150 Lives...

Second thoughts...

After ordering an attack on Iran last week, president Trump had an after thought. How many human lives would it cost? One wonders: what amount of casualties would have made his strike acceptable? Fifty? A hundred? 

Creating a problem

The Iranian problem is of Trump's making. He pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, started a war of words and began imposing harsh sanctions. On top of that, Trump bullied all other nations to follow suit. A legally binding deal became powerless in the face of Trump's financial blackmail. Of course that did not have to be the case, but few countries had the backbone to stand up to Trump's threats.

The provocation continues; as does the war of words. On Monday Trump insulted the Iranians by imposing sanctions on their Supreme Leader. Iran retaliated by calling the White House administration "retards". Trump responded by threatening to obliterate parts of the country.

150 and counting...

Trump's intransigence will end up costing a lot more than 150 lives. He has passed that threshold many times over already with his support of Saudi Arabia. Add to that the deaths that will result from his ruthless policies, such as those on climate change, immigration, health care and arms sales and the tally will just keep getting higher and higher.. Messing up the climate could by itself end up costing millions of lives, if not the planet itself. But if Trump did ask how many lives would be lost by the US pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord, he clearly did not care then.

Murder is murder

Jean Rostand had said:

Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god.

Provoking war is not a innocuous game. Hundreds of thousands of innocent lives could be lost in a major confrontation. Trump may then want to stand back an wash his hands from any responsibility. Even if he did manage to fool himself, he would have a hard time fooling anybody else. Or perhaps he just wants to be a god!