This past Saturday, the Peace and Justice Center sponsored a teach-in on the conflict with Iran. It was the first public program by the Center since I retired, and so it was the first program not presided over by me in 30 years. That felt a little odd. I kept feeling an urge to run up and grab the microphone.

But I stayed at my post, which was volunteer videographer. I also edited this clip. More clips featuring the other speakers will be coming soon.

I agree with the points made by Stephen, this is about the U.S. throwing it’s weight (and military muscle) around and bullying other nations which don’t follow the prescribed marching orders of the American behemoth. But I do wish he had brought up the continuing starring role of oil. I’m not talking about access to oil, that’s not so critical anymore thanks to our domestic fracking boom. I mean U.S. control of the oil spigots and hence control of the global price of oil. Prof. Michael Klare explains this quite nicely in a recent article…

Iran in Crosshairs Again: It is Always – Always – About the Oil

As it happens, the world economy — of which the U.S. is the leading beneficiary — relies on an uninterrupted flow of oil from the Persian Gulf to keep energy prices low. By continuing to serve as the principal overseer of that flow, Washington enjoys striking geopolitical advantages that its foreign policy elites would no more abandon than they would their country’s nuclear supremacy. Please read the article here.