What was accomplished by the US-Iran war?
It has been about four months since the US (probably at the behest of Israel) declared war on Iran, with the ultimate objective of regime change, nuclear capabilities destroyed (weren't they destroyed last year in unsanctioned attacks?), and the cessation of state-sponsored terror by Iran - but it appears that with the latest yet to be formally signed deal, the Iranian regime is in a stronger position than before. So what was achieved?
The three possibilities to choose from:
- Gain
- Nothing
- Cost
And of course it is going to depend on which perspective is taken.
Iran for instance, whilst being bombed, losing infrastructure and facilities there was a high cost, they also gained a lot in power and influence by resisting the onslaught with a far less equipped military, and were able to effectively close of the strait of Hormuz, to exact economic pressure through oil flow. As far as the Iranian regime is concerned, the gains justify the costs, especially since they weren't the instigator of the conflict. At least, not directly.
Israel on the other hand has been further exposed and will likely pay the price of reduced support in the future from the US, as it kept on with its campaign actions despite the risk to peace deals. This means that they were hoping that the conflict would actually escalate further, with Iranian retaliatory actions bringing more states into the conflict. But, as the US also found, the rest of the world is growing tired of being pulled into conflict unnecessarily, likely because of all of the other economic turmoil that has been caused by the US over the year previous.
And then the US, well that has to be considered an egg-on-the-face defeat at the hands of a less superior military force, where they were outplayed due to strategic decisions Iran made over the flow of oil through Hormuz. Once they were able to hold that position, it was just a matter of time that the US would have to cave to the pressure it was causing, given that the massive expense of deployment and missiles were having very little effect on changing the state of play.
But while these were the major players, the real costs paid are to ordinary people who have been forced to not only finance this at every step of the way regardless of appetite for the conflict, but have been gouged financially again through inflation increases, and the increasing debts accrued by governments that use it as an excuse to spend more.
And the costs are going to keep adding up, because a new normal has been set by the US saying that state-sponsored enrichment activities are acceptable. It is okay to "take control of Venezuelan oil" by kidnapping the leader, and it is okay to threaten to do the same to Cuba. That means it justifies the actions of Russia in Ukraine, and paves the road for China in Taiwan and anywhere else it has its sights set.
It is an interesting juxtaposition, as in a couple weeks the US will celebrate 250 years of "freedom" since signing the declaration of independence, with a military defeat that was not sanctioned by the government and is an illegal war by US law. Let that sink in for a moment, because what it means is the "freedom" the people of the US have, where they are able to affect the determination of their country through a voting system, has been completely nulled and voided. It is proof that the average US citizen is utterly powerless to affect the decisions made by those who have effectively authoritarian control over the direction.
Perhaps that is a win?
Maybe now, rather than the thin veneer that was previously covering this lack of determination shaped into a mask of freedom, people can clearly see that they are indeed, powerless. Slaves of a system that is designed to continually use them as a resource to take from, over and over, crushing more and more people into suffering, to enrich those at the top. It might take varying forms, but the end goal is little different from any of the other regimes - more power and control over people and resources.
More in the hands of the few.
In an idyllic world, we wouldn't have any of these problems because human value and wellbeing would be the focus of activity. Unfortunately, we don't live in that world, because the reality is that human wellbeing is meaningless to those in control, and the only value people have is their capabilities to be used to maximise wealth and control for the tiny fraction of the population.
The goal is always to put more power in fewer hands.
Objective accomplished.
Taraz
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