The terrifying threats from Trump are symptomatic of an empire in steep decline, which has the military hardware to wage war across the world but is increasingly incapable of winning them.
That’s why his increasingly unhinged tweets veer so wildly between claiming that he is about to make a deal and that he is going to rain hell on the Iranian people. Today’s one has a particularly chilling message, that he plans to wipe out ‘a whole civilisation’ tonight. The civilisation he talks about destroying has existed for thousands of years, and has made huge contributions to every area of life. He recently said they would be bombed back to the Stone Age. This was the language of General Curtis Lemay during the Vietnam war, when he threatened the same to the Vietnamese liberation movement. We know that ended in total defeat for the US.
There lies the problem. The US is militarily bigger than several of its nearest rivals put together. It has a vast and costly array of weaponry. But it is not winning in asymmetrical warfare with Iran, just as it also lost against Afghanistan and Iraq, despite huge and costly invasions and occupations. Instead, Iran is using its considerable stockpile of missiles, its allies in the region (who have not been defeated in the bombardment of Gaza and Lebanon, despite Trump and Netanyahu’s claims), and its huge strategic advantage in controlling the Strait of Hormuz to fight back.
The war is destroying much of Iran, causing huge environmental damage, throwing the world economy into crisis, threatening Lebanon’s existence as it faces threats from Israel to the south and Syria from the north. It has been facilitated by the governments allied with Trump turning a blind eye to gencide in Gaza, and allowing Netanyahu to lead the US into war. Its costs in human life are terrible, but also military costs for the US run at an estimated $22.3bn-$31bn over the five weeks so far – and around 10% of that is military equipment destroyed.
Trump and Netanyahu are committing war crimes on a daily basis. It is a great shame that while Keir Starmer claims he is not party to this war, he is allowing US bombers to fly from RAF Fairford and from Diego Garcia, so he is directly complicit in these crimes. Trump is a barbarian and the British government should say so and stop allowing its bases to be used by the US.
We will not pay for this war. Britain does not need more weapons or more war – it needs to end its addiction to militarism and war. Working class people suffer greatly in wars and are no exception. Most people in Britain oppose it and don’t want to see Iranians in fear of their lives and livelihoods.
Trump is terrifyingly in charge of the US nuclear codes. Is he prepared to detonate a nuclear bomb? You can’t rule it out. We have to drive him out of office, and Starmer should go as well. He is in this up to his neck.