Addendum: Trump's attack on Iranian General Soleimani - "Might Makes Right" (Deja vue)
In mid March 2017, I wrote the embassies of U.S. allies and gave them a head's up that the America was in a "Might makes Right" historical cycle like Athens after they defeated the Persians and then bullied, threatened and intimidated their allies - which Trump went on to prove me right in spades. The Iraq War is a perfect example. Then, V.P. Cheney at the art said the Iraq War would be over in Two years - that was 2003. An article I read stated the U.S. troops were told not to expect any insurgency of any significance. Islamic culture is completely different from Western culture, though it seems we thought Iraqi's would fight for Freedom and Democracy just like we would. There had been an ongoing 'religious war' between the Shia's and Sunni Islamic Sects for centuries.But American leaders apparently brushed all potential problems aside as trivial since the American leaders seriously believed that since they had all the Power, nothing could possibly be a problem. President Bush and other American leaders honestly believed they had the "Right" to make "regime change."
That attitude that "Might make Right" is still alive and actually active. This is a statement by Bolton, who made a major contribution to the Iraq policy which has proved to b an utter disaster - like no other in U.S. History. A tweet by Bolton: "Congratulations to all involved in eliminating Qassem Soleimani. Long in the making, this was a decisive blow against Iran's malign Quds Force activities worldwide. Hope this is the first step to regime change in Tehran."
Now, my argument would be that this policy and the provocative act of killing assassinating a well-known (and therefore well-loved) Iranian general will, as all the articles say create a reaction from Iran. So, first, on the face of it, Trump's act escalates an already bad situation, since the reaction most likely will occur in Iraq where violent protests and clashes between the administration and various sectors of the civilian population have been taking place. In fact a large proportion of violence in Iraq since 2003 has been instigated by the religious war between Sunnis and Shias in Iraq. For month after month for almost the greater part of the year there has been serious unrest and frequent protests many of which have been violent. The situation was already incredibly unstable and now Trump has further escalated the situation at a time when the Iraq government is already weak. Oh... but, I forgot Trump needed a distraction from the impeachment issue. It's all about Trump. Of course, by now the Iranians have withdrawn from the Nuclear Treaty with the Europeans which still held before Trump's attack.
Now, another article mentioned the 'rebellious' Iranian youth as a potential source, or force, influencing regime change. Almost without fail, when a country is attacked (as Trump-U.S. has attacked Iran) people come together and rally around the flag. It would seem very likely that, at least for a short time, the rebellious youth will exhibit patriotic feelings and emotions - at least for a relatively moderately long time. In fact, an article posted the day after I wrote this said that the Iranians are pulling together in mourning for their war hero (no surprise there except for Trump, Pompeo, and Bolton who thought it would lead to 'regime change"). As the British diplomat noted about Trump's original foray into antagonizing Iran, Trump's actions had no "purpose" It would appear to me that the killing of this Iranian General also had no purpose especially in that I do not see how that act will accomplish regime change at all. I must say it is a bit shocking State Department Officials and National Security Analysts seem to not have much savvy when it comes to ideology or group related instincts - which in the political arena make the world turn round.
Trump's attack on the Iranian General like his action in Iraq is completely destructive which actually had no hope of accomplishing anything good to begin with. Trump has a destructive streak a mile wide. His treatment of immigrant families and children has not only been to alienate them but his treatment was designed to inflict as much pain, torment, humiliation, and damage to immigrant families and children as possible. His betrayal of our Kurdish allies was equally sick and destructive as well - which on top of that handed the keys to the Mid-East over to the Russians. It is like he is trying to destroy as much as possible within his reach - perhaps trying to bring the entire Mideast into chaos - and even Armageddon.
Armageddon on the horizon: October 25, 2019
Every bit of news I see about the international situation is very unsettling. The situation seems to be going from bad to worse. Just now, a general (from NATO I believe) said NATO needs to isolate Turkey because it is so aggressive - on top of which he said there are something 60 nuclear mobs in Turkey via NAQTO at the moment. European leaders, from what I have read are unhappy, with some of the Turkish leaders’ restrictions of democracy and curtailment of human liberties and freedoms. Russia just made a huge missile defense deal with Turkey. Russia has a lot of clout. After Turkey shot down a Russian jet Putin announced a tourist embargo. Russians are a huge part of Turkey's tourist industry so it was pretty devastating.
From reading articles my sense of it is that like Trump The Turkish rose to power because of his nationalism (like the Indian premiers as well as Netanyahu, not to mention Putin) and on a wave of conservative Muslim support - departing a bit from Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's, policy of strict separation of church and state. For instance, female legislators are now allowed to wear the Muslim head-dress, now, after changing the law. During World War I, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, Pontic Greek, as well as the Kurds. The Kurds, a separate ethnic group situated on the Iraq, Turkey, Syrian border. My understanding is that the Kurdish people have, in a sense, been very independent and rebellious from the start. Kurds have conducted some very devastating terrorist attacks against the Turks.
What started the current crisis is that Trump evacuated American troops from Syria, and had acted as a buffer between the Turks and Kurds. Now, Turkey has invaded Syria and attacked the Kurds. Today the Kurds announced they are trying, now to make a deal with Damascus - who is also fighting ISIS. It's crazy. I saw a fact that the Kurds have lost 11,000 soldiers killed in Syria while Americans have lost something a bit over 100 men. So, now, in a relatively small territorial space, there are the Turkish Armies, the Kurds, the Russians (I just saw an article that the Russians in one day bombed 12 Syrian hospitals), as well as the Syrians (with which the Iranians are closely allied). The Iranians, not far north of Turkey, have threatened Turkey. Israel denounced the American withdrawal. Even Russia denounced the American withdrawal. You know it is really bad when Putin makes more sense than the American president.
Of course, the American general on TV, made the emphatic point that Trump is the one who got us into the situation. What's ironic is that from what I read most generals during the 2016 election were pro-Trump as was the military in general. Their judgment appears to be profoundly flawed. This has to be the most screwed up diplomatic situation in U.S. history, as far as I can figure. I can’t help but point out that actually it was Bush who got us into this mess and wreaked Havoc and sowed Chaos in the Middle East. And V.P. Cheney just before it began told the American people that the ‘Iraq War’ would take “2 Years.” Now 16 years later after several TRILLION dollars, several Hundreds of Thousands of innocent Iraq civilians killed, Iraq is in a full-fledged rebellion-revolt. The cherry on top of the Iraq situation is that Iraq is an ally of Iran which according to Trump is out number one enemy. The Bible says you reap what you sow. Bush and Trump have sowed chaos and violence – and that is what they are reaping.
I swear Trump has an evil streak. Trump's actions in persecuting the immigrants go way above and over any reasonable actions and Trump's treatment of the immigrants has been to use the most hateful and destruction means to put down, get rid of, and persecute the immigrants. and it crossed my mind that Trump may unconsciously want to create a situation that would result in Armageddon - it is just Trump's actions in the Mid East are so irrational and so stupid that ordinary explanations simply would seem to cover the situation. I believe technically is located somewhere in Syria according to some scholars - that seems, at times, what some Christians want as well. Many Christians believe that the purpose of prophecy is to make predictions and God exists, of course, because the predictions are true prophecies.
If a Christian theologian had thought about it, they would have realized that God does not put prophets on earth to make predictions. Further if they would have looked at prophets like Jeremiah that the prophecy prediction ‘energizes’ the prophecy while the narrative mobilizes and conveys the message which is the central characteristic of the prophecy. Further it would seem cleat then that the “purpose” of prophecy is to shape human consciousness and orient humanity to the future.
However, there are a very large number of Christians who adamantly believe that the purpose of prophecy is to “predict” things, and further, that the truth and existence of God is “proved” by the prophecies and miracles. I ran across, Anne, a charismatic healer who believes that and further believes that Ezekiel’s prophecy of the fall of Tyre is true. As Tim Callahan, the religious scholar pointed out, Ezekiel predicted the complete and utter destruction at the hands of the Babylonians. The historical fact is that Tyre made a deal with the Babylonians and the Babylonians did not even capture Tyre, much less destroy it. I have run across a few Christians who seriously hope for the end of the world – since destruction of the world at Armageddon would prove the existence of God.
I do have a fairly decent political situational sense, as it were, and here is a link to a warning to the allies embassies that Trump would intimidate, bully, and threaten them as the ancient Athens did to their allies after they defeated the Persians: https://www.spirittruthandmeaning.com/might-makes-right-historical-cycle-ancient-athens-to-trump-and...