Lendman: Open letter to Putin; plus Trump wantonly breaks Iran deal

In a nation apparently ruled by idiots, criminals and downright sociopaths, not to mention permeated with insidious Zionist Neocons, and with a public that can often be cataloged as "insouciant", oblivious and morally unresponsive to the outrages being committed in their name, thoughtful progressives are frequently pushed to despair. It is therefore not surprising that noted news analysts and commentators of the anti-establishment and anti-imperialist left such as Stephen Lendman and Paul Craig Roberts, among others, have chosen to sit down and vent off some of their frustration by writing open letters to political figures such as Vladimir Putin, a statesman they respect. 

An Open Letter to Vladimir Putin

by Stephen Lendman / Dateline: May 9, 2018

You have detailed intelligence I’m not privy to. You surely know the threat my country poses to yours, many others, and world peace – Trump’s disgraceful JCPOA withdrawal and reimposition of nuclear-related sanctions the latest example.

I’ve explained many times that Washington wants all sovereign independent governments replaced by pro-Western ones, wars of aggression and color revolutions its favored strategies – Russia, China and Iran its key targets for regime change.

America has been hostile to your country since the 1917 revolution – with brief periods of better relations, followed by resumed hostility.

I know my country’s history from inception, a deplorable record of belligerence and betrayal – waging endless wars of aggression, consistently and repeatedly breaching treaties, conventions and other deals agreed on.  It can never be trusted. How abysmally it’s treated your country in the post-Soviet period alone is clear proof of its ill intentions.

It’s hostile to you personally for championing world peace and stability, wanting cooperative relations with all other nations, respecting rule of law principles, and advocating multi-world polarity. Democracy in America is pure fantasy. None whatever exists, an anathema notion from the nation’s founding, rejecting it at home and abroad.

US aims under Republicans and what I call undemocratic Dems pursue goals opposite yours. They want you replaced with pro-Western puppet rule, Washington gaining another imperial trophy. Conflict in Syria was launched by Obama for regime change. There’s nothing civil about what’s going on.  Trump escalated what his predecessor began, wanting Iran isolated ahead of something similar against its government – using ISIS and other terrorists as imperial foot soldiers, supporting the scourge it pretends to oppose. Washington considers Russia its mortal enemy, not your “partner” politically, economically or militarily.

Patience isn’t always a virtue – never in dealing with a hegemon seeking unchallenged global dominance, wanting planet earth carved up for profit, people everywhere exploited, sovereign states turned into vassal ones. I once said Putin’s Russia is back, proud and re-assertive, not about to roll over for Washington.

I strongly support your September 2015 intervention in Syria at the behest of Assad to combat terrorism.

Yet today, US forces control about one-third of Syrian territory, according to its UN envoy Bashar al-Jaafari, a distinguished figure I respect greatly. I feel the same way about you – but extremely dismayed. Despite combating terrorism in Syria, twice you reduced Russia’s minimal force in the country unwisely, believing war on ISIS was won – clearly not nor against other US-supported terrorists in the country.

Al-Nusra and likeminded groups remain resilient, ISIS weakened but not defeated. US and other foreign-supplied weapons, training and funding support them. Geneva, Astana and Sochi conflict resolution talks achieved no significant breakthroughs because Washington and its imperial partners want endless war and regime change, not peace and stability.

Passivity in the face of its aggression encourages more of it. Failure to supply Syria with S-300 air defense systems left it vulnerable to repeated attacks – in my judgment heading for something much more serious than already.  The only effective way to deal with US, Israeli and allied aggression is by confronting it forcefully – something you haven’t done, encouraging escalation, I believe things likely heading for full-scale war you haven’t tried to prevent, relying on failed diplomacy.

I’ve explained confronting Washington forcefully is high-risk. Failure to do it, I believe, is higher risk.

Appeasement doesn’t work with hegemons – not with Hitler ahead of WW II or bipartisan extremists in Washington now, their actions risking unthinkable nuclear war if not confronted and stopped.

I urge you to reconsider your current strategy in dealing with Washington. It surrounded Russia with hostile military bases, imposed countless illegal sanctions on numerous individuals and entities.

Your government was falsely accused of “aggression” in Ukraine, “annexing” Crimea, involvement in downing MH-17, meddling in America’s electoral process, interfering in European and upcoming Mexican elections, Brexit, mass doping athletes, mischief-making Russian trolls and bots, cyberwar, sabotage, hybrid warfare, the Skripal incident and more – endless US hostility, including vicious propaganda proliferated by government officials and supportive servile media.

Failure to forcefully confront US rage for dominance encourages escalated belligerence. Appeasing or inattention to hegemonic Washington risks something far more serious ahead than already.

In the interest of world peace and stability, I strongly urge you to challenge US aggression in Syria to prevent having to defend your homeland against it. You understand all of the above far better than I do. I wish you’d pursue a course I believe is most effective in dealing with hegemonic Washington and its warmaking partners.

Challenging their imperial agenda forcefully is the only language they understand, the only effective strategy. Years of diplomacy accomplished nothing.  Nor will it ahead with Washington. Continuing what hasn’t worked is defeatism. I hope henceforth you’ll go a different way.

Trump Withdraws from Iran Nuclear Deal

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)

There’s nothing “horrible” about the JCPOA deal, plenty awful about Trump pulling out. His deplorable action came as expected – added proof that Washington can never be trusted.  Dealing with whatever regime is in power is hazardous, a lesson learned repeatedly over time, Tuesday the latest example – a day that will live in infamy like many others in US history.

World geopolitical conditions are now more precarious and hazardous than before – more unstable, risking US-led naked aggression against Iran, depending on how events unfold. Trump’s withdrawal had nothing to do with “prevent(ing) an Iranian nuclear bomb,” as he falsely claimed – everything to do with escalating political and economic war on the Islamic Republic by reimposing nuclear-related sanctions, new ones to come, notably targeting its energy, petrochemical and financial sectors.

Trump lied saying the JCPOA “allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium and over time reach the brink of a nuclear breakout.” 

He lied again claiming “we have definitive proof that this Iranian promise was a lie.” 

In its annual assessments of Iran, Washington’s intelligence community cites no evidence of a military component in Tehran’s nuclear program – or anything suggest it seeks one. Ten IAEA inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities affirmed full JCPOA compliance, the Islamic Republic fully cooperative with agency monitors. US and Israeli accusations about the deal giving Iran billions of dollars for terrorist related activities is a bald-faced lie.

So was Trump saying withdrawal protects America from a bad deal. Just the opposite is true. 

So-called “malign” Iranian behavior refers to helping Assad combat US-supported terrorists in Syria, along with its diplomatic relations with predominantly Shia Iraq, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and other regional governments – legitimate behavior, nothing “malign” about it.

Trump saying he’ll impose the highest level of sanctions on Iran is bad news for world peace and stability if EU nations and their enterprises observe them.

P5+1 nations vowing to stick with the JCPOA despite Trump’s withdrawal is meaningless unless they publicly reject new US sanctions on Iran, refusing to observe them, along with enterprises in their countries continuing normal business activities with the Islamic Republic.

The same goes for at least most other key nations in Europe and the world community – what’s highly unlikely to happen.

Rejecting Trump’s action and others to come against Iran is the only way to neutralize illegal US sanctions, rendering them ineffective, maintaining the JCPOA as an international treaty.

Following Trump’s Tuesday announcement, Britain, France, Germany, and EU political chief Mogherini expressed strong support for the JCPOA, saying nothing about refusing to observe new US sanctions surely coming.

What’s most important they’ve been silent on so far, appearing to want things both ways – sticking with the JCPOA while letting Washington kill it by signaling likely compliance with reimposed US nuclear related sanctions and more surely to come by the Trump administration and Congress.

The lesson for Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, other sovereign independent nations, and rest of the world community is clear.

Dealing with Washington diplomatically is fruitless, counterproductive, and hazardous to nations pursuing this course with a nation bent on world conquest and dominance – wars of aggression, color revolutions, political assassinations, and double-dealing its favored strategies.

Trump is the latest in a long line of US leaders pursuing its destructive imperial agenda – begun during the earliest days of the republic, continuing today with super-weapons in the hands of warlords willing to use them against any nation challenging its hegemonic aims.

Today is the 73rd anniversary of Soviet Russia’s Great Patriotic War triumph over Nazi Germany – over 25 million of its soldiers and civilians lost in the epic struggle.

Another global war could doom us all, things ominously heading in this direction if forceful enough action isn’t taken to prevent it.

Trump’s disgraceful JCPOA withdrawal represents a shot across the bow for what’s likely to come – a threat to world peace too great to ignore.

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