Crisis Averted, or Just Delayed?

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump managed to start and lose his war on Iran in a mere five-week time span.  That's very damned impressive considering it took Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon the better part of seven years to escalate Vietnam into a full-fledged war and then lose it.  Trump, who was led into the pointless and unwinnable war by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu,  quickly saw that he had badly "misunderestimated" the military strength and determination of Iran, and he spent most of the five war weeks trying to figure out a way to wriggle out of it.

Netanyahu, a hackneyed politico who is fighting to preserve his faltering political career and to stay out of jail more than he is to serve the interests of Israel, immediately expanded his own efforts in the war to include barbaric attacks on Lebanon in which he is demolishing large swaths of the basically Christian nation block by bloody block, in the much the same manner as he obliterated Gaza and its Palestinian residents.

But Trump says the war on Iran is over, or it is over but we are still watching Iran closely and could rush back in if provoked or if they fail to live up to the cease-fire agreements.   Trump claimed "total and complete" victory, and Iran also flew flags of victory.  Two days into the cease-fire, the entire house of cards seem to be teetering on the verge of collapse.

One of the unresolved issues that was sidetracked with the tenuous peace deal is what the US military would have ultimately done with regard to Trump's threat this week to end a whole civilization.  Would our military have followed Trump's illegal orders to bring hell own upon on Iranian people and their country, or would our military leaders have stood tall and refused, and in so doing fractured our nation, perhaps irreparably.

A crisis has passed, maybe.  It could have easily been worse, and may be yet, and there is little comfort in knowing that the same feeble hands remain at the helm of our ship of state - because the waters ahead remain treacherous.  Our ship is sound, for the time being at least, but our Captain clearly is not.