There’s a running gag in the comic strip Peanuts in which a balding depressive child named Charlie Brown is talked into trying to kick a football by his sadistic neighbor, Lucy. Charlie Brown always initially declines Lucy’s offer, because he remembers that whenever Lucy talks him into trying to kick the football she yanks it out of the way at the last minute, sending him flying into a heap of pain and humiliation. But, ever the sucker, he always eventually succumbs to Lucy’s convincing assurances that this time will be completely different.
That gag always pops into my mind when Trump supporters assure me that US-led regime change in Iran will be completely different from Afghanistan, Iraq, or Libya.
The Washington Free Beacon has published a report on a three-page paper “being circulated among National Security Council officials” which explicitly outlines a strategy for effecting regime change in Iran. The plan was authored by a DC think tank called Security Studies Group, whose leadership has advanced some unbelievably stupid conspiratorial narratives about Muslim Americans, and which has ties to National Security Advisor John Bolton, who has openly promised Iranian regime change before 2019.
The plan reportedly “seeks to reshape longstanding American foreign policy toward Iran by emphasizing an explicit policy of regime change” by stirring up unrest and working to “assist an already aggravated Iranian public” to “topple the hardline ruling regime through a democratization strategy that focuses on driving a deeper wedge between the Iranian people and the ruling regime.”
And from what I can tell Trump’s base seems to be mostly fine with this. The fact that the plan doesn’t put American soldiers in harm’s way combined with the fact that Iran does not have a secular government seems to prevent any objection in the greater MAGA crowd from pursuing a strategy which looks essentially identical to that which was pursued in Libya and Syria.
The Iranian Mullahs have got to go, they tell me. The people of Iran want freedom and democracy. This time it will be completely different. Lucy’s gonna let us kick the football for sure.
How many times do Americans need to be duped by this same song and dance before they finally learn their lesson? US-led regime change interventionism in the modern world is literally never helpful, literally always disastrous, literally never accomplishes what its proponents claim it will, and is literally always extremely lucrative for war profiteering plutocrats.
To better understand world events, remember:
– War is awful
– Neocons are always wrong about everything
– MSM is owned by billionaires whose kingdoms are built upon the status quo
– Ignore politicians' words; watch their actions
– It's always ultimately about acquiring more power— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) May 10, 2018
If I could give everyone a single piece of advice on how best to sort out fact from fiction when it comes to US foreign policy, it would be to remember that neoconservatives are always wrong about everything. Trump supporters know this, and yet they’re supporting an Iran agenda that has been long promoted by Never-Trumpers they despise like Bill Kristol and John McCain just because this particular intervention happens to be backed by the Trump administration.
The people who were wrong about Iraq, wrong about Libya, and wrong about Syria are not going to suddenly get their radar straightened out on Iran. They were wrong then. They are wrong now. They are always wrong. Lucy’s never gonna let you kick that goddamn football, Charlie Brown.
John Bolton has been a huge cheerleader for interventionism in Iraq, Libya and Syria, and he’s so crazy and stupid that he still insists Iraq was a great idea today. This man who has just been proven completely wrong about his recent case for attacking North Korea, this same man is connected to a plan circulated within the administration’s National Security Council to provoke an uprising against the Iranian government, after publicly advocating arming protesters and after nominating a violent terrorist cult to lead the opposition against Tehran.
Are you guys nuts?? You Trump supporters being lied to. Plainly. Again. The fact that Iran isn’t secular and the current US president has an (R) next to his name doesn’t change that. If there’s an uprising in Iran, the CIA will be involved, it will get violent, it will turn into a humanitarian disaster, and it will result in a massive explosion of death, destabilization, suffering and terrorism, just like all the other times. Stop consenting to this.
The uprising in Syria was planned by the US and its allies years before violence erupted in 2011, the CIA flooded the area with US-armed terrorists, half a million people have been slaughtered as a result, and the bloodshed is still far from over. Trump supporters who can see how wrong and evil that was should be able to see how wrong and evil it would be to inflict the same exact thing on Iran in order to advance a longstanding neoconservative agenda. Which is precisely what they are planning on doing.
Wise up, Charlie Brown. Don’t be suckered again.
_________________________
Internet censorship is getting pretty bad, so best way to keep seeing my daily articles is to get on the mailing list for my website, so you’ll get an email notification for everything I publish. My articles and podcasts are entirely reader and listener-funded, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, or buying my new book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.
Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2
7 responses to ““Iran Is Completely Different! This US-Led Regime Change Will Work Out Fine!””
One hundred and fifteenth time LUCKY!
In the U.S., it is always a good idea to “follow the money.” I believe this country still has not returned Iran’s funds that were frozen some years ago, and which have been accruing interest. I read recently that when the funds are returned to Iran they would immediately leave the dollar, which if I understand correctly, is baked into the deal. Hillary Clinton, in January of 2016, also said she felt Iran needed sanctions; which would also have prevented Iran’s own funds from going back if she were elected. This way one party gets to vilify the other, and we don’t get the actual facts of the matter, as no one in media is telling us about this.
Unfortunately, too many US citizens on both the left and right are still playing Democrat vs. Republican team politics. The Republican party holds the Christian right in nearly full sway, particularly amongst its leaders, and vice-versa. While both parties are beholden to Israel, the Republican party and its most vicious elements are in the ascendancy, which is encouraging a new phase in the agenda of destruction of the Muslim Middle East. Without a collapse of the political system, the country will continue to grind along in its ugliness.
At this point, I don’t see the situation changing radically due to internal US dissent any time soon. In order to save what is left of the Middle East, Russia, China and the EU will need to coalesce. In my opinion, that is the better and more immediate outcome to encourage, and we should begin to loudly complain to these three entities about their APPEASEMENT to US duplicity and criminality.
Last time the US effected regime change in Iran it didn’t work out so well. I wish somebody, even somebody totally crazy, could tell me why Iran’s government is any business of the US. Why does John Bolton want to change the government? There are plenty of equally un-American regimes he could focus on. Could it be the oil?
May I respectfully suggest, Rumtytum, that you’re trying to understand it as person who cares about people like yourself and their countries and cultures and history and just their day-to-day lives. And you’re right, these ‘regime changes’ on a broad scale for people like you and me are nothing but disastrous. But please understand that Bolton and Co are just the front-men for the corporations, banks, one per cent, Deep State, Bilderbergers – name them what you will. And for them, this is all working out just fine. Are there ever any negative consequences for them? No. Look at the lives they live, the company they keep, and the value of the MIC stocks. Those war criminals are doing just fine. There’s your answer.
My only question is why you find yourself addressing your remarks to Trump supporters. There is a creeping malevolence on the left, that of finding common cause with conservatives – or worse – simply because the democrat party narrative is so corrupt and hypocritical. There is a better way, one where we turn toward the working class and oppressed communities, instead of either wing of the capitalist establishment. Please don’t join your namesake (Diana) in giving backhanded support to reactionaries. Left-right alliances lead to disaster.
It hardly matters what Bolton/Trump/McCain say, all that matters is on how many people believe them. As long as the majority of people read/watch/listen to and base their ‘knowledge’ on lying MSM these warmongers will run the show.