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Chomsky Says New Cold War, Not Hot War With Iran
Comment by Larry Ross, July 31, 2007
I hope Chomsky is right but I think he hasn't mentioned some of the other reasons Bush may proceed with plans for a pre-emptive nuclear attack on Iran. In summary, these are:
- The religious factor in Bush's fundamentalist thinking, and pressures from both 'End Timers" keen for a nuclear Armageddon and 'Rapture' to heaven. A nuclear war is not something to be avoided, but welcomed as a fulfilment of God's plan for a final battle between good and evil.
- The neocon plan for global domination includes destroying Iran. Led by Cheney, they are constantly pressuring for a war with Iran.
- Israeli pressures for war on Iran.
- Bush's choice is leaving the Whitehouse in disgrace over an unresolved Iraq quagmire, versus achieving hero status if he stages a 'false flag', blames Iran, starts a war, declares Martial law and a dictatorship with continued rule. Bush believes Americans can be fooled again, and he can count on the media to repeat his new 'false flag' lies blaming Iran for a terrorist attack.
However Chomsky's analysis is brilliant and informative. I hope he is right. Some of the comments following his article, and other articles on our website reflect my reservations. Chomsky mentions the large majority of people in the US and elsewhere who are against such a war. But if anything distinguishes Bush, it is his propensity to ignore public and world opinion, particularly once he has set his mind on war. Also he may be following a 'false flag' hidden agenda he hopes will transform his image and boost his popularity. After all, as he believes God is on his side, and he is working for God. Why then, should he worry about the opinions of others?
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Chomsky: There Will Be a Cold War Between Iran and the U.S.
By Noam Chomsky, City Lights, July 30, 2007
The following is an excerpt from Noam Chomsky's new book Interventions published by City Lights Books. The excerpt first appeared in Z Magazine.
In the energy-rich Middle East, only two countries have failed to subordinate themselves to Washington's basic demands: Iran and Syria. Accordingly both are enemies, Iran by far the more important.
As was the norm during the Cold War, resort to violence is regularly justified as a reaction to the malign influence of the main enemy, often on the flimsiest of pretexts. Unsurprisingly, as Bush send s more troops to Iraq, tales surface of Iranian interference in the internal affairs of Iraq -- a country otherwise free from any foreign interference, on the tacit assumption that Washington rules the world.
In the Cold War-like mentality that prevails in Washington, Tehran is portrayed as the pinnacle in the so-called Shiite Crescent that stretches from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon, through Shiite southern Iraq and Syria. And again unsurprisingly, the "surge" in Iraq and escalation of threats and accusations against Iran is accompanied by grudging willingness to attend a conference of regional powers, with the agenda limited to Iraq-more narrowly, to attaining U.S. goals in Iraq.
Presumably this minimal gesture toward diplomacy is intended to allay the growing fears and anger elicited by Washington's heightened aggressiveness, with forces deployed in position to attack Iran and regular provocations and threats.
For the United States, the primary issue in the Middle East has been and remains effective control of its unparalleled energy resources. Access is a secondary matter. Once the oil is on the seas it goes anywhere. Control is understood to be an instrument of global dominance.
Iranian influence in the "crescent" challenges U.S. control. By an accident of geography, the world's major oil resources are in largely Shiite areas of the Middle East: southern Iraq, adjacent regions of Saudi Arabia and Iran, with some of the major reserves of natural gas as well. Washington's worst nightmare would be a loose Shiite alliance controlling most of the world's oil and independent of the United States.
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