As of this writing, we’ve entered the fourth day of an illegal war that has swept a dozen nations into its inferno. What is apparent is that this is an imperialist and hegemonic war in which the U.S., Israel, and Saudi Arabia have competing but complementary interests in rendering Iran as close to a failed state as possible.

Who is whose proxy is debatable: the Saudis, though annoyed with Israel’s adventurism, are quite happy to see Israel expend its resources (as well as those of the U.S.) on punishing Iran. For Israel, this is an opportunity to further the quest for a Greater Israel, securing not only Gaza and the West Bank but parts of Syria, Lebanon, and beyond. For the U..S, it is part of the long colonialist desire to control resources, particularly oil, by keeping all regional states fractious and fragmented.

But also there are domestic reasons for this war, coming when it has. It is evident that President Trump’s regime is at the verge of collapse. Trump’s policies, such as his capricious use of tariffs to bully, are ruinous. His regime of abduction, detention, and deportation by ICE are deemed reprehensible by most folks in the U.S. And the broader economic issues — such as tax breaks for the most wealthy, the implosion of Social Security and Medicare trusts (both projected to be insolvent within 15 years according to the CBO, and the divergence between wages and the cost of living — have made clear that the regime has no interest in our well-being.

Domestically, this war is designed as a distraction. Like all this century’s overseas military adventures by the U.S., there was little thought given to what happens after the bombing ends. To wage a war for the sake of distraction does not need to consider the aftermath. And........

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