May 22, 2024
Protestors probe
his political psyche and we follow the money
Northern
California congressperson Jared Huffman, 60, held his annual “Hootenanny”
campaign fundraiser at Lagunitas Brewery in Petaluma, California.
Demonstration at campaign fundraiser for Rep. Jared Huffman at Lagunitas Brewery in Petaluma, California. Photo: Peter Byrne
Press were
denied entry to the private party, but the real story was outside, as
CounterPunch discovered.
The fundraising
event did not go karmically well for the occasionally progressive Democrat who
has represented Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino and other North Coast counties since
2013. About 80 of Huffman’s constituents were motivated to attend his
fundraiser—not to donate money, but to protest his political stance regarding
what he labels a “justified war” on the people of Gaza. Huffman consistently
votes to fund Israeli war machinery that targets Palestinian civilians, and he
is opposes an unconditional ceasefire.
Confined inside
a barricaded “free speech” zone patrolled by heavily armed Petaluma police
officers, the youthful, keffiyeh wearing crowd waved Palestinian flags and
brandished signs calling for a ceasefire and freeing Palestine from decades of
Israeli occupation, ethnic cleansing, and genocidal warfare. The protest chants
and songs could be heard inside the restaurant as Huffman worked a microphone,
thanking about 150 attendees for donating money to his 2024 campaign.
ATM politics
Huffman’s
campaign treasury is flush, holding more than $1 million in cash. Operating
expenses for his 2022 campaign were $580,000, according to Federal Elections
Commission datasets. But political coffers are always in need of lucre. That is
because donations to Huffman are purchasing much more than streams of
pan-handling email spam generated by his blue world marketing consultants. Cash
is the arterial blood of influence and power in the purportedly democratic
plutocracies of the West. Cash pays for newspaper, television, and social media
advertising, gifting political allies, and more fundraising affairs. Without
oodles of cash on hand to purchase media attention and generate popularity, a
member of Congress is constantly at risk of becoming yesterday’s loser, a
sudden nobody with only a phat pension left as the remainder of congressional
power perks. As Bob Dylan’s immortal song about America’s propagandized culture
observes, “Money doesn’t talk, it swears”. It also seduces; without buckets of
cash to spill, there simply are no votes to be had, Ma. Hence, most politicians
will kiss anyone who flashes a Benjamin while police are keeping constituents
carrying protest signs at bay.
Down home with
Jared
The loud and
lively demonstration calling for Huffman to stop supporting killing the people
of Gaza was organized by Sonoma County for Palestine and Marin County
Democratic Socialists of America. At the request of U.S. Capital Police, the
Petaluma Police Department assigned five officers to back up private security
hired to deal with political disruption. Petaluma chief of police, Brian
Murphy, confirmed that the Huffman campaign is not covering the cost of
providing police protection at the private party. But why did Huffman order up
the police in such force?
By comparison,
in 2021, a Huffman town hall meeting in San Rafael was disrupted by a mob of
hundreds of enraged anti-vaxxers who rushed the stage. One person attacked an
elderly, masked man; the MAGA mood was rude and ugly. Huffman gamely tried to
debate with the protestors, but they were rambunctious, uncontrollable.
Pointedly, Huffman declined to call in the police, who were staged a few blocks
away. Take a note: these were mostly middle aged, white home-owner types living
in the heart of Marin—not Black Lives Matter or “pro-Palestinian” radicals or
politically awakening Generation Zs.
Inside the
police-protected Lagunitas party were two dozen elected officials hailing from
Marin and Sonoma counties, including four members of the Marin Board of
Supervisors, Mayor Kevin McDonnell of Petaluma, and three Petaluma City Council
members. Since October, many of these gray-haired, aging officials have
successfully agitated to keep ceasefire in Gaza resolutions off their meeting
dockets.
Outside the
party, the crowed was loud, but peaceful and polite. Norman Solomon of Roots
Action—who ran against Huffman in his first race for Congress in 2012—coolly
handed out “Ceasefire in Gaza” signs. Two MAGA-type scowling provocateurs faced
passing cars wielding an American flag and “Fuck Huffman” placards; they did
not share the other protestor’s agenda. The mostly white, middle aged and
elderly Huffman doners were compelled by the presence of the demonstration to
park hundreds of feet away and to walk in front of the protestors to gain
entrance to the Hootenanny. Many strode by with their heads down, perhaps
chagrined, perhaps angry, but some shot the protestors “V for Peace” finger
signs, as if to indicate that they, too, oppose the slaughter in Gaza, really.
Inside the
brewery hall, the guests were entertained by SoloRio, billed as “a rock gospel
stone soup band.” According to a Hootenanny attendee, Huffman himself plucked a
guitar, singing a hobo ballad, “Wagon Wheel.” Huffman’s media campaign portrays
the bookish lawyer cum politician as a down home, folksy yet progressive kind
of farm-lover who likes to sport fish, play volleyball, josh and hootenanny
with the country guys and gals.
Outside, the
protestors portrayed Huffman onomatopoeically as “Genocide Jared,” noting that
he had broken with 33 members of the House Progressive Caucus in an April vote
to give Israel $17 billion in bombs, weapons, and infrastructural support to
wage its explosively industrialized war on starving, thirsty, environmentally
decimated, wounded and grieving Gazans, who were definitely not invited to the
Hootenanny.
Generation
Z objects to Huffman’s support of Israeli war machine at Huffman fundraiser
protest. Photo: Peter Byrne
The protestors
were also upset with Huffman because he has long opposed calling for a
ceasefire in Gaza unless the negotiated terms are greenlighted by the Netanyahu
administration; permanently disarm Hamas, but not Israel; call for the release
of hostages held by Hamas, but not Palestinians held by Israeli Defense Forces.
Huffman also
voted for a controversial bill equating criticism of Israeli militarism and
apartheid practices with antisemitism.
Cognitive
dissonances
Leading up to
Lagunitas demonstration, Huffman twice engaged in candid colloquies with
members of the Marin Country DSA. The participants failed to find much in the
way of political common ground with their representative regarding Israel and
Palestine, but transcripts provided by the Marin County DSA reveal the process
by which Huffman masticates facts as he ponders how to vote on politically
controversial issues.
On Netanyahu
In a May 10
interview on Zoom with members of the Palestine Solidarity Committee of the
Marin County DSA, Huffman said, “I really don’t like Netanyahu. I think he is a
thug and a fascist.” He said this while doubling down on affirming his support
for giving Netanyahu and his generals the means to continue their collocated
wars on Gaza, the Occupied West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, and Iran. Huffman
described himself as “heartbroken and concerned” about the annihilation of
Palestinians at the same time that he is legislating their continued
destruction as a people, which many genocide scholars argue is isomorphic to
genocide, although Huffman does not agree with that analysis.
On geography
Huffman told the
DSA interlocutors, “There are better ways to pressure Israel’s war plans than a
full withholding of [military] aid and the reason is I want Israel to be able
to defend itself … it’s a pretty delicate time for a country that is about the size
of Marin County.”
Fact: Marin County
population is 262,231; its land mass is 520 square miles. Israel’s internal
population of Jews and Arabs is 10 million; its land mass is 8,019 square
miles. Israel has 38 times the population of Marin County and 15 times the land
mass.
On Biden
Huffman said he
steadfastly supports the Biden administration’s actions regarding the war on
Gaza, claiming that Biden “passionately wants to protect Palestinian lives …
and try to get a ceasefire.”
Fact: The Biden
administration has vetoed multiple calls for a ceasefire at the United Nations
as it continues to arm Israel with bombs to explode Gazans. Biden and his
Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken—whom Huffman referred to as “Tony” during
the conversation—refuse to effectively condition supplying weapons to Isreal
upon Netanyahu re-opening the sealed borders of Gaza to allow humanitarian aid
to flow, preventing mass starvation and even more deaths from disease, wounds,
hunger and despair.
On apartheid
Huffman insists
that Israel is a democracy and not an apartheid or settler colonial state, but
that the West Bank “looks a lot more like apartheid [and] the occupation is a
disaster.”
Fact: Israel is a
fundamentally theocratic government created through acts of terrorism and
population removal and expanded by IDF-backed settlers violently seizing and
colonizing Palestinian lands. According to the Council of Foreign Relations,
Israel denies equal rights to Arabs living inside its borders under socially
and economically segregated conditions. Inside its national borders and in Gaza
and the West Bank, “Greater” Israel has erected a vast military, digital and
architectural apparatus to separate populations based upon ethnicity. The
Israeli state regularly “mows the lawn” in Gaza and the West Bank, which means
blowing up and bulldozing residences and businesses of Palestinians and
murdering, torturing, and incarcerating stone-throwing resisters, including
thousands of teenagers and children. Huffman claims to oppose these current and
historical depredations, even as he votes for funding them.
On antisemitism
Huffman strongly
opposes the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which he
(incorrectly) labels as antisemitic. Huffman voted for a controversial
congressional bill that equates criticism of Israel with antisemitism. In that
regard, he told the DSA, “I’m a lawyer so I speak with a little bit of
authority: the bill does not codify a definition of antisemitism. … It requires
consideration of that definition … and I do want to show support for addressing
antisemitism because it’s a thing, it’s real, and it’s raging right now.”
Fact: President Biden
and most members of Congress regularly equate criticism of Israel with
antisemitism.
On campus
protests
Huffman opined
that some of the pro-Palestine protestors “want world peace and are wonderful
non-violent ideologues … others are nihilists and haters and want to fight and
destroy things … Some police forces have shown incredible restraint … in
allowing protest … others have not.” Regarding the politically reactionary mob
of white males that attacked the student encampment at UCLA, Huffman “deplored”
their violent actions, and he also “deplored the assault reportedly on the one
Jewish student that the counter protestors thought justified their violence.”
Fact: There is no
evidence of any assault prior to the mobs’ violent attack and beating of
protestors, in fact, it is the so called “counter protestors,” many identified
as right wing provocateurs, who initiated the fighting and assaulted the
peacefully protesting students as the LAPD watched and did nothing.
Fact: On November 6,
Huffman issued an apology to “my friends in the Jewish Community” for voting
against a bill proposed by Burgess Owens, a Trump supporting Republican
representative from Utah that had condemned Students for Justice in Palestine
and professors at major universities as Hamas supporters. The Owens resolution
subsequently supported by Huffman falsely accused universities of “the
glorification of violence and usage of antisemitic rhetoric [which] creates a
hostile learning and working environment for Jewish students, faculty, and
staff.” Huffman explained in the local press that he now regretted not voting
for the MAGA bill because it “was seen by many in the Jewish Community as a
test of where members of Congress stand on growing scourge of college
antisemitism.” Perhaps a few campaign funders put Huffman to the test.
On self-defense
Huffman,
self-described as a “lawyer with a little bit of authority” said he does not
support the right of Palestinians to armed self-defense against attacks by
Israel’s military forces or settler militias.
Fact: International
law supports the legal right of occupied people to resist attacks by colonizers
and oppressors.
On the Nakba
Huffman said,
“The Nakba was a real thing … And I think there are interesting debates about
the scale and the reasons for it. But … many of those folks were told to leave
by the Arab countries. There are some people in other countries who said, uh,
we will destroy Israel and you’ll be able to return when we do. [There are]
nuanced counter narratives [and] I have heard them and I’ve found some
credibility there.”
Fact: Huffman holds
an ahistorical view of the Nakba which occurred in 1947-48. The catastrophic
ethnic cleansing, forcible expulsion and murder of indigenous people by the
Jewish colonialists is exhaustively documented.
On international
law
Huffman
participated in another interview with Marin DSA on February 29, the day of the
Flour Massacre, when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) shot and killed 188
Gazans and injured hundreds of civilians who were seeking food for their
starving families from the trickle of humanitarian aid trucks that had managed
to pass through IDF and settler blockades. Huffman said, “It’s a problem that
several UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency] staffers in Gaza took
part in the October 7th massacre.”
Fact: There is no
credible evidence that UNRWA staff participated in the massacres, but that
unproven allegation is a common talking point pushed by IDF public relations
arms and Jewish non-profit funding foundations lobbying against locally elected
officials supporting a ceasefire in Gaza. Huffman’s main talking points in his
interviews with Marin DSA and his public statements since October 7 echo the
positions of Israeli state-supporting organizations, such as the Jewish
Community Relations Council of the Bay Area, that strongly and loudly oppose
elected officials even considering measures to endorse a humanitarian or any
type of ceasefire in Gaza.
On bombing the
Iranian consulate
Huffman
attempted to excuse Israel’s April 1 bombing of the Iranian consulate in
Damascus, which killed seven Iranian military officers, by suggesting, without
producing a scintilla of evidence, that there may have been “some terror act
afoot,” adding “Let me be clear, the IRGC are not good guys.” Huffman then
proffered an incoherent analogy, “But the Saudis chopped up Jamal Khashoggi in
an embassy, so I’m not here to say that just because you walk in the door of an
embassy you can do anything you want, I just don’t know enough about it.”
Fact: The 1961 Vienna
Convention of Diplomatic Relations states, “The premises of the embassy shall
be inviolable.” Huffman appears to be suggesting that assassinating Khashoggi
was (perhaps) not a violation of diplomatic immunity because it was committed
by Saudi Arabia at its own consulate in Turkey and not at Turkey’s consulate in
Saudi Arabia. By this hair-splitting cognitive convolution: since the Iranian
consulate was located in the capital of Syria, and not inside the borders of
Israel, it was not a violation of the strictures of diplomacy to bomb it and
kill high ranking Iranian officials. Bombing an embassy or consulate is an
obvious act of war, however, and Iran treated it as such.
An “imaginary”
solution
Huffman opposes
the very idea of creating a democratic one state model of Israel in which Jews
and Palestinians have equal rights. “It is a euphemism for ending the state of
Israel .. . there would not be a Jewish homeland of any kind.” In the same
breath, Huffman said he opposes the long time Israeli occupation and illegal
settlements of the West Bank and is willing to “pre-recognize a demilitarized
Palestinian state [but] we’ve been waiting for decades for this kind of
imaginary negotiated solution between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli
government. It’s just not working.”
Fact: Huffman admits
to supporting a “two state” political model that he views as “imaginary” and
unobtainable.
On genocide
Huffman told
DSA, “I think we have to be careful when we use a term like ‘genocide’ because
we don’t want to dimmish its impact when something that truly is a genocide
happens.” Huffman apparently does not view Israel’s decades of invasions,
assassinations, destruction of mosques, hospitals, and universities combined
with torture, imprisonment without due process, and the concentration camping
of Palestinians because of who they are as “truly” a genocide. In response to a
DSA query, Huffman declined to state whether he will respect the decision of
the International Court of Justice if it orders Israeli to cease committing
genocide presently in Gaza. To reiterate, Huffman, a lawyer who is a sworn
officer of the court, and who claims to speak with a little bit of authority,
is apparently prepared to officially disregard a ruling by an international
court if it does not accord with his personal opinion.
Disrupting
support for genocide
Four of
Huffman’s constituents paid $40 each to attend the Hootenanny. As Huffman
played master of ceremonies, the undercover protestors rose one by one to
defend the people of Gaza. Each disrupter was quickly surrounded by pistol
holstered policer officers and summarily pushed outside to the parking lot.
Cell phone videos show Huffman trying to maintain the flow of his fundraising
spiel throughout the commotions, pausing briefly as one protester was forcibly
expelled to say, “This is democracy, this is democracy, and we are going to get
through this together.”
In interviews
with Counter Punch, the expellees recalled their experiences as disrupters.
S: “I walked out
in front of the band between songs and pulled out a printout of a Palestinian
flag. I said ‘I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day yesterday, on behalf
of all the mothers in Palestine, free Palestine, free Palestine.’”
Expelled by
police.
Sé: “I said,
‘Jared Huffman you are a coward not a leader! Shame. Call for a permanent
ceasefire. Why is your number one donor Honeywell Industries, which
collaborates with Israel and has contracts for nuclear weapons production? Why
do you have such a weak stance when it comes to ethnic cleansing, and genocide?
Why are you still voting in favor of sending arms to Israel when they have
shown over and over and over again that they don’t give a fuck about civilian
lives? Palestine will be free! Permanent ceasefire now!’”
Expelled by
police.
J: “Huffman
mocked republicans for trying to defund the IRS and that got me to jump up and
start with him defunding UNWRA and closing all humanitarian aid to Gaza. I
spoke about the horrors of 50,000 dead and 30,000 women and children. Then as
they almost had me out of the room I heard him mock republicans again. I said
he was no different—
they are all
empire.”
Expelled by
police.
The buck stops
where?
When Huffman
served Marin and Sonoma districts prior to 2013 as a state assemblyman, he told
Marin Magazine that his political hero is US President Harry Truman. (Truman
ordered the atomic incineration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the first use of
nuclear weapons in 1945.) Channeling his Missouri-born hero’s favorite campaign
aphorism, Huffman, who was also born in Missouri, had likewise decorated his
desktop with a placard reading, “The Buck Stops Here.” Charming.
Federal
Elections Commission data and Open Secrets show that since Huffman first ran
for congress in 2012, he has raised $5.4 million and spent $4.3 million for a
net “profit” of more than $1million. Why the surplus? Who gives him the bucks?
Where do the bucks stop? Let us see.
Huffman
campaigns as a fervent environmentalist. But his bone fides are undercut by
looking at who funds his campaigns. The current cycle is topped with $10,000
from the political action committee of Honeywell International, a global
conglomerate which supplies the US and Israel with many weapons systems and
engages in fossil fuel and metals extraction and nuclear weapons manufacturing.
By itself, Honeywell is a world class source of carbon gases and pollution, but
it has consistently funded “environmentalist” Huffman throughout his career.
For that matter, Honeywell regularly donates tens of thousands of dollars to
Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden. Honeywell is not stupid; it knows what it is
buying: allegiance. Notably, Honeywell only saw fit to give $28 to Rep. Barbara
Lee of Oakland, who is a dedicated environmentalist who voted against funding
Israel’s war on Gaza in April.
In the prior
election cycle, Huffman’s top contributor was J Street PAC ($13,500), a
“liberal” Israeli lobby in Washington DC. By way of comparison, J Street PAC
only gave $7 to the iconic New York City progressive Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez.
This year,
according to Open Secrets, retired people like Huffman to the tune of $90,963,
and the casino/gambling industry skimmed him $43,500. Because Huffman serves on
the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, greenhouse gas
generating rail and air corporations and transportation unions granted him in
excess of $50,000.
In past cycles,
Huffman’s major donors have included industrialized agribusiness and a
portfolio of global climate heaters, such as Sierra Pacific Industries,
PG&E, Goldman Sachs, Carnival Corporation, Bechtel Group and General
Motors.
A quick tour
through Huffman’s campaign expenditures this year is instructive. Someone likes
to fundraise on the hoof, with a $2,811 tab at Charlie Parker Steakhouse on
March 8. Last September 6, the campaign paid $11,850 for “lodging” at the Gold
River Lodge and Historic Requa Inn in Klamath, California—resorts for sports
fishing.
(Huffman did not
reply to a query about why his campaign paid for staying at these fishing
resorts. For that matter, Huffman did not respond to Counter Punch’s repeated
requests for comment on all aspects of this story.)
Huffman gifted
thousands of dollars to political cronies, including $4,000 to the Sonoma
County Democratic Party; $2,500 to Democratic Central Committee of Marin
County; $5,000 to Biden Victory Fund.
On March 13,
Huffman gave $1,000 to the New Israel Fund, which supports civil rights
activities inside Israel. And on March 16, Huffman donated $1,085.50 to the
Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) in Berkeley, California, which renders
material aid to children suffering in Occupied Palestine and Gaza. Huffman did
not respond to a query about what the contribution to MECA was for—but if it
was to buy off a guilty conscience, he got more of a bargain than the children
did.
At the end of
the day, it is apparent that Huffman does not fear the voices of protestors,
nor nightmare echoes of the cries of burning children in Gaza, as much as he
fears the political power of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,
which is spending at least $100 million this year to destroy “progressive”
members of congress who dare to criticize Israel. We all get it, Jared: You are
afraid.
Pepe Escobar
Amidst all the sadness and grief
over the loss of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, let’s take a moment to
showcase the critical path he helped forge toward a new global order.
In the nearly three years since
Raisi ascended to the Iranian presidency, Eurasian integration and the drive
toward multipolarity have become fundamentally conducted by three major actors:
Russia, China, and Iran.
Which, by no accident, are the three
top “existential threats” to the hegemonic power.
At 10 pm this past Sunday in Moscow,
Russian President Vladimir Putin invited Iran’s ambassador to Moscow, Kazem
Jalali, to be at the table in an impromptu meeting with the cream of the crop
of Russia’s Defense Team.
That invitation reached far beyond
the myopic media conjecture over whether the Iranian president’s untimely death
was due to an “accidental crash” or an act of sabotage. It came from the fruits
of Raisi’s tireless labor to position Iran as an east-facing nation, boldly
forging strategic alliances with Asia’s major powers while sweetening Tehran’s
relations with past regional foes.
Increased Eurasian integration
Back to that Sunday night table in
Moscow. Everyone was there – from Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and
Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu to Chief of the General Staff
Valery Gerasimov, Emergencies Minister Aleksandr Kurenkov and Special Assistant
to the President, Igor Levitin.
The key message portrayed was that
Moscow has Tehran’s back. And Russia completely supports the stability and
continuity of government in Iran, which is already fully guaranteed by Iran’s
constitution and its detailed contingencies for a peaceful transition of power
under even unusual circumstances.
As we are now deep into total Hybrid
War mode – bordering on Hot – across most of the planet, the three civilization
states shaping a new system of international relations could not be more
obvious.
Russia–Iran–China (RIC) are already
interlinked via bilateral, comprehensive strategic partnerships; they are
members of both BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and
their modus operandi was fully unveiled for the whole Global Majority to
examine at Putin’s crucial summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing
last week.
In short, none of the three Asian
powers will allow the other partners to be destabilized by the usual suspects.
A stellar record
Late President Raisi and his top
diplomat, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, leave a stellar legacy.
Under their leadership, Iran became
a member of BRICS, a full member of the SCO, and a major stakeholder in the
Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU). These are the three key multilateral
organizations shaping the road to multipolarity.
Iran’s new diplomatic drive reached
key Arab and African players, from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Egypt to Libya,
Sudan, and Djibouti. Tehran, for the first time, conducted a sophisticated,
large-scale military operation against Israel, firing a barrage of drones and
missiles from Iranian territory.
Iran–Russia relations reached the
next level in trade and military-political cooperation. Two years ago, Putin
and Raisi agreed on a comprehensive bilateral treaty. The draft of the core
document is now ready and will be signed by Iran’s next president, expanding
the partnership even further.
As a member of an Iranian delegation
told me last year in Moscow, when the Russians were asked what could be on the
table, they replied, “You can ask us anything.” And vice versa.
So all interlocked declinations of
Raisi’s “Look East” strategic shift coupled with Russia’s earlier “pivot to
Asia” are being addressed by Moscow and Tehran.
The Council of Foreign Ministers of
the SCO is meeting this Tuesday and Wednesday in Astana, preparing for the
summit in July, when Belarus will become a full member. Crucially, Saudi
Arabia’s cabinet has also approved the decision for Riyadh to join, possibly
next year.
Iran’s continuity of government will
be fully represented in Astana via interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani,
who was Amir-Abdollahian’s number two. He’s bound to immediately enter the fray
alongside Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese counterpart Wang
Yi to discuss the multi-layered multipolar path.
A hypersonic joint statement
The overarching charter of what a
new system entails was revealed last week at the landmark Putin-Xi summit via a
stunning 10-chapter joint statement, over 12,000 words long, with “cooperation”
appearing no less than 130 times.
This document can correctly be
interpreted as a joint hypersonic manifesto comprehensively blowing up
Washington’s artificial “rules-based international order.”
This section particularly stands
out:
“All countries have the right to
independently choose their development models and political, economic, and
social systems based on their national conditions and people’s will, oppose
interference in the internal affairs of sovereign countries, oppose unilateral
sanctions and ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ without international law basis or UN
Security Council authorization, and oppose drawing ideological lines. Both
sides pointed out that neo-colonialism and hegemonism are completely contrary
to the trend of the times and called for equal dialogue, the development of
partnerships, and the promotion of exchanges and mutual learning among
civilizations.”
Iran, sanctioned to death for over
four decades, is now learning directly from China and Russia about their
efforts to destroy “decoupling” narratives as well as the effect of a tsunami
of western sanctions on Russia.
For example, an array of
China–Europe train corridors is now mostly used to ship Chinese goods to
Central Asia and re-export them to Russia.
Yet amidst this trade boom,
logistical bottlenecks also increase. Virtually every European port refuses to
handle any shipments from or to Russia. And Russia’s largest ports continue to
have problems: Vladivostok does not have capacity for large cargo ships, while
St Petersburg is very far from China.
So Chapter 3 of the Russia–China
joint declaration places particular emphasis on “port and transportation
cooperation, including developing more logistics routes,” and deepening
financial cooperation, “including via increasing the share of local currency in
financial services,” and increasing industrial cooperation, “including in
strategic areas such as car and boat manufacturing, metal smelting, and
chemicals.”
All that applies to Russia–Iran
cooperation too, for instance, in streamlining the International North–South
Transportation Corridor (INSTC), especially from Astrakhan in the Caspian to
Iranian ports and then via roads down to the Persian Gulf.
Iranian Foreign Minister Bagheri
Kani had previously remarked that thanks to Iran’s “exceptional geopolitical
location” reaching West Asia, the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea region, and
wider Eurasia, Iran can contribute to the “economic growth and economic
potential” of all regional players.
Putin’s visit to China last week
included a visit to the northeastern powerhouse Harbin – which has strong
geographical/historical links to Russia. A giant China–Russia Expo attracted
over 5,000 commercial firms. It’s not far-fetched to imagine an equally
successful Russia–Iran Expo at a Caspian port.
Promethean project
What links Russia, China, and Iran
is, first and foremost, an emerging framework designed by Sovereign
Civilizational States. The fateful passing of president-martyr Raisi won’t
alter The Big Picture in the least.
We’re in the middle of a long
process against an environment conditioned for decades by pain and fear. The
process has gained immense traction these past few years, starting with the
official launch of the New Silk Roads in 2013.
The New Silk Roads and Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI) are a Promethean project that is as much geopolitical as
geoeconomic. In parallel came the gradual expansion of the SCO's role as an
economic cooperation mechanism. Once again, Iran is a top BRI, SCO, and BRICS
member.
After Ukraine’s Maidan coup in 2014,
the Russia–China strategic partnership really started picking up speed. Soon,
we also had Iran selling practically all of its oil production to China and
coming under the protection of the Chinese nuclear umbrella.
Then we had the Empire humiliated in
Afghanistan. And the Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine in February
2022. And the expansion of BRICS into formerly western terrains in the Global
South.
During his memorable Spring 2023
visit to Moscow, Xi told Putin that “changes not seen in a hundred years” would
occur and that both should be at the helm of these inevitable changes.
That was exactly the crux of their
discussions last week in Beijing.
The Iranian bombing of
ultra-protected Israeli territory with perfect precision – as a response to a
terror attack on its diplomatic consulate in a third country – sent a
crystal-clear, game-changer message, completely understood by the Global
Majority: the Hegemon’s power in West Asia is coming to an end.
Losing the Rimland is anathema to
perfectly American geopolitics. It must be back in its control as it knows how
important it is.
New direction
The Angel of History, though, is
pointing in a new direction – to China, Russia, and Iran as the natural
Sovereigns shaping the re-emergence of the Heartland.
Concisely, these Three Sovereigns
have the epistemological level, will, creativity, organization skills, vision,
and tools of power to realize a true Promethean project.
It may sound like a miracle, but the
present leadership in all three states shares this common understanding and
endeavor.
For instance, what could be more
enticing than the possibility of former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili as
Iran’s next president to join new Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani? In the
past, Jalili has been cast as too “hardline” for western palates, but the west
hardly matters anymore on these shores.
After Raisi’s eastward and
multipolarity grand U-turn away from former Iranian “reformist” President
Hassan Rouhani’s misguided, failed westward foray, Jalili may be just the
ticket for Iran’s next phase. And oh, what a perfectly dashing complement to the
Xi–Putin duo that would be.
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