( Four minute read)

The U.S. is in danger of slow-walking itself into a war with Iran.

ONE WOULD THINK:  THAT AFTER THE RECENT US INVOLVEMENT IN DISASTROUS WARS, THAT IT AND ALL OF US, WOULD LEARN THAT MILARTY DETERRENCES DON’T WORK.

Since Biden refuses to pressure Israel to stop its bombardment of Gaza and accept a ceasefire, he is escalating the US confrontation with the Houthis.

Biden and his administration are practically sleepwalking the US into another war.

In the process, Biden risks entangling the US in another open-ended conflict, which is likely to expand by accident or miscalculation, rather than by design.

Either way, it threatens to prolong the forever war.

With persistent support of Israel, the Biden administration has alienated its allies in the Arab world and is now a heartbeat or an election result away from another war that it will lose.

The Gaza invasion has already spilled into clashes in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and the Red Sea.

They all require serious effort and inevitable trade-offs.

Why

Because it’s nearly impossible to dislodge an Indigenous insurgent movement without a huge commitment of ground troops.

Because today’s U.S. military is not designed to fight wars against two major rivals simultaneously.

This isn’t because the United States is in decline.

It’s because unlike the United States, which needs to be strong in all three of these places, each of its adversaries—China, Russia, and Iran—only has to be strong in its own home region to achieve its objectives.

Because in past conflicts, it was always able to outproduce its opponents. That’s no longer the case:

Because in past conflicts, it could easily outspend adversaries. That’s no longer the case:

All of that pales alongside the human costs that the United States could suffer in a global conflict.

In the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan, the United States would be hard-pressed to rebuff the attack while keeping up the flow of support to Ukraine and Israel.

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The US administration has multiple options to lean on the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

It could threaten to withhold billions of dollars in military aid, which allow Israel to continue its assault, or it could stop using Washington’s veto power on the UN security council to quash resolutions calling for a ceasefire.

The Houthis are portraying themselves as one of the few forces in the Middle East willing to stand against Israel and its western allies in defence of the Palestinian cause. Aside from the Houthis and Hamas, the alliance also includes several Shia militias in Iraq and Syria, and the powerful Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

True global leadership at this moment means de-escalation and forging visions for a just future for all.

Without demanding a ceasefire in the immediate future, the putative US/UK commitment’s to peace rings hollow and feels more like it’s been overshadowed by their own and very real addictions to war.,

Any sane person would hear this.

Do most Americans realize how steeped in violence their country is?

A country beholden to its own violence’s is not limited to mass murderers.

How many of us have read the Creed of a United States Marine? “My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life,” it states, along with “my rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless.”

Maybe this makes sense as part of military indoctrination but, let’s face it, culturally, we are all expected to buy into this idea, and with interest.

The truth of the matter is that the US make a lot of war.

Military conflicts make up perhaps 93% of its history. Roughly a quarter of the country has lived only in a time of war. And within that history, American weapons are an industry, a mythology and identity simultaneously.

Why do they call armed, military helicopters “Apache” helicopters for goodness’ sake?

When will the US face the fact that it is a country baked in its own violence, much of it racist in intent and effect?  That reflects its own genocidal and racist past. If they were to be honest they would see that this dark heart of violence is not simply a partisan issue but is a much longer and more intimate part of its our own national tragedy.