ArcaMax

PARIS – When Iran finally reacted to months of Israeli attacks on its interests, Western leaders almost unanimously announced, one by one, that they “stand with Israel.” Please, just take a seat already, before you drag the whole planet into a world war.

“I’m standing with Ukraine” or “I’m standing with Israel,” say our fearless leaders while sitting around making virtue- signaling posts on social media. Never has kicking off a global ruck been so low-effort.

It makes you wonder how lucid they even are. Eastern European officials have spoken in the wings of global summits about how their fellow NATO country counterparts show up talking like a bunch of fraternity bros all drinking from the same spiked punch bowl, ready to go throw some punches.

In an interview last month with The Times of London before leaving office on Oct. 1, Jens Stoltenberg, the outgoing secretary general for the Western weapons lobby, NATO, shrugged off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s red line on Western countries authorizing Kyiv to use Western military hardware for strikes deep inside Russia. Moscow has even revised its nuclear deterrence doctrine to explicitly consider nuclear states (like the US) that use non-nuclear ones (like Ukraine) to hit Russia as participants in a joint attack.

Stoltrnberg just blew it off, saying that Putin’s red lines had been crossed before and nothing happened. Really? You mean, except for the entire conflict in Ukraine, after NATO had cozied up to the Russian border in violation of that Putin red line? Guess he forgot about that one.

Our fearless leaders’ Ukraine rhetoric has also been re-purposed for Israel. Iran’s attack was “unprovoked,” they say. Like, Israel was just sitting around and minding its own business when suddenly Iran, out of nowhere, punched it in the face with a hail of ballistic missiles last week. Forget about Israel’s exploding Hezbollah pagers operation, the murder of Iranian-linked Hezbollah military commanders, and the ground invasion of Lebanon – which the West seems reluctant to qualify as such, even though they were quick to denounce Russia’s “special military operation” as one.

Then there are the citizens of Gaza and, more recently, Lebanon, who partly rely on Iran for protection, being told by Israel, “heads up, here come the bombs,” like they’re strolling through the local park during a touch football game.

Yes, Israel has a right to defend itself. So does Syria, which they’re bombing. And Lebanon. And Gaza. And Iran. Have I missed any? Oh yeah, they just hit a Russian military base in Syria, too. What could possibly go wrong in kicking in the door of the bear’s cave in this conflict, too?

The US is already in the region, trying to shoot down some of the massive amounts of Iranian missiles that ripped through Israel’s Iron Dome firecracker-stopper, and blowing a year’s supply of US interceptor missiles in just one stint. So, now what? How easy will it be for Washington to stand with Israel when it runs out of ammo? Don’t bother asking Europe for any, either, since it’s a well-known fact that they don’t have any. And what they do get is mostly from US weapons manufacturers, as a recent report on the European Union’s lack of competitiveness, authored by former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, pointed out. Meaning the EU can’t even do the military industrial complex racket right.

So what would our valiant “standers” do if Russia decided to react to Israel attacking its military base in Syria? Is the West relying on Putin’s good will? Because that would seem to be the exact opposite of what they keep saying about him – that he acts “unprovoked.” Pick a lane.

Russia has spent the past couple of years massively ramping up its defense production to the point of comprising 7.5 percent of its GDP and “worrying Europe’s war planners,” according to The Guardian.

Likewise, in July, Iran’s defense minister announced that its weapons exports had tripled in less than three years as a result of increased production.

Meanwhile, “China is ready for war. And thanks to a crumbling defense industrial base, America is not,” headlined Foreign Affairs magazine this month.

Our valiant “standers” know that they can’t out shoot these three players in a conventional war if they all came in on the same side in support of Iran. Still, they can’t help shooting off their mouths.

There’s also been talk of Israel just hitting Iranian oil infrastructure, as though that would be a splendid idea. You clowns do know that major risks and Iran’s OPEC pals, Russia, dictate oil prices, right?

Israel is fighting all the kids in the schoolyard and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is yanking on the shirttails of Western leaders, demanding solidarity, and support in “liberating” the Middle East. Sure, because that’s always worked out well, like in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. How about telling him to go away and work it out? A firm shove in that direction seems best for humanity. That’s what former President Ronald Reagan did in 1984, asking why the US was still even mixed up in the region’s affairs, and bailing out of Lebanon.

Even Ukrainian officials have been wondering why the attention has turned so quickly from them to Israel. The answer is simple. It’s because Washington’s elites have far more interests in Israel, and more influential Israeli lobbies in the US that directly impact their own political backsides. The average citizen is just along for the white-knuckle ride, relegated to yelling from the backseat.