1. Power exists.
2. Power is “the ability to do something or act in a particular way.” It can also mean “a state or country, especially one viewed in terms of its international influence and military strength.”
3. After 1945 (WWII), the United States was the most powerful country in the world.
4. Its moment had arrived, and its expansionist tendencies could now be globalized.
5. Part of being the most powerful country in the world is to make sure other countries cooperate—especially small ones. Lack of cooperation will not be tolerated.
6. The US-Soviet contest, called the Cold War, was largely theater. The Soviet Union was in a distant second place.
7. Most of what you have seen in the movies is categorical nonsense.
8. Now that the United States had its villain, Uncle Sam could blame everything on Moscow and chalk it up to “national security.”
9. As of the 1950s, the Middle East became a place of great interest, largely due to its vast oil reserves. Oil is no longer a huge issue; weapons are the name of the game now.
10. The same intolerance for democracy is currently in place. It is and has been known the people of the Middle East would never like this arrangement. Too bad. Thugs are sponsored as leaders in the region—as they were under British-French colonialism. But the United States is in charge.
11. There is one country in the region that seemed aggressive and willing to do Uncle Sam’s bidding: Israel.
12. Israel is a mostly artificial country (well, they all are, but Israel more so) that up until recent decades was economically unviable. It excels at things like ethnic cleansing and attacking its neighbors, but as a nation state it is small and rather insignificant.
13. Israel’s GDP is just under Michigan’s—around $550 billion.
14. The United States has a GDP of $30 trillion.
15. The United States is the most powerful military power in human history.
16. It takes orders from nobody.
17. “Deterrence” and “credibility” are concepts in US foreign policy, which means Uncle Sam smashes a small country occasionally, merely to keep smaller states in line.
18. The Israel lobby, while influential, is merely pushing in the direction Uncle Sam is headed already. Does a mafia don need to be influenced that crime is the best option? (Does a country the economic size of Michigan push around a country over 50 times its size?)
19. Iran is a case of a country not cooperating (since 1979) and it has always aroused Uncle Sam’s wrath.
20. The trajectory of US foreign policy can be traced back to the country’s beginnings, and what we’re seeing with Iran is wholly unsurprising. The only surprising thing is the population always falls for this and always supports it.
