Gulf states blamed for role in Iran war

by LUKE ZUNGA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries say they have nothing to do with the United States (US) and Israeli war on Iran.

They have; they have been facilitating it. From an African perspective, GCC countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – are equally to blame for the war on Iran and any destabilisation which followed.

From a global picture, the United States of America (USA) has imperial features similar to those of the Roman Empire, the British Empire, and Genghis Khan of the Mongol Empire, among others.

The United States’ imperial ambitions came into the picture at the end of the Second World War (WWII). The American modus operandi is to identify an enemy and create an urgency for defensive action.

In Europe, the USA identified Russia and everybody focused on defensive actions such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), American bases, essentially hooking everybody to the US.

In the Middle East, Iran was a close ally of the US when Iran supplied cheap oil to the US. That relationship ended when Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, was deposed on February 11, 1979.

The whole Middle East was then hyped that Iran is the enemy and that American bases were necessary to defend against Iran.

Saddam Hussein stood out, opposing Kuwait setting up American bases there, but was invaded and killed.

In the background was Israel, established by the US in 1948, and the question of Palestine. At the beginning, all Arab states were on the side of the Palestinians.

Over time, GCC countries stepped aside and left the matter to the US. Geographically, Iran is far away from Israel, as the map shows.

Iran chose to support groups which did not give up resistance against Israeli occupation. Then the US said Iran is supporting terrorism, furthering this message to GCC countries.

GCC countries abandoned Islamic and Arab resistance in favour of American propaganda and the attainment of economic and social linkages.

America does not buy oil from these GCC countries, but US military bases mushroomed. The Middle East has about 20 American military bases, hosting over 40,000 US soldiers, training and equipping GCC countries with the help of Israeli Mossad, while supporting and equipping Kurdish resistance groups in Iran.

The largest US base in the Middle East is at the Al Asad Air Base with 2,500 troops, some 150 kilometres from Baghdad in Iraq.

One wonders which country is the enemy to the other, as all GCC countries have US military presence.

Countries with US military forces go along with US actions as allies. The bases are used for intelligence gathering on Iran and the region.

The bases provide logistical support and defensive action. GCC countries cannot say they have nothing to do with the US attack on Iran.

They are equally involved. To reach Iran, GCC airspaces are used by the US to fly through and strike Iran.

US intelligence is operating in those countries, using hotels for meetings and basing their satellite targeting in GCC countries, while doing business with the US, making money at the expense of Iran and the Arab cause.

All governments whose economies are not growing are bad governments. The citizens are not happy. Iran and Iraq were some of them, and almost all countries in Africa have that problem.

The US places sanctions on Iran to hurt the economy further. GCC countries should have invested in Iran to solve the source of discontent there.

It is not about the leader of the country. The economy needs investments to grow, provide jobs, strengthen the currency and earn foreign currency.

GCC countries are investing over US$2 trillion in the United States, but not close by in Iran. The US is amassing war machinery in the Gulf, buying supplies from GCC countries. GCC countries never moaned the death of the Ayatollah and other leaders killed.

To kill the Ayatollah and hundreds of government officials is bad politics, one which should have enraged GCC countries.

A regime change cannot be achieved by missile strikes. There have to be ground forces to take over government. Clearly, the US will not send ground forces.

The US hopes these GCC countries will group together and attack Iran, highly unlikely but within the US vision. Otherwise, what is the real aim of the American invasion?

It cannot be nuclear weapons, which would cause nuclear radiation if bombed. There is no such nuclear spillage, meaning there are no nuclear weapons in Iran.

The Iranian response targets US assets in the region, including those in the GCC countries, as well as closing the Gulf of Hormuz.

That raises the cost of the war, including for GCC countries, and alerts the world to respond to American and Israeli aggression.

For Africa and other parts of the world, the problem is thinking that capital comes from the US and that the US is the main market.

That has proven to be wrong. There are methods of organising capital, and markets are created by increasing buying power within a country and its neighbours through economic growth.

Africa on its own is a huge market, far bigger than the US market.

For Europe, supporting this American invasion is to change their position on Russia. Only Spain has spoken out against this.

Africans must come to the conclusion that the United Nations (UN) is not for them, and most African countries are afraid of US reprisals.

– CAJ News