Pnewsology

This has been a scary week dominated by the US / Israel attack on Iran with endless images of bombs falling and people dying.  This started with the killing of the Iranian leader and his family. They quickly announced his successor.

As I write, US / Israel have bombed a girl’s school in Iran and killed over 160 children and staff.  They have sunk an Iranian warship with was undergoing a drill off the coast of India thousands of miles away from Iran, killing most of the soldiers on board.  Over 1000 civilians have been killed in Iran and ground forces have entered Lebanon.  Bombs have also landed in Beirut killing civilians and so far over 300,000 people have been displaced.  In retaliation, Iran have been launching rockets and drones at Israel and have targeted the military bases of the allies of US / Israel in all the surrounding areas of the Middle East including Bahrain, The Emirates and Saudi Arabia.  This has killed 6 US soldiers and 12 Israeli citizens.  Trump has now demanded that Iran surrenders and that the US and Israel choose the next leader.

This is all horrible and regardless of Iran being a repressive and scary regimen it is dreadful to watch the Iranian people (and those living anywhere nearby) paying such a heavy price.

BUT what I’ve been so interested in is the language used to describe it all.

Trump called his war ‘Epic Fury’ and Israel chose ‘Roaring Lion’.  They said the sinking of the Iranian ship was a ‘quiet death’ and although it seems to have been unarmed its clear they want us to see it as a ‘warship’. Hegseth even calls soldiers his ‘war fighters’. It’s like a bunch of schoolboys playing in the garden with water pistols rather than men with the world’s biggest weapons.  Do they know the reality of what they are doing or do they think it’s just make-believe?

We have justifications varying from dismantling Iran’s nuclear weapons to having a regimen change with terms such as pre-emptive strike, defensive, existential threat, untenable threat and the right to self-defence being liberally scattered throughout speeches and interviews.  I guess one of these must stick and make them feel the war is legitimate? But how can they want to get rid of nuclear weapons given that they claimed they had already done this when they last attacked? And do they not know their history of the many attempts to change a regimen with bombs? Obviously not or they don’t care.  And the US government have now given them unlimited power to do what they want.

And then there’s the language surrounding Keir Starmer’s response.  He’s been called ‘scared’, ‘weak’, ‘shocking’ and described as ‘no Winston Churchill’ with his opponents being disappointed in him as he’s ‘not taking offensive action’.  Apparently, he should be jumping to help Trump regardless of the legality of the war to do Trump’s bidding.  And this is the call of those who voted for our right to ‘sovereignty’ and to self-govern without the input of the EU.  But the input of the US is all just fine!

I turn 60 next week and have now lived through the Vietnam war, The Falkland’s War, 2 Gulf wars and the war in Bosnia as well as many atrocities including the genocide in Gaza.  I have watched real footage on the news and many documentaries and films full of the horrors of war but I have never been in a war and have seen it all through someone else’s camera lens.  But not one bit of me has become immune to what war means.  So why are we being subjected to war mongering language which seems to either play down the death or play up the chance of success?  Do they not know what is happening on the ground? Can’t they imagine the suffering behind every explosion, every ball of smoke and every grave? And don’t they know their history? My bucket list includes ‘go inter railing round Europe’, ‘become a grandparent’ and ‘drink good coffee with my family and friends’.  The bucket list of the old men now in charge seems to be start WW111 and cause as much misery as possible.  This week I am struggling to understand anything!