United States ‘Act of War’ in Gibraltar
The US has ordered the UK seizure of an Iranian oil tanker. This has eclipsed its sanctions on Venezuela. The seizure of the tanker near Gibraltar goes further than sanctions, it is an ‘act of war’. The price of oil will suddenly go up, there are already predictions that it will go above $325 a barrel. And the US will soon need oil if it goes to war against Iran. And war is what it will get.
It is not so much the war games I am worried about, it is the actual war in the Middle East has been escalating for some time now.
Is the American peace movement capable of preventing Trump’s escalation of the crisis since unknown parties hit Japanese and Scandinavian oil tankers in the Gulf of Hormuz? I think not. They were unable to prevent the 2003 Iraq war and now, if anything the anti-war movement is weaker in both US and Australia. A half a dozen peace activists at Talisman Sabre to protest the war games there between the US, Japan and Australia is not enough to make any real difference.
The Washington Post reporting from Beirut said this:
Iran threatened Thursday to retaliate against British shipping after the British navy’s seizure in the Mediterranean of a tanker transporting Iranian oil to Syria, drawing Europe deeper into the escalating tensions that risk war between the United States and Iran.
“The Iran crisis was created in Washington. The US must be talked down
Protest against war is not enough, something real must accompany it. McCarthyism is once again on the rise in the United States and Australia.
Hanan Ashrawi, a leading figure in Palestinian politics over several decades, said in May 2019 she had been denied a visa to enter the United States. This was Ashrawi’s response to the peace process.
“If they really care about the Palestinian economy they should start by lifting the siege of Gaza, stopping Israel stealing our money and our resources and our land and opening up our territorial waters, our air space and our borders so we can freely export and import.”
Alas this book launch may be too late …
