Illustrations are from storybooks read and loved by millions of Iranian children.
By Michel Chossudovsky
January 4, 2012
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been threatened
with military action by the US and its allies for the last eight years.
Iran has been involved in war games in the Persian Gulf. The US Navy is deployed. Iran's naval exercises which commenced on December 24th were conducted in an area which is patrolled by the US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.
Meanwhile, a new round of economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran has been unleashed, largely targeting Iran's Central Bank, leading to a dramatic plunge of Iran's currency.
Iran has been involved in war games in the Persian Gulf. The US Navy is deployed. Iran's naval exercises which commenced on December 24th were conducted in an area which is patrolled by the US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.
Meanwhile, a new round of economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran has been unleashed, largely targeting Iran's Central Bank, leading to a dramatic plunge of Iran's currency.
Reacting to US threats, Iran declared that it would
consider blocking the shipment of oil through the Strait of Hormuz:
"Roughly 40 percent of the world's oil
tanker shipments transit the strait daily, carrying 15.5 million barrels of
Saudi, Iraqi, Iranian, Kuwaiti, Bahraini, Qatari and United Arab Emirates crude
oil, leading the United States Energy Information Administration to label the
Strait of Hormuz "the world's most important oil chokepoint." (John C.K. Daly, War Imminent in Strait of Hormuz?
$200 a Barrel Oil? Global Research, January 3,
2012)
THE
GLOBALIZATION OF WAR
AND THE DEMISE OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC
There is a symbiotic relationship
between War and the Economic Crisis.
The planning of the Iran war is being carried out at the crossroads of a worldwide economic depression, which is conducive to widening social inequalities, mass unemployment and the impoverishment of large sectors of the world population.
The planning of the Iran war is being carried out at the crossroads of a worldwide economic depression, which is conducive to widening social inequalities, mass unemployment and the impoverishment of large sectors of the world population.
Crushing social movements on the
domestic front ~ including all forms of resistance to America's military agenda
and its neoliberal economic policies ~ is an integral part of the United
States' hegemonic role Worldwide.
Does Constitutional Government in the
eyes of the Obama Administration constitute an encroachment to "The
Globalization of War"?
History tells us that an Empire
cannot be built on the political foundations of a Republic.
In this regard, it should come as no
surprise that the new Iran sanctions regime adopted by the US Congress
became law on New Year's Eve, December 31st, on the same day Obama signed into
law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA 2012), which suspends civil
liberties and allows for the "Indefinite Detention of Americans".
(See Michel Chossudovsky, The Inauguration of Police State USA 2012. Obama
Signs the “National Defense Authorization Act", Global Research, January 1, 2012)
The Obama administration is intent
upon crushing both social dissent as well as antiwar protest. The American
Republic is incompatible with America's "long war". What is required
is the instatement of a "democratic dictatorship", a de facto
military rule in civilian cloths.
Lady Sun by M.A. Beh Azin, illustrated by Jan Ramezani
THOUSANDS
OF TROOPS TO ISRAEL
Advanced war preparations are
ongoing. Barely mentioned by the Western media, although confirmed by Israeli
press reports, the
Pentagon is preparing to send several thousand US troops to Israel.
In the context of ongoing war
preparations, these troops are slated to participate in joint US-Israeli
military maneuvers in Spring 2012, described by the Jerusalem Post as "the
largest-ever missile defense exercise in [Israel's] history." (emphasis
added)
Last week [11-18 December], Lt.-Gen.
Frank Gorenc, commander of the US’s Third Air Force based in Germany, visited
Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to see the deployment of several thousand American
soldiers in Israel. (US commander visits Israel to finalize missile...
Jerusalem Post December 21, 2011 emphasis added)
These war games involve the testing
of Israel's air defense system, which is now fully integrated into the US
global missile detection system, following the installation (December 2008) of
a new sophisticated X-band early warning radar system. (See www.defense.gov/news/, December 30, 2011, .See also Sen. Joseph Azzolina, Protecting Israel from Iran's missiles, Bayshore
News, December 26, 2008).
The US global missile detection system includes satellites, Aegis ships in the Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and Red Sea as well as land-based Patriot radars and interceptors. In the context of planning the US-Israel Spring war games:
The US global missile detection system includes satellites, Aegis ships in the Mediterranean, Persian Gulf and Red Sea as well as land-based Patriot radars and interceptors. In the context of planning the US-Israel Spring war games:
"The US will also bring its
THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and ship based Aegis ballistic
missile defense systems to Israel to simulate the interception of missile
salvos against Israel.
The American systems will work in
conjunction with Israel’s missile defense systems – the Arrow, Patriot and Iron
Dome.
Gorenc came to Israel for talks with
Brig.-Gen. Doron Gavish, commander of the Air Force’s Air Defense Division.
He toured one of the Iron Dome
batteries in the South and the Israel Test Bed lab in Holon where the IAF holds
its interception simulation exercises.
The IAF is planning to deploy a
fourth battery of the Iron Dome counter-rocket system in the coming months and
is mulling the possibility of stationing it in Haifa to protect oil refineries
located there.
The Defense Ministry has allocated a
budget to manufacture an additional three Iron Dome batteries by the end of
2012. IAF operational requirements call for the deployment of about a dozen
batteries along Israel’s northern and southern borders.
The IAF is also moving forward with
plans to deploy Rafael’s David’s Sling missile defense system, which is
designed to defend against medium-range rockets and cruise missiles. Rafael
recently completed a series of successful navigation and flight tests of the
David’s Sling’s interceptor and plans to hold the first interception test by
mid-2012. US commander
visits Israel to finalize missile... Jerusalem Post December 21, 2011)
The Crows by Nooreddin Zarrinkelk
INTEGRATED
US-NATO-ISRAEL COMMAND STRUCTURES
Pursuant to these joint US-Israel
games, there are indications that the US is also planning to increase the
number of American troops stationed in Israel.
in US-NATO-Israel command structures.
What is now unfolding at Washington's
behest is an integration of US-Israel military command structures.
Washington is not a reluctant
partner, as some observers have suggested, "with the Obama administration
attempting to distance itself" from an Israeli sponsored war on Iran.
Quite the opposite!
Given the integration of Israel's air
defense system into that of the US, Israel cannot, under any circumstances, wage a war on
Iran without the US. Moreover, since mid-2005, following the
signing of a protocol between NATO and Tel Aviv, Israel has beocme a de facto
member of the Atlantic Alliance.
The Pentagon calls the shots. The
planned deployment of US troops in Israel is part and parcel of a US
sponsored war.
In the context of the Spring 2012
military drills, the United States military will establish Command Posts in
Israel. In turn, Israel's IDF will establish Command Posts at United States European Command headquarters (EUCOM), in Stuttgart, Germany. (Ibid).
The ultimate objective of these command posts is to establish "joint [US-Israeli] task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East", (Ibid). In other words, these task forces will be involved in planning the deployment of troops and weapons systems directed against Iran, with Israel playing an important role as a launchpad for military action.
The ultimate objective of these command posts is to establish "joint [US-Israeli] task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East", (Ibid). In other words, these task forces will be involved in planning the deployment of troops and weapons systems directed against Iran, with Israel playing an important role as a launchpad for military action.
What these developments suggest is
that the war on Iran --which has been on the drawing board of the Pentagon
since 2003-- will involve the direct participation of Israel under a
unified US military command.
The people of Israel are the unspoken
victims of America’s global military agenda as well their own
government's war plans directed against Iran.
They are led to believe that Iran
possesses nuclear weapons when in fact Israel possesses an advanced nuclear
arsenal, which is directed against Iran.
The people of Israel as well as
Western public opinion, more generally, are also led to believe that Iran's
president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants "to Wipe Israel off the
Map", when in fact this statement was concocted by the Western media, as a
means of demonizing the Iranian head of state as well as presenting Iran as a
threat to the security of Israel:
"Across the world, a
dangerous rumor has spread that could have catastrophic implications. According
to legend, Iran's President has threatened to
destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, "Israel must be
wiped off the map".
Long Neck Deer by Djamsheed Sepahi
Contrary to popular belief, this
statement was never made"
(See Arash Norouzi, Israel: "Wiped off The Map". The Rumor of the
Century, Fabricated by the US Media to Justify An All out War on Iran, Global
Research, January 20, 2007)
Who wants to "wipe Israel off
the Map"?
Tehran or Washington?
Ahmadinejad or Obama?
In actual fact, the Obama
administration as well as the Netanyahu government indelibly constitute a
threat to the people of Israel.
Tehran has since 2005 warned that it
will retaliate if attacked, in the form of ballistic missile strikes directed
against Israel as well as against US military facilities in the Persian
Gulf, which would immediately lead us into a scenario of military escalation.
This war would engulf a region
extending from the Mediterranean to the heartland of Central Asia. It
would have devastating consequences, resulting in a massive loss of life.
It would precipitate humanity into a
World War III scenario.
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