JazzG wrote:
They chose to fire those missiles, they should have taken the correct steps to make sure something like this doesn't happen. I agree that the Americans have worked up tensions and they're on edge there but still can't put this on Trump.
His actual finger wasn't on the de facto button no, but I think that's missing the broader point.
JazzG wrote:
I don't think the Americans are looking for war here, regime change yes
Regime change is not an actual thing Jazz. It's called elections when it happens democratically and a coup d'etat when it happens by force. It's also generally considered an act of war when you do it to another country. What right do the US have to change the government of Iran, or any other place? The consequences of past thinking like this, starting way back in the 50s with CIA overthrowing Mossadegh - who was democratically elected and everything - keep reverberating in the Middle East. What have they got to show for it? Puppet shah's and violent revolutions that turned the most progressive country in that part of the world into an islamic state. The world was blessed with horrible despots like Ayatollah Khomeini as a direct consequence of the US. The state of Iran today and the thugs in charge is because of the US and Western intervention. War, occupation and the colonial mentality that suggests Europeans and Americans can and should dictate what other countries do is antithetical to progress and development everywhere. History is extremely clear on this.
JazzG wrote:
I also know people who have been treated in the most brutal manner by that regime so you won't find much sympathy from me.
Sure. I know people who emigrated here because their family members had been tortured and killed by Saddam - some of their old photographs were shown by the prosecutor during his trial - and I understand why they and many others cheered when he was hanged. But personal justice for some people is not the same thing as having the best interests at heart for the general population. Iraq has been under occupation for nearly 20 years now, and it has destroyed the entire region. It has cost millions of civilian lives, resulted in the birth of ISIS, snowballed into other conflicts, created massive refugee waves that in turn have helped shape the increased right-wing extremism in Europe. And you can bet Iran would be the same, only worse. No one's arguing that Iran has a friendly, benevolent government that respects human rights and democracy. Everyone knows that they do not.
JazzG wrote:
The regime can't afford medications but seem to be able to afford missiles and to be able to arm and fund all those proxy groups in that region.
That's not really an argument for the US holding medical patents and blocking the shipment of life-saving medicine, ruining their economy, and so forth. The sanctions are calculated to work in exactly this way. It's not about pressuring the Iranian government politically. It's about hurting normal people trying to live their lives.
