Yes, it is an illegal war – initiated by the US Peace President and Bibi Netanyahu

Oona Hathaway: “The U.S. and Israeli war against Iran is clearly and unequivocally unlawful. Under the United Nations Charter, a use of force by one state against another is lawful only if it is authorized by the UN Security Council or if it is a necessary and proportionate act of self defense. Neither is true here.“ (1)

Can some journalist please ask “War” Secretary Pete Kegsbreath if he knows what the United Nations Charter is? His most likely answer: It’s just more lesbian Woke propaganda!

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has this nine-minute March 5 video on the current situation with the Iran War: (2)

At least some people are happy about the whole thing! (3)

Being a petrostate like Russia is a mixed blessing. When oil prices are high, it’s a very positive thing. When oil prices are low, it’s a real bummer.

So the illegal US-Israeli war against Iran is delivering benefits to Russia at the moment.

As Politico EU reports:

Only several weeks ago, the mood among Russia’s economic elite was grim.

The Russian finance ministry’s budget plan for this year assumed a baseline benchmark of $59 per barrel of Urals crude, the country’s main export blend. But in January, energy revenues plunged to their lowest level since 2020, compounding a disappointing tax haul.

As Western sanctions, high interest rates and labor shortages strained the economy, tension between the finance ministry and the central bank on how to mitigate the damage became increasingly visible.

“It was far from a collapse,” said Sergey Vakulenko, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. “But the government was facing tough choices, had to cut its spending and raise taxes and even consider some reduction in military expenditure.”

It’s worth noting that we’ve hearing since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine War over four years ago now that economic sanctions were on the verge of bringing Russia to its knees.

But magic weapons from “strategic bombing” to economic sanctions consistently turn out to be less magical than their enthusiasts imagine. Not that they don’t do enormous damage. It’s rather that neither heavy aerial bombing nor severe economic sanctions don’t by themselves induce the kind of collapse in public morale and therefore of the government’s willingness and ability to resist foreign attack that would achieve a goal like the “unconditional surrender” that Trump is currently demanding from Iran. (Do I need to add that Trump almost certainly has no idea what “unconditional surrender” by Iran would even mean?)

Oh, and there’s that whole nuclear proliferation thing, another thing that Trump and his clown-show Administration show little sign of understanding.

The New START Treaty, the last binding agreement limiting the strategic nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia, expired on February 5, 2026. For more than half a century, since the first Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) in the early 1970s, American and Soviet (later Russian) leaders had operated under some form of negotiated restraint on their most powerful weapons.

That era has now ended. There are no longer legal caps on deployed strategic warheads, no mandatory data exchanges, no on-site inspections, and no regular forum, such as the Bilateral Consultative Commission, to address compliance concerns or resolve disputes. (4)

The United States for the most part squandered its “unipolar moment” after the collapse of the Soviet Union very badly.

Joe Cirincione from March 8 provides us with commentary on the official prowar rhetoric from the Trump regime and another nine-minute video report (with disturbing images and profanity): (5)

The script most [Trump regime war supporters] follow is fairly straightforward:

1. Lead with how terrible the Iranian government is

2. Blame Iran for causing the war (a war of necessity)

3. Claim imminent threat

4. Posit great support in Iran, the region and America for regime change

5. Prepare to blame the Iranian people when the war fails.

Notes:

(1) Hathaway, Oona (2026): “The Unwillingness to Call This Illegal Is a Terrible Mistake”. Verfassunsblog 03/06/2026. <https://verfassungsblog.de/the-unwillingness-to-call-this-illegal-is-a-terrible-mistake/> (Accessed: 2026-10-03).

(2) War in Iran: Views from the ground. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists YouTube channel 03/05/2026. <https://youtu.be/s7lo1St5ruI?si=HE5kVs53Nd7bjQ3C> (Accessed: 2026-11-03).

(3) Hartog, Eva (2026): Why Vladimir Putin is the biggest winner from the war in Iran. Politico EU 03/09/2026. <https://www.politico.eu/article/why-vladimir-putin-is-the-biggest-winner-from-the-war-in-iran/> (Accessed: 2026-10-03).

(4) Alter, Eric (2026): With the End of the New START Treaty, Nuclear Anarchy Has Arrived. The National Interest 03/09/2026. <https: feature="" nationalinterest.org="" with-the-end-of-the-new-start-treaty-nuclear-anarchy-has-arrived=""> (Accessed: 2026-10-03).

(5) Cirincione, Joe (2026): The War Supporters' Script. Strategy & History 03/08/2026. <https://joecirincione.substack.com/p/the-war-supporters-script?utm_campaign> (Accessed: 2026-11-03).