Now after a month of attacks and counterattacks, alternately hopeful negotiations are mentioned in official statements and yet at the same time attacks continue. We all know that a truce could be a first step in negotiating peace.
But, what if certain parties don’t want peace, really?
“A Bully’s Paradise” ?
Because the ulterior motives are not part of statements – but can be deducted based on similar occurrences and past events?
Again, this is about power, money and thus oil; natural resources. Iran has the largest oil recovery industry in the world. Which can be partly seen from the prices rising currently to breaking point.
“Levers”: They are technical appliances; but the term is also used for an artificial ‘bottleneck’, a pressure point that is meant to make the other party to the conflict more lenient.
Or make them buckle and give in.
None of the parties concerned is apt to do that soon, so it seems: Iran, because they know what it could mean to the country as a whole, if they would ‘sell out’.
Netanyahu and Trump because they need this war: Their respective administration’s support is waning, their population needs reasons why they are put through such a lot of suffering.
But: There are no reasons that bear inspection or a closer look:
Except greed – and a too large ego – and selfishness.
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’.
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.
Anyone with the least bit of knowledge of recent history (past couple of decades) and the main characters involved knows: It’s not about anything but oil. And that sad excuse for a man being US-president who is not only fighting for his ‘job’, but also probably has to fulfill more or less secret promises to industry leaders. Rather less secret, I should think…
When we look into history these things can become clearer, since patterns emerge. It’s not about conspiracy theories but facts.
Facts are, and have been as long as the industrial revolution and cars as well as factories clamored for ever more oil and gasoline and petrol and… you name it – especially in the US – that this dire need of fuels triggered all kinds of wars and pushy international behaviour.
Fuels made from fossils, in short.
It’s shameful to watch how the second time in office makes this person even more ruthless, reckless and actually disgusting.
I know a lot about Iran, I love that old, wonderful culture and language. I know how much the people there suffer from the internal affairs a regime of apparently religiously motivated clerical leadership creates for them in severe restraints to personal freedom and denial of the basic human rights.
Yet, there are signs that since threats don’t work with Iran’s regime and international support is strong, triggering uprisings is the next step a country like the US famous for its ruthless interventions and conquering when to their advantage, ‘protecting their interests’ (‘dohhh’…in foreign countries??) – will stoop to.
Let’s be very aware: Even with more enlightened and very capable leaders at the top the US usually looked out for their own monetary and resources’ needs – not those of others. Look at confirmed chronicles and stories, Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, South-America (Chile, Columbia, Nicaragua/Iran…you name any, literally any of them, they consider South America to be their ‘backyard’), Irak, now Venezuela; it’s criminal. Period.
The first to condemn when also to their advantage the last to pull back; almost all the time, with a few fine leaders as exceptions.
The CIA as well as other secret services are part of the system: They determine the knowledge that will be handed down to any new president as soon as he’s inaugurated. (I feel for them sometimes: They all turn grey on top inside of days, after that…)
Iran now: It’s ‘bang full’ of oil and other natural resources. So, after cancelling the contracts for control of uranium enrichment without cause and then bullying and threatening for a couple of years and then realizing that there’s EU, UNO and even some NATO members to be reckoned with – they now try again differently?
The CIA was involved when the last Shah was ‘sent packing’: He had become unable to control the starving masses who saw him and his entourage live in luxury while they weren’t even able to read. The so-called White Revolution was ‘too little too late’. The Islamic Revolution for the past four decades removed Iran’s oil for discount prices from their reach.
The US’s own oil deposits are not nearly enough to feed that greed. That dire need: Keep ‘promises’ and keep US population on the road, because the car is their (second) best-loved device, right after weapons, so it seems.
I beg the pardon of the good ones; but the smart ones over there know what I mean.
Again, be very wary of a country like the US who literally use any means – especially with this ‘leader’ – to reach their self-centered goals.
Author’s Note: The idea of people feeling threatened by all kinds of things, making up conspiracy theories to fit their particular view of the world, is wide-spread. Especially these days. Yet:
There are historical facts known at the respective university departments too. Which can be found in books you can find in all major libraries.
I know that too, because I studied the subject. I received my M.A. degree for English, US-American and Persian language, literature and culture almost 20 years ago, from a well-known university in Germany.
I feel dedicated to the concept of being careful about your facts.
I summarize things here that can be found in more detail elsewhere.
But some things that happen at the moment have reasons that can only be guessed at, this very moment.
The intelligent guesses we can make stem from all those historical facts and the patterns that emerge over time, because it’s the same thing over and over again.
Bluntly put: It’s just too obvious but partners of NATO are not free to say so in front of cameras. The contracts we are bound to as members of NATO and other alliances compel people to keep quiet in public.
That’s why historical documents are so important for a deeper understanding: They show what at the time had been handled behind the scenes as well.
Image by Dorothe Wouters, and general content, from Pixabay
“Negotiate the hell out of them”… da…rn it. – I’d like to say that directly sometimes to the people concerned at present trying to reach an end to that war, that was unnecessary in the first place, if…
Yes, if people would do their homework, people in power learn from history, and those who know:
Diplomats, for centuries learned ‘at their mothers knee’ what is essential in any kind of politics you may want to conduct:
Realize that in politics it is about money, power and – 3rd party interests, those of your own country as well as those of others.
Know your opponents’ interests as well as possible.
Realize that it is about power-balance just as much as saving face!
The one-time elegance of manners stems also from here: Get to realize that treating the opposing party with respect and the usual formalities makes all the difference.
Learn to be patient! Patience – without giving up, or in – is the most important characteristic of successful negotiating.
The Thirty Years’ War in Europe raged exactly that: 30 years.
Whole regions were wasted and cities laid bare because of plundering, murder and legions of soldiers passing that had to be kept, resulting in hunger, starvation and more death.
The weapons’ industry and its entourage are the only ones – if they survive it – that profit from a war.
So, let’s keep telling them: We want peace, we want a power-balance, at least. We want that cruelty and useless destruction to stop, now.
The Thirty Years’ War took 5 years to end it. 5 years of negotiations.
Patience is the order of the day. Not more profit from yet more weapons.
“Perspective is Key.” – “Pride and Prejudice”: The latter is a novel by Jane Austen, one of her most famous ones. Jane Austen was a lady and writer and wrote about what she knew best: The life of the landed gentry in early 19th century England.
The title encompasses a lot of what gets in the way of people knowing each other well, especially in formal surroundings, these days most often business.
The prejudice we grow up with or develop over time. A blunt example: People wearing black beanies are at least doubtful in character, perhaps some sort of outlaw – or even criminals…
Or: People laughing may be lacking in respect and subordination in a business context…
Or: People wearing comfortable shoes and clothing (especially women) are of a certain orientation in their private life…
Or: Italians are always passionate and easy to smile and make jokes, and like celebrating and joyful activities… whereas people in North European countries tend to be gruff and a little lacking in social graces…
Really?
Try meeting an Italian at night on a lonely road… or on the other hand North Europeans when you ask them for help – or around a fire on the beach with a guitar…
Stereotypes are often a misstatement of possibilities that have been generalized – too often, too long.
And they also can easily be abused to stamp a group or an individual with the sign of a brand, sort of: Difficult, avoid…
When in actual fact it’s the misogyny, or hatred of the other (better…??) principle, the person that might be considered a threat to ones position – or the simple envy of a (perceived) advantage over ones own existence.
Images and perspective are key, in so many respects.
That’s why checking your sources carefully can be crucial, not to say of the essence.
So much suffering, pain and useless effort are delivered and spent in regard to prejudice.
My father used to put it jokingly, and in plain irony:
“Those are the types that will not have their prejudices spoilt by fact.”
The way out of such pits of misery and their pitfalls? Since, misery is the real result of such thoughts and sometimes ensuing deeds:
Find out about your own true self, all the good things and skills you own. The self-esteem.
Try and change perspectives on your life and your peers now and again, even if for fun only and see what can happen, at times…
There’s joy and the good, lighthearted laughter in that.
‘A real man’, ‘a hulk’, ‘the hero’, ‘the fighter’ – the words and phrases are numerous, sometimes there seems no end to the ideas of what men should be like.
“Always cool, calm and collected.” “Women and children, the sick and the elderly to be saved first.”
What does that do to men’s minds? To some, at least, raised with the full brunt of this concept?
That a man is to be powerful, reigns the creation, the earth, and everything in it – including women.
‘His woman’. ‘His wife’.
For centuries that was understood: A woman is her father’s and later her husband’s ‘ward’, in modern terms that was in effect the legal ruling. She did not own anything, even when she worked or inherited money.
Comfort. A fine word. It evokes all kinds of images if we come to think of it. And men so long had to be the providers. Providers of food, shelter and – comfort.
Because, this indeed can be too much: Because, indeed, this is not human!
Every human being feels lonely at times, yearns for closeness, warmth and comfort.
But men are supposed to feel and be always superhuman? Strong, knowledgeable? The last resort?
It’s not possible to always feel that way. But when no one tells them so – how would they know?
And sick minds can be born by the almost schizophrenic concept: Be kind, understanding and calm. But also be brutal and a fighter and always in control of the situation.
Schizophrenia is associated with sickness. But at the outset it means a ‘divided brain’. Thinking and feeling are at odds. And if that cannot be resolved, we find cruelty and (near) madness in deeds and – online activities…
Let’s remember that war is just a phenomenon based on this image. Based on the idea of sovereignty and wealth being the most important and most attractive traits in a man.
These are images, concepts and they are not human. We do not need images. We need human beings in this world.
War is no solution. War is not destiny. War is not inevitable. War is not in our nature.
Conflicts are. But they can be solved if we really want to.
Screenshot of NATO member states, current, taken at 21-01-2025_06-16-46 at https://www.nato-pa.int/content/membership-map
Yet once more Russia attacks Ukraine. Ukraine will answer in time… The news are often just a short glimmer of the actual blunt truth behind it all:
Just as in everyday conflicts, very often war is about power, about position, about prestige, about reputation – and about money as well.
What makes it a pattern too, is the way the opponents treat each other in frontline ‘reports’: It’s always the other party that is to be blamed. It’s always the others that didn’t make enough allowances or offered the real bargain to finally reach a truce.
And eventually an agreement to be observed by all.
Does anyone remember how this first got started? The idea had been that NATO after WWII would not extend into the East of Europe beyond a certain realm. In order to let the actual feeling of danger or threats be allayed in regard to Russia.
I still have to think of that little story I made up the other day about that situation:
A man lives in his house by himself, calmly attending to his (rather turbulent) internal affairs.
One day he opens the door and finds a huge, smiling hulk of a yet young, blonde, clean-shaven man with close-cropped haircut standing there – kindly looking at him, feet on his porch, legs wide, chewing gum – holding a machine gun. Telling him, with a broad smile that the man need not worry: He and his mates were just having a good time of it, doing nothing. Just brought their guns and tanks too…
Seriously, looking at maps, what would you think…?
There is no question about Russia’s internal affairs, i.e. its president Putin, being a cruel leader and dictator internally.
But this conflict did not start 3 years ago. It started long before that. And as long as greed and selfishness on all sides won’t make room for real negotiations, this will go on…
Image by Grand Ath Thariq Kusmara Gustav from Pixabay
“You just don’t understand!” – That’s the title of a book by a famous social sciences researcher. She writes in a manner everyone can understand about the difficulties that can arise when men and women talk to each other. It’s focused on the US-American, that is, to some extend Western society and culture.
Most of us know how different and thus difficult to understand the approaches and outlook on life can be between the sexes.
Even more so, when there are similar ideas around, living and working together, where expectations are yet different in detail.
The outlook, the perspective on life, and other people can be a crucial key to understanding each other.
There are people with a quiet and withdrawn everyday behaviour. Who think for themselves, take longer to finally speak about their thoughts; or exchange ideas.
Others rather like to talk soon to someone of like mind.
‘Like mind’: Wonderful words, in some ways.
The person who understands us without any drama or long discussions. Makes us feel welcome and at ease. Accepted. Because we understand each other easily, due to similar outlooks. Like minds.
There is yet another very interesting and yet basic difference in communication between so called high-context and low-context cultures:
“High-context” means not so much a measure of better quality – it means that in order to properly understand what is said you have to know body language.
The non-verbal messages that come with the words, the talk.
“Low-context” too, is not a measure of lower quality – it means that almost exclusively words are regarded as the whole ‘message’ of the speaker. Facial expression or gestures are almost not taken into account. At least, not knowingly.
I have seen both: People who register every tone of voice or the lifting of an eyebrow in order to ‘decode’ the message.
And those who don’t. At all.
I also know how easily we all are mistaken in judging others: The famous story of the man with the hammer by Paul Watzlawick, a leading figure in communication studies, in his even more famous book: “The situation is hopeless but not serious” is ample proof of that way we all have at times to interpret others – willy nilly:
The man decides he needs to lend a hammer from his neighbour, thinks a while, remembers all kinds of apparent recent snides and strange looks, concluding a grudge, the other is harbouring against him – when he eventually reaches the door of the neighbour’s house, rings and the neighbour opens, screams to his face: “You can well keep your hammer to yourself!”
Things can become more subtle than that, though: When we live in a close-knit community with some strict ideas on how to behave – it can happen that we become intolerant towards others.
A wonderful concept that can help a lot to more peace and peaceful coexistence:
“Tolerance”: “willingness to accept behaviour and beliefs that are different from your own, although you might not agree with or approve of them” (Cambridge Dict., online version)
What can make tolerance so difficult is the fact that we so often are raised with the silent premise of: “if you are not for you are against me” – The unspoken effect inside being even a (temporarily) shaky self-confidence: We look for someone to confirm our uneasiness, or our hurt feelings. To feel we are not wrong. But right, in feeling insulted or even hurt.
This ‘comes with the territory’: Many of us get a basic idea of ‘right and wrong’, sometimes strict parents or elders raising us with those ideas. And no explanations of – or more subtle views on – the how and the why.
Or the even less-easy-to-grab concept of being right – and the other person being right too… in their view of a situation.
That we will not lose a point or our position, our dignity, ‘face’, when we acknowledge the other’s perspective to be understandable.
But, that is the starting point of more peace and understanding:
Practicing tolerance.
Starting to learn about perspectives and (apart from legal or ethical considerations) about diversity of beliefs, outlooks – points of view.
Anyone watching the scenes that are public and published can state it that way: “More of the same.” It’s interesting to see that people behave the same way everywhere, just as Paul Watzlawick in his famous book called it:
“More of the same.”
He is a leading figure in communication science and has written standard works for the field.
The well-known, bestselling “The Situation is Hopeless but not Serious – The Pursuit of Unhappiness” was written with tongue in cheek, so it is the reverse of what you would expect. A tutorial how to do it right…to be happier. It’s revealing the patterns people repeat making themselves unhappy that way.
The patterns are there, not just in the book but in life – and in politics. Especially surprising it might seem as regards the war in Ukraine and the situation in Gaza.
Hellooo?
We do not need to repeat the ideas, statements and threats of the past 2 and 7 decades, respectively.
It is about dropping the ‘attitude’:
“Me (us) – always right.” and getting down to brass tacks. To the real thing. To negotiating instead of making a lot of noise. Or expecting the other, the person across from us to change just as by magic – because we suddenly decided that it would be the best way:
Just ‘let’ them give in…
It’s indeed almost as if people had taken some of the bad movies and fairy stories too seriously – and forgotten to consider the other person.
When you meet people in life they don’t behave according to your wishes – just because you tell them so.
No king will get that – and no dictator.
What you can do is: Learn!
Learn about humans, about the universal truths and the actual real things that make life fine – not bragging and boasting and ‘making it an act’.
But about community and the bigger picture, peace and – eventually kindness of hearts.
Because: That’s what real happiness is about. Sense of community – and kindness.
The great kings of the past still considered to be great were not the ones to make a lot of noise and war.
They were the ones to understand about people, that is, their subjects – and about life’s essentials.
