Guest Post by Ron Paul
The UK got a taste of its own medicine this week as Iran seized a British tanker, the Stena Impero, just two weeks after UK Royal Marines seized a tanker near Gibraltar carrying two million barrels of Iranian oil. As could be predicted, the US and UK media are reporting Iran’s seizure of the Stena Impero as if it were something out of the blue, pushing the war propaganda that “we” have been attacked and must retaliate. Media criticism of the UK is limited to claims that it has not put enough military into the Persian Gulf, not that it should never have seized the Iranian ship in the first place.
The truth is, the UK seizure of the Iranian ship was calculated to force Iran to retaliate and thus provide the pretext the neocons need to get their war.
As usual, Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton is in the thick of this operation. Bolton Tweeted that he was so surprised – but pleased – by the UK move against the Iranian tanker. However it is becoming clearer that Bolton was playing a role behind the scenes pushing London to lure Iran into making a move that might trigger the war he’s long been yearning for.
The ramping up of tanker wars comes just as the Pentagon has announced that it will send 500 US troops to Saudi Arabia – the first such US deployment since the US withdrew its troops in 2003. At that time, then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz hailed the move out of Saudi Arabia as denying al-Qaeda one of its prime recruiting tools – US troops in their holy land. What will 500 troops do in Saudi Arabia? Some say they will help prepare the Prince Sultan military air base for a possible US air squadron deployment.
We must be clear on how we got to the very edge of war with Iran. President Trump pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) promising he would exchange it for a much better deal for the US. He quickly re-applied all previous US sanctions on Iran and demanded that our allies do the same. The US policy would be to apply “maximum pressure” to Iran which would result in Iran capitulating and agreeing to all US demands.
US economic warfare against Iran would bring the country to its knees, the Administration claimed, and would deliver a big win to the US without a shot being fired. But the whole plan has gone terribly wrong.
Iran did not back down or beg for mercy in the face of Trump’s actions, and the Europeans have at least attempted to keep the JCPOA agreement alive. And the UK following neocon orders has led the country in a serious and unnecessary crisis that does not look to be easily resolved.
How could the US administration have miscalculated so badly? Many of us could have told President Trump that the neocons always promise a “cakewalk” when they are talking up a military action. Time and time again – Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria – they promise a quick victory and deliver a quagmire.
The American people overwhelmingly do not want to go to war with Iran and the president wants to be re-elected. Will he return to the political base that elected him on promises of getting along with the rest of the world, or will he continue to follow his neocon advisors down the road to a failed presidency?
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Why would the Brits send an unescorted ship through the Gulf, after seizing the Iranian tanker and having one of its other ships threatened? The Iranians told them they would retaliate and were successful on their second attempt.
Iran is pushing for a shooting war and wants to see their benefactors, China and Russia, getting involved. Only mass chaos can bring the return of the 12th Imam.
tnp..
WHAT???
WTF have you been drinking this early in the morning.
Ali the loser in the succession of Mohamed lives in a well in the holy city of Qom and will be resurrected when there is an apocalyptic event leading the Shia back to supremacy…….The Mad Mullahs actually do believe that shit.
Now did it ever to occur to you that Islam is simply an Arabized version of Christianity including the Jewish old testament! Nothing new under the sun….Iran/Persia has a long and rich culture pre-dating being conquered by Islam sadly usually being on the wrong side of history. Much as I like Iranians, they are not us….white European Christians and never will be. Time to reform and join the modern world……..which given their vast natural gas reserves and strategic location between East and West should be a no brainer but the Mullahs and revolutionaries won’t give up power…..that’s their Achilles heel…same for China and Russia and all autocrats in general.
Yes, they definitely believe in their destiny to rule to world and will never give up until they are dead. Only the common muslims can bring about reform and I don’t think there is enough fight in them to overthrow the mullahs and their armies.
Sadman Hussein kept Iran at bay for many years, until W decided he needed to go. We then disbanded the Iraqi army, handing the region to the mullahs and the revolutionary guard. Saud money keeps us in the game, but I don’t know why we are fighting to keep oil flowing to Europe and China. It is time for Europe to stand up to the mullahs with the ball being in Britain’s court right now.
Over time it has become obvious that Ron Paul is just an idiot and lacking in principle. The JCPOA was at best a delaying tactic and came at the cost of enabling Iran with $150B in funding…..yes it was seized Iranian funds from the 1970s but Obama added much fuel to the fire by releasing it. Paul supported that on the theory that Iran is not a threat. Wrong. Of course, they are a threat, sponsoring Hezbollah and other Shia terrorists worldwide……not as great a threat as the Sunni Terrorists or China/Russia but still a threat.
Even the Euro-cucks have realized that the JCPOA was idiotic and simply provided a tiny roadblock to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Missiles not even covered….Gee Thanks Obama.
Trump was able to leave the JCPOA because it was not a “Treaty”….having never been ratified by the Senate…..Tell me why Ron Paul is a genius again….nobody other than kooks on the left supported JCPOA.
Paul’s answer is always the same….let’s not do anything overseas, let’s not have a MIC and let’s pretend that there are no bad actors in the world….well cupcake the world does not operate according to the good Dr’s unicorn dreams. That is simply a recipe for disaster…..now wars of choice drain the treasury and accomplish little…..we have spent trillions since 9/11 in blood and treasure and gained neither peace nor security. I would have nuked Mecca and Tehran and Kabul on 9/11…and anytime a Muslim commits an act of terror anywhere in the world….another capital city disappears…pretty simple and very cost-efficient. I think eventually the Islamic world would get the message or the problem would resolve itself.
Harsh…sure but Islam is simply incompatible with modernity….better to solve the problem completely than nibble around the edges.
Paul won’t say that Islam is the problem..few do. He is not principled just another hack shilling his half-assed message.
Are you related to John Bolton?
Usually, your comments are a tad more inciteful. Bolton is the antithesis of good strategy. He wants war for the sake of economic profit and empire hegemony. War is destructive in its nature and therefore always destroys wealth, wars of Empire especially history has shown have been economic disasters. Alternatively recognizing that Islam itself is a threat to Western principles of personal freedom we should seek a cost-effective solution. Dead is dead, nuclear weapons delivered remotely are extremely efficient and persuasive. So we have spent the centuries since the birth of Islam periodically fighting its adherents and post the discovery of oil the threat has gone exponential…….Bolton and others have actually not been bold enough mostly because they believe that we can buy off certain factions (Saudis, Jordanians) and keep the oil flowing and the MIC dudes can get rich (Cheney et. al) and it will all work out.
Sorry asshats, your treasonous turning a blind eye to Saudi Sunni terror (9/11 being at least a half false flag), has just made a muddle and left the USA bankrupt. Idiots.
Alternatively forcing the issue of Islamic reformation is a strategic lever that would pay off significantly even if many millions had to die to get there (better them than us). 1300 years of conflict could be finally resolved.
Why do we tolerate Islam in its current form on this stony planet? Simple question…..
Hammered.
So in other words< you are related to Bolton. Closely in fact. Maybe Siamese Twins but he got the brains and ambition. You're here playing Intellectual and you're not good at it.
Non sequitur the last refuge of the debunked know nothing…..Not playing intellectual at all…I am just “mature”, well-traveled with a decent education. Anything substantive to say or are you going to further beclown yourself?
You just confirmed what I said. I should have added pretending to have a P.H.D. in English and world traveler. I suppose you also have a “Modest” yacht anchored in Monaco or The South of Greece
So more beclowning then…do you really feel that inferior? This isn’t about me, it’s about your own projection of inadequacy. Doesn’t have to be that way….the elites put their pants on one leg at a time, they aren’t that much smarter and you are not powerless…..what are you actually doing to advance your vision for America (whatever that vision is)? I am happy to say that Islam is an existential threat to Western Civilization and that we tolerate Islam at our peril. Instead of making weak attempts at insults provide your thoughts in this marketplace of ideas. We want to know what you think….seriously.
If you would insert Judaism instead of Islam then I could really get behind what you are saying.
Last time I checked the 1.4B Muslims were trying to kill the 10M Jews also. Quantity has a quality all its own. So I will add you to the Troglodyte Anti-Semite cohort of mouth breathers. Except for the USS Liberty has Israel ever killed a single American?
MH.
You are one sick Jew loving Zionist.
Rephrase the question and see what you get. Has a Zionist Jew ever killed a single American.
Come on tiny nutz (Fleabag) please tell us when the Israeli’s killed Americans…since we both know except for the USS Liberty it hasn’t happened…..facts are stubborn things.
Happy to hear your opinions and reasoned arguments (if you can make one) but let’s live in the same factual world.
Alternatively, Moose-Limbs have been killing Americans for a very long time….including our first foreign war with the Barbary Pirates (Muslim sultanate in what is now Libya)……same as it ever was.
Dude when you are in a hole, it is usually wise to stop digging!
How about the Lavon Affair?
https://covert-history.wikia.org/wiki/Lavon_Affair
Shall we discuss who actually blew up that marine barracks in Lebanon?
https://siyasataurpakistan.blogspot.com/2009/09/beirut-marine-bombing-was-mossad-false.html
How about Israeli involvement in 9/11?
http://www.todayscatholicworld.com/mossad-agents-911.htm
No casualties in Lavon affaire from your source. Literally the first time I have ever heard the Marine barracks attack was a false flag by Mossad. No just no. Try again.
1) So, that they tried and failed doesn’t demonstrate intent?
2) That you know nothing of an event is irrelevant, but not surprising. Even if you knew, you’d lie.
3) You didn’t touch 9/11. Why is that?
Simple obviously 9/11 was a crime of omission if not outright commission by the USA, Saudi and it wouldn’t surprise if an Israeli was in the mix. But the attackers themselves were all Muslims and mostly Saudi….AQ members and supporters…..not a small hat in the bunch. Which was my point…..Israel except for the USS Liberty has not killed Americans unlike the Muslims in Iran, Saudi, Iraq, Afgh., Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and wherever Muslims are found, UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Spain and on and on and on……..I don’t see any equivalence…..
When Iran starts lobbing rockets on America — then I’d be willing to declare war on them.
Meanwhile, they are no threat to the USA. And don’t give me any of that “proxy” crap. Probably no one has more proxies than the good old USA.
We … (who is the “we” stuff?) …. anyway, “we” tolerate mooslims because there are OVER ONE BILLION of them, and they are scattered over HALF THE GLOBE. What the hell do you propose we do? Declare war against half the planet???
OTOH, if I were President I wouldn’t allow even one moar mooslim into this country. Ever.
Not planning on declaring war….I am suggesting that we provide a much starker choice to the Islamic world (or their leadership)…..touch a single hair on Westerner’s head and lose your capital city in a nuclear attack….and we will gratuitously and concurrently nuke Mecca, Medina, and Qom since you will have lost your civilization card. Now, how many nukes do you think we will need to launch after the first 3? We have approximately 7,500 nuclear warheads……might as well make a definitive statement.
1300 years of Islamic aggression is enough……time to end the BS.
If we want peace in the Middle East, we need to glass over Israel.
Millennia of subversion by temple prostitutes is enough.
Oddly Israel has 400 nuclear devices and nobody is the least bit concerned about a first use attack. Why would that be? Yet no Arab nation will ever be allowed to have a nuclear program much less the bomb. Fucktard! This is Martel BTW
We knew it was you from the irrelevant crap you posted.
Sorry if the truth is painful to you, why does the world consider Israel safe with Nukes but Muslims not? Just like if my neighbor has a class III firearm (machine gun) and he does and I am not worried but if MS13 had a machine gun I would be concerned. Even if you don’t particularly like your neighbor….you know he is rational and not a threat. Not that hard is it?
What Stuck said, +1000. Bring ’em all home and put them on the border. No entry. No Obama cages. No splitting cheedrens from fake parents. I have two sons, 18 and 22, and if I have a say they will not go to war for this countries escapades overseas. Let the mideast take care of itself. I don’t care if it gets blown to smithereens, including Israel. God will sort it out. Iran may get a bomb. Who fucking cares as long as it can’t reach the good ole USA USA USA. Let it rip.
Short range missile launched from a freighter or sub. We are exposed.
Good false flag material there Anon.
Ron Paul has principles but they apply only to personal interaction. On an international scale those principles are just plain wrong.
Same old tired neocon talking points.
The short answer is no. The Iranians are all that is wrong with mohammedans but are not crazy enough to take that kind of punishment. They don’t have any upside in a war with USA.
Will Ron Paul ever stop writing columns that sound like a Michael Snyder headline and really haven’t added up to shit, just like Pat Buchanan’s columns never seem to add up to shit.
Popgun go read some Miles Mathis and then give us a semi-grammatically correct version.
Can you come up with an intellectual critique of Mathis or like a typical joobot , you’ll whine about ad hominems while tossing them about.
Don’t have time to read every crackpot on the interwebs,….please make the effort to explain the bona fides of Mr. Matis and why anybody other than anti-semite asshats such popgun and yourself would be remotely interested in anything the exudes from his piehole.
My point was that popgun is just regurgitating the talking points of Matis and doing it badly.
And you have made my point.
I don’t think you understand how this works…..why would anybody but yourself and popgun be remotely interested in anything Mr. Mathis has to say…please enlighten us why “he is all that and a bag of chips”……
22, give RP and PB some credit, they have great experience in the Washington Zoo and have not been corrupted by the left. Yes, they do not go as far as you like, or maybe sometimes should, but that is not their MO. You can glean some truth to everything they write, even if they haven’t totally ingested that red pill. I have fond memories of watching the McLaughlin Group as a young adult and watching Pat eviscerate that creepy Clift bitch (does that age me and/or make me a nerd?). He has many great and interesting historical stories about serving with Nixon, some fascinating stuff. Instead of trashing him, just take what you can from him, you will get some useful nuggets, among the other stuff you think add up to shit. Did you vote for him in ’96 when he won the NH primary. I sure as hell did.
I realize former government hacks like PCR, Paul, and Buchanan have been around for a long time and may have even done some good work earlier in their careers.
However, in my book, every one of these “Conservative” or “Right Wing” columnists are suspect.
I’m saying many of them are actually bought and paid for disinformation agents.
I don’t fear enemies who carry their banner openly.
These columnists carry a false banner of conservatism and these columnists strive to distract, misdirect, and ultimately PACIFY their audience.
Neocons lie. It’s what they do. Never trust a neocon.
everyone lies~
The “He said she said” shit is intensifying….he’s lying, no he is!….
Popcorn anyone?
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-22/iran-sentences-cia-spy-ring-death-publishes-video-photos-appearing-show-americans
Hey Plato. How you been. Haven’t seen you in a coons age.
Trump is already a failed presidency, unless you count favors and cash for Israel.
Boom!
Mohammedans make even neo-cons look like boyscouts. They are the scum of the earth and we would be well rid of them. Some who oppose war with them do not understand that they are already at war with us and have been since about 700 AD. They ( like Stucky and Flea ) may be wrong but I never question their motives or character. Hammer states some correct opinions but I think he stirs shit to make himself look smart and sophisticated.
Stirring shit with anti semites highlights their very short sighted views.
We’re not wasting any more American blood and treasure for Israel. They’re going to be overrun and slaughtered, and you can’t do anything to stop it.
Maybe so but you should google the Samson Option…..which might not be a bad outcome.
Tell us more about how Israel can be trusted with nukes . . . .
The big bad wolf tried to get war in the Middle East. Lots of huffing and puffing.
“Will he return to the political base that elected him on promises of getting along with the rest of the world, or will he continue to follow his neocon advisors down the road to a failed presidency?”
What is the value and purpose of that ORATORICAL, RHETORICAL question?
Everybody with a heartbeat knows the answer.
Just another low-value puff piece by a false-conservative columnist.