through the global
economy. And if U.S. troops attempt to seize Iranian territory, Iran will
deploy its arsenal of anti-ship cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, underwater
drones and mines, making any occupation deadly.
We are in serious trouble.
The management of the
conflict is far beyond the capabilities of the buffoons within the Trump
administration. They prefer global misery and carnage to defeat. By the time
they face the inevitable, they will have left mounds of corpses in their wake.
The tragedy is not that
the empire is dying. The tragedy is that the empire is bringing so many
innocents down with it.
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer
Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for 15 years for The
New York Times, where he served as the Middle East bureau chief and
Balkan bureau chief for the paper. He previously worked overseas for The
Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor and NPR.
He is the host of show The Chris Hedges Report.
NOTE TO READERS from
Hedges: There is now no way left for me to continue to write a weekly
column for ScheerPost and produce my weekly television show without your
help. The walls are closing in, with startling rapidity, on independent
journalism, with the elites, including the Democratic Party elites,
clamoring for more and more censorship. Please, if you can, sign up at chrishedges.substack.com so
I can continue to post my Monday column on ScheerPost and produce my weekly
television show, “The Chris Hedges Report.”
This article is from The Chris Hedges Report, a reader-supported
publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free
or paid subscriber.
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IRAN’S POWER REVEALED IN LEBANON
“The
Collapse Is Real; Lebanon Ceasefire Marks A Historic Strategic Defeat” By Ramzy Baroud, Counter Punch. Popular Resistance.org (4-17-26). A ceasefire in Lebanon
was announced on Thursday by US President Donald Trump, but its
reality tells a very different story. The ceasefire was not the product
of American diplomacy, nor Israeli strategic calculation. It was
imposed—largely as a result of sustained Iranian pressure. Washington, Tel
Aviv, and their allies—including some within Lebanon itself—will continue to
deny this reality. Acknowledging Iran’s role would mean admitting that a
historic precedent has been set: for the first time, forces opposing the
United States and Israel have succeeded in imposing conditions on both. -more-
Denunciations of the US/Israeli Attack
Ian Williams. “The US/Israel Attack on
Iran Is a Day That Will Live In infamy.” It joins a long list of infamous
US Days. But in the opinion of Ian
Williams, president of the Foreign Press Assoc. of the US, “the events of 3-11
should be considered more consequential than mere infamy.” Trump
and the Republicans are “demolishing” the post-WW2 order of the United
Nations, most emphatically illustrated by the Gaza genocide and Trump’s
Board of Peace. “The U.S.-Israel Attack and the U.N.’s
Response Will Live in Infamy.” Washington
Report on Middle East Affairs (May 2026).
[--Dick]
“Individuals,
Organisations From 30 Countries Condemn War On Iran” by Middle East Monitor. Popular Resistance.org (4-17-26). Written in response to last month’s
military attack on the country, the letter delivers a swingeing critique of
US foreign policy and historical conduct, accusing Washington of pursuing a
doctrine of absolute predation. It highlights major US wars of the 20th and
21st centuries, referring to “the genocidal horror of Vietnam,” “the
annihilation of Cambodia,” and the “systematic slaughter of Koreans,” as well
as the destruction of Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan. The open letter,
titled ‘A Declaration to the Conscience of Humanity,’ is signed by over 170
signatories from 30 countries and signatories include former UN officials... -more-
Steve
Fraser. “In
Empire We Trust – Who Gains and Who Loses in Trump’s America.” Portside
(4-17-26).
TomDispatch (April 16, 2026).
Imperialism
does massive and fatal damage abroad. The wars in Gaza and Iran are the latest
bloodbaths for all to see. Less visible are the wages of imperialism at home: Plans
to plunder the planet of its land, labor, and vital resources are afoot.
Warmongering
Lies
Caitlin Johnstone from Caitlin’s Newsletter caitlinjohnstone@substack.com 4-17-26
“The Number Of Dead Iranian Protesters Keeps Changing Because It's A Fictional Story” by Caitlin Johnstone (April 17, 2026).
Upgrade
to paid The
most common pro-war talking point about Iran is that they massacred tens of
thousands of protesters in January of this year — but what’s funny is that they
never cite the same number. Because it’s a completely fictional story, they can just make up any number they want.
In
online discourse with empire apologists these past few months I’ve been told
that the number of dead protesters is thirty thousand, forty thousand, fifty
thousand, sixty thousand, seventy thousand, eighty thousand, ninety thousand,
and a hundred thousand.
They
really do seem to just throw out whatever number feels believable in a given
moment. I recently saw an exasperated Glenn Greenwald ask an interlocutor on
Twitter, “How do you decide when to claim that Iran killed 30,000 protesters,
or 45,000, or 70,000? Does it depend on the day of the week or lyrical flow or
something else?” Tehran Tadhg @TadhgHickey We're up to 80k, guys!
9:56
PM · Mar 17, 2026 · 174K Views
Iranian
regime change muppet Reza Pahlavi claimed in January that
50,000 protesters had been massacred by the Iranian government that month. Notorious Korean propagandist Yeonmi
Park put the number at 40,000. In February, President Trump said it was 32,000. By
April he had inflated that number to 45,000, and
then later climbed it up to 60,000. Last month I saw The Australian’s Cameron
Stewart swelling the number to
80,000. In February
there was a viral tweet by
a propaganda account called The Persian Jewess asserting that “90,000
protesters have been killed to date,” while right wing influencer Nicholas
Lissack said it was actually
100,000. . . . Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz
The
reason they can’t settle on a number is because it’s all made up. Nobody denies
that thousands of people were killed in the January unrest; the Iranian
government itself has stated that
3,117 people were killed in the violent clashes, including large numbers of
security forces. Given that the US Treasury Secretary has repeatedly admitted that
the US deliberately fomented the unrest in Iran, and given that Trump has admitted to
sending weapons into the country with the goal of arming the protesters, and
given that Trump’s previous secretary of state has suggested that
Mossad was intimately involved in
the so-called “peaceful protests”, it was inevitable that people were going to
be killed. . . .
Caitlin’s Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To
receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid
subscriber. Upgrade
to paid
CEASEFIRE
MEANS PEACE IF CONDITIONS ARE MET
“Iran
Announces Full Reopening Of Strait Of Hormuz” By News Desk, The Cradle. Popular
Resistance.org (4-17-26). The Islamic
Republic of Iran announced on 17 April the full reopening of the Strait of
Hormuz, following the fulfillment of its condition for a complete cessation of
hostilities in Lebanon. “In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the
passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is declared
completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route
as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organization of the Islamic Republic
of Iran,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a statement on Friday
afternoon. US President Donald Trump took to his Truth
Social platform... -more-
Ceasefire
extension and memo of understanding (not a peace agreement) ANALYZED
by MAPA
[VFP-all]
“Breaking: US-Iran deal announced. Here's what it means – MAPA.” Gerry Condon via uark.onmicrosoft.com Thanks to Massachusetts
Peace Action for this terrific statement, for these righteous demands, and for
this convenient way to send a timely message to Congressional reps.
See
below!
From: Brian
Garvey, MAPA <info@masspeaceaction.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2026 2:49:40 PM
Dear
Gerry,
Yesterday,
the United States and Iran announced an initial agreement to extend their
ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. This is significant news, so I want
to share our initial thoughts, and talk about the crucial work that still
remains for us.
DEMAND A JUST AND LASTING PEACE
The
deal announced yesterday is a step in the right direction. But let's be clear.
This is a 60-day ceasefire extension and a memo of understanding, not a peace
agreement. Many of the excuses used to start this illegal war remain
unresolved. The hard work of diplomacy remains to be done.
And
the damage is real. Trump launched this war on February 28th [2026],
destroying active negotiations, without provocation. US intelligence had
consistently said that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. Iran is not a
threat to the United States. Congress never authorized strikes. From day one,
this was an illegal war — a violation of the Constitution and
international law.
The
conduct of the war is also criminal. Over two-thirds of buildings hit in Tehran
were civilian targets. A double-tap US airstrike on an elementary school in
Minab, killed 120 children. Thousands of people in Iran, Lebanon,
Palestine, Israel, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and countries
across the region have been killed. And for what?
The
direct financial cost for the military alone for this war is at minimum
$30 billion dollars. The true cost is likely many times that figure.
With gas prices, inflation, and the national debt all rising as a direct
result, the global costs may approach $1 trillion dollars.
None
of that is erased by this agreement, and we must not forget.
TELL YOUR REPS WHAT ACCOUNTABILITY LOOKS LIKE
Opposition
to this war needs to be sincere and effective. That
means a genuine commitment to diplomacy — not in political point-scoring. There
are voices in the Democratic Party who will dismiss any agreement simply
to deny Trump a win, or who will demonize Iran to appear tough. That's not just
a mistake, it's a disservice. The people of Iran aren't a prop in American
politics. Neither are US service members or American families.
We
must hold this deal to a high standard because we want it to succeed — not
because we want it to fail.
TELL CONGRESS: STOP FUNDING DESTRUCTION
·
Cut off the funding. No
taxpayer dollars for unauthorized military action against Iran, whether through
the regular budget, supplemental appropriations, or budget reconciliation. If
this war is going to continue in any form, Congress must vote on it openly.
·
End weapons transfers to Israel. No
offensive munitions to a government conducting a genocide in Gaza, violating a
ceasefire in Lebanon, and attacking a country the US was simultaneously in
negotiations with.
·
Oppose NDAA provisions that
expand US-Israel military cooperation or increase the Pentagon budget. At a
moment when the national debt has surpassed GDP for the first time since World
War II, Congress should not be shoveling more money toward endless war.
·
Support the diplomatic process. A
lasting agreement requires that Iran's legitimate security concerns be
addressed, that the blockade be lifted, and that the region — including the
people of Gaza and Lebanon — be part of the solution, not just the wreckage.
·
Demand accountability. War
crimes were committed. The killing of civilians, the destruction of hospitals,
the targeting of a school — these cannot be waved away by a signing ceremony in
Switzerland. Congress must call for independent investigation.
WE WANT A JUST AND LASTING PEACE
Thank
you, Brian Garvey,Executive
Director, Massachusetts Peace Action
Massachusetts Peace Action
1991 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02140
END ISRAEL/US
v. IRAN WAR ANTHOLOGY #10
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