Trump Is Back Under Bolton’s Thumb

By Paul Craig Roberts

July 22, 2019 "Information Clearing House" -   President Trump might be his own man, but not when it comes to John Bolton and Israel.  Trump is their man and is again being manipulated into starting a fisticuffs with Iran.

Someone in Washington, most likely Ziocon warmonger Bolton, got the UK to commit an act of piracy on the high seas and seize an Iranian oil tanker, Grace 1, on the grounds that Iran intended to deliver the oil to Syria in violation of US sanctions.

Iran’s leader, Khamenei, denounced Washington’s British stooge for “maritime banditry” and said there would be consequences.  Today there were. Iran detained two British tankers.

This is what Bolton and Netanyahu wanted.  They used it to wind up Trump’s fulminations against Iran. The trouble that the idiot British started with Iran is no concern of ours, but Trump’s threats are nevertheless issuing at a rapid pace.

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The British call Iran’s response to their banditry “an escalation” that requires “further protection for merchant vessels . . . to ensure enhanced security to guarantee free flow of trade in the region.”  Of course, the British did not think their act of banditry caused a need for “enhanced security to guarantee free flow of trade in the region.”  It is quite alright for Britain to seize ships but not for Iran.

The British Foreign Secretary offered Iran the release of Grace 1 if Iran guaranteed it would not breach Washington’s sanctions on Syria by delivering oil.  Washington’s sanctions, of course, are totally illegal and devoid of any basis in international law, as is the British enforcement of Washington’s illegal sanctions.  One wonders why Russia doesn’t stop this escalation by taking over the delivery of oil supplies to Syria.  

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West, How America Was Lost, and The Neoconservative Threat to World Order. Donate and support Dr, Roberts Work.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.