Needless carnage in the Middle East

There is blood and destruction; blood of the innocent as well as the guilty; that is war; sometimes, innocent people also suffer.  We should perish the emotion of excessive or disproportionate force when it is a matter of pride and bloated ego. The combatants are sworn enemies embraced in a dance of death.  The Supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, has been assassinated in one of his bunkers and lairs; he has always lived on borrowed time. The world leaders and the international systems may have been complicit in this atrocious attack by their conspiratorial indifference. This is also the fate that is brought upon a nation with tempestuous arrogant feudal leadership that plays God. 

The war in the Middle East is certainly not for national honour; it is about pride and prejudice. Beyond the façade and pretentions to protection of national pride and sovereignty, the war in the Middle East is being fought for the reason of ego of maverick narcissists, and supremacist leaders in America, Israel and Iran.  These leaders have no nobility of intention to build a peaceful world; they are gangsters and anarchists who enjoy the sight of blood and suffering of humanity.  America’s involvement in the assault on Iran and assassination of the Ayatollah is premeditated and reprehensible while they are engaged in diplomatic dialogue. 

It is immoral and against the principle of customary international law to be on the negotiation table and at the same time aligning massive deployment of deadly weapons with hands on the trigger to assassinate the leader of a sovereign nation.  The current operation and war against Iran is a carefully planned operation that only God could have stopped it. With the antecedent of President Trump, it was clear to any discerning mind that the negotiation was ostensibly doomed to failure.  President Donald Trump of America perpetually wears the visor of Janus, like “Esu”, the mythical Yoruba deity of controversy, confusion and evil. He runs with the hare while hunting with the hounds; a treacherous conman, carrying the message of peace and war simultaneously.

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Iran blindly walked into a booby trap with obdurate, fanatic leaders.    Ayatollah Ali Khomeini is a product of historic struggle against western imperialism; he is fixated on destruction of corrupting western values and to wipe out Israel, Zionism and whatever it represents.  It was an ordained mission to promote the Arab civilization and his militant brand of Islam.  While building and developing his war machines, the citizens where under his feudalist vice-grips.  Iran as a nation offers sanctuary to militant jihadists and terrorist groups who export death and violence to the rest of the world. 

Israel is led by a hawk, Benjamin Netanyahu, who sees it equally as a divine duty to protect his Israeli nation from another pogrom after the Holocaust in a sponsored genocide of approximately six million European Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators between 1941 and 1945.  He is the guardian sentinel of modern Israel.  In the circumstances, the Middle East remains a boiling cauldron with jihadists and militant groups trained, armed and sponsored by Iran with their hands on the trigger.  Whether the world would be able to extract a ceasefire or not is immaterial; that is not going to bring back the dead and restore the damaged infrastructure.  It is a matter of time before another war and conflict erupts. This is because the infrastructure of war has become a permanent feature in the hands of militants and jihadists and their sponsors. 

With the war in the Middle East and Ukraine, the world is witnessing the erosion and collapse of the United Nations system and the concept of rule-based international order before us. The emerging principle of world order is that, might is right.  Leaders hoodwink citizens and play God while the people are sedated on the opium of religious brainwash and senseless nationalism incapable of knowing when to draw the line.  The bad man has met an assassin and the endgame is fire and blood. 

Iran did not show enough circumspection in picking its enemies; they are dead wrong to pick on the combined foes of Trump and Netanyahu.  The fanatics in Iran will not relent while the tyrants and maniacs in Israel and America will be happy to feed them lethal meal of thunder and brimstone. It is wrong to start a fight in anticipation of a friendly neighbour that will intervene or separate the fight.  If America and Israel are wrong to bring such overwhelming force on Iran, Iran is also wrong to engage in clandestine war using proxies to wipe out Israel and export terrorism.

The war in the Middle East is being fought for the wrong reason, to stop Iran from nuclear enrichment and acquisition of nuclear warheads or weapon.  America and its imperialist organisation, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cannot stand on solid legal and moral grounds to demand that a country should not develop its nuclear capacity in exercise of its sovereignty. In a world driven by might, acquisition of nuclear power is only a necessity for deterrence.  America or any other country for that matter has no legitimate right to deny any other country including Iran the right to develop nuclear capacity to arm nuclear warheads. 

What is the take away for Africa?  There is no longer rule of law based international order.  Africa has to build capacity and develop in its own right and pace with conscious and deliberate effort in technological advancement in order to be able to defend itself. Africa should stop running cap-in-hand to Russia, China and America for aid and support; our interest do not coincide with their imperialists’ agenda to control and manipulate the world.  Africa may not start a world war but be assured that it will come and you have to defend yourselves and territory.

In Nigeria, some fanatics are organizing protests in solidarity with Iran and the slain leader, the Ayatollah. In the media, social and mainstream, there are partisan arguments on the usual refrain and colour; the north symbolizing Arab-Islam while the south representing Israel-Christianity; this is balderdash.  The crises and war in Iran and the Middle East is not about religion, Christianity and Islam. We have not protested against terrorism, banditry, herdsmen attacks, abductions and kidnappings all over the country.  There have been no whimpers, no protests, no demand on the government to rescue abducted school children in Chibok, Dapchi etc.  This is how much religion and ethnicity have been used to brainwash and manipulate our people; sadly elites inclusive.  We need peace in the world, but we also need justice. The carnage in the Middle East is the failure of global leadership and the United Nations system

•Kebonkwu Esq is an Abuja-based attorney. He writes via mikekebonkwu@yahoo.com