"Why Attack Iran?" - Timothy Snyder
"How do understand the war with Iran? We must get away from the propaganda and ask why this might be happening, in light of the facts that we do know."
"These facts suggest two interpretive frameworks: a foreign war as a mechanism to destroy democracy at home; and a foreign war as an element of personal corruption by the president of the United States."
"From the United States, the most plausible angle of view is domestic politics, not foreign policy. Wars are a tool of undermining and undoing democracies. Given that we have multiple examples of this from both modern and ancient democracy, and given the behavior of Trump and his allies in general, this must be an interpretive method for these attacks."
"The relationship between foreign war and domestic authoritarianism can take two basic forms: 1) we must all rally because there is a war and everyone who oppose the war is a traitor; 2) we must hold elections under specific conditions favorable to the party in power. This is utterly predictable and should be easy to halt and indeed to reverse."
"The American propaganda about our foreign policy motivations is impossible to believe as such. But it does lead us, indirectly, to the second possible interpretive framework: personal corruption."
Continued at link:
https://snyder.substack.com/p/why-attack-iran
gab13by13
(31,898 posts)that understands and explains why Krasnov went to war with Iran.
sop, thank you for posting this. I have been doing threads trying to say what Timothy Snyder said so much better than I could explain.
Snyder should have also said that by going to war Krasnov checked off another box in his quest to become dictator, he can go to war with anyone at any time and no one can stop him.
Krasnov just sent military personnel to our southern border doing immigration enforcement.
Zelenskyy told Krasnov that he canceled elections in Ukraine because of the war and Krasnov responded, "why can't I do that?"
Sure Krasnov will make money from the oil in Iran just like he is making money from the oil in Venezuela, billions of dollars, but being the most powerful dictator in the world is his #1 goal.
Krasnov doesn't give a shit how this war turns out, doesn't give a shit how many people die, including Americans. This war shows the world, shows the United States, that he is all powerful and anyone who crosses him will be erased.
sop
(18,247 posts)"Given the stupefyingly overt corruption of the Trump administration, one must ask whether the United States armed forces are now being used on a per-hire basis."
"Gulf Arab states who oppose Iranian power have generated extremely generous packages of compensation for companies associated with Trump personally and with members of his family. The United Arab Emirates invested in a family firm. The Saudis have provided numerous de facto gifts. And sometimes the gifts have been simply gifts. The Qataris gave Trump a jet. The list is very long."
"And now we are using military force to take the side of precisely the countries who have enriched Trump and his family. This backdrop must at the very least be stated in the reporting of the war. Along with the subversion of democracy, personal corruption provides a second interpretive framework."
mopinko
(73,552 posts)i wonder if they expected iran to bomb so many places in the mideast. israel, sure, that was a bonus to most of them. but the other arab countries?
Lonestarblue
(13,409 posts)International law is immaterial to the corrupt Trump crime regime. He wants Greenland and is showing that Congress cannot stop him from launching an attack to take it. NATO members need to decide quickly what their reaction would be to an attack on Greenland because Trump's attention span for anything is very short. He will tire of his war on Iran within two weeks and be ready for another one to keep the Epstein files out of the news. Cuba may be next, then Greenland.
FakeNoose
(41,133 posts)Thanks for this!

This is his Ethiopia.

pat_k
(12,998 posts)And our electeds must put this "backdrop" front and center. If you have a Democratic Rep or Senator(s), let them know you expect them to beat the drum on the scandalous corruption. The felon's war is not only being waged in violation of the constitution and international law, it is an epic and intolerable payoff for the corrupt billions MBS, Netanyahu, and others have shovelled Trump's way.
The Felon's War on Iran is the most monumentally corrupt payoff we have ever seen take place in front of our eyes:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221061085