NORTH CAROLINA - The Chinese suggestion that “May you live in interesting times” is now fulfilled, it appears. Who made current times most interesting, in some respects like never before since World War II, is a lame minded Donald Trump this Spring, plunging the thoughts of many across the world into chaos and trepidation.

In a complete about face to many of his campaign promises in 2016, which arguably got him elected, he has, particularly with regard to the Mideast: Withdrawn the U.S. from the JCPOA, opened a U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, completely ignored grotesque Zionist carnage in Gaza especially, threatened Iran on several fronts, adopted Muhammad bin Salman (who threw in his fortunes with the U.S. and Israel and may have recently been shot, or perhaps he is dead?), may be planning to officially recognize the Israeli occupied Golan as Israel’s, occupied parts of eastern Syria and also attacked Syria with missiles, ramped up support for the Saudi War on Yemen with the installation of Army Green Berets near or in Yemen, is planning massive “sanctions” against Iran and even may be planning, with the Pentagon, a military attack not just on Iran, but also on Syria and Lebanon, too. He has also threatened Europe with sanctions if Europe attempts to maintain growing business with Iran. More could be cited, but this list is quite enough for now. So, what does it all mean exactly?

It means, first of all, that the U.S. had lost, and had been losing, control of the Mideast like never before…and imagines that control can be re-won with the moves he made this Spring in concert with the Saudis and Israelis. The extreme nature of the moves tells the world that the U.S. is desperate, failing and flailing. It is hardly any kind of evidence of strength.

For example, remember 9/11? In the immediate aftermath, the Islamic Republic strongly empathized with America, even though enmity had existed between the two countries for decades. Iran’s response was exceptional, and without any gloating whatsoever: President Khatami at the time condemned it, as did Ayatollah Khamenei. The mayor of Tehran even sent a message to the mayor of New York, and this was the first public, official contact between the U.S. and Iran since the 1979 revolution. Sixty thousand spectators allegedly observed a minute of silence during a soccer match in Azadi stadium, and candle-lit vigils spread across Tehran, and all this should have informed the U.S. about the real character and substance of the Iranian people and their government.

So what did the U.S. do? Rather than take the responses in Iran and elsewhere as opportunities to open up dialogue with alleged enemies, it went on a vengeful military rampage that has continued to this day. A rampage that the U.S. believed would forever cement its control and hegemony in the Mideast. And all this while the official explanation of who was behind 9/11 in New York was never sufficiently uncovered, and left the entire incident full of unanswered questions that have never been officially probed. Had the U.S. truly been a “strong” country, not a shallow military behemoth with little else in its arsenal but anger, it would have literally banked on the goodwill and empathy of the world by reaching out itself to mend divisions, including the divisions with Iran that was extending a gentle hand to an aggrieved America. This must be mentioned because to whom was the U.S. primarily in thrall right after 9/11, aside from the so-called Neocon cabal in the U.S.? Netanyahu and Likud Israel, who pushed the U.S. vehemently to attack Afghanistan and Iraq for starters. Thus, it can be said that:

The same driver of U.S. foreign policy in the Mideast remains Israel, and given Trump’s complete adoption of Netanyahu’s obsessions and Israeli demands like no U.S. President before him, the U.S. has merely tripled down on policies that have quite literally failed since 9/11 in both spirit and substance. And despite what carnage and suffering the Trump administration with Israel and perhaps the Saudis could possibly this year inflict on Iran and Iran’s people, the coming failures could be magnified like never before. To put it simply, the U.S. government under Trump is about to hoist itself on its own petard like never before, but as it does so, it also unfortunately harms not just Iran but many other counties as well as its European allies. This is no solace at all for anyone, but it may, just may reorder and remake the world into a multipolar globe, which it definitely has not been since the dissolution of the USSR. Imagine, for example, a much more unified and ultimately prosperous Eurasia, including Iran, and an America humbled, the U.S. dollar humbled, its war oriented economy humbled, and with far fewer allies. It’s possible that unless and until the U.S. makes amends, even – I daresay – apologizes for the last few decades, it may remain what it seems to be becoming -- a pariah.