Coexistence between Sunnis and Shias must be a primary goal

By Martin Love

NORTH CAROLINA - It may seem improbable but the very key to whether the world enjoys real (and somewhat relative, if not absolute) "peace" going forward, as well as the fate of the U.S. as any kind of somewhat respected but former imperial (and absurdly imperious) power, depends on two things: the end of U.S. disrespect for international laws, most evident in the “regime change” wars, and on the fate of the Palestinians and whether they are given civil rights and released from bondage in their own country.

 Listening to honest voices, for a change, anywhere in the US will be the country's salvation and turn the U.S. in the right direction after three decades at least of what the wisest Americans could call a treasonous misdirection.

One such honest voice of late is Ilhan Omar, the first Muslim Somali-American woman of color ever in the U.S. House of Representatives. Twice in the past week, she fearlessly brought condemnation upon herself by the usual culprits (most of the corrupted U.S. Congress and Trump himself) by calling out the undue and obvious influence of the lobby group known as AIPAC on matters pertaining to the Zionists and Israel. Her comments were deemed “anti-Semitic” and in fact, they were not.

And then a couple days later she, as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, grilled Eliot Abrams, appointed to oversee the attempt at “regime change” in Venezuela. Omar publicly exposed Abrams for the responsibility he bears for actions in Central America in the 1980s that resulted in the deaths of many thousands of innocent people -- something that could easily happen in Venezuela if the U.S in some way invades directly or by proxy to install unelected Juan Guaido. (It is vaguely similar to the final installation of the Shah in Iran in the 1950s as a U.S. puppet until the Revolution, which marked a release of years of pent up anger and frustration in Iran which may have been too extreme in the years immediately following 1979, because some innocents suffered, however natural it was given the circumstances. The U.S. certainly latched on to this, and the hostage crisis, to turn Iran into an “enemy”.

In any case, this diminutive young woman, Omar, while apologizing for suggesting a so-called anti-Semitic “trope” prevalent during the Nazi era, has not substantially backed down in any respect in calling out AIPAC and other lobby influence on U.S. lawmakers. And she has gotten quite a lot of respect for doing so, at least among the best journalists and commentators. As one AIPAC staffer once said: “The lobby thrives in the dark.” But it is no longer so much in the dark.

But perhaps even more striking is the failure of the conclave in Warsaw, originally aimed at drumming up hostility to Iran and even war. Many European leaders did not attend, for one thing, and U.S. VP Mike Pence made a fool of himself there, as did Netanyahu. Regarding Pence, he sanctimoniously reprimanded major European countries for the creation of INSTEX, and made other comments which firmly suggest that Pence has nothing so much on his mind, if he has one, as the concept of Armageddon and the absurd return of “Jesus” and the “end of days”. Now it’s one thing for the Shia faithful to believe that someday the Mahdi may someday appear from occultation to institute a reign of justice and peace, but quite another to invoke an Armageddon scenario based on evangelism and the reappearance of Jesus.

But Pence went further in exhorting European signatories to the JCPOA to abandon the deal, as Trump and minions did. Pence, incredibly, accused Iran of plotting a “new Holocaust” which, if this were true, the many thousands of minority Jews in Iran would have already been extinguished. And Iran’s leaders have explained what the chants of “death to America” (or Israel) means: not the “death” of the citizens of the two countries but the end of the imperialist warmongers presence in high positions in both countries. However, the Warsaw conclave failed to keep the spotlight on Iran specifically and dissolved into an appeal for “stability” in the Middle East.

Well, who of sane mind does NOT want stability anywhere, but the word itself has just one meaning to Pence and the Trump Administration and related Neocons: Mideast countries that do nothing but the bidding of the U.S. and the Israelis. And this same faux “stability” is sought in South America: if, for example, Guaido is fully installed and Maduro goes into exile from Venezuela, no question that Cuba will be the next target, and then maybe Bolivia, and so on. But Venezuela is the key target for now because, like Iran, it has vast petroleum and other resources.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has been trying to foment a war between the Shias (namely Iran) and the Sunnis (namely Saudi Arabia) if for no other reason but that a divided Islamic world suits the predatory and hegemonic designs of the U.S. Efforts simply to divide Muslims have been prevalent for the past century at least. But people like Eliot Abrams, Trump’s point man for Venezuela, a convicted (but Bush pardoned) felon, and a Jewish Neocon (are there any of note who are not Jewish?), like many others, fail to understand the fervor and courage Iranians displayed in pushing back Saddam Hussein for six years in the 1980s. Pence has the idea that sanctions and other threats will lead to the dissolution of the Islamic Republic. This is highly unlikely.

Iran, as far as one can tell, has not been as claimed by ignoramuses like Pence and Trump a “state sponsor of terrorism” but rather a state eager to achieve co-existence with other Muslims, if only it could. THAT, in essence, implies a more or less united (if that’s not too strong a word) Islamic world. And THAT is what terrifies the Western imperialists. A reasonable coexistence between Sunnis and Shias has existed before, and the tragedy is that it apparently does not exist today, largely because of the U.S. and the Zionists.