Thoughts on Multiple Bad Things

There’s lots of bad things going on the world,  notably in the middle east and Ukraine.  And there’s no clear “good guys vs bad guys” about the middle east,  despite so many claims otherwise on both sides.  There’s plenty of blame to go around there.  But not so much in Ukraine.

One thing has finally begun to become clear in the news reporting:  most of the death and destruction in the middle east is being done by proxy terrorist armies that are funded,  supplied,  and given marching orders by Iran.  These would include Hamas and Hezbollah,  the Houthis in Yemen,  plus some others in Iraq that have injured and killed US troops.  Here is the sense of a list of Iranian proxies that I got from the US State Department:

To this we need to add the following:  (1) the current direct Iranian attack upon Israel,  and (2) its Revolutionary Guard,  which has also directly attacked international shipping,  as well as being the private army that keeps the ruling mullahs in power in Iran.

The common thread here is Iran:  they have been ordering all this death and destruction,  and until recently,  have let their proxies do it for them.  The western nations have been striking back at the proxies,  but without any success at stopping the death and destruction,  not in about 4 decades! 

Iran itself has suffered no punishment whatsoever for doing all these evils,  mostly because the western nations do not want a general war in the middle east with Iran.  That has apparently been a policy mistake,  and needs to change.  And the mass attack upon Israel shows that the Iranians have finally been emboldened into acting directly,  instead of through their proxies,  likely precisely because they have never been punished.

Now,  don’t get me wrong:  the Iranian people are good people,  and have been our friends before,  and could be again.  They live in a sham democracy,  where the ruling mullahs can over-rule anything the elected people decide.  Those ruling mullahs are propped-up by a private army that ruthlessly suppresses dissent.  The mullahs themselves masquerade as religious leaders,  when they are in fact extremist terrorists who misuse and abuse religion to “justify” the evils they do. 

In point of fact,  there almost was a revolution in Iran about a decade ago,  but it failed for lack of outside support from us.  They had no chance against the private army (the Revolutionary Guard).

Now what Israel does is not under US control,  let that be perfectly clear!  They are a valued ally and friend in the middle east,  and one of the few democracies in the region that is not a sham democracy,  at least not yet.  And the US is sworn to help defend them when they are attacked,  that is also clear.  And we just did that,  helping to thwart the Iranian attack.

But,  the current elected government of Israel is a re-elected right-wing prime minister (Netanyahu) who this term leads a far-right coalition that is demonstrably a bit extreme.  This shows in the policies and strategies Israel has used in its Gaza war against Hamas,  that has led to incredibly-massive civilian casualties,  plus the approaching mass death-by-famine there. 

One might conclude that the overall goal here is that there be no Palestinian state,  because there are no Palestinians left to populate it.  And,  the current attack from Iran came about because (intentionally or not) the Israelis bombed an Iranian embassy in Syria. 

That being said,  Hamas is far worse!  That is a known terrorist organization that became the government in the Gaza strip,  in an armed takeover.  They give the people of Gaza just enough food to make them think that Hamas is their friend,  but then created a network of tunnels under every populated place in Gaza!  They hide behind a human shield at all opportunities,  and in fact prevented those civilians who were shielding them,  from evacuating before announced Israeli attacks!  No real government would do that,  but evil terrorists certainly would!  And did!

Now,  bear in mind another thing that must be made perfectly clear:  when you decide to attack an evildoer who hides behind a human shield,  the only way to strike him is through that shield!  There will be high civilian casualties when you do that,  it is inherent!  Using a human shield violates international law and anybody’s rules of war,  and that is exactly what the Hamas terrorists did. 

But the civilian casualties among the Palestinians in Gaza have been much higher than they needed to be,  and that’s the result of the policies of the right-wing extremist government of Israel.  So,  there really is plenty of blame to go around!  Israel needs to change-out its government,  that much is for sure!  Extremism is the true evil here;  right wing,  left wing,  makes no difference.  Both end up doing the same needless death,  destruction,  and oppression.  They both look the same to me!

 I think the wish to avoid a general war with Iran is the right thing,  but no consequences for Iran is the wrong thing! 

Here is an out-of-the-box idea:  what if Iran were to be struck,  but NOT invaded?  Struck in such a way as to enable the Iranian people to rise up and overthrow the mullahs?  The mullahs that oppress them,  and who committed all this death and destruction all these decades?  What if the strike were to attempt two things:  (1) kill most or all of the mullahs,  decapitating that government,  and (2) destroying as many combat assets as possible,  of the Revolutionary Guard?  But without any invasion at all!  None!  Simply enable the people of Iran to do their own revolution.

I would predict that the terrorist proxies would slowly go away over time,  should we be successful.  They are currently funded and supplied massively by Iran,  and if Iran no longer did that,  their means to cause death and destruction would dry up. 

Iran has been supplying Putin’s Russia with weapons for its Ukraine war, too.  If that were to stop,  Ukraine would have a better chance to defend itself.  You need to understand,  Ukraine is the west’s proxy in the war against Putin’s Russia,  who will next attack NATO members in eastern Europe,  if he succeeds in Ukraine.  It was that way with Hitler in the 1930’s,  it is that way with Putin today.  History says all these dictators are pretty much alike. 

Ukraine has run short of weapons and ammunition,  which is partly stalled by the GOP in the US House of Representatives.  We’ve all seen that on the news.  They are now losing to Russia as a result. We have all seen that,  too.

If Ukraine loses,  we lose,  and thereby will eventually face World War 3 in Europe,  when an emboldened Putin tries to rebuild the old Soviet empire in eastern Europe,  out of countries now NATO members.  Plus,  that other evil dictator in China,  Xi Jinping,  will be emboldened to invade Taiwan and start World War 3 in the Pacific,  if Russia is successful in Ukraine!  So,  Ukraine cannot lose!  Period!  End of issue!

One GOP representative in the US House has publicly said he has heard colleagues spouting Russian propaganda on the floor of the US House.  That propaganda is aimed at stopping aid to Ukraine,  so that Putin can win.  I submit to you that voting against Ukraine aid,  is giving aid and comfort to Putin’s Russia,  which is clearly America’s enemy here!

It says in the US Constitution that one definition of treason is “aid and comfort to the enemy”,  and the standard for conviction requires only two witnesses in court to the act.  I wish the Justice Department would do something about what looks to me,  to be an awful lot like treason,  going on in the US House!

Defeating Putin’s Russia in Ukraine might possibly lead to one other good outcome for the US and the world:  he might be overthrown!  There’s likely a lot of Putin clones waiting in the wings,  but if the Russian people can get rid of them,  they might once again set foot on the path to a not-sham democracy.  They are good folk,  and could also be our friends once again.

Update 4-29-2024:  There are two additional facets to what I just said above.  There are pro-Palestinian demonstrations disrupting US college campuses,  with elements of anti-Semitism sneaking into some of them,  and the US Congress finally passed an aid bill for Ukraine,  although it is damagingly late doing so. 

Relative to the pro-Palestinian demonstrations,  I offer these opinions: 

First:  there is a portion of these demonstrators who are sincerely disturbed about the death toll so far in Gaza,  and the much larger one that looms due to approaching famine.  So am I.  There are also some outside agitators who have infiltrated onto these campuses,  stirring up the tendency to violence,  and stirring up the anti-Semitism,  while at the same time depicting the evil terrorists that are Hamas,  as innocent.  My hunch is that these outside agitators were sent here from outfits like Hamas and Hezbollah,  acting under marching orders from Iran.  This crap is massively on social media,  too,  in an internet totally unpoliced for truth.  What did you expect?

Second:  much of the reason for these excessive civilian casualties in Gaza lies with the far-right coalition that is the current government of Israel.  That does not mean all of Israel is like that,  but enough were of similar mindset to elect them.   Israel is our ally and friend and deserves our help.  But,  maybe not a totally free hand with the aid we give them,  until Israelis see fit to replace that far-right government with something not so inclined to kill civilians needlessly.  Unlike what the demonstrators seem to think,  the US does not control Israel’s actions.  All we can do is exert what influence we can.

Relative to the Ukraine War and belated aid from Congress for our proxy Ukraine:

Senator Mitch McConnel admitted on “Face the Nation” 4-28,  that the feuding Republicans are at fault for the defeats Ukraine has been suffering lately,  by delaying aid and weapons for too many months.  I actually agree with that,  but I go further.  There are two irreconcilable factions within the party,  which have successfully paralyzed much of our government for some years now.  That chaos and paralysis is actually the intent of one of those factions:  the so-called “MAGA Republicans”.

If you investigate the sites favored by such people,  you find out that the things they apparently believe and strive for,  overlap very strongly with the Q-Anon conspiracy theory.  The most well-known items include things like the “deep state” to be overthrown,  and the claim that Trump actually won the 2020 election,  but was denied his win by massive election fraud. 

Some of the other less-well-known things are actually rather frightening.  One is “the storm”,  which is the conflict that overthrows the “deep state”,  and in which the people of the “deep state” are rounded up and eliminated.  Specifications for this purge vary from site to site,  but the sense is that the “deep state” is actually everybody who opposes them,  which is more than half the country.  THAT is who they want to get rid of!

The most frightening thing relates to the chaos and paralysis they have been causing in our government.  If our government fails to function long enough,  the people will supposedly be more open to the alternative they offer,  which is a military-supported dictatorship,  precisely per the figure above.  (Trump’s advisor General Flynn,  advocated this in public during Trump’s term as President.)  Bear in mind that the Q-Anon community evolved into a fearless leader cult about Donald Trump almost a decade ago.  He is the dictator that they offer us.

The most treasonous thing they offer (besides the overthrow of our democracy) is the extreme isolationism denying all aid and cooperation with our allies,  in a time when we face major threats from Putin’s Russia,  Xi’s China,  the mullahs’ Iran,  and Kim’s North Korea,  plus all the terrorist proxy armies run mostly by Iran.  Denying aid and weapons to our proxy Ukraine (in the war against the expansionist aims of Putin’s Russia) is the way to see Ukraine defeated and Putin winning,  also encouraging Xi to invade Taiwan.  Aiding the enemy is the treason I speak of.  World War 3 is the ultimate consequence of that treason.

You have been warned (multiple times,  in my articles here on this site).  Now I urge you to rise up and do two things:  (1) vote these traitors out of our government,  and (2) demand that the DOJ prosecute them for their treason.