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A War’s False Claims: The First Thing to Die in a War is the Truth

A chess board with red and silver fields and red and silver pieces facing each other, the top parts of each piece looking like a small bomb.
Image by Juraj Lenhard from Pixabay

The sad facts we find in the news these days are ‘statements’ for cameras’ sakes as well as claims: Statements meant to make an outrage right after the fact. Claims as to actual intentions or aims or targets of a war that was completely off limits from day one.

A president who actually seems to deam himself to be the harbinger of releive or righteousness… a ceremony in the White House that looks like another sect becoming founded, for the simple minds actually believing this; even Secretary of Defense Hegseth stating it: That a mission is being conducted, similar to other Christian missions.

It’s so sad it would be ridiculous if it wasn’t so cruel.

Because the original intentions are clear and never could be in any doubt for anyone knowing just a bit more about the situation:

    • Oil, money, power. Period.
    • “Weapons of Mass Destruction” in Iraq were the purported target of the US war against Iraq in 2003. They were proven to be false claims, too.

Once again:

    • Until 2018 the uranium enrichment control contracts with Iran were in effect – and working: The IEAE confirmed that in its official reports.
    • The Trump administration cancelled those contracts in 2018, without any reason.
    • Since then, the so-called negotiations with Iran were an actual bullying and pressuring the opposite at the table with inacceptable conditions.
      • In history it has been known before that such ‘negotiations’ were just so much window-dressing. That way it’s easier to claim that all possibele steps had been taken and now the time for action had come.
      • Take any precedent in recent history and you will find the same pattern applying: Vietnam, Iraq, Korea. The US just hitting out whenever they have a ‘need’.
      • Might really be the sole reason: The US economy relies heavily on the largest industry there is over there, the weapons’ manufacturers… make them happy by using weapons and thus make room for more orders and thus more profit.
    • Israel’s president Netanyahu at the same time – known as a hard-liner long before actually taking office – drove and still drives Israeli settlers into Palestine territorries.
      • His support in the parliament and even the majority of Israeli people was constantly decreasing. So he started a war.
      • Another war as cover-up.
    • When the last shah of Iran was ‘let go’, the CIA was involved. That’s a proven historical fact.
      • Have the recent uprisings in Iran and the cruel reactions by the Iranian government been ‘used’ – or people’s unrest even been initiated – to justify an otherwise downright criminal act of starting a war…?
      • Someone like that president of the US who initiated the attack on the Capitol in 2021 seems not beyond anything, really.
      • Apart from everything else known about that person who is ‘leader’ of the USA’s government: A criminal ruled guilty in a US court.

How do they look into the mirror each morning I wonder.

We need to make this clear: There is no way that this can ever be made right. Instead of negotiating hitting a whole region and killing and destroying into the bargain. For obvious ‘incentives’.

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Iran, Iraq, Oil, War and the International Community: NATO, UNO and EU for Limits

Ein Mann steht auf einem Flachdach und betrachtet eine schwarze Pfütze.
Image: Radio Deutschlandfunk (Germany), “Nach einem Luftschlag auf eine Raffinerie in Teheran ging sogenannter Schwarzer Regen auf Teheran nieder (Bild vom 8.3.2026) (AFP / ATTA KENARE)”

Prices are rising… well, what would one expect. People are being killed. Now the ‘black rain‘ over Tehran is another step towards destruction. The region going up in flames. The country scarred already and becoming another Iraq…?

It’s good to see that they are starting to act again, NATO, EU: ‘Trump’s war’ is not his doing alone, of course.
As a ‘figure head’ he ‘works’ based on the interests behind him too: The industries, most importantly the one producing weapons. The population, who as a majority depend on their ‘way of life’, namely cars for moving across country in the USA, with cheapest prices of all… they trust that any president will observe this concept, this idea, and the government will take care of petrol.

War is no heroic deed of people doing the good thing. War is not only a ‘costly affair’… it always is part of a framework of interests and needs of those in power, those with money and those with ulterior motives. Such goals are not always easy to ‘dig down to’, define.

In the news we usually get the actual event. What we need to do is more reading, to get at the facts behind the ‘images’. Reliable sources. Remember that news have statements in them, which in turn are based on interests and needs and –  very often also on diplomacy.
What also helps to understand the ‘goings-on’ behind the scenes, the real motives, is this age-old concept:

“Cui bono?” – “Who benefits?”

If you ask that about anything, it will get you farther in understanding.

This is no ‘piece of cake’, especially not for those being killed and wounded every day. Being scarred for life by health risks and cruelty and greed.

We need to prove that the international community is stronger holding out against one or another country and their selfish, incompetent and greedy ‘potentates’.

NATO, UNO, EU.

Yes, we can.

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A Criminal at the Helm: The Crime That is the War on Iran – The International Community

A collage of two images as vignettes showing a map of the near east, Israel and Iran marked and another image showing burning ruins of houses with a tank in front on a dark background.
Images licensed via Adobe CC, my graphics, no AI involved

The president of the USA, Donald Trump, is a criminal ruled guilty on 34 counts of bribery and corruption as well as molestation before a regular court of law of the US.  At the same time ‘leader’ of one of the most powerful nations today, yet. War means death and destruction, always. No exceptions. None.

Landscapes and living areas are laid waste, people deprived of home and livelihood.

Although all the motives are clear and have been for decades, still the international community lets him and his administration act as if he was the only one around?

This is indeed a crime, because it’s killing people for no other reason but profit:
He and his administration cancelled the Uranium enrichment control contracts without reason. They were working, according to official reports of the IAEA at the time. They had been reached after ten years of negotiating.

Internally the reign of the Iranian government is nothing to write home about. But, about how many governments, especially the larger powers today, can you say that? China? Russia?
The US?

The USA where money is the sole defining attribute of a person. Where close to no protection for workers/employees exists to this day. Where weapons are sold to minors and people killed in the streets into the bargain, thousands each year. Where people from one day to another will lose house or home and live in cars, with their few belongings right there, searching for employment.

Now this country of Iran, whose conflicts in the area are heavily intertwined with the Israel-Palestine conflict and so many adjacent countries is supposed to be bombed back into the stone age? Just like Iraq?
Iran: A tradition and history that reach back thousands of years, far beyond Islam and its first advent?

Because the US need oil, cheap and fast? Because cars in the US have to be kept rolling, with cheap petrol, if as a president you want to stay in office?

Because the weapons’ producing industry is the largest and most powerful over there?

Where are EU, UNO and NATO these days? What if another member would do the same…? Any of them?

Russia and Putin are scorned for their attack on Ukraine, for other internal reasons. Have been so for years? And Trump does the same thing now… To cover up, too. As so often has happened throughout history: Make war on a ‘common enemy’ to distract attention from internal affairs and shortcomings.

Netanyahu of Israel was and is a well-known hardliner against Palestinian territories. He has driven Israeli settlers there for almost a decade now. He has lost the support of his own parliament as well as the majority of the people of Israel. Which is a fact even on platforms such as LinkedIn.

Stop this madness now! Start using reason again. Stop selfish, cruel and completely ruthless people such as the present president of the US and his administration.

Note 16th March 2026: Acting like the true ‘scary’ ‘deal maker‘ he has publicly declared himself to be: Trump, this sorry excuse for a man, of course, uses every lever he can get hold of.  Beware, and just wait a little… Neither NATO, UNO nor EU will bow to your conditions:
You have all the oil you need…? Now…in dependence on Russian oil, for the time being… but it is only reasonable that in the long run this will not be sufficient or satisfying to an economy as dependent on oil and fossil fuels as the USA:
Rather make Iran succumb and get oil from the largest fossil fuel recovering industry in the world on the cheap… hey?
Who do you think you are fooling here…?

We all know by this time that messages in front of cameras are one thing; but often just as much marketing and boasting or pressurizing as anything…
Setting the whole of the Near East on fire – nice and calm sitting in front of screens thousands of miles away.
Some stunt.
Really…? – Rather embarrassing if it wasn’t so cruel – one is reminded of just so many boys playing at tin soldiers…

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“They All Do it…” – What’s Human? – Values and Yardsticks – Happiness…?

Men sitting on floor and meditating in lotus pose meditation practice concept cartoon
Image free license via freepik.com

In this day and age quite a number of people go by marketing ideas: “The most wonderful holiday; adventure; more money equals more happiness; me first.” Many also for most of their lives are more or less unhappy or feel a strange urge or yearning for ‘the real thing’.

There are numerous methods and substances around people revert to as well in order to gain a feeling of fulfillment. Of self-respect/self-esteem. While inside a sometimes half-conscious nagging little voice either asks constantly about their shortcomings. Or about the missing something in their lives that would finally get them to that happy ‘ending’.

They tend to forget that what others talk about in so many words, often boasting (even if in a gentle manner not quite discernible right at first), is not really true. Even if actions actually happened – which also can be doubtful with those ‘building their image’ all day long – their effects usually do not come up to the story told.
Sailors were said to be the ones having invented the art of ‘telling tall tales’. Which puts it in a nutshell, that principle…

In due course also, values and yardsticks for the individual behaviour are not reflected that much anymore: “They all do it… Why not me too?”

Additionally the ideas of patriarchy and its pitfalls as well as changing views on womanhood make it challenging to know your way: Some actually state it just as the old saying goes: “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander…”  Equality in terms of “if men can do it, women can too.”

These things are crucial about all of this:

    • Something does not become right, just because many people do it, too. Or because no one will realize it…
    • Happiness is not in applause of the many, the crowd. The audience. – Happiness is inside.
    • More money may make you feel safer. But only if you will let it. It won’t make you happier. Especially not if self-esteem is missing. ‘Missing in action’…

Eastern systems of living and health start teaching us (again) what it is that makes humans happier:

Self-awareness that will be the beginning of a new self-esteem. With it comes the realization that looking out for yourself in a healthy manner will also enable you to find new ways of reaching out; connecting. With people of like mind. With real conversations. With the ability to understand that happiness sometimes is to accept our unwanted emotions such as sorrow or worry as part of the whole:

Being part of a community. With many people around who wish us and the whole well  – too.

Happiness is in the small things.

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“Vatanam” – Iran: “My Beloved Home Country” – The Pain of Exile

Exile is painful. Always. But the Iranian emotion is special, because there’s a warmth and a feeling of community that is like none other. Exiles all around the world feel it and their ‘ballad’ you might say is this song, a very popular Persian singer of long standing made about that feeling: A heart rending longing and yearning for that singular and most special countryside, landscape and the people who live there.

I am not Persian myself but I was married to one for over ten years. I spent over 20 years in close contact to friends and family. I fell in love with the language when I first heard it. Soft and melodic intonations and a flow of words and sentence melody that can be like a caress.

I learned the language and studied history and culture too, at university. I talked to Persians  and learned about the music, the popular and the classic.

About lyrics and poetry.

Most of all: I learned to love that humour that thousands of years of sad and tragic wars, and attempted conquests, as well as strict rules, imposed by shahs and regional kings, made flower into a fine art.

The warmth and sense of community and the hospitality even towards strangers as well as that wonderful ability to celebrate smaller or larger holidays and festivals.

The sense of helpfulness and community.

The sense of reality at the same time: To know that weaknesses and shrewdness are part of human life. And that for all hospitality you are better off being careful when meeting someone for the first time.

The sense of politeness that is also a fine art you need to learn and after a while works like a charm, a warm shield against vulnerability:
Because the ‘taarof’, scorned by some as being outdated and insincere to my mind is a wonderful method to communicate with a sense of tact and the possibility that people feel hurt easily.

Which is part too, of that sense of passionate emotions being, mostly, an accepted part of human life. And need to be taken care of, not suppressed. In general.

Iran is a country with humans, but that sense also is there, that dignity and respect even when we make mistakes, are due, in general and everyday cases.

‘Vatanam’, this song is to many the epitome to that home and that society, that community that makes you feel at home and welcome even as a stranger.

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Iran, Israel and the USA: The Outrageous Actions of a President in Waning ‘Power’

The US American flag with rockets instead of stars three of which seem to fall or drop down similar to blood drops.
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

He seems not to know even himself what he is aiming at. Only yesterday in front of the world’s cameras he said it in so many words. Yet, it is abundantly clear that all of this is just another desperate attempt to divert attention from his problems in regard to internal affairs and his criminal record.

A person like the Secretary of Defense of the USA, Hegseth, even has the unspeakable impertinence to state: ~’no politically correct war; no UNO mission, no plans for the time after. Just plain war.’
A ripe pair.
Two of a kind.

The conflicts between Israel and Palestine and the additional forces stationed in the north and the south, the Guerilla troops of Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as the ‘support’ by the USA:
They are decades old!

Anyone with an atom of reason and smartness would have shied away from such a stupid and cruel step.

But someone like the present president in the US lacks that. What he is interested in is his own position, his power and – the future power in the US.

His affinity for Putin and his love of a dictatorship that allows him unbridled  power and say-so without any limitations are legendary.

The New York Times as well as the Washington Post* (when it still was independent) reported on both these facts:

    • NYT: Trump’s ideas in regard to Putin here.
    • The Pulitzer Prize committee’s information on awarding the prize to both newspapers regarding the connection and election influence in 2016 here.
    • Trump initiated the storming of the Capitol in January 2021.
    • He was ruled guilty in front of a US court on 34 counts of bribery, corruption and molestation.
    • The current Israel president Netanyahu has suffered from lack of support of his ‘subjects’ and the parliament as such for his cruel politics towards Palestinian territories, the Gaza strip and West Bank, going on for almost a decade now.
      • At this point his actions that started this escalation are another desperate attempt to keep his position as long as possible.
      • In this respect it is no surprise too, that the talks to Trump were not public and also not disclosed in any way.
    • The weapons’ industry in the US is the largest and most powerful. Previous presidents were pressurized and even murdered because they tried to limit their profits. (J.F. Kennedy being the most prominent.)

This war is outrageous, it is exactly the same type of action that Putin reverted to when attacking Ukraine, according to international law.

These attacks have to stop!
It will just lay the whole region to waste and land it in a war for years to come.

When we take all these facts together, and use that age-old principle of ‘cui bono?‘, ‘who benefits?‘, some things become abundantly clear.

Shame on such a government as the present US presidential administration.

* The Washington Post since not only was acquired by Jeff Bezos, amazon founder and Trump follower, it also recently suffered a big reduction of staff.

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The Trump Legacy ‘Navigated’… Near East Flare-up – Two Years Only to ‘go’?

Map of the near east under a magnifying glass, with a dove of peace flying across
Images licensed via Adobe CC, my graphics

For decades people were careful about and on the Near East struggle for peace and some sort of peaceful coexistence. And here comes a president raised in a military academy, West Point, and imagines that you just ‘hit them hard’ and as a surprise in order to succeed fast.

Yet again the 2nd World War comes to mind; Napoleon even. All of these “would-be kings without kingdom” who strike out for the sole reason of satisfying a (too small…?) ego and causing endless years of pain, death and  more struggle.

You learn from history and try to do better! Not the other way around.

Half the Near East is going up in flames at the moment – and no wonder, too: Palestinians’ and Israelis’ issues, made even worse by someone like Netanyahu, of course are directly involved in this: The south as well as the northern borders of Israel historically have been ‘bridge heads’ also for decades of soldiers and Guerilla warriors supporting Palestinians.

Israel on the other hand is under strong protection from the USA, also for historical reasons.
If you come to think of it, though constantly fighting, some sort of ‘justice’ seems included… every party in this dreadful, ongoing conflict represented.

But these also are age-old historical truths:

    • Cruelty, force, will propagate itself: Make war and you will get more war.
    • A leader of state, be that a king or a dictator or a president, will try to divert attention from internal issues; making a war is a very old and well-loved method for that.
    • Additionally, a ‘legacy’ of a reign, a presidency, also can be something to aim at: To be remembered for something; preferably something worth mentioning at least for some years.

All of the above are bitter truths in this case: A president called Trump, with a criminal record and sad past of corruption, bribery and fraud trying to ‘cover up’.

I am glad that I live in a democracy where I can say and write what I think. I am grateful too.

The only thing I wish more for the people in Iran than that kind of freedom and human rights is peace in that region. Peaceful coexistence finally.
Because instead of killing more people into the bargain, some leaders start finally ‘doing their homework’.

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The Desperate Outrage called ‘President Trump’: Iran, Oil, Money and War – Power Games

A large chess board and two chess pieces, the black and the whit king, facing each other, in ront of a cloudy sky.
Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

It is clear to anyone who follows politics closely: Mr Trump, President of the USA, is desperate. Nothing else explains the behaviour towards Iran: The USA are even historically famous for their need of oil. Of fossil fuels.

The economy in the USA is failing and has been for years just as it has everywhere else. The pandemic has taken its toll.

The weapons’ industry in the USA is the most powerful of all. When you don’t make war, you don’t need to produce weapons.

That’s why wars are so ‘profitable’: The president profits from the ‘noise’ and news around apparent enemies that have to be fought. No one will look at his criminal record anymore. (Link to New York Times article.)

The industry producing weapons also profits: The storage spaces will be lightened of their ‘burden’ and new weapons have to be bought.

With the tax payers’ money, to boot. And the soldiers that might die?

Let them not fool us: Iran’s internal politics are cruel and brutal towards their population, against human rights and especially those of women.

But this is not about Iran’s population: This is about its oil and the power and the money. It’s between Iran and the USA.

Later, March 1st 2026: What will happen, if a new government actually would be instated in Iran that of course would be cheek by jowl with the US? For decades the Palestinians had to try and hold their ground. Ground that was originally theirs to keep as per agreements after the founding of Israel.

What will happen to Iran itself? A copy of Western civilisations, with the values and particular ways gone…?

What will happen to its oil and the USA’s needs…?

Hopefully enough people will start thinking about this early. The factions inside and outside of Iran are even now distinctly discernible.

Let’s hope that a fate like that of Iraq will be spared them. Iraq’s dictator Saddam Hussein had been supported for decades by the USA as well. They even helped him getting ‘up’. When he started to become too independent, his fate was sealed.

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Nowruz 2026 – Persian New Year’s Celebrations

UTC (+1) Friday, March 20, 2026, 15:45:59 PM (Berlin, Vienna)

animated gif showing norooz congratulations in Persian

Nowruz is one of the oldest festivals that exist: Its origins seem to be in debate, but it seems to have been part of Zoroastrianism. It was first recorded in ancient Pahlavi texts, over 2000 years ago.

It’s a spring festival that celebrates the coming of the new year after winter.
It is celebrated inside and outside of Persia with ancient rites, joyful and full of hope.

Imagine a combination of Christmas and Easter: Houses will be cleaned from top to bottom and decorated with eggs, flowers and twigs indicating the coming of spring and hopes for plentiful harvests.

The so-called ‘sofre-e haft sin‘, a fine cloth decorated in a central place of a house or home, showing more decoration and seven (‘haft‘) special things symbolising wishes for a good year ahead, whose names each start with the letter ‘sin’ of the Persian alphabet.

People buy new clothes and little gifts.
The festival starts actually two days before the turning of the new year, the day called “chaharshanb-e suri”:
The last Wednesday before the new year, when people gather in the streets, light small bonfires and jump over them, saying proverbs: This custom meant to leave sorrow and unhappiness to the fire and let it transfer new energy to the jumping person.

After the turning of the new year for two weeks people visit each other, wearing their new clothes and bearing gifts, the rounds starting with the young visiting the older family members first. Sweets, fruit, and tea are common as repasts – and dancing is a matter of course.

Enjoy!

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The Cruelty of Crime – or: Hope is Where We Are – Many Little People in Many Little Places…

Image of an eye, a schematic image of a person checking all kinds of social media channels at its laptop and a large sign reading OFFLINE.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay and Adobe CC, my graphics

These days the papers published by and by in the US about molestation and abuse of minors are disturbing. Alas, it’s not the first time such cruelties occur, they are no specialty of the US and as such the reasons are manifold. The scientific research is well-advanced. I’d like to propose some ideas and measures on how to deal with all of it.

    • Remember the cruel fact too, that sensations have to be sold by media, ‘social’ or otherwise.
      Historically, too the more ghoulish, the better.
      In former centuries it was ballad singers on street corners with large wall posters.
    • A sad truth too: People involved will get some PR… it’s been proven too, that sensations often sell better than any sympathy campaign…
    • Make sure not to consume all of it just because it’s there. Take time off of news and channels.
    • These things have reasons partly in the world we live in: Men are supposed to be rich, famous and powerful. Additionally what is also called ‘bodily ‘love” they are supposed to have lots of.
    • At the same time their ego may suffer from self-doubts, often severely. An apparent solution to warped minds is this kind of behaviour, especially when doing it in networks: Apparently boosts self-confidence and also makes them money.
    • Remember too, that such occurrences are not the norm! Not even the majority. The good people are more!
    • Also know – or check – that the numbers in penal offence statistics as well as crime in general for many years have been decreasing! It’s those news and ‘social’ media that can make it appear otherwise.

What we can do is around us, every day: Treat people around us with respect, friendliness and love.

Because anything we do, we can do right here and now, where we are. That’s where we can do the most good!

This is that famous proverb, supposed to be African:

If many little people in many little places do many little things – they can change the face of the earth!

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