Mr Donald Trump needs a good friend. Not an ordinary friend who tells him what he wants to hear, but one who grasps reality, shows perception, understands the human mind and is unafraid of telling Mr Donald the truth, even when the truth hurts.
Since we, very fortunately, do not yet have robots running the countries of the world, let’s just accept that an integral aspect of the quarrels between the USA and Iran and Israel and Lebanon is the involvement – indeed, power - of human beings.
Those human beings will inevitably react in a human manner to aggressive human behaviour on the other side. We have a deadlock developing, with innocent people across the world suffering because of it. The best advice that the USA leadership can receive today is: If your country is serious about finding peace with an opposing country, it should not be boasting or shouting abuse at the other country, and it should not be making threats. For goodness’s sake, it’s basic human psychology.
The leaders are the ones in the front line of defence and attack. They are human beings and are deeply offended personally, even when, as nearly always, it is their country that is being insulted and threatened. They fear denigration, even humiliation before their own people. They have political status to defend to the bitter end. It must surely affect them in the way they react and strategise for the way forward. Furthermore, if you deliver abuse and threats against a country that is deeply committed to a religious faith which actually defines that country, you are just asking for trouble. Big strategies and decisions are significantly affected. Please take Mr Donald aside and tell him that he is going entirely down the wrong path. His threats will generate hatred and that is a very dangerous emotion.
There have been some mistakes too, one of which may throw the Ceasefire out of the window. Having accepted the clearing of the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as the peace talks stalled, the USA imposed the blocking of ships at Iranian ports. Why such aggression when peace talks could be resumed to take a very difficult series of negotiations further down the line? All it did was prompt Iran to re-block the Strait of Hormuz. Now neither side is budging, a potential deadlock.
Furthermore, we now have what can only be described using that expression: ‘The double whammy’. That’s two bad things happening at the same time. Firstly, there are the abuse and threats, then joining them on centre stage are the lies. Let’s just call them ‘misinformation’. The USA claimed it had completely destroyed Iran’s military capability, that Iran was pressing the USA to start negotiations, that Iran had agreed to hand over its enriched uranium and that the war had been won by the USA.
The last claim was made several times during the conflict. All claims were denied by Iran at the time they were made. I doubt that they will ever investigate the delivery or false accusations of the alleged misinformation. All it does is raise in the public – the dispensable ‘pawns’ in the game - the rhetorical question: What the heck is going on? It gives rise to so much distrust that the global community starts to believe, albeit incorrectly, that neither country is telling the truth.
The latest example is where a US Navy destroyer on Sunday grabbed hold of an Iranian cargo ship that had challenged an American blockade of Iran’s ports, presenting a fresh threat to the fragile Ceasefire. At a moment when the prospect of peace was now disappearing into the trash-can, the USA said it was dispatching a high-level delegation, including Vice President JD Vance, to peace talks in Pakistan. The State media of Iran denied that it had even agreed to a meeting.
Another truth to tell is that, back in 2018, when Trump withdrew the USA from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran promptly drove ahead with an increased uranium enrichment programme and accelerated its missile development. President Obama had secured the JCPOA agreement in 2015 and Donald Trump’s subsequent discrediting of it has since been considered fallacious by numerous independent experts.
It may be that Donald Trump did not start this war because the USA was directly threatened by Iran. The powerful Jewish lobby in the USA has huge business interests and wants protection for its ‘other homeland,’ Israel, a country that is continuously under threat or attack by terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.
These are funded by, guess who … yes, Iran. That is not being antisemitic. I have always felt a deep sympathy for the Jewish people. Together with the descent of this world I still grieve for the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust of World War II. I’m being honest in my opinion, and it’s only a guess. Please, Mr Donald, speak words of peace towards Iran; it’s the only way forward; and make it up with the Pope.It was the first time to see an American president quarrelling with the Bishop of Rome. Societies of the world do not enjoy precedents (or presidents) like that.
Mr Donald Trump needs a good friend. Not an ordinary friend who tells him what he wants to hear, but one who grasps reality, shows perception, understands the human mind and is unafraid of telling Mr Donald the truth, even when the truth hurts.