BATTLEFRONTS / NO, WORLD WAR III IS NOT NEAR

GUEST BLOG / By Malak Chabkoun.  She is an independent Middle East researcher and writer, who is based in the U.S. The following opinion article appeared in Aljazeera recently.

SOLEIMANI WAS NO ANTI-IMPERIALIST HERO

And, Trump’s reckless decision to assassinate him will not result in World War III.
By Malak Chaboun.

Immediately after news broke of the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, some left-wing circles in the West proclaimed with great confidence - yet again - that World War III was around the corner. Previously, these same warnings of global doom were evoked when US President Donald Trump ordered rather toothless strikes on empty military targets in Syria and escalated his rhetoric against North Korea's Kim Jong Un.

And just as a world war did not break out on these previous occasions, it will not break out now either.

Much of the left in the West (the same ones who describe themselves as progressives) also viciously attacked people in the Middle East who celebrated the deaths of Soleimani and al-Muhandis. While it is wrong to praise Trump's decision to assassinate the two commanders as a "noble deed", framing what happened within the old, tired left-wing narrative of US imperialism erases the regional context and the suffering of millions of people in the Middle East at the hands of other powers.

Indeed, it is important to expose Trump's recklessness and political opportunism, but it is inexcusable to ignore the crimes of Soleimani and al-Muhandis and those who they served.

For the complete article click here.