There is a saying known to many cultures, and
expressed in many languages that goes something like this: “If you don't learn
from history, you are bound to repeat it”.
That's well and good. But what exactly is history? And
what is there to learn from it? Well, there are two ways to look at history,
one of which is so popular, it causes people to miss the other. But as it turns
out, the popular way will not tell you what it is that you risk repeating,
whereas the other one will.
When a historian sets out to write the history of an
era, of an incident or a consequential person, he or she will search the record
to find everything that happened in that realm down to the minutest detail. The
historian will then work on producing a narrative that may or may not add
something new to what's already known about that era, about that incident or
that person.
Because journalism writes the first draft of history,
it follows that same pattern. In fact, a current example is an article that
came under the title: “How we planted the seeds of war with Iran,” and the
subtitle: “Decisions made in Washington brought us to this fateful moment.” It
was written by Richard A. Clarke and published on January 4, 2020 in the New
York Daily News.
Clarke explains in detail the tit for tat that went on
between the United States and Iran during the last 40 years. But what was there
to learn from these details that should have prevented the current
administration from assassinating a high-level Iranian personality? Nothing
important was learned really, which is why the order went out to kill Kassem
Soleimani, an act that prompted Richard Clarke to conclude the following:
“This current path to war traces its origin to the US
decision to abandon the nuclear arms control agreement and devastate the
Iranian economy. That was a choice made in the US, not in Iran. It was a
decision that launched us, almost inevitably, on to the current path”.
Oh, but look at that! There seems to be a lesson here
from which to learn something. Well, sort of. Yes, there is a lesson from which
to learn, but it's not the one we readily see on the surface. This one is
trivial and will add little or nothing to what we need to know. On the other
hand, another more important lesson is buried inside the narrative. It is of
the kind that's useful to learn from. But to get to it, we need to dig deep
into the events that brought the world to where it is today.
A cursory look at Clarke's conclusion will undoubtedly
prompt someone to say, we must never again abandon a nuclear arms control
agreement we made with a country, or go on to devastate their economy. Yes,
something like that is bound to come to mind immediately upon studying what
happened. But the chances of this being a useful lesson to guide us in the
future, is very slim since there will never be another nuclear arms control
negotiated between the United States and Iran or a clone of Iran.
So then, what is the useful lesson that's buried deep
in the narrative, and that we must dig out? The answer to the question is that
the lesson sits inside a box which can be opened by asking two questions: Who
and why? and answering them. They are these: Who pushed for the abandonment of
the nuclear deal? And why did they do it? As to the answers, they are the
following: The Jews pushed for the abandonment of the nuclear deal. And they
did it precisely because they wanted to see a war between the United States and
Iran. The reason is that such war will give Israel the chance to implement its
long-held agenda for the region.
Having brought these realities to light, we ask what
helpful lesson should we draw from them that can be used in future situations?
The answer is that whereas the small details of history are useful to know when
you want to complete the historical record, they are ephemeral in the sense
that tomorrow’s details will not look anything like today’s details. This being
the case, you need to concentrate on the constants that are here today and will
be here tomorrow. What could these be? They are what define human nature: the
good side of it, and the bad side of it.
Because wars are the foundation upon which the Jewish
culture was erected as shown in the Old Testament; because the Jews have
instigated most of the big wars that took place in history; because they have
threatened to start a war with Iran to drag America into it, the lesson you
avoid at your peril is that the Jews will want to sacrifice American lives and
wealth for ever to get what they want for themselves and for Israel. This is
the constant that was here four thousand years ago, was here again a thousand
years ago, is here today, and will be here to the end of time. Nothing can be
more constant than that.