Stop Stumbling into War Now

Inconceivable as it may be after the recent disasters in Afghanistan and Iraq and in the midst of the ongoing economic problems in this country, the US may find itself in a war with Iran in the near future.  With increasingly belligerent talk and accusations against Iran from Israel's Netanyahu and with Israeli and American drones in the area, there is an increasing sense of a mindless drift towards war. 

Charles Mutede's February 14 post on The Stranger blog summarizes the situation with Israel's right-wing leader:  "Netanyahu apparently feels, however, that he can manipulate right-wing Israeli influence on American politics to make it impossible for Obama to stay out of an Israeli war on Iran. He has defied the Obama administration by refusing to assure Washington that he would consult them before making any decision on war with Iran." 

Frankly who the f**k does Netanyahu think he is?  Even George Bush would not be convinced to tolerate and support an Israeli strike against Iran. 

Hopefully Obama will not be forced into an Iran war by the right-wing lunatics and neocons in Congress and in the Republican Party in this election year.  Hopefully he will take the only path to peace possible and publicly warn Netanyahu that if he institutes any such attack against Washington's wishes, he is totally on his own for the duration. 

And hopefully, Obama was just grand-standing in his State of the Union when he said that he "will take no options off the table to achieve [the] goal [of preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons capability]".  As noted in today's Huffington Post, there is little enthusiasm in the military for any such war.  Quoting Gen. Martin Dempsey's comment to the National Journal last month,  a war with Iran "would be really destabilizing ... I personally believe that we should be in the business of deterring [war] as a first priority."  Dempsey is the Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  So at least there is sanity at that spot.

As for the presence of US ships near Iranian waters and US drones near the Iranian border, Rep. Dennis Kucinich asks how would we react if an Iranian aircraft flew near our coast?  Maintaining the peace requires an all-out effort in diplomacy, not provocations against Iran's national sovereignty.  Kucinich suggests if we want to deter Iranians from nuclear energy, we should show them the cost of such energy and that there are better ways to power a nation.  If we want to deter them from developing nuclear weapons capability, the US should take the lead in nuclear disarmament.  As Kucinich says in the linked video , "Don't we have enough wars that we're fighting in the United States? Do we need another war? Did I miss something that we somehow ran out of wars?"

Noam Chomsky in a HuffingtonPost/TomDispatch co-post notes another diplomatic path to solve the nuclear weapons issue.  He sites overwhelming international support for undertaking "meaningful steps towards establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East, including Iran and Israel (and applying as well to U.S. forces deployed there), better still extending to South Asia."  This fuller solution (Middle East plus South Asia) would have the advantage of bringing Israel, Pakistan and India under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).  These three countries are the only ones to never have signed the NPT and they all have nuclear weapons. (It should be noted that North Korea withdrew from the NPT in 2003.) 

There is some hope that world peace can be maintained and that we will not stumble into another disastrous war in the Middle East.  It is going to take hard diplomatic work, creative solutions, and the courage and political will to stand up to those who would clamor for that war or try to lure us into it.

The Good, The Bad and the Tragedy

The Good
Today a Wisconsin judge (Dane County District Judge Maryann Sumi) temporarily blocked the anti-labor bill passed by the Wisconsin legislature from going into effect.  The ruling was based on the the hasty conference passing of the bill being in violation of the state's open meeting laws.  The bill can be brought up again by the state senate.  Wisconsin Republicans have indicated that rather than try to repass the law or compromise, they will appeal the ruling.

The Bad
House Republicans voted to end funding of National Public Radio.   Only 7 Republicans voted no, 1 voted present.  All Democrats voted no.  The right-wing has been trying for years to cut funding.  This emergency measure was rushed through after an NPR executive made some comments critical of Tea-Party extremists in an edited sting operation by a right-wing "muck-raker".  The efforts to cut off federal funding for the CPB and NPR are unlikely to move past the House since both the Senate and the Administration are opposed. 

The Tragedy
These battles over domestic spending pale when compared to some ongoing international tragedies.  The earthquake/tsunami/nuclear power plant disaster in Japan continues to worsen.  The devastation is incredible and the loss of life heart-breaking.   Meanwhile, a small crew of technicians remained on at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station trying to prevent a major catastrophe.  These are true, brave heroes and our thoughts and prayers are with them.  (See coverage in the New York Times.)

Long-term the effects will ripple around the world.  The impact of the triple disaster on Japan's economy will affect every indstrialized economy.  The learnings from the power plant disaster need to be analyzed and the risks assessed before moving forward with nuclear energy as an alternate to our primarily carbon-based energy.  The simple truth about nuclear power is that you cannot remove all risk from a complex system.  You can reduce the likelihood and you can reduce the impact should an accident occur.   Whether the remaining risk (the 'residual risk' in risk management terminology) is worth taking is a political and social decision that we all need to be engaged in.