Gaza, Venezuela, Iran…’where they make a wasteland, they call it peace’
Screenshot of Iranian Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi’s February 28 X video post , claiming that girls were killed by the US-Israel strikes at an elementary school in Minab city
The Roman senator Tacitus said, “where they make a wasteland, they call it peace”.
And so it was that European countries, Canada and Australia reacted to superpower United States’ military attack on Iran by blaming…Iran!
Not a word in condemnation of Trump’s America and Israel, which started a war of choice even as negotiations with Iran continued in Geneva.
No mention of the UN Charter, which generally prohibits the use of military force against another country unless in response to an actual armed attack or there is clear evidence of hostile intent.
“We call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint, to protect civilians and to fully respect international law,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote in a statement.
In their statement, the E3 group of France, Germany and the UK indicated that it was Iran’s fault for not saying safe. They had “consistently urged the Iranian regime to end Iran’s nuclear program, curb its ballistic missile program, refrain from its destabilising activity in the region and our homelands, and to cease the appalling violence and repression against its own people.”
Gérard Araud, France’s former ambassador to the US and permanent representative to the UN, noted on X:
“Not a word about international law… A de facto endorsement of US/Israeli attack.”
International law featured big time when Donald Trump was talking about taking over Greenland. But as with Gaza, so with Iran…there is no mention of international law.
Hypocrisy is always ugly but especially so when viewed through the black hole where one might have thought there are moral values.
As it turned out, European hypocrisy pleased no one. Trump-supporting US politicians flayed its pusillanimity. Not only did Europe not participate in US action against Iran, it failed to cheer American resolve.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, an ally of President Trump, wrote:“Everyone in Europe is rightly impassioned about Russia invading Ukraine. But when it comes to the long-suffering people of Iran, Europe has been pathetic.”
He added: “You have gone pathetically soft and lost your zeal for confronting evil apparently unless it’s on your front porch.”
No apology for US perfidy. Now, it is considered smart to be sneaky.
Like the last war in June — which was started by Israel and briefly joined by the US — Mr Trump started military action while his administration was engaged in talks with Iran to secure a deal over its nuclear programme.
Alistair Burnett, my former BBC colleague, and now with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, summed it up best:
“The US has a serious addiction problem and I’m not talking about Fentanyl. The US state is addicted to violence and war – the country was created through violent seizure of indigenous people’s lands and has gone on from there. Rather than see the use of force as a last resort, the country sees it as a legitimate tool of statecraft to achieve whatever it wants, regardless of agreements it has entered into.
“To attack a country while in the middle of negotiations and in breach of the UN Charter and international law shows utter contempt for civilised conduct. It is now a fully-fledged rogue state – as is its Israeli sidekick – and, given its military and economic power, the most dangerous threat to international peace and stability.”
