AMERICA has allies while its enemies have proxies; America’s allies have governments that must be supported while its enemies have regimes that must be changed.
And right now, in the midst of their jointly conducted genocide, America and Israel have decided, in their infinite wisdom, that this is a ripe time to change the face of the Middle East. Again.
The plan for Gaza has been clear for some time: it involves starving and terrorising the remaining population of Gaza into fleeing their homes and making way for Jewish settlements and a permanent Israeli military evacuation.
But there are plans afoot for Lebanon, too, where both Israel and US feel that the Israeli attack is a perfect opportunity to degrade Hezbollah, while also changing the country’s political landscape. They’re not exactly making a secret of it: in October, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel took a break from his regular genocide apologia to tell reporters that America’s “goal is to get the government and country of Lebanon to a place where it is out of the stranglehold of Hezbollah”.
To achieve that end, the US tasked Amos Hochstein, the US special envoy to the region and a former IDF soldier, to press Lebanon to immediately hold elections despite the Israeli onslaught. Lebanese officials protested that in order to do so, they would have to reconvene parliament and there was no guarantee that Israel would not target that parliament to eliminate politicians they find problematic, given that Hezbollah and its allies control more than half the seats. Would the US guarantee the safety of Lebanon’s parliament? Hochstein had no reply.
Hezbollah’s opponents in Lebanon are sensing an opportunity.
Reportedly, the US is pressing for the head of the Lebanese army, Joseph Aoun, to take charge as president, either through fiat or through an election in which pro-Hezbollah and pro-resistance voters will be disenfranchised thanks to Israel’s forced evacuation of large parts of southern Lebanon where Hezbollah has its strongest support.
The Lebanese army, one should note, evacuated its positions before the Israeli assault, leaving Hezbollah to protest.
Some of Hezbollah’s opponents in Lebanon are also sensing an opportunity: Samir Geagea, the leader of a right-wing Christian party, feels this is the perfect time to push for the disarming of Hezbollah, after which he feels an agreement could be reached with Israel. However, the indiscriminate nature of Israel’s bombing, and the Lebanese people’s own experience with Israeli atrocities mean that this is, for now, seemingly a minority view even in Geagea’s own community.
That hasn’t stopped Lisa Johnson, the US ambassador to Lebanon, from using her position to pursue the agenda of eliminating Hezbollah from the Lebanese political arena and thus providing a clear field for Israel to do as it wishes. Lebanese media has reported her saying to Lebanese politicians that “Israel cannot achieve everything through war; it’s time for you to do your part and launch an internal uprising under the banner of ‘Enough’.”
Chiding them for being “afraid” of Hezbollah, she reportedly said: “Hezbollah has been defeated, its leadership is destroyed, and we are with you, and the entire free world stands by your side.” The Arab states would back such a movement, she added.
Meanwhile there’s Iran, the government of which has been in the target sights of successive US administrations from 1979 onwards. Thus far, all attempts at actual regime change have been unsuccessful but hope springs eternal, especially in the borderline psychopathic circles of US policy-makers and think tanks.
As for who would lead Iran after the current regime is done and dusted, a very usual suspect has officially thrown his crown into the ring — His Royal Highness Reza Pahlavi, the son of the deposed Iranian Shah, who is going around marketing himself as the perfect ruler of Iran which would then become the most allied ally of Israel and the US in the region.
However, he only has the support of the monarchist elements of the Iranian diaspora and these worthies are, I can assure you, the most unhinged lot you will ever come across in this lifetime. In their hate for Iran’s government, some of them have become the vocal allies of Zionism, going to the extent of calling for the mass killings of their own compatriots if it were to bring their Prince Charming one step closer to power.
Here’s an example: ‘journalist’ Babak Eshagi, who is affiliated with a pro-monarchist Persian news outlet embedded with the Israeli army in Gaza, while recording a piece to camera in the ruins of a Palestinian home, inscribed the slogan of the 2022 Iranian protests ‘women, life, freedom’, on the remains of a wall. These then are the Ahmed Chalabis of today, the genocidal court jesters who would be king.
The writer is a journalist.
Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2024
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