It's Time to End the Excursion and the Corruption

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday independent journalist Ken Klippenstein, a reporter who grew tired of the constraints that his corporate overlords were placing on the dissemination of news in America and struck out on his own to provide a non-corporate-filtered presentation of top news stories, published a list of the eighteen countries which have been directly impacted so far by Trump and Netanyahu's war on Iran.  His list and commentary show the impact of what Trump refers to as an "excursion" is having on the world, and Klippenstein makes the point that it is beginning to resemble a world war - perhaps World War 3.

What follows is Ken Klippenstien's atlas of the current situation involving the war with Iran:

1. Azerbaijan:  Iranian drones struck the country's international airport and neighboring infrastructure, injuring four civilians.
2. Bahrain:   Iran and its proxies hit a hotel and residential buildings in Manama with drones and missiles.   Some were intercepted by US Naval forces.
3. Cyprus:  Hezbollah-linked drones struck an RAF (British) air base, damaging runways.  Klippstein notes that the United Kigdom (Brits) responded, though curiously he did not place that country on his list.
4. Greece:  deployed frigates and fighter jets to defend the airbase on Cyprus that Hezbollah attacked, and it is also hosting US forces on the Greek portion of Cyprus.
5. Iran:  A central belligerent in the war.  It has been steadily attacked since February 28th, and has launched attacks on several other countries.
6. Iraq:  Iranian missiles and drones have hit US positions in the Kurdish portion of the country.  Iran-aligned militias have attempted to  storm the US Embassy Green Zone in Baghdad.
7. Israel:  A central belligerant in the war.  It has launched numerous attacks on Iran as well as Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
8. Jordan:  Iranian missiles and drones have struck US radar bases in Jordan.  Jordan defense forces have intercepted some of the in-coming missiles and drones.
9. Kuwait:  Iranian missiles and drones have hit fuel tanks at the country's international airport.  Kuwait is also where the first six US deaths occurred at a makeshift base..
10. Lebanon:  Hezbollah fighters based in Lebanon have fired rockets, missiles, and drones into Lebanon, and Israel has responded with airstrikes nationwide and a ground incursion in the southern part of the country.
11. Oman:  Iran has stuck a port with missiles and drones as well as a shadow tanker in the Gulf of Oman.
12. Qatar:   Iranian drones struck major Liquid Natural Gas facilities in Qatar, stopping production.  Qatari jets have intercepted Iranian aircraft.
13. Saudi Arabia:  the country's defense forces intercepted Iranian missiles and drones that were targeting the Riyadh diploatic quarter.
14. Sri Lanka:  A US submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri-Lanka in the Indian Ocean killing 87.
15. Syria:  Israel has conducted airstrikes on Iranian and militia assets in Syria, such as fuel supplies headed to Lebanon.
16. Turkey:  Turkey has tried to block its airspace from Iranian missiles and drones.  It sent fighter jets to Cyprus to try to contain Hezbollah activity there.  Turkey is employing diplomacy to try and deescalate the conflict.
17. United Arab Emirates:  Dubai has been hit with Iranian missiles and drones, with damage to hotels and data centers.
18. United States:  A central belligerent in the war that has targeted and bombed Iranian assets both in-country and at sea, with one high-profile bombing of a girls' elementary school where 175 people, mostly children, were  killed.  Seven US troops have been reported as killed and another 140 wounded it he first thirteen days of the "excursion."

Add to that mix the fact that Cyprus and Greece are both members of the European Union, and the United Kingdom, Greece, Turkey, and the United States are mmbers of NATO, and the potential for expansion widens dramatically.

Donald Trump. Benjamin Netanyahu, and their good friend Lindsey Graham have suckered us into something far more serious than a weekend war game.    The war they have created is very real, very deadly, and very expensive.  Accoring to figures released by the Pentagon to Congress, the first six days alone cast the United States $11.3 billion.

$11,300.000.000!  In six damn days!  

It is already impacting people on the remote country lane where I live.  The gas at my loal station is up more than 40 cents a gallon since the start of the war - that's real money!   Every US dollar that is spent to kill people on the other side of the world is a dollar that won't be spent here to lower the cost of health care, food, housing, energy, or repair our crumbling infrastructure, or clean our environment, or secure our borders.

Real lives, real money, and real opportunities are all being squandered because a dottering old man in a golf cart fancies himself to be a modern day Julius Caesar - while his two oldest osns invest in a company to build and sell drones to the US government.

It's time to end the excursion and the corruption.