Olle Bengtsson

By Caitlin Johnstone

Westerners are about to start paying a lot more attention to the war in Iran as massive US-Israeli escalations point to a coming energy crisis set to impact the whole world.

Israel has bombed the world’s largest natural gas field in southwestern Iran, reportedly in coordination with the United States. Now that a major red line for Tehran has been crossed, retaliatory strikes have already begun pummeling the energy infrastructure of US allies in the region, with Qatar reporting that its primary gas facility has sustained “significant damage” from an attack after Iran issued evacuation warnings for energy facilities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Fuel prices are already surging. If middle eastern energy infrastructure starts taking extensive damage on top of the already hugely significant Iranian blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, this war could end up affecting virtually every corner of human civilization in one way or another.

Westerners are largely apathetic about US military explosives landing on populations on other continents. But once it starts having a direct impact on their personal bank accounts, you can expect them to get a lot more interested in US foreign policy.

This war has been a bit odd for me because as an anti-imperialist peacemonger I’m not yet entirely sure what my role is in my commentary here.

Normally I’d be begging westerners to care about another horrific act by the US war machine, but as things stand it looks like westerners are going to be forced to care about this one whether they want to or not.

Normally I’d be writing furiously about how people should not support this war, but the war has exceptionally low public support already.

Normally I’d be trying to help everyone open their eyes and recognize the US warmongers for the psychopaths that they are, but the Trumpanyahu administration is openly waging an unprovoked war of aggression while constantly thumping its chest and boasting about how it’s showing the Iranians “no quarter, no mercy” and saying it can kill whoever it wants with impunity.

Normally I’d be writing about how the mass media are churning out war propaganda to manufacture consent for more US military butchery, but the mass media keep putting out stories about how the US government is lying about a war that should never have happened while Trump administration figures have public tantrums about how the media isn’t churning out war propaganda for them.

President Trump is on social media babbling about how news outlets “should be brought up on Charges for treason” for not reporting on an embarrassing story about a US aircraft carrier fire the way he wants, while Secretary of War Pete Hegseth gave one of his fire-and-brimstone podium sermons bitching about how “an actual patriotic press” would be framing this war in a more positive light.

Do you see what I mean? What am I supposed to do with this? Where does that leave dissident fringesters like myself? All I can do is clear my throat and sheepishly go “Uh, yeah, I uh… agree with CNN.”

With Ukraine the mass media fell all over themselves to hide the west’s role in provoking the conflict, framing Putin as an evil maniacal Hitler figure who just spontaneously flipped out and invaded a country on Russia’s border because he hates freedom. With Gaza the western press gave nonstop narrative cover to Israel’s genocidal atrocities, constantly dragging public attention into an endless conversation about antisemitism and Jewish feelings whenever opposition to the slaughter got too hot.

That’s just not happening with Iran. It’s the first US war I’ve ever seen where a big chunk of the imperial power structure just refuses to get on board. The media’s not playing along, US allies are telling Trump to get stuffed when he asks for military assistance with the Strait of Hormuz, and the public’s not buying the lies.

This is a frightening time to be alive  –  but you can’t say we’re in a period of stasis. Things are moving faster and faster. They might get a whole lot worse. They might get a whole lot better. They might get a whole lot worse and then get a whole lot better. But it seems a safe bet that the situation won’t remain the same.

Texter av Catelina Johnstone

Ett utdrag från avdelningen för Politics-kategorin på Contents-sidan, alltså sidan med klickbara rubriker på inlägg med mitt eget skrivande, och liksom där med de senaste först eller högst upp:

Grönheten, konservatismen och högern

Iran: Alla vet redan allt

Dissident-MAGA

Epstein och vår tids centrala politiska insikt

Paleokonservatismens slut?

Krig och upprustning: De konservativas svar

Iran och kommunisterna

Om protesterna i Iran

På vad jag i brist på bättre namn kallar References-sidan finns till skillnad från Contents-sidan klickbara rubriker på inlägg med annat innehåll; tanken med termen “references” är att det där handlar om typ källor och annat material som underbygger och illustrerar min argumentation i de egna texterna och som jag i dem hänvisar och länkar till. Men termens dålighet blir uppenbar i synnerhet i beaktande av den huvuddel av konstkategorin med dess underavdelningar som hamnar där, och vars innehåll går långt utöver detta.

Mitt eget skrivande återfinns dock ofta även i inläggen på References-sidan. Det handlar då endast om jämförelsevis korta kommentarer till det andra innehåll som där är det huvudsakliga. Men ibland säger även dessa kommentarer väsentliga egna saker, t.o.m. i en utsträckning som gör att det kunnat vara litet svårt att avgöra på vilken av dessa sidor, Contents eller References, som deras rubriker bör listas.

I ett utdrag, utlagt på sin kanal Invent the Future, ur ett avsnitt av Jason Smiths The Bridge to China Podcast, beskriver Martinez det val han anser är nödvändigt för Europa att göra:

“British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent visit to Beijing is part of an emerging diplomatic pattern: in recent weeks China has hosted a succession of Western leaders – Canada’s Mark Carney, Ireland’s Micheál Martin, Finland’s Petteri Orpo and Germany’s Friedrich Merz.

After nearly a decade in which Britain aligned itself almost entirely with Washington’s strategy of containment and decoupling, often at the cost of its own economic interests, the Starmer visit signals a reassessment. China is Britain’s fourth-largest trading partner and an indispensable node in global supply chains for green technology, electric vehicles and advanced manufacturing. For a post-Brexit Britain still searching for its economic role, the notion that growth is achievable while excluding serious engagement with China is simply implausible.

The broader context is Washington’s deepening estrangement from its own allies. Trump’s tariff threats, his hostility to European strategic autonomy and his territorial designs on Greenland have made the sustainability of unconditional Atlanticism increasingly difficult to defend. China, meanwhile, has consistently offered what the US no longer reliably provides: adherence to international law, respect for sovereignty, and mutually beneficial cooperation.

The ‘decoupling’ consensus is collapsing under the weight of economic reality, and even Washington’s closest allies now acknowledge it. What these visits ultimately reflect is the growing pains of a multipolar world: as the old Cold War alignment fractures, countries like Britain face a fundamental choice between clinging to US hegemony or adapting to the world that is actually emerging.

Full interview on ‪@thebridgetoChina‬ here: Why Does the West Fear China?” 

By Caitlin Johnstone

My enemies are not in Iran. My enemies are in Washington and Tel Aviv. In London and Canberra.

My enemies are the western oligarchs and empire managers who are poisoning my society and making everything awful while slaughtering human beings with the help of my tax dollars.

My enemies are the tyrants who are turning our civilization into a mind-controlled dystopia where it is increasingly illegal to criticize the abuses of my government and its allies, and increasingly difficult to find information which runs counter to the imperial narrative.

My enemies are the empire apologists and the hasbarists. The propagandists and spinmeisters. Those who side with Israel and the United States against basic human interests.

Imperial bootlickers always accuse me of writing “propaganda” for the “enemy”, with “enemy” meaning whoever the US-centralized empire happens to be attacking or preparing to attack on any given day. I always want to tell them “Motherfucker you are my enemy. You. You and the empire you simp for.”

The Iranians have never done anything to me. The Iranians pose no threat to me. They didn’t bring war to my country. The empire I live under brought war to theirs.

The Iranians haven’t robbed me and my fellow westerners of all democratic political agency to create an oligarchy run by megalomaniacal plutocrats and psychopathic government agencies.

The Iranians haven’t locked down all political systems throughout western society making it impossible to vote our way into peace, economic justice, and government transparency.

The Iranians aren’t working tirelessly to brainwash and manipulate everyone in my society to turn us all into apathetic flag-waving morons who care more about sports and celebrities than the fact that their government is committing horrifying war crimes.

The Iranians aren’t trying to make it illegal for me to criticize Israel and its abuses, or working to imprison my countrymen for uttering normal political slogans in opposition to a genocidal apartheid state.

The Iranians aren’t making my society crazy, stupid and evil while we hurtle toward ecological disaster, nuclear armageddon and AI tech dystopia.

I haven’t spent years watching a live-streamed genocide in Gaza being perpetrated by the Iranians.

I’m not frightened that the Iranians will try to draft my son to fight and die in a crazy, evil war.

The Iranians are not doing any of these things to me. These are things the western power structure is doing.

I have no loyalty to that power structure. I have loyalty to my species, to my family, and to the values I hold sacred in my heart of hearts.

Texter av Catelina Johnstone