Imperial (mis)Adventures in Asia

A news review of recent events

Published: 2025-04-08

Updated 2025-04-09: Sources added, notably Escobar’s most recent article presenting his view of the Moscow meeting of diplomats from Russia, China and Iran. Other sources concerned the admissions of war crimes in Gaza by Israeli soldiers and documentation of them by the U.N.

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A sweep across recent news provides no calm though perhaps less alarm than news publishers enjoy creating. The current context is a heads of state meeting in the White House between Israel and the US, and a high level diplomatic meeting in Moscow between Russia, Iran and China.

Religiously justified colonial expansion and genocide

Crooke estimates that between 2 and 3 of the 7 million Jewish Israeli citizens are indoctrinated into the biblical, religious foundation for the Greater (Ersatz) Israel project. With the approval of a deity, Zionist Jews accept on faith that all who stand opposed to their colonial project between the Nile and Euphrates rivers are 'Amalek'. The Zionists are unlimited by morality in methods used, murdering mothers and children and livestock, to eradicate the Amalek and so realise Greater Israel. The world now has 548 days of evidence for this heinous approach to this illegal and immoral project, demonstrated in Gaza.

The last of the "seven countries in five years", outlined to US Gen. Clarke just after the 9/11 crimes and related to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!, is Iran. The Israeli territory of the US empire is now applying for further assistance in the destruction of this major obstacle to its regional, colonial dominance.

Persia

On February 5th, 2025, but a fortnight into his second term US President Trump signed NSPM-2, a National Security Presidential Memorandum, and issued a press release for it. NSPM-2 commands the cabinet to apply, as the media refer to the memorandum, "maximum pressure" on Iran. Within the document are listed the US government's demands (non-military attacks) on Iran. These amount to financial and security destruction, though the headline item of "preventing a nuclear weapon" is the only element commented upon in US corporate media.

NSPM-2 demands of Iran, that it:

• lose all medium (and longer) range missile capacity (and supposedly drones too) in perpetuity

• is unable to work with regional political organisations (“partners” for the US regime, but “terrorists” in NSPM-2 speak)

• has no export income (via petrochemical or other industries)

The US is demanding that Iran become a state with no security, no external relations and no external income — a neutered vassal. Obviously, these are wholly unacceptable to any nation state. The US and Israel are attempting two methods of differing severity to achieve some of the humiliation specified in NSPM-2.

First, understand that the "nuclear weapons" issue is a smoke screen. Larry Johnson helpfully provided the analysis by which this can be understood. The January 17th, 2025, Strategic Partnership agreement between Iran and Russia states that the two parties will cooperate in Nuclear Non-Proliferation. This implies that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons. Russia wishes from Iran that it supports the defense of Russia's southern borders in the Caucasus and central Asia. It does not want Iran to become a nuclear state. Indeed, given Iran's technological advances in missilery and drones, it does not need nuclear weapons. Iran has benefited from Russia's provision of its world leading missile defense systems, a topic to which we shall return.

The recently released US annual threat assessment also blew through the smoke screen, re-affirming their 2007 assessment that Iran is not engaged in a process to build a nuclear weapon.

Back to the BRI

Iran and Russia's parallel interest is the development of the International North-South Trade Corridor (INSTC), in collaboration with China, a project on which Pepe Escobar (and this newsletter) has been reporting for years. It will divert a considerable amount of trade from the Red Sea/Suez Canal to Chabahar, through Iran, over the Caspian Sea and directly into Russia. It will also benefit (by reducing the cost of imports and exports) neighbouring states in the Caucus and central Asia and reduce Russia's reliance on the Black Sea/Bosporus route. The INSTC is a fundamental component of the the Russian/Iranian side of the Chinese/SCO led Asian trade integration project known as the BRI, which was started over a decade ago.

[A comparison between the Suez and INSTC routes.]

In Trump's NSPM-2, the Chabahar port enhancement is specifically targeted:

(b) The Secretary of State shall:

(i) modify or rescind sanctions waivers, particularly those that provide Iran any degree of economic or financial relief, including those related to Iran’s Chabahar port project;

[NSPM-2]

Threatening Iran

The dual track threats which the US and Israel are issuing to Iran are:

1. a limited war via a broad decapitation strike

2. the triggering of the snapback global economic sanctions contained in the JCPOA agreement. Note: Approval is not required by the U.N. Security Council, and thus there is no possibility for a veto. The deadline is approximately 30 days before the JCPOA expires in October, 2025, due to submission and confirmation mechanics.

1 — War

A full-blown war against Iran, involving ground forces, is an economic and military disaster for the West and Israel. This is known to all military planners.

It is being discussed on talk shows because alarmist rhetoric sells.

[The Vali-e-Asr Mosque in Tehran]

The illegal and immoral military concept being promoted by US and Israeli Zionists is an assassination of the political, religious and military leadership of Iran. The concept does not involve the destruction of Iran's petrochemical industrial assets. It is a regime change operation, such that the US/Israel partnership gains control of the industrial production via a controlled, installed Iranian government. From the Zionist angle, this will achieve opportunity for progress on all of the objectives contained in NSPM-2. From the US perspective, it will also allow the Iranian supply of approximately 25% of China's energy imports to be diverted elsewhere, weakening China. This is the "confluence of interests" which motivates the military murder operation.

The operation contains two phases. First, destroy Iran's anti-air missile capabilities. Second, assassinate the Iranian leadership.

Countering this insanity are the 6 months since the failed, combined Israeli-US attack on Iran in October, 2024. During this period Iran has had Russia's assistance strengthening the Iranian air defense systems which caused Israel's airforce to bug out of the failed attack. On top of that are whatever 5th generation fighter jets Russia has "loaned" to Iran. Russia is almost certainly training Iranian pilots in these jets as this may generate income from its aviation defense industry. On top of this, Russia, China and Iran have been collaborating in joint naval exercises in the Arabian Sea for 6 years.

Just recently, Russia has been demonstrating to NATO (France in particular) some of its anti-air electronic warfare (EW) capability in the Baltic Sea.

Larry Johnson republished a report of recent, repeated, Russian EW attacks on both French fighter jets and NATO naval vessels in the Baltic Sea off Russia's Kalingrad territory. The fighter jets reportedly did not have their satellite based navigation systems "blinded", but fried. They withdrew from the area and were forced to use visual navigation (landmarks) to return to land. This looks very much like a warning beyond NATO to the US and Israel as to the challenges they may face if they attempt an air based military assassination campaign in Iran.

Given these significant challenges, the second track of the dual threat from the US and Israel is far less risky and thus more promising.

2 — Global Sanctions

As the US is no longer (and Israel never was) a signatory to the JCPOA agreement, the triggering of the "snapback" sanctions must come from the remaining partners. One can immediately remove Iran, Russia and China from the parties to initiate this. One is left Britain and France (as the other two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council), and Germany. One can, therefore, expect clandestine, diplomatic trading between these three states and the US and Israel to trigger the process.

Trump's recent global tariffs announcement creates a field for the diplomatic trading with the three European "partners", one of which US/Israel requires.

Surveying Southwest Asia

[Destruction caused by Israeli bombing of Jabalia camp, Gaza Strip, October 2024. (UNRWA/Wikimedia Commons), the title image to Craig Murray’s “This Hell”.]

On day 547 of the genocide, being executed via a war by Israel's military, verified reports of the murder of children and medics continued to be published at Antiwar. The Middle East Eye's (MEE) publishing of the cell phone recording of one emergency responder captured the year and a half of torment.

The emergency worker, coming to the aid of his fellow Palestinian civilians, can be heard reciting from the Qur'an in Arabic, with on-screen translation into English provided by MEE, as routine Israeli gunfire can be heard murdering his unarmed colleagues. This was multiple, text-book war crimes. Israeli soldiers have been confessing to similiar crimes, and continue to do so.

In Washington D.C., the Trump administration said that Hamas was 'entirely responsible' for those Israeli murders of healthcare workers. If funding and arming war crimes, what more is a lie?

While Zionist emotional manipulative propaganda of rape accusation have been exposed as lies, the UN has documented exhaustive evidence that sexual abuse and torture of Palestinians is not only rife, but is effectively approved. This is horror is one aspect of the Zionist apartheid state of Israel.

In occupied southern Lebanon, Israel's military continued the destruction of property and the murder of civilians long after the US brokered "ceasefire" which, like other named pauses, the Israeli military never honored.

Following the Signal-gate fiasco, the US restart of its illegal war with Yemen's Ansar Allah has been as ineffective as predicted. The cost of killing civilians, destroying residential housing, port facilities and water purification stations has neared $1 billion US dollars in the 3 weeks since March 15th. Given the new Trump-VAT tax on US citizens to balance their government's budget, US voters will hopefully soon begin to protest the immoral and wasteful use of their taxes.

In Syria, Turkey (a NATO ally) and Israel are discussing establishing a "deconfliction [hot]line" to inform each other of their annexation of swaths of the jihadist ruled state and by so doing reduce the chances of killing each other, rather than the Syrians. This is the definition of annexation and colonization. The Gulf Monarchies are standing idly by while a former neighbour state is carved up by the Jewish Zionists and neo-Ottoman Sultan Erdogan.

The Turkish leader recently arrested a potential political rival, the mayor of Istanbul. The Israeli leader, having fired the head of Israel's internal security organisation (Shin Bet), is still being prosecuted for bribery by foreign (Qatari) officials.

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Sources

'Break-a-Leg' (that old Mafia warning); Alastair Crooke; The Unz Review; 2025-04-07

Russia–Iran–China: All for one, and one for all?; Pepe Escobar; The Unz Review; 2025-04-08

Iran Prepping for Negotiations with the US; Russia and China Have Iran's Back; (Larry Johnson) Sonar21; Archive.today; 2025-04-09

This Hell; Craig Murray; Consortium News; 2025-04-08

Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Restores Maximum Pressure on Iran; US Executive Government; The White House; 2025-02-05

National Security Presidential Memorandum [NSPM-2]; US Executive Government; The White House; 2025-02-05

NATO Playing with Fire in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea; Sonar21; Archive.today; 2025-04-06

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action; The Diplomatic Service of the European Union; EU; 2015-07-14

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Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action; Wikipedia

Israeli Troops Blow Whistle on War Crimes in Gaza 'Kill Zone'; Brett Wilkins; Scheerpost; 2025-04-08

UN Exposes Systematic Israeli Rape of Palestinians; Kit Klarenberg; Scheerpost; 2025-04-08

Middle East Eye Obtains Full Video of Israeli Attacks on Gaza Medics; MEE; Scheerpost; 2025-04-06

Red Crescent Worker Who Survived Israeli Massacre Recounts Horror; Ryan Grim; Drop Site News; 2025-04-04

'Point-Blank': Israeli Soldiers Execute 15 Gaza Medics & Rescue Workers, Bury in Unmarked Mass Grave; Democracy Now!; Scheerpost; 2025-04-08

Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill 43 More Palestinians, Including Many Children; Dave DeCamp; Antiwar; 2025-04-06

Turkey Reinforces Syrian Air Base After Recent Israeli Attack; Jason Ditz; Antiwar; 2025-04-07

Israel Continues South Lebanon Strikes as US Urges Lebanon to Do Something About Hezbollah; Jason Ditz; Antiwar; 2025-04-07

White House Says Hamas 'Entirely Responsible' for Israeli Execution of Palestinian Medics; Dave DeCamp; Antiwar; 2025-04-07

Cost of US military offensive against Houthis nears $1 billion with limited impact; CNN Politics; Archive.today; 2025-04-04

Turkey's opposition vows to sustain protests over jailing of Erdogan's main rival; Reuters; Archive.today; 2025-04-07

Israel v Iran: Zionist Strategic and Operational Failure; YesXorNo; 2024-10-29

Israel Attacks Iran; YesXorNo; 2024-10-26

Signal: Best in Class Secure Messaging; YesXorNo; 2025-03-24

The Trump-VAT: Deficits and Deceits; YesXorNo; 2025-04-06

Larry C. Johnson: War Imminent? Iran Prepares as US Navy Exposed by Yemen Offensive; Alkhorshid interviews Johnson; Dialogue Works; 2025-04-07

Alastair Crooke: Trump Demands the Impossible from Iran.; Napolitano interviews Crooke; Judging Freedom; 2025-04-07

Col. Larry Wilkerson: Think the U.S. can beat Iran? Yemen just crushed that illusion; Alkhorshid interviews Wilkerson; Dialogue Works; 2025-04-08

AMB. Charles Freeman : Donald and Bibi Need a War; Napolitano interviews Freeman; Judging Freedom; 2025-04-08

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