By Ramin Mazaheri and cross posted with PressTV
There is a world of difference between “make it stop” and “make it change”, no?
In 2016 we all knew that a Trump victory would undoubtedly be terrible for Iran, Cuba and Palestine – that has been proven true.
However, being a “one-issue voter” is never advisable, but especially for those voting in the country which has more global influence than any other.
The question for those in those three countries is this: why would a victory by Joe Biden herald a major change in US policy – not merely a change from post-2016 policy, but from the United States’ policy since 1979, 1959 or 1948?
Trump-era sanctions are illegal, inhumane and war, indeed, but it would be overreaction to say they were something altogether new. Washington’s policy towards all three of these nations – undoubtedly the martyrs of the international community – has been the unbroken same for many decades: destruction of the patriotic leadership elements in those countries. (However, Palestinians can accurately add that supporting total genocide against all Palestinians is also an undeniably clear policy of Washington.)
Why would Biden reverse these policies? A temporary relenting is not a reversal.
Is not reversal the goal, or is merely “less worse” the democratic majority desire in these three nations as regards their foreign policy with America?
Worryingly, it should be assumed that Biden would certainly be more successful in galvanising Western support for “new” Iranian sections than Trump, who alienated America’s allies, if Biden chose to do so. What if these sanctions are thus even more comprehensive than the Trump era’s “US alone” sanctions?
When it comes to these three anti-imperialism-championing, leftist-inspired nations we must consider the “hope” aspect – Barack Obama won on this idea precisely because it is so critical to consider: is it possible that a Trump finally freed of election concerns could perhaps do what he was elected to do in 2016 – break with the Washington “Swamp” and all of its horrors and murders?
The world notes that Trump is – without question – the least belligerent elected president in the modern era (Gerald Ford was not elected). Considering that prior to WWII the US was still engaged in wars of imperialism in North America and beyond, and also that prior to the Civil War the US was engaged in slavery, it is not an exaggeration to say that Trump has been one of America’s least foreign-warmongering presidents. This sounds preposterous, but American history is an unbroken line of preposterous, imperialist brutality – denying that is inaccurate.
Therefore, it’s reasonable to consider that a Trump freed of election concerns, and also of trying to win over the Washington establishment, could allow his anti-belligerent tendencies to take over. Trump is not a military man, but a business man. The idea that Biden could possibly have a “Nixon moment” with Iran is absolutely out of the question – he is completely an establishment man. Indeed, this reality is the foundation of his presidential campaign – a return to “normalcy”.
But the US establishment is totally anti-Iranian Islamic Revolution, anti-Islamic conceptions of capitalism, and anti-Iranian resistance to Western invasion and imperialism. In a system dominated by lobby interests, there is absolutely no “pro-Iran” lobby and to think there is would be to misunderstand America.
The concern is that those outside of and unfamiliar with America do not understand these realities; that there are still those who think Obama was truly worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize; that think Democrats are lenient towards to the world even though they spearheaded the destruction of Yugoslavia, Libya, Honduras, Haiti, Ukraine etc. and etc. It is like a a household with two very unpleasant daughters: the family always says, “That one is the easy-going one”, when in reality she is still very unpleasant when compared with normal standards of comportment.
There is absolutely no way Biden would engineer a “Nixon moment” of (not rapprochement but) detente with Iran. Therefore, the question to ask is: are the 2016-era sanctions so bad that Iran has to throw in the towel, and not take a chance on the most successful anti-establishment candidate in the US since Andrew Jackson?
Part 2: Why would anyone, anywhere wish for the very unpleasant Washington establishment to remain in complete control?
We have established that Biden may only slightly lessen, but never end, the four decades of sanctions on Iran. About Trump – we simply cannot be so sure.
Trump, thus, is the “hope” candidate. Trump doesn’t have a real ideology, we have learned since 2016 – he’s not a real Zionist, any more than he’s a real Christian, any more than he’s a real Republican – he is a selfish business man, and that is it. These people ruin the world, but can also build great things.
That’s the same question Americans considering voting for Trump are asking: are things so bad that the only way to advance is via retreat – i.e. four more years of the astoundingly upsetting (the French “bouleversement” is so much more accurate) Trump presidency?
Turning to America’s domestic situation: they are in a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe, i.e. the 2020 coronavirus recession is being added to the 2008 Great Recession.
The election media circus does not focus on this – they instead create nonsense like Iranians posing as “Proud Boys” and mail-in ballot hysteria – but if you are in the US and talking to people you only hear from Americans about how truly bad things are in ways totally unrelated to the election.
Visitors from Iran cannot believe their eyes when they see the US – this country is in disrepair, is technologically behind in many ways, and is in jaw-droppingly bad physical and social health (putting aside more subjective questions of moral and mental health).
How on earth can we explain the 2020 continued success and resonance of Trump, who in the 2nd debate kept reminding voters of why he won in 2016: the staggering corruption of the US political establishment, of which he is not completely a part of?
He knows that the US public has as many reasons to subvert the US political establishment as the Iranian public has: the most basic, and necessary, examination of the situation via this lens of class tells us that – of course – both publics greatly suffer under the brutality of the unwanted capitalism-imperialism foisted by the 1%.
Furthermore, we should expect that the factions thwarted in 2016 would impose even further safeguards to their power to make sure another Trump cannot happen again.
Trump has pushed things to the right, indeed, but nobody more so than the US establishment and 1%: this couldn’t be more in evidence thanks to how even the Democrats have embraced the CIA & FBI, Twitter/Facebook censorship, QE policies which keep their rich donor classes happy, and how this class demands Trump be even more warlike and employ even more policies which many used to only associate with American conservatives. The American Democrat is no leftist.
But the delusion is believing that far-right policies – both at home and abroad regarding places like Iran – started with Trump. American Democrats may believe that nonsense, but it’s vital that the world has a memory which stretches back just a mere five years. A Biden victory would immediately allow the US to sweep under the rug and to scapegoat the nation’s pre-2016 problems on Trump – many American voters will not tolerate that, as they want immediate changes to the long-running status quo.
Who knows what a second Trump presidency would do? This is both hope and risk. And as Biden said in the second election: “You know who I am” – indeed.
What the world and the US public wants is obvious: mutually-beneficial cooperation, which is not necessarily excluded in capitalism, but it is excluded in “capitalism with Western characteristics”. “Trump term 1” was against free-trade, neoliberal capitalism-imperialism: would “Trump term 2” push aside the New York City financial elite and insist on concluding mutually-beneficial business deals which don’t have to be signed at the barrel-end of a US gun?
It’s so very, very hard to believe, but US Congresspeople spend 70% of their work day fundraising. What a terrible system, no? This explains how Americans get such poor governance – they are not occupied with the business of public service.
I think it’s fair to point out that Trump has done the same since 2016 in order to win re-election: he has spent 70% of his time complying with and being bogged down by establishment nonsense – Russophobia, a useless impeachment drive, a hostile media, etc. What would he do if he was freed from this, and given free rein to use the executive branch powers for actual policy which bypassed the Swamp? We don’t know, because we have never seen such a US president.
The question is this: does a Trump freed from re-election concerns, and confident of his mandate, still continue to turn his back on the patriotic populism which his voters expected, or do we see something even more spectacularly upsetting to the US establishment than what we have seen the past four years?
We do know Biden will re-chart the American course for Obama’s “pivot to Asia” and all the other usual capitalist-imperialist belligerence. Regarding the influence of Bernie Sanders and the fake-leftistm America has recently mustered: please don’t make me laugh at the idea that in 2021 they will be handed top cabinet posts and actual influence.
But a vote for Biden implicitly implies that the US has learned much since 2016 and will reform and correct themselves; that Biden is not an establishment man, as I asserted, but something new. To put it in Trumpian campaign terms: Biden the public servant in year 48 will be different than Biden the public servant years 1-47. Conversion, rebirth, epiphany – these are all real things, certainly, and nowhere more so perhaps than in evangelical Christian-dominated America.
But we must also remember that, as the European Union proves, Western “neo-imperialism” includes the colonisation of the Western public by an unpatriotic, international 1%. Biden is undoubtedly neoliberal and neo-imperial – Trump is… something else, no? (One cannot be anti-free trade and still neoliberal, after all.)
Thus the “hope” choice in this election is not “for” Trump – it is “anti”-US establishment, and that goes for those abroad as well as domestically.
This article does not promote Trump but merely seeks to explain his popularity, as the Western mainstream media cannot do anything but support their establishment, of course. Biden voters are “holding their nose” and voting for a candidate they don’t like – one is wrong to assume that Trump supporters aren’t doing the exact same.
Ramin Mazaheri is currently covering the US elections. He is the chief correspondent in Paris for PressTV and has lived in France since 2009. He has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US, and has reported from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, South Korea and elsewhere. He is the author of ‘Socialism’s Ignored Success: Iranian Islamic Socialism’as well as ‘I’ll Ruin Everything You Are: Ending Western Propaganda on Red China’, which is also available in simplified and traditional Chinese.
Again, Ramin, not a word about Israel… Oops, I’m not supposed to say that. And I’m to turn a blind eye to the fact that Sheldon Alelson is once again throwing his thirty pieces of silver at Trump and that the Likudniks (Kosher Nostra) own him body and soul. Well, as you imply… just let it all happen.
Certainly the Christian Zionists will be happy. They have their Rapture suits all pressed and ready to go. Certainly that will keep him in the presidency and out of prison because there won’t be any presidency anymore! That’s what he’s really all about, isn’t it? Iran will be reduced to being a smoking glass parking lot and Russia will respond by turning everything they have on the USA. That will make the planet uninhabitable for human beings. Isn’t that what the self-replicating robot profit algorithms have wanted all along. Maybe they’ll keep a few of us humans around as pets, but I doubt it.
Tommy; Has the Kosher Nostra succeeded in convincing you that they are all powerful and invincible? That is their agenda is it not? If your fear projections are based upon such assumption then they have succeeded in at least partially capturing you mind. These days it takes spiritual insight to balance political consciousness. Therein lies our breakout. You are right if you expect the Kosher Nostra to oppose authentic spirit at every turn. But all they have is darkness, misuse of mind energy and false religion. They have no REAL power.
The smiling Jared Kushner and his shiksa wife are more than enough proof to me that the Likudniks and Israel control it all. From the false-flag attack on 9/11, all the wars of this century, right up to the present day.
The more you try and control something the less controlled it becomes. If these wily zionists do not wish to see their wicked schemes rumbled by curious teenagers and a large dog on a regular basis they should look into taoism.
Snow Leopard, someone agrees with you; Zidar BTL today’s Saker analysis:
” When there is no CIA/FBI to protect them, even drug lords are not that powerful”
Tommy Apeiron you are making these comment threads boring – stop trolling Mr. Mazaheri and complaining that he is not talking about Israel enough in every one of his comments threads. He is covering the election – it says so quite clearly. How many times must you make the same point?
Please, don’t answer that.
Believe me, I won’t. Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt…
Tommy Apeiron
“Again, Ramin, not a word about Israel”. Tommy, are you forgetting who created Israel and the US ? The very same people who control the City of London. Israel cannot control the USA, although Benjamin Netanyahu has boasted that this is indeed the case. The Rothschild’s control both entities. What can Israel do without political and financial support from Washington and London ? Nothing.
Major reform in the US ? Virtually impossible, as it would have to be done at the expense of the elite, who will surrender nothing. What did senator Chuck Schumer state in 2016 about Trump “draining the swamp”. That it was never going to happen. And has Trump drained the swamp ? The answer is ‘no’.
trumps (relative) popularity comes from comparaison with whom he’s up against. his little “i don’t eat pizza with a fork” moment during his campaign against hillary is just one example of his knowledge of what the belly of america likes : a no nonsense simple straightforward kind of guy who doesn’t beat around the bush and doesn’t act fancy. it’s all baloney , of course, because trump isn’t an honest joe who made his way up by hard work. but the average american can identify with trump because he’s more of the kind you would have at a bbq party than biden who’s as natural as a wax statue. it doesn’t really matter anyway, both are running for an honorary position : the presidency of the usa.
Comparing the “policies” of Trump versus Biden are useless. Biden is an avatar, he does not run the show. He can barely say two words in logical succession and if the Americans are stupid enough to elect him, anything (bad) could happen.
If Trump is elected, it will be just more of the same.
No.
Trump is extremely belligerent and it is only because other countries fear us that we have not gotten into a war yet but he is engaging in activities that start wars, ie. belligerence. We came within a razor’s edge of getting into a war with Iran.
Iran gave us 5hrs warning to evacuate Al Asad air base so that they could deliver a face saving shot over the bow and our imbecile commanders had our guys hunker down into mortar pits. If any of them had gotten killed, Trump would have been backed into a corner to bomb Iran and Iran would have launched multiple salvos killing thousands of U.S. soldiers.
It was dumb luck that we did not get into a war with Iran but it was not for lack of trying.
Now the question, who was less belligerent than Trump? Bush Sr.
I know, Desert Storm. But unlike other Neocons (and Trump), Bush Sr. knew how to keep his word. He was predictable. He expelled the Iraqis from Kuwait and stopped just like he said he would. He did not expand NATO, he gave the ‘Chicken Kiev’ speech.
Again we are talking about belligerence. Bush Sr., because of James Baker, was adept at avoiding escalating issues. Was he perfect? No but he was less belligerent than Clinton. Regarding the cruel sanctions on Iraq. It is true they started under Bush Sr. but it was Clinton who accelerated them. Bush Sr. might have changed course. We will never know.
HW was not given a second term precisely because he did not invade Iraq, expand NATO, or start a belligerent anti Russian policy.
Chuba:
Agree in general but the real test, if trump is selected, will be his appointments or four more years of adelson, nitenyaaahooo control of the same.
Trump’s appointments to date have been beyond atrocious.
e.g. gina supported by cretin brennan, so we get gina at cia, a swamp creature.
e.g. wray, supported by slimy comey, so we get wray at fbi, a swamp creature.
e.g. barr, how he came in is a mystery but he is swamp, has been compromised since his go to role for ray gun’s cia director, casey in early 1980’s-the narrative is that barr was closely involved with the medena airport iran contra fiascos.
e.g. going back, we had sessions, rosenthal, both swamp or incompetent or compromised.
e.g. now we have pompass, abrams, jeffries, all neo con zionists.
e.g now we have esper secdef from raytheon, think about it, from raytheon!
The story goes on and on and on. The narrative was that when trump was selected in 2016, christie had prepared some 40 briefing books for the transition with “decent” candidates for important positions. kushner came in and trashed the briefing books and adelson, niten, and believe it or not romney staffed state, defense, et al with neo cons. Of course, the old hold overs from the disatrous obummer admin stayed in place and created obstruction after obstruction IF trump wanted to change anything.
Again, if selected, the test will be in the firings and the appointments; word is, gina, wray, esper are on the blocks. We will wait to see what happens with the senior military “leadership” because most if not all have been compromised with the obummer taint or are openly opposing trump as retired mouthpieces.
The loyalty of the military will be sorely needed IF trump is selected and, as advertised, we will have blood, destruction, fire bombing in the streets. Moreover, trump needs competent uncompromised (if possible) talent in his appointments and in his admin.
I was very much impressed with the selection of judge barrett, an intelligent, confident, and seemingly honest appointee.
That you believe Iran actually fears the US and that the attacks against the US air base were for the purpose of “saving face” reveals that you do not understand the situation at all. It is the US/EU, Israel, and Wahhabi Arab dictatorships and fear Iran, which is why they have never dared to directly attack Iranian soil, even after falsely accusing Iran for killing thousands upon thousands of US soldiers throughout the region and spreading terrorism across the globe. They’ve gone so far as to label the Sepah (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, and thus a target for attack by the US and its allies. The US and Israel have had plenty of opportunity and excuse to attack Iran and the closest they’ve ever come to was the cowardly assassination of Gen. Soleimani which was done by having the Saudis and traitors in the Iraq government lure him to a peace negotiation under false pretenses.
Iran did not provide any warning. Iran gave the heads up to Iraq, which it had no choice but to do since Iraq is an ally, albeit one occupied by enemy forces, and then Iraq gave the warning to the US. Even given advance warning, the US was still not prepared for the intensity and accuracy of the attacks, which demonstrated to the professionals in the Pentagon that they are in no way ready to wage all-out war against Iran.
As far as casualties, according to the Sepah (IRGC), there were well over a hundred US soldiers dead. The US denied this and continually revised their official number of casualties for months and then claims no fatalities, but a hundred injured with brain damage, which as far as Iran and Sepah are concerned is just a face-saving excuse.
The only reason the US did not go to war against Iran after the air base attacks was because the Pentagon put its foot down and kicked Trump and Pompeo in the ass and told him to stop behaving like psychopaths and let the military do its job. The decision to murder Soleimani was not made by anyone in the Pentagon, but by Trump under pressure from Pompeo.
The Iranian retaliation, which was only the first stage in the ongoing response to the murder of Soleimani, forced the Pentagon to put its foot down and force Pompeo to crawl back into his hole at the State Dept. This is precisely why Pompeo has been unable to initiate any new wars and can only spout meaningless rhetoric against Iran and impose useless sanctions that achieve nothing. Everyone at the Pentagon and US intelligence community hates him.
No. It is not possible.
It is not possible for the same reason that a re elected Barack Hussein Obama didn’t stop the war crimes he had been committing in his first reign, but went on to put Ukranazis in power in Kiev, sent occupation troops back into Iraq, helped Saudi Barbaria attack Yemen, poured more jihadis into Syria, and would have invaded it had only the British parliament grown enough spine to not follow along.
Amerikastani presidents are con men. Con men don’t stop trying to empty your bank account just because you’ve of your own accord given them your wallet.
Anyone with half a brain, as I am, know that the elites (capitalists and banksters) control the US government, and the government control the people. Jews make up some of the elites, but not all. Ramin knows this. Nearly everyone who come to this blog know this.
The Jewish lobby is not one of the elites. But definitely a useful tool for the elites. They get preferential treatment same as the msm. The in your face type of preferential treatment which will end badly for them, if history is any guide.
Israel is not an elite. Again, the entity is a tool for control of the Arab oil resources. US seem to support Israel, but it is the the US elites who do that, and the government do what the elites tell them.
The “Deep State”, as Trump says he wants to drain. Wrong target. This Deep State is an arm of the government. One half of the government control the Deep State, and the other half wishes to “drain” the Deep State. How does this help the people when the problem is caused by the elites?
Why target the Jews in general? The majority of Jews are willing tools and it is normal to target willing tools who are so conspicuous, as the msm is. But the elites will still be there, even if there are no Jews on this earth. Problem not solved.
@Termite: “The Jewish lobby is not one of the elites.”
Au contraire, the Jewish Lobby *is* the elite (Fr. les elus — the chosen people). But you are right, there are plenty of other Anglo Capitalist sharks in that sea.
Hi Doc
Admittedly, I had to think hard (having half a brain), before I wrote about the Jewish lobby.
In religious terms, elites have always been more inclined towards what religion can do for them, rather than what they can do for their religion.
In racial terms, elites would use race to get what they want. And betray the race when the choice come between race and money.
I could be wrong. If so, feel free to correct me.
If Ramin Mazaheri had paused to ponder but this one simple question he could have kept his analysis brief and sharp: Is the leopard more likely to shed his spots than the zebra his stripes?
Tweedledum or Tweedledee, what difference can it make?
Ramin has hit the nail on the head. Trump really is the outsider in the game. The transnational zionazis did not need Trump as a diversion. There is no nine dimensional chess in US politics. The clinton witch was a sufficient front for the globalist deconstruction of the US and the western vassal states.
As the master of identity politics and plantation rule – the witch clinton would have been right there for war with Russia in 2016 with catastrophic consequences for the deplorables and the elites outside the death cult oligarchs club.
Coronas is plan B after the 2016 nuclear Armageddon plan failed. The Russia-gate and endless DP games were just a warm up to the March 2020 surprise of face diapers and lock downs. However, a Trump re-election will put the reset into a spin.
The reality is that world wide populations have, for the most part, been complicit with and oblivious to neo-liberalism. Thirty years after the collapse of the USSR – the irony is that the saviour is a casino pimp.
DannyO, history loves irony. Jacques Chirac, the last honourable President of France; I used to call him ‘un vieux escroc’ but he was a crook with principles. Chirac’s claim to honour was that he refused to join the Bush regime’s Coalition of the Killing in Iraq.
“History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors,
….
Neither fear nor courage saves us. Unnatural vices
Are fathered by our heroism. Virtues
Are forced upon us by our impudent crimes.” — TS Eliot
A very perceptive article. There is a very perceptible heartbeat playing bass to the lead guitar of your intellectual analysis. I’m a musician, so humour me. Anyway, this is journalism at its best. Thank you Ramin. The way you write…maybe you play the dutar or setar in your spare time? Best wishes.
Ah, you are too kind… like most musicians!
I am a musician myself and play multiple instruments. Regular practice is what keeps me sane from all the politics, LOL!
No mention of the possibility/possible implications of the devil-you-do-not-know crackerjack box toy surprise becoming the 47th President within a few months of Biden’s third term, even by posters.
Ramin fails to understand that Biden, if in the remote chance he actually got elected, would be replaced by Harris over his dementia issues, then she would slip in Hillary as VP then they would swap positions.
And notice how quiet Hillary is during this election – maintaining a low profile in case anything goes wrong.
I wonder what Bernie Sanders and his people would do now if that realized that was the plan ?
Whoever wins, it is a choice been what will end up as either bad or worse.
Trump will try to turn things around but globalist criminals will obstruct him at every turn.
If Biden-Harris-Hillary won, more stagnation and other problems will ensue.
War will follow no matter what happens – domestic or external.
A Biden win with Hillary being installed may see her being removed via coup or like in 63.
What may eventually come from this is reform of both parties – the Democrats first as it is more likely Trump will win (but that reform will not be in place for a decade til 2030s after people like AOC have failed to perform in the interim) – then the Republicans later.
If Trump loses then the Republicans will have giant problems on their hands because he is the peoples grass roots choice and to try an install a establishment globalist minion like for 2024 or later will result in a split. Their last choice of that type – Mitt Romney – polled poorly. But Trump might try to run again in 2024.
Both parties will have internal disruption and split in the next 20 yrs and new parties will form.
This is because those running the establishments of each party are living in the past with their mindset and unless they both change radically then they are doomed.
Ordinary Americans wont put up with big $ interests controlling Washington for much longer. This is the flipping point election.
Congressional support is required for Harris to appoint Hillary as VP, per 25th Amndmt. So this hypothetical requires the Dems to win both the presidency and the Senate next week.
The data I have indicates the Dems winning the Senate by a bit is more likely than winning the House if they have wiins at all.
I admit that Trump’s Iran policy is stupid and irrational, but I’ve got to vote for what’s best for my country – no more destructive Covid lockdowns, no more insane BLM/Antifa riots. As you say, Biden wouldn’t be much different as far as Iran’s concerned. On the good side, the continuing sanctions should hasten the end of the US dominated financial system by forcing Iran, Russia, China, Venezuela, etc. to create your own.