 Well, I am back after taking a week off and I return to the world of political commentary with a gigantic ball in the pit of my stomach and an overwhelming sense of dread because once again, we are facing the prospect of a potential war or strike definitely some sort of escalation with Iran and this comes after the news that John Bolton either was fired or resigned which of course in a lot of our eyes Diminished the prospect of war because John Bolton was openly a hawk on Iran He wanted to overthrow the Iranian regime by 2019 So it was evident that getting rid of John Bolton made the prospect of war with Iran Less likely now his ouster reportedly happened after he clashed with Donald Trump over a policy with regard to Iran So Trump vocalized his intent to lift some sanctions on Iran in hopes that that would bring to run back to the table after he Torpedoed the Iran deal, but of course John Bolton didn't like that And he tried to persuade Donald Trump that de-escalation wasn't actually the right course of action And then this clash led to the ouster of John Bolton So it seemed like everything was going Semi smoothly until you fast forward to Saturday when there were drone attacks on two Saudi oil fields and Houthi rebels claimed responsibility and this led to a disruption of almost half of Saudi Arabia's oil exports And when you consider the fact that Saudi Arabia produces a tenth of crude oil globally I mean the ramifications for this are huge the moment. I found out that this happened. I thought This could be what leads us to war with Iran if it is the case that the United States blames Iran for this and of course, that's exactly what they are doing Even after Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for this attack Now the dust has kind of settled and we see the impact that this is having on global markets Ultimately this led to the biggest spike in oil prices within the last decade And here in the United States, we love our oil. So I mean, you can murder journalists. You can commit genocide We're not going to touch you. But if you fuck with our oil That's when we all have to be worried about the prospect of war and I'm not even going to worry about cursing This video will in fact be demonetized. So, you know It's frustrating. This situation is absolutely terrifying. Houthi rebels claimed responsibility and to give you some additional context They're saying look We will do further attacks If Saudi Arabia does not withdraw because Saudi Arabia has now been waging a years-long genocide in Yemen And I don't think that it's hyperbolic to describe what Saudi Arabia is doing As a genocide. So they're saying this is in direct retaliation To what Saudi Arabia has been doing in Yemen and there will be more attacks if they don't stop Doing what they're doing in Yemen Now, of course, it is possible that Iran had something to do with this in some way. Perhaps they supplied You know, uh, the Houthi rebels with the drones or weapons Assistance in some way, but what we all knew and expected would happen is exactly what happened You know, Iran is the main scapegoat secretary of state and Iran hawk Mike Pompeo is in fact Blaming Iran even after the Houthis took responsibility And Iran itself has denied any part and again, I'm not trying to deny Whether or not Iran assisted the Houthis here What I'm trying to do is make the case that even in the event Iran did this Let's say hypothetically speaking that Iran directly was responsible and claimed a responsibility For this attack that still is not a justification for the united states to strike or invade Iran Because that is absolutely something that could lead to not just a bloody war with Iran But world war three potentially so we of course should not go to war with them over oil But the united states does have a long history of intervening When oil is at stake if we want oil or oil is you know at risk We intervene now after this attack happened. Donald Trump tweeted Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit are locked and loaded Depending on verification But are waiting to hear from the kingdom As to who they believe was the cause of this attack and under what terms we would proceed So this is another threat to a country via twitter by Donald Trump And we're just waiting on Saudi Arabia to give us the go-ahead Say it's Iran and we'll do what you want Saudi Arabia Unbelievable Now what Donald Trump is alluding to here when he says that we're locked and loaded presumably is him saying We are ready to strike In the event Iran is responsible if that's what the intelligence points us towards we'll strike Iran So in his view he wants to do something to make sure that he projects Strength he doesn't want to be seen as you know, this beta male He doesn't want to appear too weak as he thinks Obama appeared But at the same time he is committed to at least being portrayed as a non interventionist when that's laughable He's not he is a warmonger perhaps to a lesser extent than individuals like Mike Pompeo or John Bolton But nonetheless, he still is a warmonger But he still wants to be portrayed as an anti interventionist So it seems like in his view he thinks striking Iran will suffice and then he pulls out no war needed after that The problem is that Iran has communicated that they would in fact view that as an act of war and that would lead to war But let's talk a little bit more about that after we hear from Donald Trump when he denied that war with Iran Is what he wants take a look and I will tell you that was a very large attack And it could be met with an attack many many times larger very easily by our country But we're going to find out who definitively did it first I didn't say that I why do you say that I said that we think we know who it was, but I didn't say anybody But certainly it would look to most like it was Iran, but I did not say it the way you said Do I want war? I don't want war with anybody. I'm somebody that would like not to have war We have the strongest military in the world. We've spent More than a trillion and a half dollars in the last short period of time when our military nobody's even come close There's nobody it has the f-35 they we have the best fighter jets the best rockets the best missiles the best equipment But with all of that being said We'd certainly like to avoid it two and a half to three years ago They were causing a lot of trouble and we'll see what happens But we'll let you know definitively or as you know, there are ways to See definitively where they came from and we have all of those ways and that's being checked out right now Well, you know, there were always conditions because the conditions if you look at it these sanctions are not going to be taken off So if the sanctions that's a condition. So, you know, that's why the press misreported it The biggest thing you can talk about are the sanctions and the sanctions are massive There's never been sanctions put on a country like that and I think they have a tremendous future But not the way they're behaving. We'll see what happens in terms of this attack Secretary Pompeo and others will be going over to Saudi Arabia at some point To discuss what they feel they're going to make a statement fairly soon But they also know something that most people don't know as to where it came from who did it And we'll be able to find that out figure that out very quickly. We pretty much already know, you know There's a number of ways that you can interpret what Donald Trump is saying there By saying I don't want war with Iran. It seems like he thinks a strike In the same way that he struck Syria twice Would basically be All that happens But again, Iran has made it very clear that they are prepared to go to war if they are struck Now if we were attacked, let's say Iran bombed texas when we just let that go Absolutely not. We would absolutely be prepared for war not to be redundant and over use the word absolutely But when we're talking about donald trump, we are dealing in absolutes because this individual is incredibly volatile He's unstable and one minute he could talk about how locked and loaded we are in the next minute talk about how Of course, I don't want war with Iran But make no mistake about it. If he strikes them, that's war with Iran. That is an act of war unquestionably So we don't necessarily know how this is going to turn out We're watching this unfold in real time and de-escalation seems a lot less likely this time around because We see an attack on Saudi Arabia, which is one of our allies And the United States government is committed to defending our allies, especially if we already are looking for reasons to attack Iran So any little thing that they do or don't do is the justification that we need to invade We can't just invade if we have no reason to so whether we Fabricate a reason or take something and Attribute blame to Iran for even if it's someone else It doesn't matter the point is there are many neocons in donald trump's administration The military industrial complex does have an overwhelming amount of influence over a lot of lawmakers And they want war with Iran because that is incredibly profitable So we are trying to push back against the prospect of war with Iran Within a capitalist system that profits off of never-ending wars And the situation looks grim. I'll just put it that way now in response to donald trump's sabre addling You do have the usual anti-war voices speaking out. You had tulsi gabbert on twitter Say trump awaits instructions from saudi masters having our country act as saudi arabia's bitch Is not america first ran paul explained how a strike on iran would be a quote big mistake Which is a message that he sent to donald trump after lindsay graham Unsurprisingly told donald trump that he must consider an attack on iran And lindsay graham, I don't think that there's any war that he's ever been against like you literally could say Should we strike canada And if that is something that would increase the profits of his donors in the military industrial complex In that defense industry he would go for it. This man is a psychopath. He is not stable So i'm glad that there are a few anti-war voices even within You know at least one in the republican party in ran paul Who's willing to push back? However, the problem is that we've gone to this point where never-ending wars is just the default position And new wars aren't that alarming to people There's this emerging bipartisan consensus When it comes to war and to give you an example of that chris coombs united states senator in the democratic party had this to say on fox news Quote we have been constantly preparing ourselves for a full-fledged war Democratic senator chris coombs sits on the senate for our relations committee. He's a busy guy a lot of topics Senator great to see you in person great to see you senator, uh, if it is tied directly to iran What's appropriate action? Well first i want to see i want to see the intelligence But it seems credible that the hooties Don't have the sort of advanced drones that carried out this crippling strike on saudi oil facilities My hope is that the president will consult with his generals as diplomats as advisors will look hard at the intelligence iran is one of the the most dangerous state sponsors of terrorism This may well be the thing that calls for military action against iran if that's what the intelligence supports What about people who say, you know, we got our own oil. We don't need that oil as much as we used to Not our problem. What would you say to that? I'd say one of the things that has kept america safe and secure for seven decades is a global network of alliances Obviously our alliance with the saudi's has been badly strained by the murder of kashogi and by some of the other things that mbs the crown prince has done Um, but this is a moment where iran is really pushing our resolve and is really testing to see whether We're actually going to stand up and if there's a tax by iran on our close allies like jordan israel or the saudi's We need to take seriously taking action against them. It would be great to know that republicans and democrats would be behind that so if the intelligence says that you know, iran is responsible That's a justification to attack iran so Here's what i will say about this because i I don't know what's going to come of all of this. Maybe Trump will try to de-escalate. Maybe someone like tucker crawlson will once again get in his ear We don't know what's going to happen. But there are two conflicting sides here. You have one side that's overwhelmingly powerful Urging and trying to go donald trump into war with iran Knowing that donald trump is belligerent and volatile enough to where he could potentially act if the right person says something at the Right time, you know, they're trying to use that to their advantage and then you have the anti-war side, which is small in comparison Trying To do whatever they can to put pressure on lawmakers to put pressure on donald trump The problem is that you know as these things continue to happen. We had the incident a couple of months ago You know, it seems as if what we're watching is a case being built against iran So in the event we're able to escape war with iran or a strike against iran In retaliation to this Well, that doesn't necessarily mean that we're out of the woods yet because bolton may be gone But that military industrial complex it operates autonomously It doesn't need john bolton and donald trump's ear to have a substantial influence over donald trump So even if we don't have a strike on iran that doesn't mean that we get to rest easily We still have to be hyper vigilant because donald trump is someone who is very unpredictable again He threatened iran and then says i don't want war with him So he's sending mixed messages and he's not playing four-dimensional chess This is not someone who has some type of complex strategy And he's just you know trying to convey strength to iran. This is someone who has no strategy so that type of naivete and just Downright dumb fuckery is easy to capitalize on if you are close to donald trump and mike pompaya He's a hawk in iran. He wants war with iran So we just have to watch the situation and hope for the best But unfortunately we are going to have to prepare for the worst Because if anyone's gonna attack iran donald trump in spite of his anti interventionist rhetoric Is someone who could potentially be crazy enough to do something like that You