Politico noted last night:
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday joined a growing European backlash against the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
The right-wing leader issued her strongest rebuke of the war so far in remarks to the parliament in Rome, describing the military campaign unfolding in the Middle East as part of a growing trend of interventions "outside the scope of international law,” while also acknowledging the threat Tehran poses to regional security.
This is an illegal war. We know that. Importantly, though, it is being said. Across Europe, the opinion is widespread.
George W. Bush once described an "axis of evil". That comprised North Korea, Iran and Iraq.
These days, who knows about Iraq? Is that true now?
But shouldn't we be adding the USA and Israel? They are now the source of more evil than any other nations on earth. Objectively, given the harm they have caused, that has to be true.
And shouldn't we be calling out the real problem? That is toxic zionism. That is the issue driving this evil. I do not see how this can be denied now. It ia factual observation. And there is nothing antisemitic about saying so. It might, in fact, be antisemitic not to point it out and discuss the issue.
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The irony of Bush’s speech is that it included Iran just after the Iranians had given vital information to the US to enable them to invade Afghanistan.
At a book fair, I heard Jack Straw ( Foreign Secretary at the time ) promote his book ( on Iran) and told us that the information supplied by Iran had enabled the West to capture Kabul more easily. The Iranians , he claimed, had also offered a re-set of relations which included their help to Hezbollah.
The BBC did a documentary on Qasim Soleimani which included a section where he offered the CIA chief a map with the Taliban defences ( the porgram is no longer available -or wasn’t last time I looked ).
Soleimani was assassinated in 2020, when he was visiting Iraq, by Trump’s orders. Just after, I think, Pompeo had talked Trump out of a strike on Iran following the 2020 election. Bush’s Axis of Evil speech ended the offers. Straw wondered why the State Dept had allowed this to go out.
My theory is that Iran was the necessary enemy or threat to justify aid to Israel and deployments in the region and that reality was less important than the image. Just my take on it of course
Worth remembering that the Iraq “war” was triggered by the destruction of the World Trade centre, by citizens of Saudia Arabia. Had it been Libyans, the headlines would have been: “Libya attacks the USA”. Instead, lies were used to attack iraq.
This time around, one convicted criminal (tRump) and one accused of genocide (Net&yahoo) are using war to deflect attention from domestic realities. In the case of Israel, pre & post foundation massive violence was used by zionists against the native (arab) population. In the case of the UK and politics, LINO in its upper reaches is mostly made up of zionists, raising the question: is LINO interested in the well being of UK citizens, or more focused on the interests of nations a long way away and with whom the Uk has zero in common? The banning of a recent rally in London (al quds march) suggests the latter.
“—— is LINO interested in the well being of UK citizens, or more focused on the interests of nations a long way away and with whom the Uk has zero in common?”
I am reminded of Neville Chamberlain’s remarks in 1938, when referring to the Sudetenland, spoke of “People from very far away, about whom we know nothing”.
Have we really learned nothing in the last 90 years? It would appear not.
Mike,
this reminds me of a speech by Jeremy Corbyn ( I am not among his greatest fans but I think he is honest ) following the killing of seven people on London Bridge in 2017.
“And, yes, we do need to have some difficult conversations starting with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states that have funded and fuelled extremist ideology.’
The Jihadi killings we have seen in Europe seem to have been motivated by the ideology of the extreme Wahabi cult comes from Arabia and is propagated with money from individuals in Saudi Arabia and parts of the Gulf states. JC was right to say that professionals say the same.
Why do we not have those conversations? I expect oil, banking and arms interests don’t want to upset relations with the area.
Sadly, there are too many who wish to portray all Muslims as being the same. In their own way, they are as bad.
For the avoidance of doubt: any support by the UK for any country attacking Iran is wrong. Thus, all US airbases on UK territory should be shut down & closed. In the case of Israel, diplomatic and commercial isolation. In the case of the +/- 2000 British citizens who took part in the recent Gazan genocide they should be charged (there is a 19th century law that could be used) with acting against the interests of the UK. In the case of Saudia Arabia, I was there in the 1980s, it was very strange (mad?) then. The rulers and their cult (Whabbism) has not changed & much of the evil that has occured in the middle east & Afghanistan since +/- 1980 has been driven/amplified by Saudi funding and cult beliefs. In the case of Afghanistan, it is worth remembering that the country was very very safe in the 1960s and 1970s – hippies even went on drug holidays there. The country was slowly “developing” until it became a mad playground for the US, Russians, Saudis and assorted others. It would suit Israel if Iran went the same way. This has to stop.
As for the UK’s own home-grown cutlists – Deform – their members/voters are now paying more for elec & gas because of tRump – who is much loved by fart-rage – so much for putting British interests 1st.
Channel 4 interviewed the Kurdish leader last night – did anyone see it? He appealed for stability in the region and criticised the heavy handedness of the U.S. approach (how can you expect talk to someone whose family you have just wiped out he said?). He seemed totally sane to me – it was a nice surprise to hear his words.
His sanity was a welcome breath of fresh air. He appeared like an utterly reasonable man?
While I agree with your sentiment, most situations have their origins and motivations on several different levels. I read a very plausible and evidenced piece on Substack that ascribes the attack on Iran by Trump as a bid to destroy the main obstacle in the Middle East to opening it up to a US hegemonic trade and investment arena, a strategy apparently openly stated by him at a UAE conference.
Coupled with an Israeli state beleaguered amongst a largely Arab region, an Israeli president desperate to hang on to power for its protection from past wrongs as much as the wealth and power and an Islamic political identity in the region that is adamantly opposed to Western capitalist values – not to mention the massive lobbying power of AIPAC in the US that has literally bought a majority of politicians in both houses and the convenience of distracting the US public from the Epstein saga and the growing public realisation of the historical injustice imposed on the Palestinians – you can see it is a heady mix of converging factors. I am sure that there are more still that could added.
The irony is that if the US has left Iran to develop its more socialist instincts in the 50’s instead of re-installing the Shah they could have been dealing with a much more receptive country.
It may not be Zionism. It might just be the Trump family extending its real estate empire into the middle east. This is about making money I assure you. The Zionists are being used as well as benefiting – now that is what I would call a ‘special relationship’.
Money is the new god. I see such an affront to God and and Jesus at times that I almost become religious in asserting that nothing in the bible or scripture supports what is actually happening in their name or with their blessing. And that is saying something as an atheist. An atheist advocating for God and Jesus because of what he is seeing as some of mankind spit in Gods eye. Unbelievable. And yet, we must watch.
Defence sec John Healy 11.42.05 LBC Fri 6 March 2026
The radio was on, I came into the room and heard this ..
“when you get a regime like this lashing out in the middle east indiscriminately and widely, hitting civilians as well as military targets, when you have some of its proxies capable of other actions on their behalf, then of course our force protection in the region is at its highest, our alert and our , er, vigilance in the uk is also high.”
Didn’t know at the time who was speaking and it gave me pause because it wasn’t immediately obvious to me which regime he was talking about. Israel/USA or Iran.
” And shouldn’t we be calling out the real problem? That is toxic Zionism. ”
On radio 4 Today programme, Nick Robinson In a string of rhetorical questions to Tom Fletcher – a UN humanitarian official , ridiculing Fletcher’s call for International Law to be observed said that Law ‘didn’t stop Iran funding Hamas, didn’t stop Iran funding Hezbollah, didn’t stop Iran funding the Houthis’, etc etc.
Thus framing the entire middle east problem as due to Iran. No rhetorical questions such as ‘ International Law didn’t stop 800,000 illegal settlers on occupied land, didn’t stop the two state solution being explicitly destroyed etc.’
The best answer to that sort of rhetorical point is that laws against something are markers of desired behaviour. They rarely stop it happening entirely, but they can deal with consequences if it does. By way of example, homicide is illegal under almost every criminal code, and yet in many places year after year someone will be killed unlawfully by someone else.
And one illegal act does not justify another. They are both wrong. “Look what you made me do” and “he started it” should stop in the primary school playground.
Link to LBC catch-up.
https://www.globalplayer.com/catchup/lbc/uk/episodes/BUsi2GdGyYZRjGktryUcQQf27/
I have always been aware of the “toxic Zionism” aspect of this – the more so recently, having lived with a level-headed Jew (daughter of a refugee from 1938 Vienna) for some 35 years now.
It has long been known about, sometimes written about, but always the discussion has been either suppressed or characterised as anti-semitic. So I am very pleased to see you stating it so plainly.
As early as 1917, the Balfour Declaration (which led to the creation of Israel) was basically worded for him by a Zionist cabal, as documented in great detail by a journalist, J.M.N. Jeffries, in his 1939 book “Palestine: The Reality”. This book is little known, as the stock of the original printing was destroyed in the blitz, with less than two dozen copies surviving in British libraries; it was eventually republished in 2017. The British government’s failure to protect the Palestinians from Zionist intrusions through the 1920s and 30s is the main theme of the book, and in retrospect can be read as prophetic of the state the region has come to.
Paul
Thanks, Paul
Thank you.
I volunteer for the National Trust at two stately homes once owned by some members of the cabal. The family retain the surrounding estates.
At the larger of the pair, there’s a model of the Knesset. It was funded by the family on land seized from the Orthodox Church. A copy of the Balfour declaration is also on display in the same room.
Britain’s war on Palestinians goes back to the mid 19th century.
J.M.N. Jeffries Book is being republished at £25 5 May 2026 so I preordered it on Amazon.
I dread to think what crimes are being committed in Palestine at the moment while attention is focused elsewhere.
Agreed
Thank you, everyone.
For those who speak French and are able to access France’s LCI, former PM Dominique de Villepin was interviewed yesterday evening. He stood head and shoulders above most European politicians.
There’s talk of Villepin running as a Gaullist candidate in next year’s presidential elections and possibly in alliance with the left. That would be wonderful.
With regard to Meloni, it’s about time as Italy failed to raise the alarm when Cameron and Sarkozy decided to play with fire in Libya.
Spain and Belgium are also opposed. Is “fronde” developing in Europe? One prays so.
This is the problem with religious fanatics like those in charge in Iran. They aren’t rational like most leaders, who would recognise when they are beaten and seek the best peace terms they can. They believe they are on a divine mission – to wipe out Israel, among other things – so would rather their entire country was laid waste and its people slaughtered than surrender.
Wow! You think Netanyahu is not a religious fanatic? Have you noticed Trump’s team are all fudamentalists? Open your eyes. I am not defending Iran. I am saying get real.