Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Graham to Iran: ‘If you escalate the war, we’re coming for you’

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) threatened Iran on Sunday, calling the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah “a proxy of Iran” and warning that Iran would face consequences should Hezbollah escalate the tense situation along Israel’s northern border.

“If Hezbollah, which is a proxy of Iran, launches a massive attack on Israel, I would consider that a threat to the State of Israel, existential in nature,” Graham said Sunday during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.

“I will introduce a resolution in the United States Senate to allow military action by the United States in conjunction with Israel to knock Iran out of the oil business,” he said. “Iran, if you escalate this war, we’re coming for you.”

Graham, a longtime foreign policy hawk, also called the idea that Iran was not involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel’s southern border “laughable.” Iranian officials commended Hamas’ operation, but initially denied involvement in the attack.

U.S. and Israeli officials have also said they are unsure if Iran was involved in the attack, but a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces told POLITICO they were “100 percent sure that the Iranians were not surprised,” by the attack.

Hezbollah fighters had killed at least one person and wounded three others in a missile strike on an Israeli northern border village Sunday, the militant group and Israeli medics said according to Reuters.

A spokesperson for the Israeli military also warned Hezbollah on Sunday.

“I would highly recommend that Hezbollah watch very closely what is happening to Hamas and their organization in Gaza as we speak,” Lt. Col.(r) Peter Lerner said on ABC’s “This Week.” “If they have, they should be very cautious of crossing that threshold because we are determined to defend the state of Israel.”

Original Article
Source: politico
Author: Kelly Garrity

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