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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider Our fears  in the wake of the Iran assasination

Our fears  in the wake of the Iran assasination

Published Jan 6, 2020 12:00 am
E CARTOON JAN 7, 2020 With  one  single act – ordering the killing of a top Iranian  general  --  United States President Donald Trump last Friday set off   events   with dire repercussions  on the whole world. Trump   ordered  the  killing of Qasem  Soleimani,  chief of the Quds  foreign operations  of   Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard  Corps,  who was in  an Iraqi  convoy  at the international  airport of Baghdad, Iraq.  Also  killed in the same  incident   was  Abu  Mahdi  al-Muhandis,  deputy  chief  of  lraq’s paramilitary force Hashed al-Shaabi, which has close ties to Iran. The Pentagon    said the  operation  was carried out by  US  drones. In  the US Congress,  Speaker Nancy Pelosi  said the attack was carried out  without consultation with Congress.  Under the US Constitution, Congress  is  supposed  to  approve any  declaration of war  by US forces. The US House  of Representatives  has already  voted to  impeach  Trump  for  allegedly abusing his powers  in dealing with Ukraine and in obstructing Congress, but  the  Republlcan-controlled  Senate is expected to clear him. Trump’s  real  battle, it is believed, will  be in the  national  election  in November  when he seeks reelection.  And  he surely must  know that voters are likely to support  their  president  In  a  war  with Iran as a  result  of the assassination. To the world  as a whole,  America’s  killing of  Iran’s  top commander  raises fears  of  widespread  and renewed  conflict  on  many fronts.  Iran’s  Supreme  Leader  Ayatollah  Ali Khamenei  vowed  to  take “severe revenge”  for  the  killing. This fear  of a widening  of the war  is shared by Russia, China, France, and  other nations who  have  appealed  for restraint  from  all sides. Another  fear was  aired  this weekend – that with  the  assassination  and  escalation  of tensions  in  the Middle East, oil exports from  the region  are likely to suffer, resulting in rising world  oil prices. Even without  new  violence in US-Iran relations,  the world’s oil supply from its biggest  source, the Middle East, could  sink to  new  lows .  That would  really hit hard at  the whole world, including the Philippines.

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