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style="display:none;font-size:1px;color:#333333;line-height:1px;max-height:0px;max-width:0px;opacity:0;overflow:hidden;">The
US has amassed the largest military force in the Middle East
since the invasion of Iraq almost 23 years ago and is poised
once again to commit mass murder and gleefully perpetrate an
astonishing amount of war crimes.</div>
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American War Crimes Loom</a></h1>
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href="https://substack.com/@donotpanic" moz-do-not-send="true">Nate Bear</a></div>
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datetime="2026-02-19T13:22:10.467Z">Feb 19, 2026</time></div>
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<div class="body markup" dir="auto"
style="text-align: initial;font-size: 16px;line-height: 26px;width: 100%;word-break: break-word;margin-bottom: 16px;font-family: Spectral,sans-serif;font-weight: 400;">
<div class="captioned-image-container-static"
style="font-size: 16px;line-height: 26px;margin: 32px auto;margin-top: 0;">
<figure style="width: 100%;margin: 0 auto;">
<table class="image-wrapper" width="100%"
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<td class="content" align="left"
width="727" style="text-align: center;"><a
class="image-link" target="_blank"
href="https://substack.com/redirect/9c7584ef-de85-416d-8ca9-c0d3fe613fa2?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="position: relative;flex-direction: column;align-items: center;padding: 0;width: auto;height: auto;border: none;text-decoration: none;display: block;margin: 0;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0;"
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alt="" width="550"
height="415.078125"
src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9rbl!,w_1100,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd267e83c-211b-40c5-b32d-3b5fc8082913_640x483.webp"
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<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">The
US has amassed the largest military force in the
Middle East since the invasion of Iraq almost 23
years ago and is poised once again to commit mass
murder and gleefully perpetrate an astonishing
amount of war crimes.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Yesterday
a huge number of planes, from fighter jets to
air-to-air refuelling tankers to command and
control planes, left the US en route to the Middle
East. The planes had stop-overs on US military
bases in England and Germany, because no imperial
war crime is ever complete without the involvement
of Europe.</p>
<div class="captioned-image-container-static"
style="font-size: 16px;line-height: 26px;margin: 32px auto;">
<figure style="width: 100%;margin: 0 auto;">
<table class="image-wrapper" width="100%"
border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
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width="577" style="text-align: center;"><a
class="image-link" target="_blank"
href="https://substack.com/redirect/35ca3e6a-4a7c-4eba-a97f-98b948eae7e1?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
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alt="" width="550"
height="459.44540727902944"
src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FlUL!,w_1100,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4cce748e-a68a-4a73-86fa-2ceeadf0f851_577x482.png"
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</table>
<figcaption class="image-caption"
style="box-sizing: content-box;color: rgb(119,119,119);font-size: 14px;line-height: 20px;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: -.15px;margin-top: 8px;width: 70%;padding-left: 15%;padding-right: 15%;text-align: center;">Screenshot
of US military planes flying from the US to
Europe</figcaption></figure>
</div>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">A
US attack on Iran, a flagrant violation of
international law, if such a thing is even worth
mentioning any more, appears imminent. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Why?
For Israel, for oil, for power projection, for
Trump\u2019s legacy. Because the logic of the
military-industrial complex demands that $1
trillion dollars a year and an astonishing array
of killing machinery doesn\u2019t just sit idle. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Because
this is what empires do. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Because
the US is violence.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">And
there is no more stunning display of American
violence than a big war.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>The
US has </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/818b53e6-50e2-4d7d-9fda-928d47d1a904?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">been at war for 222 out
of 239 years since 1776</a><span>. The country
is hardly going to stop now, especially not with
the stars aligning for a project the
US-Israel-Zionist axis has been desperate to
undertake for nearly 50 years. </span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>And
despite the fact that a nation at almost
constant war is going to attack a country that
last initiated a war </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/f63b81c4-2890-425f-89bd-93feec9de0c4?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">nearly 300 years ago</a><span>,
the US and Israel are going to pose as the
saviours and pacifiers. </span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">The
leaders of these countries will self-anoint
themselves as such, while western media will
subject their readers and viewers to a dizzying
display of propaganda to enable the murders and
wash the crimes. </p>
<h4 class="header-anchor-post"
style="position: relative;font-family: 'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight: bold;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased;-webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility;-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility;appearance: optimizelegibility;margin: 1em 0 0.625em 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 1.16em;font-size: 1.125em;">The
groundwork</h4>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">But
the propaganda won\u2019t start from the day of the
attack. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">The
truth is, we wouldn\u2019t be in this situation without
the groundwork laid by the media over the years.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">We
wouldn\u2019t be on the verge of another major US war
without the often subtle lies of omission that
have characterised western reporting on Iran for
decades, and have been especially evident in
recent months.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Let\u2019s
go through some of them.</p>
<h4 class="header-anchor-post"
style="position: relative;font-family: 'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight: bold;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased;-webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility;-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility;appearance: optimizelegibility;margin: 1em 0 0.625em 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 1.16em;font-size: 1.125em;">Shifting
narratives</h4>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Firstly,
and importantly, the premise for an attack.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Last
June Trump said the US had \u2018obliterated\u2019 Iran\u2019s
nuclear sites.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">But
now, eight months later, the US apparently needs
to do a much bigger war to take out Iran\u2019s nuclear
programme.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">No
one will ask the obvious question. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">The
premise, that Iran\u2019s nuclear programme is a
threat, will stand tall and uninterrogated in the
mind of the propagandised western media consumer
who just eight months ago was told it had all been
destroyed.</p>
<h4 class="header-anchor-post"
style="position: relative;font-family: 'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight: bold;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased;-webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility;-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility;appearance: optimizelegibility;margin: 1em 0 0.625em 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 1.16em;font-size: 1.125em;">Loaded
terms</h4>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">\u201cIran\u2019s
nuclear programme.\u201d </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">The
words themselves are loaded with an intent that is
rarely examined or explained. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>They
never come with any context and are purposefully
designed to shut down any critical thinking, </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/b8cafc45-a6e5-45aa-9d9b-32befbc227c7?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">as I\u2019ve written about
before.</a></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Western
media never explains that Iran is one of the
world's biggest producers of radiopharmaceuticals
used for cancer diagnostics and treatments. And to
diagnose cancer and make cancer drugs, you need
medical isotopes. And you can\u2019t make medical
isotopes without enriching uranium. Iran is in the
top five global exporters of radioactive drugs,
supplying fifteen countries, including European
countries, with nuclear medicines. And sanctions
on Iran prohibit the import of
radiopharmaceuticals. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">So
without its deliberately misrepresented \u201cnuclear
programme\u201d Iran would find it hard, if not
impossible, to diagnose and treat people with
cancer and other illnesses. </p>
<h4 class="header-anchor-post"
style="position: relative;font-family: 'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight: bold;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased;-webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility;-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility;appearance: optimizelegibility;margin: 1em 0 0.625em 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 1.16em;font-size: 1.125em;">The
nuclear deal</h4>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>Media
never explains this and also never explains the
background to US threats towards Iran over this
programme. Amid all the coverage of talks and
possible deals, Western media never mentions the
fact that in 2018 </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/63faedb3-25e4-4da4-a1d6-e9c4dd99cc99?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">Trump himself ripped up a
deal</a><span>, signed in 2016, that was working
just fine. </span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>That
agreement, ratified by the UN Security Council,
facilitated regular site inspections and allowed
Iran to manufacture nuclear material for
medicine and energy. The media will never remind
us of this, nor that the last inspection by the
International Atomic Energy Agency reported Iran
to </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/cd9ccd9c-39fe-4240-bb36-5c23eccf9108?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">be in full compliance
with their obligations.</a><span> </span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">We
are never told that Trump, under pressure from his
Zionist backers to manufacture a crisis which
could move the US and Israel towards war, and
eager to undo a rare Obama success, deliberately
created a problem to solve. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">And
as we\u2019re about to find out, there was never any
intention of solving it peacefully. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">But
media will keep up the pretence that these were
good faith negotiations that broke down because of
Iran\u2019s demands. And they won\u2019t tell us those
demands included being able to diagnose and treat
cancer.</p>
<h4 class="header-anchor-post"
style="position: relative;font-family: 'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight: bold;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased;-webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility;-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility;appearance: optimizelegibility;margin: 1em 0 0.625em 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 1.16em;font-size: 1.125em;">Unilateralism</h4>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">The
fact of the US unilaterally withdrawing from the
previous deal is also a key omission in the
coverage. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Because
to remind readers that the crisis was triggered by
the US might make the US, not Iran, look like the
rogue state. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>The
fact of American unilateralism is often buried
by western media. This is why we\u2019ve heard so
little about the 66 international organisations
and treaties the US </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/d38addb5-6901-4579-acc2-37cdc74972fb?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">announced in January it
will withdraw from</a><span>. And in case you\u2019re
tempted to think this unilateralism is all on
Trump, the Biden administration withdrew from
the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and
the Open Skies Treaty, both key elements of an
international framework to avoid nuclear war.</span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><strong>The
US is a rogue state operating in plain site and
a huge amount of effort goes into obscuring that
fact. </strong><span>Because if people
understood the US as a rogue state, they might
question if its constant violence is not the
violence of a peacekeeper or a freedom fighter,
but the violence of a rogue. </span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">They
might question who, in fact, the bad guys are.</p>
<h4 class="header-anchor-post"
style="position: relative;font-family: 'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight: bold;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased;-webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility;-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility;appearance: optimizelegibility;margin: 1em 0 0.625em 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 1.16em;font-size: 1.125em;">Israel\u2019s
nukes</h4>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Talking
of rogue states, the media will never examine the
foundational premise underlying the whole issue of
Iranian nuclear capability. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">They\u2019ll
never question why Israel is allowed to have a
nuclear weapon but Iran isn\u2019t. They\u2019ll never lead
readers or viewers to question why the region\u2019s
preeminent aggressor, a perpetrator of genocide
and a constant violator of laws and norms, is the
one trusted with the most destructive weapon in
human history.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Because
then they\u2019d have to frame Israel as the aggressor.
</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Then
they\u2019d to explain empire. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Then
they\u2019d have to examine glaring double standards
and hypocrisies and introduce people to critical
thinking which doesn\u2019t lead to reflexive
cheerleading for empire. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">And
that is a big no-no. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">It
is, after all, much easier to manufacture consent
for war if a large chunk of the population thinks
you\u2019re the good guys doing freedom and peace
things.</p>
<h4 class="header-anchor-post"
style="position: relative;font-family: 'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight: bold;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased;-webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility;-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility;appearance: optimizelegibility;margin: 1em 0 0.625em 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 1.16em;font-size: 1.125em;">New
pretexts</h4>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">If
you\u2019ve been following the news, you might be aware
that the latest talks go beyond the nuclear
programme and introduce new pretexts for war, one
of which is Iran\u2019s ballistic missile programme. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>Israel,
having been shocked at Iran\u2019s ability to strike
its territory last June, wants the new deal to
include </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/fdf04f6d-97bb-4515-9853-fa92ff54abbe?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">the elimination of all
Iran\u2019s long-range missiles.</a></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">When
the US and Israel attack, we\u2019ll be told that it\u2019s
Iran\u2019s fault. We\u2019ll be told that wanting to retain
defensive capability in the face of an
expansionist, genocidal enemy loudly committed to
your destruction is an irrational position.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>The
Guardian among others have </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/ca90053f-3d44-46f2-8eb0-c14c59eea893?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">already started pushing</a><span>
this line.</span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">By
contrast, we won\u2019t be asked to think about why
Israel can have any weapon it likes. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">We
won\u2019t be asked to think about why the US would go
to war to stop a country being able to defend
itself from Israel.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">This
will just be presented as the natural order of
things.</p>
<h4 class="header-anchor-post"
style="position: relative;font-family: 'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight: bold;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased;-webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility;-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility;appearance: optimizelegibility;margin: 1em 0 0.625em 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 1.16em;font-size: 1.125em;">American
violence</h4>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">The
coming war on Iran will be a completely illegal
war of unprovoked aggression committed by the US
against a country 4500 miles away which poses zero
threat.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Yet
I doubt a single American serving in the US
military will object. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Because
massive war crimes are an American tradition.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Because
the US is violence.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Will
the US ever have a reckoning with the
fundamentally violent and imperial nature of its
society?</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">Not
judging by the political alternatives currently on
offer.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>Alexandria
Ocasio Cortez, considered by many to be the
leading leftist edge of the Democratic Party and
a viable future presidential candidate, just
went to the Munich security conference to
establish her imperial credentials. Speaking at
a session sponsored by Palantir, she </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/0a79f505-844c-46e6-8f43-45763ec15bcf?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">refused to condemn</a><span>
Trump\u2019s military build-up while spouting
anti-Iran regime change propaganda. At the same
time, she tried to outflank Trump on the right
over Venezuela, </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/2b15db94-9b59-4e15-94b0-d83106472180?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">saying</a><span> he
should have committed to regime change and
toppled the entire government.</span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">With
lefty peace-loving friends like AOC who needs
war-mongering enemies like Trump eh?</p>
<h4 class="header-anchor-post"
style="position: relative;font-family: 'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight: bold;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing: antialiased;-webkit-appearance: optimizelegibility;-moz-appearance: optimizelegibility;appearance: optimizelegibility;margin: 1em 0 0.625em 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 1.16em;font-size: 1.125em;">Freedom</h4>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>As
the war begins and bombs rain down, politicians
and the media will regurgitate </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/f70f0879-ba9d-49c5-a3ad-e3ff565f4ef7?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">fake atrocity propaganda
regarding the number of dead</a><span> in the
recent protests to convince us that the violence
on our screens is the violence of the liberator.
</span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">We\u2019ll
be hearing about the \u2018mullahs,\u2019 the ayatollahs and
authoritarianism. </p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><span>The
average western media consumer will be convinced
that Iranians live in a colourless society led
by religious nutters who routinely stone women
to death, when a </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/87c88ced-c55f-4769-ac8e-b8d08c43a8de?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">simple YouTube search</a><span>
shows a very different reality. Scenes from
streets and </span><a
href="https://substack.com/redirect/6583aca2-9655-41bf-b79c-875bea3ab163?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
rel=""
style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">shopping malls in Tehran</a><span>
that could have been filmed in any western city
are a click away, but media consumers will never
be directed to these sources. </span></p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">All
we\u2019ll hear about is the necessity of imperial
violence.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">We\u2019ll
hear that Iran failed to cut a deal in stories
sheared of context.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;">We\u2019ll
hear that Americans are helping free Iranians from
tyranny and this will be good for the world, when
in reality the only path to peace is in freeing
Americans from the tyranny of their own empire.</p>
<p
style="margin: 0 0 20px 0;color: rgb(54,55,55);line-height: 26px;font-size: 16px;"><em><strong><span>(Indebted
to all my financial supporters. You make
this newsletter possible and keep it
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href="https://substack.com/redirect/08d8cb8c-da52-40b6-a503-840dcd5a08d7?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM"
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style="color: rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration: underline;"
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