Lately, whenever I write anything about American politics, I am aware that our government is ignoring my opinion. No matter what eloquence or reason I bring to my writing, no one in government is listening even when their ears should be burning. That makes it hard for me to feel motivated to write about politics. I do not want more war. Many Americans have expressed this. In my case, I don’t want people here or elsewhere to feel helpless to stop wartime violence and many of us feel this today.

One of the more persuasive arguments that I heard regarding Iranian conflict was about leaving Tehran alone. This argument was about water scarcity in that region. President Trump had started warning Iranians to leave Tehran. Telling people to leave a water available area for a water unavailable area in order to save themselves from a military attack is a heartless thing to do. Water scarcity made evacuation into an unviable proposition. Perhaps President Trump decided to attempt a bomb obliteration of Iran’s nuclear enrichment factories as an alternative to attacks against a populated city. Is there some compassion in that choice?

In any case, Israel’s preemptive strikes against Iran weren’t legal according to global treaties that oversee warfare declarations. And the U.S. jumping in is also, I suspect, not quite allowed by global rules of engagement, much less the rules stated in our Constitution.  

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side of violence instead of diplomacy. Why is that? Why can’t our leaders use diplomacy anymore? Have they been too long planning for war so that they can’t bear to avoid dropping those bombs?

I feel frustrated today. I hope that war in Iran will shrink instead of grow. But I also hope that rules will matter in government once again as they should. The Constitution matters. Diplomacy is an important tool to prevent violence. Secret meetings full of power hungry men may always choose war engagement but this choice should be moderated by rules of engagement and diplomacy that diminish violence.

Even if you’re sure you can beat the other guy in a war contest, it is better to avoid wartime engagement. Your opponent may not be as weak as you imagine. You can lose. And war engagement only in the case of having a just cause limits the waste of resources that can easily be catastrophically wasted in unnecessary wartime struggle. Don’t we all have better investments to make in our society?

ADDENDUM: 27th June 2025

I’ve recently heard that our recent bombing of the nuclear sites in Iran was a long term plan, 15 years in the making. The bombs used were specifically desiged for their use to bomb those hardened nuclear facilities. And bombing was meant to prevent an expansion of violence from the Middle East into a nuclear catastrophe. It was well considered, planned for a long time, and may have succeeded in reducing the length of war exchange between Israel and Iraq. What’s next? Is it too optimistic to hope for peace in the Middle East?