No Right to Peace

Ksenia Muratshina, New Eastern Outlook

We are seeing a new large-scale war. What lessons does the global majority need to learn from what happened between the USA and Iran?

Getting used to the impossible

Whatever people may say, every “hot” war is still a shock for modern humanity. One cannot get used to it; it is impossible. Unthinkable. It doesn’t become mundane, it isn’t forgotten, and it leaves an impression on one’s memory. In Russia, the wounds of the Afghan generation (those who fought against the destructive radical forces backed by the West) are still bleeding. Those who reached the age of conscious understanding in the 1990s will never be able to forget the fight against Chechen terrorists: the cold statistics of the battles, the anguish for the hostages, the footage from the sites of terrorist attacks, the sly, hypocritical face of Lord Judd… Then NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia ushered in a new era of international conflicts. The cold faces of Bill Clinton, Javier Solana, and Tony Blair; cruel news like “depleted uranium shells are being used,” “cruise missiles struck a hospital,” and “residential buildings have been destroyed by bombing” are also impossible to forget…

So does Iran threaten the States simply by existing? If the Department of War thinks so, then it has already stepped beyond the bounds of reason

 

Then came the US-British invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the international order continued to crumble before our eyes. And then we simply lost count: the endless Israeli lawlessness against Palestine and Lebanon, the West’s aggression against Libya, “color revolutions”, the West’s arming of Ukrainian Nazis, their extermination of Russians in the Donbas, coups, and Western-orchestrated civil conflicts in African countries…

Perhaps this year’s gloomy February-March period will also be remembered as the moment when news of another shocking redivision of the world arrested everyone in their tracks.

American logic

There is no logic to the justification given by Donald Trump for this baseless and arbitrary aggression.

Or rather, it does, but it’s American logic, incomprehensible to the rest of the world. The strikes were supposedly launched to “protect the American people” and “eliminate immediate threats from Iran to the USA.” So does Iran threaten the States simply by existing? If the Department of War thinks so, then it has already stepped beyond the bounds of reason.

Just a week ago, the world was discussing US-Iranian negotiations. But the US always remains true to itself, no matter the negotiations it conducts or what calls for peace it voices. Credit must be given to Iran; it did not make concessions, defended its interests, and fought like a lion in the diplomatic arena. Let us hope it will show the aggressors the same strong spirit in battle.

If you want peace, prepare for war

Every independent country of the global majority needs to learn some new lessons.

Lesson one: strength is of utmost importance. One may devise a hundred types of asymmetric response, but the main guarantee of a state’s security is its strength. Sovereignty must be ensured by weapons. Only force remains a meaningful factor of deterrence, and only armed sovereignty can survive in the modern world.

Lesson two: everything in a free, independent country must be autonomous. Telephone communications, the Internet, satellites. Sovereign networks are not just a nice idea but an objective necessity. Water, food, medical equipment, and medicines. Agriculture, industry, military infrastructure, and energy capacities. Currency and a banking system that is completely under the control of the state and whose central bank is not told by the IMF or the US Federal Reserve what to do, what exchange rate to set, and what interest rate to introduce. A sovereign legal system, where the state responds in a timely manner, establishes complete order within its borders by eliminating all internal threats that prevent people from living, promptly decides for which crimes the death penalty should be applied, and determines which international organizations are worth joining and which should not even be acknowledged.

Military, energy, industrial, scientific, agricultural capacities, etc., must be evenly distributed throughout the country’s territory. In case of war (which now most often begins swiftly, without declaration, preemptively, and often the one who starts gains the advantage), absolutely everything in various spheres of the state’s life must be thought out, interchangeable, safely located and protected, with reserve capacities, stocks, and shelters prepared. Monitoring learning lessons from military operations – one’s own and others’ – strengthening defense systems, missile defense, and air defense is also essential. At all levels of the state, clear algorithms for action must be adopted, and individuals must be appointed for their responsible execution and for maintaining infrastructure in the event of a full-scale war.

Lesson three: the issue of military alliances. This is a complex topic in the modern world, which in each specific case requires clear, transparent mutual obligations. If such obligations are fully agreed upon, approved, and fulfilled, then a military alliance is born. If for some reason it does not emerge, then such were the conditions agreed upon by the parties, which can only be assessed by a certain circle of authorized decision-making leaders. Yes, military alliances exist today, but due to the necessity of a vast number of factors aligning for their formation, they are objectively extremely rare. Perhaps now there will be more of them in the non-Western world.

Lesson four: In relations with today’s Collective West, any absence of war should be regarded only as a temporary phenomenon. Negotiations can buy time, but one cannot trust the implementation of agreements even if they have been reached.

Lesson five: the role of information security and the state’s readiness to defend its sovereignty. The US, in addition to strikes, is calling for the collapse of Iran from within. It must be understood that this is the standard tactic of a Westerner and can only be solved by permanently maintaining the state’s information security long before zero hour arrives. Today, a sovereign country must have a firm understanding of its development goals, a corresponding ideology, constant monitoring of the information space for external and internal threats, and unequivocal implementation of censorship of all information sources. Maximum attention must be paid to the upbringing of future generations (i.e., the content of all levels of education, children’s and youth literature, and educational work). And there must be constant reserves for mobilization, both in terms of the army and the economy. Absolutely universal and early military obligation, longer duration of conscript service, programs like “Ready for Labor and Defense,” and mandatory informational campaigns among all population groups.

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The US is once again trying to strip the world of its rights and sow lawlessness. But it is important to understand that the reasonable part of the international community didn’t really find itself without law as a universally recognized legal code of norms but without another right, namely the right to peace as the absence of war. Without the right to make mistakes, to be irresponsible, to be indifferent. Without the right to work carelessly, adhering to the principle of “it’ll do.” It won’t do. We live in wartime, and everything matters — every job, every inspection, every timely action. All sovereign states ready to defend their independence need to acknowledge this. The issue now is not “if you want peace, prepare for war”; it is broader: “if you want to live, prepare for war.” And one must make all preparations in advance.