Politics Theory Other

Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi joins PTO to talk about the US and Israeli war on Iran, as the conflict - apparently expected to last mere days in the Trump White House - approaches its second month. Eskandar explained why the Iranian state and military have proven so resilient despite the overwhelming firepower that the United States and Israel are able to bring to bear, and why in his view the Trump administration made so little apparent effort to prepare for an extended conflict and the closure of the strait of Hormuz. We also talked about the prospect of negotiations and what Iran's red lines might be. And finally, we talked about how the Iranian revolution of 1979 continues to shape how the Iranian regime functions and why it's a mistake to view Iran's allies in the region as mere proxies.

On March 2nd, in the early stages of the ongoing attack on Iran by Israel and the United States, and following the assassination of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah launched missile strikes on northern Israel. Hezbollah described the attack as a defensive act after more than a year of near-daily Israeli strikes. Israel has since launched major attacks on Lebanese territory that have killed hundreds, and its evacuation orders have caused a massive displacement of Lebanese civilians.

Nathaniel George returns to PTO to talk about the background to the latest round of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the current situation in the country, and about the history of Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty.

Richard Seymour on the widening war in West Asia. We talked about the current military situation, the confusion around what US and Israeli objectives are, and the divergent responses of European states to the attack. We also talked about how to situate Operation Epic Fury in the context of gradual US decline, and what the prospects are for a revival of the US anti-war movement.

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If you'd like to listen to the rest of this episode of PTO Extra! please consider becoming a £5 supporter at https://www.patreon.com/poltheoryother