Musings:
•The Sins of Donald J. Trump (chapter eight). He has:
Slashed the funding of projects which investigate systemic abuse of indigenous children in government boarding schools;
Fired Carla Hayden, director of the Library of Congress in order to take control of the Library and access its sensitive data;
Removed Sheila Perlmutter, director of the U.S. Copyright Office in order to obtain access to its intellectual-property-rights data;
Gutted the Defense Digital Service which provides fast tech fixes during security crises;
Terminated the entire staff of the Low-Income House Energy Program which provides assistance in heating and cooling costs;
Gutted the National Park Service staff and turned some of the parks over to the states they are in;
Terminated environmental-justice grants which protect against wild-fires smoke, flooding, and air pollution;
Banned colleges and universities from enrolling international students for failing to address “anti-Semitism”;
Cancelled the remaining grants to Harvard University for failing to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion from curricula;
Sought to pay political appointees the maximum salary while firing civil-service persons;
Ended the American Bar Association’s preferences in vetting Federal judicial nominees; and
Ordered all government agencies to stop enforcing regulations he doesn’t like.
•Man the ramparts! Ready your muskets and your bayonets! The Enemy is at the gates! (This advice is directed to the people of Iran; the “Enemy” is you-know-who.)
America did not learn its lesson in Iraq. It did not learn its lesson in Afghanistan. It did not learn its lesson in Syria. It did not learn its lesson in Libya, Somalia, and dozens of lesser-known territories.
And what lesson is that?
You can find it, dear reader, in the quotation by George Santayana at the bottom of the “A Focus on History” feature in this publication. America is not the world’s policeman; it must not fight other people’s wars for them. Those people will not thank America for its interference; instead, they will look upon the U.S. with suspicion and enmity and wish it had minded its own business.
So, now we can add the Islamic Republic of Iran to the list of unminded business. America’s interference began with the overthrow in 1973 of the democratically elected government of Mohammed Mosaddegh (a Socialist, no less!) by the CIA and Great Britain’s MI6 in response to his having the temerity of nationalizing their oil companies. They replaced him with the son of the former Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, in order to keep the cheap oil flowing westward.
In 1979, the Shah fled Iran due to the uprising led by the Ayatollah Khomenei. The entire staff of America’s embassy was held hostage until the Jimmy Carter Administration met the cleric’s demands. Carter attempted a rescue operation but failed miserably; his efforts were sabotaged by Ronald Reagan’s campaign committee which cut a secret deal with the Irani. Subsequent administrations, however, levied sanctions on the country. This was the beginning of the war against Iran.
The Barack Obama Administration had its own playbook. They offered to lift the sanctions if Tehran would cease enriching uranium. Iran’s economy was teetering, and the Ayatollah readily agreed to the terms of the deal. When T. Rump became president, he pulled out of the deal, because it wasn’t his deal. (Egotism, anyone?). The Biden Administration restored the deal, but T. Rump axed it again. And then, His Eminence wondered why Iran was enriching uranium again. The Ayatollah needed to be taught a lesson, hadn’t he?
Trump declared “total victory” with the bombing of known nuclear facilities. Sadly, the only government leader who was pleased by these actions was the dictator of Israel (which has its own nuclear facilities), Netanyahu, who allowed America to carry the burden of shame while he continued to bomb Gaza back to the Stone Age.
The rest of the world are now gritting their collective teeth and wondering who will suffer next if His Majesty decides to throw a tantrum.
Just a thought.