Bombing Iran “defensively”
JVL Introduction
Marina Hyde writes scathingly about the warmongers amongst us who take Trump’s whinge about Starmer that “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with” as a personal affront.
That Starmer did not go gung-ho into an obviously illegal war is neither here not there. Nor is his buckling within twenty-four hours to a position of supporting the US “defensively” (when Iran had the temerity to respond to the US onslaught on it – what Starmer called an “outrageous” response which has become “a threat to our people, our interests and our allies”).
Britian now looks poised to allow US B-1 Lancers, four of which arrived at RAF Fairford today, to take off from there in their “defensive” strikes on Iranian missile sites.
Perhaps Starmer can clarify what an offensive bombing of Iranian missile sites would look like so we can understand the fine distinction he and his attorney-General Richard Hermer have decided to draw rather than issue an all-out declaration of war?
RK
This article was originally published by the Guardian on Fri 6 Mar 2026. Read the original here.
Britain’s war hawks are very upset that Keir Starmer isn’t personally riding a bomb all the way to Tehran
Didn’t you know? True British patriots are the ones who want to join an obviously disastrous war on behalf of Israel and Donald Trump
Loading article text…
I was enjoying the satire till she got to the penultimate paragraph, the one about Netanyahu fighting the war to avoid going to prison.
I truly don’t think that that is a major part of his calculation. If that were all, he wouldn’t be able to persuade the rest of his government and the military.
Netanyahu is a true believer, the son of a true believer, and an admirer of other leading ‘revisionist’ Zionists.
He is motivated by doing what he sees as the best for his people and his Zionist belief system. Completing as much of as possible of a vision of a greater Israel dominating the Middle East and with the fewest possible number of arabs on its core Empire lands.
And he has all the support of the vast majority of Jewish Israelis. Over 90% in the latest poll.
I may be wrong.
But imagine if Hitler, once he had power, was accused of starting World War 2 and deciding to eliminate whole Nations because he was trying to avoid a trial. Which he could make sure would never happen anyway or would have a positive outcome.
The idea let us crazy as the ideologies of fascism and zionism.
Marina Hyde, as ever, brilliantly vicious in her use of words
We in the UK can at least take solace from our deep hard-learned experience that no matter how the volatility of the demented orange man-child persists our PM will easily mould his responses and actions to match if not exceed any intemperate emissions. Eventually.
Starmers backbone bending agian it seems
Netanyahu is a WAR CRIMINAL It would be infinitely cheaper to arrest him as he flies over countries which pay their UN dues, take him to a trial in the Hague and lock him up under similar conditions the Palestinians suffer, mostly untried.
As Paul Seligman says, this article underestimates what motivates Netanyahu. He is a believer. If he manages to realise his 40 year dream he would gladly die to achieve it.
JW: I’m not sure that’s true. I’ve seen nothing in Netanyahu’s behaviour that suggests a willingness to die for anything.
Paul Seligman: Today there’s no denying that the majority of Israelis disgracefully support even the utterances of the ultra-right crazies in the very right Knesset; the genocidal actions of the IDF, and West Bank settlers in their brutal expansionism which matches Israel’s aims in the wider ME. It was not always so. Bibi, the IDF and Israeli intelligence were blamed for the failure to be aware of and prevent the break-out of Gaza by Hamas and other factions on October 7 2023. His current popularity may not save him from corruption charges hanging over him even under what passes for justice in Israel. As for the Hitler analogy it falters as Adolf didn’t have legal charges against him awaiting the end of WW2, victorious or not, the UN still being a dream. Incidentally, what is the UN today?