Speaking on her recent book and the imperative of defending the Iranian Nuclear Deal in order to check the drum beat for war, Medea raises the following questions:
"Why is Donald Trump making peace with North Korea but on the warpath with Iran? What can we do to stop another Middle East war?
She recounts Iranâs history from the pre-colonial period, through the CIA-engineered coup that overthrew the countryâs democratic leadership in 1953, to its emergence as the one nation Democrats and Republicans alike regularly unite in denouncing.
Medea draws upon her firsthand experiences with Iranian politicians, activists, and everyday citizens to provide a deeper understanding of the complexities of Iranian society.. She tackles Trumpâs accusations of Iranâs âmeddlingâ in the region and its export of terrorism, looks at the consequences of the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, and sketches out possible future scenarios and ways we can support the Iranian people." (flier)
Without belaboring the fact, she identifies Israels' key role in pushing the US toward war, something even the Pentagon is not keen on as Iran is not seen as an actual military threat to the US and it is not without capacity to extract a terrible price for the deed. Such a war Israel would fight from behind, and whose chaotic destruction of Iran would advance Israels' long term goal of seizing more of historic Palestine while weakening the United States further.
She speaks first about Korea and then of Iran and Iranians; a people whose hospitality to strangers was known not only as nice, but the "nicest", a fact both she and Anthony Bourdain attest to and perhaps reason enough for Israel and US neocons wanting to destroy it.
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Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of the women-led peace group CODEPINK and the co-founder of the human rights group Global Exchange. She has been an advocate for social justice for more than 40 years. Described as âone of Americaâs most committed â and most effective â fighters for human rightsâ by New York Newsday, and âone of the high profile leaders of the peace movementâ by the Los Angeles Times, she was one of 1,000 exemplary women from 140 countries nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the millions of women who do the essential work of peace worldwide.
She is the author of nine books, including Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control and Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection, and her articles appear regularly in outlets such as The Huffington Post, CommonDreams, Alternet, The Other Words, and TeleSUR.