The Iran-Israel conflict has served as a catalyst for renewed escalation by Western leaders, and World Warfare III can’t be dominated out
By Timur Fomenko, political analyst
The occasions of latest weeks have produced a sudden jolt in Western politics. From a lethargy that was beginning to creep into US and western discourse over the Ukraine conflict, Iran’s assault on Israel abruptly appeared to have had the impact of awakening Ronald Reagan from his grave and resulting in a surge of neo-conservativism on steroids, on each side of the Atlantic.
US Home Speaker Mike Johnson did an entire 180-degree U-turn and proclaimed himself a “Reagan Republican” passing a sequence of help payments for astronomical abroad spending that he had in any other case blocked for months, as he denounced an “axis of evil.” Together with that, a proposed TikTok ban invoice got here out of nowhere too and was shortly signed into regulation.
Then the UK determined to commit its largest ever help package deal to Ukraine, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warning of an “axis of authoritarian states” and amplifying ideologically combative rhetoric. On the identical time, it was then revealed Biden had despatched 300km lengthy vary ATACMS missiles to Ukraine regardless of having pledged not to take action for years, fearing escalation. Lastly, EU President Ursula von der Leyen has abruptly dramatically elevated financial warfare on China, pushing the European Fee to open probes on scores of Chinese language exports. The place precisely did all this come from?
It’s nearly as if the US and its allies seized upon the tensions between Iran and Israel so as to “whitewash” their slate and double down on a sequence of targets they’re in any other case dropping public assist for, together with the conflict in Ukraine, but in addition Israel’s invasion of Gaza. One has to marvel if the Israeli assault on the Iranian compound in Damascus, which provoked Tehran’s response, was intentionally staged, coordinated and deliberate for this goal. It served the mutually handy aim of letting each Prime Minister Netanyahu and Western governments off the hook for no matter opposition they’d in any other case confronted.
It needs to be abundantly clear now that the present powers that be, in London and Washington, have completely no intent of letting up on the wars they’ve provoked, whereas additionally pushing for a possible third one with China, and appear detached to the implications, even when for instance, the Israel-Gaza conflict is shattering the West’s claims of ethical superiority. In every case, the stakes are very excessive, Western international coverage at massive has taken on a really zero-sum and ideological character which bemoans the lack of hegemony, and seeks to uphold it in any respect prices. It’s reactionary to the extent it doesn’t have a imaginative and prescient for enhancing the world, however needs to take again the world to the best way it was. It’s a sense of entitlement and privilege that desires to suppress an rising multipolarity.
Due to this, it has grow to be unimaginable for Western leaders to ever take into account the idea of compromise in these respective theaters, and so they refuse beneath any circumstances to make concessions which could possibly be deemed strategic. This has produced a place the place the one consequence they’re keen to just accept in Ukraine is what they deem “the defeat of Putin,” and have been subtly escalating ever since, edging ever nearer to the purpose the place a “proxy conflict” turns into a direct one for all intents and functions. NATO army advisors are already on the bottom, and Ukrainian assaults are being guided by NATO intelligence and even coordinated by British admirals.
The media within the West, particularly in Britain (there may be extra dissent within the US) are successfully in conflict mode. The BBC amplifies continuous Ukraine propaganda, pushing any declare that can assist Kiev regardless of its empirical price or proof, and all voices of dissent have been shut down. It appears evident that the choice might have been made to danger a full-on conflict with Russia, slightly than to think about any negotiation situation. Thus, the shockwaves from the Iran-Israel saga have been used to pursue a brand new and sudden spherical of escalation on each entrance, which might have solely been bolstered by the possible elections looming in each the US and UK.
Due to this, it’s honest to say that the world faces a extra harmful and unsure outlook than at any level because the finish of World Warfare II. This present crop of Western leaders should not pursuing a extra restrained and calculated mindset, as seen for a lot of the Chilly Warfare, however an aggressive and evangelistic one that doesn’t choose stability however affirms hegemony as an absolute proper, thus extra resembling a pre-1914 world. Due to this, we should always draw the conclusion that Western leaders should not really in search of to keep away from conflict, however are ready to embrace it if mandatory. The British army institution and the media have lengthy been making noises about conscription. Within the US, if Joe Biden wins re-election, we can assume that he’ll unapologetically escalate on each single entrance. World Warfare III is now not a dramatized specter of farfetched panic, however an precise chance that shouldn’t be dominated out.
The statements, views and opinions expressed on this column are solely these of the writer and don’t essentially characterize these of RT.
