I had a horrible thought whilst watching the news on tv last night. That we are probably closer to a ‘big war’ than we have been in my lifetime, other than the Cuban Missile Crisis when I was 7 and didn’t know the effects of a 1000 megaton bomb from a hole in the ground. A fucking big hole. Even then I must have been pretty bright.

We survived the entire ‘cold war’ without anyone ‘pushing the button’, itself an absolute miracle of restraint and commons sense by people who weren’t expected to demonstrate either.

And now we have ‘the Iran Crisis’ to herald in the New Year. Because whether or not you agree with Trump’s action of ‘taking out’ unquestionable bad buy Qasem Suleimani, there will be repercussions. Last time the Donald took ‘action’ like this was in Syria when he bombed the launch site from which Assad had sent chemical attacks against his own civilians. Syria didn’t respond and their main ally, Russia (holy shittttt!!!) chose to let the ‘statement’ pass.

But this is not Syria. This is Iran. A dark place. Filled with concepts like ‘honour’ and ‘pride’ and ‘vengeance’ in truly biblical measures. Where revenge is not necessarily the dish best served cold. But flaming hot and unarguably horrible. And as America is so far away and itself, due to the current incumbent of the White House, run along similar lines, the ‘repercussions’ become kind of infinite in scope. And the repercussions from the repercussions. And the rep… you get it.

Iran has to retaliate or will be seen as weak. As opposed to just ‘mad!’ as most of us see it.

Unfortunately though, the death of Suleimani has not killed his methods nor his ideology. His ‘militia’ occupy Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, under a host of different names. Call ’em ‘Houti’, call ’em ‘Hezbollah’, call ’em fucking ‘Nigel’ for all I care. They’re radical Shias intent on wreaking as much havoc on Sunni muslims as they are on anyone else. But now can all be focused on Americans anywhere in the region. Or Brits. Or on Israel, always a target for Iran, over and beyond all others.

So yes, Donald did away with a man who definitely wanted doing away with. But at what price? Because now, like a Miss World contestant, all I really want is ‘peace in the world’. And I fear we’re not really gonna get that.

Happy Monday
A xxxx