Justified Rage Against the Machine

 

The new attack on Iran by the U.S. and Israel is about as depressing as anything I have seen in a while.

 European academic Jason Hickel sums it up well.

 

“Bombing Iran in the middle of negotiations, while starving Cuba, while genociding Palestinians, while threatening to invade Greenland… the U.S. and Israel are the single greatest threat to humanity — and it’s not even close. We are all forced to live in the nightmare they create.” https://x.com/jasonhickel

 

So much for international law, by the way. It was a great idea, following the destructiveness of World War II. But a few countries – mainly the US – have emerged too powerful to be held to account by any international court or rule-making body, and their leadership too psychopathic to care.

Caitlin Johnstone’s Statement

The article pasted below, by the Australian blogger Caitlin Johnstone, reflects, I think, how a lot of us feel right now. I freely admit that it has some big flaws. The tone is shrill, for example. If it were written in the same tone but arguing in favor of U.S./Israel aggression, I would hate it. 

It also uses language that many would say defeats its purpose. That would be true if the purpose was to persuade the reader to adopt a point of view. But I think Johnstone’s purpose here is not mainly to persuade. It is to honestly express the deeply felt and very justified anger and sorrow she feels in light of the continuing war crimes by the empire she lives in.

And so I freely admit that, as flawed as the piece might be as a persuasive argument, I for one find it very relatable.

Anyway, here it is, in full, copied from https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/03/01/fuck-everyone-who-made-this-war-possible/ :

 

 

Fuck The Western Empire, by Caitlin Johnstone

The US and Israel have launched their long-planned attack on Iran. President Trump said in a speech that the US military is engaged in “major combat operations” intended to cripple Iran’s military and topple the Iranian government. Iran has reportedly been retaliating with missile strikes on Israel and US military bases in the region.

This is going to get ugly, folks.

I don’t even know what to write about this one, honestly.

What am I supposed to say? “Hey everybody, they’re lying to us about this war”? Everyone already knows that. Even the people who support this war know all the justifications for it are lies.

They know Iran isn’t building nukes.

They know Iran poses no threat to the United States.

They know all that bullshit about Iran cutting out women’s wombs and murdering tens of thousands of protesters was evidence-free atrocity propaganda.

Nobody needs me to tell them these things. Nobody needs me to tell them that this war is going to kill a whole lot of innocent people and inflict unfathomable amounts of suffering upon our species, both directly during these attacks and indirectly in the chaos and instability ensuing thereafter. Everyone already knows this.

Everyone already knows this, and it’s happening anyway. They’re just doing whatever evil things they want to do, without the slightest regard for public opinion or consent.

They’re just going right ahead with a military operation to topple Tehran, after decades of inertia for fear of the horrific consequences it would unleash.

They’re just choking off Cuba using siege warfare, which previous presidents refused to do because it would be a monstrous act of war.

They just kidnapped the president of a sovereign nation, which previous administrations had refused to do because it’s plainly against international law.

They just helped Israel turn Gaza into a gravel parking lot and are now building a giant dystopian tech surveillance encampment to imprison the survivors.

They just designated an American company a “supply chain risk to national security” for the first time ever because the AI firm Anthropic refused to let the Pentagon use its technology to operate autonomous killing machines and surveil American citizens — an open admission that the Pentagon plans on using AI to run autonomous killing machines and surveil American citizens.

There’s an old Frank Zappa quote that’s been popping into my head more and more lately:

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”

We’re seeing a lot more bricks these days.

That’s all I can think to say about all this.

Fuck the USA.

Fuck Israel.

Fuck Trump.

Fuck Netanyahu.

Fuck Zionism.

Fuck Trump supporters.

Fuck the Republican Party.

Fuck the Democratic Party.

Fuck war.

Fuck everyone who helped make this war possible.

Fuck the western press.

Fuck warmongering think tanks.

Fuck the Israel lobby.

Fuck the military-industrial complex.

Fuck the western intelligence cartel.

Fuck the western empire.

I hate everyone who inflicted this nightmare upon my species. If you stand by this senseless US-Israeli act of depravity, then I consider you an enemy. And I will never stop reminding everyone of the psychotic agenda you supported.

You own this. This is on you. It’s on you forever.

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