What do you call it when one country appoints itself to unilaterally violate international consensus and law in order to recklessly pursue illegal interests? A global dictatorship seems not exaggerated.
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Let's relieve ourselves of illusions about "American democracy" and "freedom loving, law-abiding beacon of hope"; rather we need to call Washington out for what it is.
Make no mistake, the US government is acting like a rogue regime that is out on its own, holding a blow torch to the face of global peace. To have the support of just two other client regimes — Israel and Saudi Arabia — in violating the Iran nuclear deal this week only emphasizes Washington's wayward tyranny.
Russia, China, the European Union and the United Nations — signatories to the landmark 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — have all deplored Trump's move to blow up that accord.
Don't hold your breath either for any success in Trump's supposed diplomacy with North Korea. Trump's notion of engagement is simply premised on capitulation by the other side.
In announcing US withdrawal from the JCPOA this week, Trump is full-on invoking the dubious principle that "might is right". With no regard for legal obligations or diplomatic norms, the US under Trump is showing its true colors as a hegemon that brooks no reciprocation. The United States views itself above the law. It is only others that are bound by petty legal constraints.
Arguably, this dictatorial nature of US power was always present — witness the dropping of atomic weapons on Japan and its endless number of wars over the decades — but now, under Trump, the true nature of the beast has emerged.
The shock felt among supposed European allies is palpable after Trump ripped up the US obligation to the nuclear accord. Washington's arrogant warnings to the EU to start winding down multi-billion-dollar investments in Iran have slammed into German, French and British illusions about a supposed "trans-Atlantic partnership".
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But what's even more shocking is the pile of falsehoods and lies spouted by Trump for why he was nixing the Iran deal.
The venomous labelling of Iran as "the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism" (the sheer irony of that from the US!) and Trump's outrageous assertions that Iran was secretly building a nuclear bomb have no basis in reality. Trump is basing his whole argument on irrational "Iranophobia" and bombastic propaganda supplied by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
The world is being pushed to a new war in the Middle East, which could escalate into an international conflagration — solely on the back of outlandish claims leveled by the American president in complete dereliction of legal standards.
The truth is that the Trump administration is wrecking an international treaty not out of any avowed security concerns over Iran and its alleged nuclear ambitions. That allegation is a flagrant lie which has been disproven by numerous inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran has fully complied with the JCPOA.
What Washington is really after is its long-term goal of regime change in Tehran. The American rulers have never forgiven Iran for its revolution in 1979 which dealt a blow to US hegemonic interests in the strategically important Middle East.
READ MORE: Nuclear Deal With Iran 'Dead': US Aims for Regime Change in Tehran – Analyst
The party that has singularly not complied with the JCPOA is the United States. Trump is talking about re-imposing nuclear-related sanctions within weeks, but the US has never lifted a range of bilateral sanctions against Iran despite the signing of the nuclear accord.
The continuance of US sanctions has impeded the implementation of the Iran deal by the rest of the world. Fearful of incurring US penalties, European investors have been reticent to go all into Iran.
Trump's plan to reinstate tougher sanctions on Iran are aimed at hitting the Iranian people with ever-harsher economic and social consequences.
Ahmad Noroozi of the charitable Barakat Foundation, based in Tehran, says that Iranians have hardly felt any benefits from the JCPOA because of ongoing US sanctions — nearly three years after the deal with signed.
The Barakat Foundation is involved in wide-ranging social projects, including rural poverty alleviation, empowering women, house building, schools and healthcare provision. It is patronized by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. But in US media, the foundation is denigrated as the "Khamenei's business empire". Consequently, American sanctions continue to thwart many socially progressive projects, hitting ordinary Iranians' livelihoods.
The pain inflicted on Iranians by American sanctions, from food insecurity to restricted supply of cancer drugs, is aimed at fomenting social unrest and ultimately regime change.
Such an objective is illegal and morally reprehensible. Rather than admitting its criminal agenda, the Trump administration is disguising it with a veneer of nuclear security concerns.
At this week's Victory Day commemorations in Moscow's Red Square, Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the specter of war. Referring to the historic defeat of Nazi Germany on May 9 1945 by the Soviet Red Army, Putin said: "Behind new threats stand the same ugly, old traits: egoism and intolerance, aggressive nationalism and the pretensions to exceptionalism."
"Pretensions to exceptionalism" was a veiled reference to the United States and its oft-stated presumption of vain supremacy.
Its unilateral, tyrannical behavior towards international law, multilateralism, inciting regime change and war is proof of US global dictatorship.
There can be no illusions about what the world is up against in dealing with the rogue regime that is the United States of America. The tyranny is unmasked like never before.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
