Over the last 30 hours a sequence of reactive events occurred in the grim situation of Southwest Asia, in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, which points up the reality that only replacing the might-makes-right conduct of the United States and Israel, not expecting restraint, will end the horrors. This reflects the deadly logic of the might-makes-right paradigm, and ending it is a task before all the world’s nations.
In brief: Early today Israel issued an announcement ordering residents of southern Beirut to evacuate, before the imminent launch of an IDF air strike, following yesterday’s IDF ground incursion to a line the farthest north in over 26 years.
Already, due to Israeli attacks, one million people in Lebanon have been displaced. Since March 2, more than 3400 people have been killed, and another 10,000 injured. More than 20% of Lebanon is now occupied by Israel forces.
A few hours after the Israeli announcement, Iran state media Tasnim then reported that Tehran was completely suspending the ongoing indirect talks with Washington–which President Trump has been lauding–for an interim deal between the U.S. and Iran, until Israel completely ceases its attacks on Lebanon and Gaza, and withdraws from Lebanon.
Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi separately made clear, writing on X, that “any violation of the ceasefire [that Washington and Tehran agreed to April 7] on one front shall be considered a violation of it across all fronts.”
Tasnim reported Iran’s intention to completely close the Strait of Hormuz, and also act to restrict passage through the Bab El-Mandeb Strait on the Red Sea.
Within a few hours, President Donald Trump then posted that he had phoned Netanyahu. “I had a very productive call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel, and there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back,”he wrot
e on Truth Social. “Likewise, through highly placed Representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop—That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.”
Can it be said that this is a backdown by President Trump? A capitulation by Netanyahu? As of late in the day, unnamed sources are reporting, according to Axios, that Trump reamed out Netanyahu over his military push in Lebanon, saying, “You’re f***ing crazy.”
One can say what one will about any of this, but the task is to do all necessary for a withdrawal of Israel’s forces in Lebanon, restore respect for Lebanon’s borders and sovereignty, and in context of the end of U.S. and Israel war-making, move toward peace and development across the entire region, and deliver immediate humanitarian relief.
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Lebanon late today. As was said by one of the diplomats of the Five Principal members of the UNSC, the latest U.S. announcements are to be taken note of, but an assessment of what it means must wait.
What is necessary is a positive new world paradigm of relations among nations. This was the subject of international deliberation over the past weekend in Berlin, at the Schiller Institute conference, “The End of 500 Years of Colonialism—For a Dialogue of Civilizations,” leading off with the focus, “The Urgent Need for a New International Security and Development Architecture.”
The video archive of the first of the two-days of presentations is now posted, including the second panel, “Sovereignty and the Consent of the Governed.” How to bring about this new world condition is the anguishing question, but it is the right question.
The question was also addressed this past weekend at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, the longstanding annual military conference, because it was raised by the head of the delegation from China, Major Gen. Xiangqing.
On May 30, Gen. Meng brought forward, speaking from the assembly, not the podium, that the China-proposed Global Security Initiative and Global Governance Initiative offer “Chinese wisdom” on how to end the military conflicts, and other dangers, and expressed the “hope that all countries will join hands to practice true multilateralism and inject positive energy into global strategic stability.”
What the next tasks and thinking are needed to do this will be taken up June 5 at the next Schiller Institute International Peace Coalition.
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