For the record, readers who prefer news stories or even commentary to principally focus upon events in the Prince Albert or even provincial domain, I’m afraid that I have some bad news for you: This week’s column is going to try to make sense of what’s happening in the Middle East, where the King of Nepotismia (formerly the United States of America) Donald Trump and Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, unleash a bombing Hell on the nation of Iran and its 90 million conflicted citizens.
I thought that my Jan. 10 column suggesting that Trump would rule the information world in 2026 would be all I would have to say, but I was wrong.
Now, as for the United States and Israel combining forces to begin the bombardment of Iran, let’s face reality; there isn’t a country in the world, save perhaps Russia, that wouldn’t welcome “regime change” in Iran. As ruler of this infamous theocracy, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s most fervent desire was to rid the world of the state of Israel, and towards that end has directed funding for over the past 45 years to terrorist organizations in Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere, all with the intent of inflicting major harm not only upon Israel itself, but on its most powerful defender, the United States, as well as any of its neighbouring nations seeking to align themselves with these two parties.
Iran’s leadership does not confine itself to funding terrorism by choice; rather, its police force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, is a branch of the nation’s Armed Forces and acts as a spy agency that seeks out even the most innocuous of media organizations or individuals favouring the lightening of vicious crackdowns upon individuals failing to observe and follow the more fundamentalist practices of dress, religious practice or decorum of the Twelver Shi’a Islamic faith.
As recently as a month ago, Iranian citizens were taking to the streets to demonstrate their frustration with the progress of providing reforms that would ease the overly zealous nature of the Revolutionary Guard vigorously enforcing the Supreme Ruler’s interpretation of Islamic law. The resulting crackdown, however, resulted in an estimated 50,000 or more Iranians being slaughtered by its own police force.
Interestingly enough, of those currently exiled former citizens of Iran lending their voice to the call for reform, none is more prominent than Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in 1979 by citizens opposing his ruthless rule and exploitation of power and wealth provided to the nation through its oil-based wealth stream. Although the former Shah’s son has only offered his voice to help transition the country toward a, modern, democratic, and secular state, there still exist citizens in Iran who, having been exposed to the wrong side of the Shah’s system of justice, remain wary as to the possibility of him reverting the nation back to a monarchy once the theocratic rulers are overthrown, especially if Donald Trump offers him that opportunity to rule in his father’s place.
It’s not as though we shouldn’t expect to eventually hear that Trump will want want to replace the government of Iran with something more akin to a sovereign ruler totally beholden to the United States, yet firmly supported by Israeli military might. What is sickening about this potential scenario is that the President is unperturbed that had the former Shah not been firmly entrenched in his self-centred reign of Iran by America’s own military forces, the current theocratic reign by the nation’s religious mullahs might never have happened.
What currently concerns world leaders, particularly those that now find their own nation being bombarded by Iranian missiles, is that Trump was elected by a MAGA bloc that sought relief from constant mini-wars involving “regime change” or the United States being perceived as the world’s “police force”. However, now embarking upon his third campaign of regime change expectation (Venezuela being the first, with Cuba now being under an oil embargo enforced by the U.S. Navy), Trump is showing visible signs of “enjoying” watching the unfolding of his international policy agenda giving him more credence for being a “strong” leader. Ultimately, however, what might eventually shape the end to this exchange of missiles, drones and bombs is how the westernized world might eventually perceive Trump as he transitions towards his next incarnation.
During his first presidential term, “evangelical Christians” began portraying Trump as some form of “vessel” of God and “masculine” warrior. Now, however, in what she refers to as “one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever heard come out of the Trump administration”, the Huffington Post’s legal and justice reporter Brandi Buchman claimed earlier this week (since confirmed by other media sources) that American troops are allegedly being told by military commanders that their mission in Iran is one of biblical proportions and a part of “God’s plan” as foretold in the Book of Revelation, the one book in the entire New Testament to which many religious scholars believe has NO place in being part of such Scripture.
Military commanders that would utter such nonsense in preparing their troops for battle are, at least within a secular regime, unfit to lead. Whether Trump himself or his skirt-chasing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth are encouraging such expression is irrelevant, as the actual battle is now being described as one of “the very righteous good overcoming evil” or a precursor to the start of WW-3 and an inevitable nuclear winter forthcoming as its result.
My theory is far more simplified and cynical, yet formulated upon what has come to be Trump’s principal fetish and worldly accomplishment, that being to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 when this semi-war destined to return many American soldiers home in coffins unceremoniously ends with Iran’s citizens still not having any right to play a role in the future of their nation.
Ken MacDougall is a retired teacher and former federal NDP candidate. His column appears every Saturday.
