Recent political events tend to confirm rather than alter my position as far as patriotism and electorates are concerned.
The United States and the United Kingdom have, since 1945, inflicted more harm on the societies of the Muslim world than any other external actor. Not exclusively - others have contributed to a trivial extent - but disproportionately, through scale of military and covert intelligence capability and the frequency of its exercise. Iran in 1953, Suez in 1956, decades of client-state management across the Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan. The record cannot be seriously disputed.
What I argue here is that responsibility for this record lies not with rogue governments or unaccountable intelligence agencies, but with the electorates that sustained them. These are allegedly democracies, after all. Governments were elected, re-elected and rarely punished for what they did abroad. When they were punished - as Blair was eventually punished in reputation if not at the ballot box - it was much too late and far too little.
The mechanism is not indifference. French electorates, by contrast, were indifferent to what their governments did in Africa. American and British electorates were not indifferent. American and British electorates cheered. American and British electorates waved flags. American and British electorates tied yellow ribbons and stuck poppies on their lapels and thanked people for their service. The patriotic culture of both nations did not merely permit foreign intervention - it celebrated it, legitimised it, made opposition to it politically costly. To oppose the Iraq war in 2003 was to be unpatriotic. A minority million opponents marched in London but the majority electorate returned Blair two years later.
Those are whom I accused then and accuse now. Not Americans. Not the British. Their electorates - the collective democratic act of endorsing, rewarding, and never meaningfully restraining governments which were killing people abroad without accountability, from a position of overwhelming unstoppable military supremacy.
My position throughout was that the US and UK should not merely lose in Iraq and Afghanistan but be seen to lose, visibly and unmistakably, to deter future adventurism. Both were seen to lose from start to finish. No government in either country has since dared put troops on foreign soil.
The deterrence worked at least on the politicians but it did not work on the electorates. The same patriotic reflex that cheered troops onto transport aircraft is now cheering tariffs, cheering migrant hostility, cheering strongman posturing under Trump, and will shortly cheer the dismantling of British institutional life under Reform. The target changes, the reflex does not. These electorates never developed the civic capacity to scrutinise what they endorse, because for decades the consequences fell on other people in other countries. Now the consequences are falling at home and these same electorates still just as incapable of evaluating what they are cheering for.
This is scarcely a satisfying state of affairs but I don't find it surprising.
Enablers
Enablers
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left. ... Hold no regard for unsupported opinion.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious. [Fred Wedlock, "The Folker"]
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious. [Fred Wedlock, "The Folker"]
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
Re: Enablers
The Congress of San José de Costa Rica: Proposed Founding Charter
Preamble
The nations of this Congress, acting freely and in concert, establish this Charter in recognition of the following truths demonstrated by the course of world events.
The international order established following the Second World War, centred upon the United Nations and its Security Council, has failed in its primary purpose: the prevention of war and the protection of sovereign nations from aggression by more powerful states. This failure is not incidental but structural. The permanent membership and veto powers granted to five nations in 1945 created an order in which the most powerful states were exempt from the rules they imposed upon all others. The result, across eight decades, has been the selective enforcement of international law — applied rigorously downward against weaker states and never upward against those holding the veto.
The invasion of Iraq in 2003, conducted without United Nations authorisation on the basis of intelligence subsequently proven false, demonstrated that the most powerful nation on earth could wage aggressive war without legal consequence. The destruction of Libya in 2011, authorised under a limited mandate that was immediately exceeded, demonstrated that Security Council resolutions could be exploited as instruments of regime change. The invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and its escalation in 2022 demonstrated that a permanent Security Council member could annex the territory of a sovereign nation and face no institutional response beyond voluntary sanctions of limited duration and uncertain effect.
The progressive normalisation of extrajudicial killing across borders has further eroded the foundations of sovereign equality. The assassination of Qasem Soleimani in January 2020 established the precedent that a head of state could order the killing of another nation's military commander on the territory of a third nation, without declaration of war, without judicial process, and without legal consequence. The subsequent expansion of targeted killing programmes by multiple states — conducted by drone, by missile, by poison, and by covert operation — has rendered the prohibition on assassination effectively inoperative.
In February 2026, the United States and Israel conducted a joint military operation against the Islamic Republic of Iran, codenamed Operation Epic Fury by the United States and Operation Roaring Lion by Israel. The operation, which commenced on 28 February 2026 and continued into subsequent days, constituted the most comprehensive assassination and decapitation campaign against a sovereign state in modern history. The categories of those killed are listed in Annexe A.
These strikes were conducted without any declaration of war by the United States Congress, without United Nations authorisation, and without any credible claim of self-defence against imminent attack. They were launched while indirect nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States, mediated by Oman and continued in Geneva, were making progress — with the Iranian Foreign Minister stating on 25 February that a "historic" agreement was close. The stated objective was regime change — the forcible replacement of a sovereign government by external military power. The United States Central Command declared that it was instructed to "dismantle the Iranian regime's security apparatus." Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that the operation would "create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands" — language indistinguishable from that used to justify every imperial intervention in modern history.
This act represents the culmination of a decades-long erosion of the principles upon which the post-1945 international order was founded. The prohibition on aggressive war, the inviolability of sovereign territory, the protection of civilian life, the distinction between combatants and non-combatants, the prohibition on assassination of heads of state — all have been demonstrated to be unenforceable against states possessing sufficient military power and a permanent seat on the Security Council.
The existing institutional framework cannot be reformed to address this failure, because the mechanism of reform — Security Council resolution — is controlled by the same states whose behaviour requires constraint. The veto that was intended to prevent great power conflict has instead become the instrument by which great powers exempt themselves from the rule of law.
The nations of this Congress therefore reject the premise that international order requires the consent of veto states. We reject the premise that a veto held by five nations should determine the rights of all nations. We reject the premise that military superiority confers the right to kill beyond one's borders, to impose governance upon other peoples, or to exempt oneself from rules that bind others.
We establish this Congress upon the principle that sovereignty is absolute within recognised borders; that no nation possesses the right to exercise lethal force beyond its own territory; that this prohibition admits no exception for claimed provocation, perceived threat, pre-emptive necessity, or asserted liberation; and that violations of this prohibition carry automatic, total, and indefinite economic consequences, terminable only through submission to independent judicial process and full conformity with its decisions.
We establish this Congress without veto, without permanent privileged membership, and without the participation of any state that is unwilling to accept these terms. The absence of the most powerful states does not weaken this Charter. It purifies it. The rules apply equally to all members or they are not rules at all.
We act in the knowledge that the collective economic, diplomatic, and moral weight of the nations joining this Congress is sufficient to impose meaningful consequences upon any state that violates its principles. We act in the knowledge that the alternative — a world in which the only constraint on state violence is the practical calculation of military consequences — leads inevitably to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the collapse of diplomatic norms, and the return to a pre-Westphalian condition of permanent insecurity for all nations.
We offer membership to every sovereign nation willing to accept these obligations. We offer the major powers the opportunity to join on equal terms, without privilege, without veto, and subject to the same rules as every other member. Should they decline, the Congress proceeds without them, and the framework they refused to join will develop beyond their influence and increasingly beyond their reach.
This Charter is enacted in the service of a simple proposition: that human beings in every nation are entitled to live without fear that a more powerful state will kill them, their families, or their children, and that no claimed justification — strategic, ideological, or moral — overrides that entitlement.
Article 1 — Sovereignty
Every nation possesses absolute sovereignty within its recognised borders. No nation may exercise lethal force beyond its own borders for any reason.
Article 2 — Defence
Every nation may maintain military forces for the defence of its homeland within its borders. No nation may maintain military forces, bases, or installations on the sovereign territory of another nation. Military defence is conducted within the homeland and nowhere else.
Article 3 — Prohibition
No nation may conduct lethal operations, including but not limited to assassination, military strikes, drone operations, covert operations, or any act causing death or destruction, beyond its own borders. There are no exceptions to this prohibition. Claimed provocation, perceived threat, pre-emptive necessity, invitation by a faction within the target nation, or assertion of liberation do not constitute justification.
Article 4 — Trigger
When a nation conducts lethal operations beyond its borders, the Congress mechanism activates automatically. No vote is required. No debate is held. The act triggers the response.
Article 5 — Response
Upon activation, all Congress member nations impose total financial boycott on the offending nation. This includes cessation of all trade, banking transactions, currency exchange, debt servicing, investment flows, port access, overflight rights, and diplomatic relations. The boycott is total and admits no exceptions.
Article 6 — Duration
The boycott continues indefinitely until the offending nation submits to the jurisdiction of the Congress Court, the Court has completed its adjudication and full conformity with its decisions. There is no predetermined endpoint. There is no negotiated lifting of the boycott. Submission to judicial process is the sole mechanism for resolution.
Article 7 — The Court
The Congress Court has mandatory jurisdiction over all alleged violations of this Charter. It operates independently of the Congress membership. Its judges are appointed by lottery from qualified jurists nominated by member nations. No nation may have more than one judge serving at any time. The Court determines its own procedure, whether a violation occurred, assigns responsibility, and specifies remedy.
Article 8 — Membership
Any sovereign nation may join the Congress by ratifying this Charter. Ratification constitutes acceptance of all obligations including automatic participation in boycotts. There is no veto. There are no permanent members. There are no privileged positions. Each member nation has one vote on matters requiring decision.
Article 9 — No Veto
No nation may block, delay, or modify the automatic operation of the boycott mechanism. No nation may exempt itself from boycott obligations. No nation may exempt another nation from being subject to boycott. The mechanism is automatic and universal.
Article 10 — Trade Framework
Member nations establish preferential trade terms among themselves. The specifics are determined by majority vote. The framework is designed to reduce member dependence on non-member economies and to ensure that the boycott mechanism is economically survivable for members imposing it.
Article 11 — Withdrawal
Any nation may withdraw from the Congress. Withdrawal takes effect one year after notification. A withdrawing nation loses all trade preferences and collective security protections immediately upon the effective date of withdrawal.
Article 12 — Amendment
This Charter may be amended by two-thirds majority of member nations. No amendment may introduce a veto, create permanent privileged membership, or weaken the automatic operation of the boycott mechanism.
Drafted March 2026
Open for ratification by all sovereign nations
Annexe A: The categories of those killed in February 2026 by the United States and Israel conducting a joint military operation against the Islamic Republic of Iran, codenamed Operation Epic Fury by the United States and Operation Roaring Lion by Israel.
The Head of State and his family. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, aged 86, was killed in strikes on his compound in Tehran. His daughter, son-in-law, grandchild, and daughter-in-law were killed in the same strikes. His wife, Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, died from her injuries on 2 March. Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was also confirmed killed.
The entire senior military command. Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Abdolrahim Mousavi. Defence Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh. Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, General Mohammad Pakpour. Admiral Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and adviser to the Supreme Leader. Mohammad Shirazi, head of the military office of the Supreme Leader. Intelligence and military sources reported approximately forty senior officials killed in total.
The intelligence apparatus. Four senior commanders of the Ministry of Intelligence were killed, including Javad Pourhossein, head of foreign intelligence; Mohammad-Reza Bajestani, head of the security unit; Ali Kheirandish, head of counterterrorism; and Saeed Ehya Hamidi, adviser on the war with Israel. Saleh Asadi, chief of intelligence in the military emergency headquarters, was also killed. Gholamreza Rezaeian, head of the internal police intelligence organisation FARAJA, was confirmed dead.
The defence research establishment. Hossein Jabal Amelian, chair of the Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), and Reza Mozaffari Nia, former head of SPND, were both killed.
Civilians, including children. At least 555 people were killed across Iran within the first three days, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. Strikes hit 24 of Iran's 31 provinces. The deadliest single incident occurred at a girls' primary school in Minab, where the death toll rose to 180 children. A sports hall in Lamerd was bombed during girls' practice, killing at least 18 civilians. Residential buildings in multiple cities were destroyed, including in Tehran, Sanandaj, and Kermanshah. Thousands of IRGC personnel, including several senior officials, were killed or wounded as military bases across the country were struck.
Regional casualties. Iranian retaliatory strikes killed at least nine civilians in Israel, including at a synagogue in Beit Shemesh. Four US service members were killed. Strikes and counter-strikes caused casualties and damage across Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, and Oman. An Iranian drone struck a runway at a UK military base in Cyprus.
Preamble
The nations of this Congress, acting freely and in concert, establish this Charter in recognition of the following truths demonstrated by the course of world events.
The international order established following the Second World War, centred upon the United Nations and its Security Council, has failed in its primary purpose: the prevention of war and the protection of sovereign nations from aggression by more powerful states. This failure is not incidental but structural. The permanent membership and veto powers granted to five nations in 1945 created an order in which the most powerful states were exempt from the rules they imposed upon all others. The result, across eight decades, has been the selective enforcement of international law — applied rigorously downward against weaker states and never upward against those holding the veto.
The invasion of Iraq in 2003, conducted without United Nations authorisation on the basis of intelligence subsequently proven false, demonstrated that the most powerful nation on earth could wage aggressive war without legal consequence. The destruction of Libya in 2011, authorised under a limited mandate that was immediately exceeded, demonstrated that Security Council resolutions could be exploited as instruments of regime change. The invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and its escalation in 2022 demonstrated that a permanent Security Council member could annex the territory of a sovereign nation and face no institutional response beyond voluntary sanctions of limited duration and uncertain effect.
The progressive normalisation of extrajudicial killing across borders has further eroded the foundations of sovereign equality. The assassination of Qasem Soleimani in January 2020 established the precedent that a head of state could order the killing of another nation's military commander on the territory of a third nation, without declaration of war, without judicial process, and without legal consequence. The subsequent expansion of targeted killing programmes by multiple states — conducted by drone, by missile, by poison, and by covert operation — has rendered the prohibition on assassination effectively inoperative.
In February 2026, the United States and Israel conducted a joint military operation against the Islamic Republic of Iran, codenamed Operation Epic Fury by the United States and Operation Roaring Lion by Israel. The operation, which commenced on 28 February 2026 and continued into subsequent days, constituted the most comprehensive assassination and decapitation campaign against a sovereign state in modern history. The categories of those killed are listed in Annexe A.
These strikes were conducted without any declaration of war by the United States Congress, without United Nations authorisation, and without any credible claim of self-defence against imminent attack. They were launched while indirect nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States, mediated by Oman and continued in Geneva, were making progress — with the Iranian Foreign Minister stating on 25 February that a "historic" agreement was close. The stated objective was regime change — the forcible replacement of a sovereign government by external military power. The United States Central Command declared that it was instructed to "dismantle the Iranian regime's security apparatus." Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that the operation would "create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands" — language indistinguishable from that used to justify every imperial intervention in modern history.
This act represents the culmination of a decades-long erosion of the principles upon which the post-1945 international order was founded. The prohibition on aggressive war, the inviolability of sovereign territory, the protection of civilian life, the distinction between combatants and non-combatants, the prohibition on assassination of heads of state — all have been demonstrated to be unenforceable against states possessing sufficient military power and a permanent seat on the Security Council.
The existing institutional framework cannot be reformed to address this failure, because the mechanism of reform — Security Council resolution — is controlled by the same states whose behaviour requires constraint. The veto that was intended to prevent great power conflict has instead become the instrument by which great powers exempt themselves from the rule of law.
The nations of this Congress therefore reject the premise that international order requires the consent of veto states. We reject the premise that a veto held by five nations should determine the rights of all nations. We reject the premise that military superiority confers the right to kill beyond one's borders, to impose governance upon other peoples, or to exempt oneself from rules that bind others.
We establish this Congress upon the principle that sovereignty is absolute within recognised borders; that no nation possesses the right to exercise lethal force beyond its own territory; that this prohibition admits no exception for claimed provocation, perceived threat, pre-emptive necessity, or asserted liberation; and that violations of this prohibition carry automatic, total, and indefinite economic consequences, terminable only through submission to independent judicial process and full conformity with its decisions.
We establish this Congress without veto, without permanent privileged membership, and without the participation of any state that is unwilling to accept these terms. The absence of the most powerful states does not weaken this Charter. It purifies it. The rules apply equally to all members or they are not rules at all.
We act in the knowledge that the collective economic, diplomatic, and moral weight of the nations joining this Congress is sufficient to impose meaningful consequences upon any state that violates its principles. We act in the knowledge that the alternative — a world in which the only constraint on state violence is the practical calculation of military consequences — leads inevitably to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the collapse of diplomatic norms, and the return to a pre-Westphalian condition of permanent insecurity for all nations.
We offer membership to every sovereign nation willing to accept these obligations. We offer the major powers the opportunity to join on equal terms, without privilege, without veto, and subject to the same rules as every other member. Should they decline, the Congress proceeds without them, and the framework they refused to join will develop beyond their influence and increasingly beyond their reach.
This Charter is enacted in the service of a simple proposition: that human beings in every nation are entitled to live without fear that a more powerful state will kill them, their families, or their children, and that no claimed justification — strategic, ideological, or moral — overrides that entitlement.
Article 1 — Sovereignty
Every nation possesses absolute sovereignty within its recognised borders. No nation may exercise lethal force beyond its own borders for any reason.
Article 2 — Defence
Every nation may maintain military forces for the defence of its homeland within its borders. No nation may maintain military forces, bases, or installations on the sovereign territory of another nation. Military defence is conducted within the homeland and nowhere else.
Article 3 — Prohibition
No nation may conduct lethal operations, including but not limited to assassination, military strikes, drone operations, covert operations, or any act causing death or destruction, beyond its own borders. There are no exceptions to this prohibition. Claimed provocation, perceived threat, pre-emptive necessity, invitation by a faction within the target nation, or assertion of liberation do not constitute justification.
Article 4 — Trigger
When a nation conducts lethal operations beyond its borders, the Congress mechanism activates automatically. No vote is required. No debate is held. The act triggers the response.
Article 5 — Response
Upon activation, all Congress member nations impose total financial boycott on the offending nation. This includes cessation of all trade, banking transactions, currency exchange, debt servicing, investment flows, port access, overflight rights, and diplomatic relations. The boycott is total and admits no exceptions.
Article 6 — Duration
The boycott continues indefinitely until the offending nation submits to the jurisdiction of the Congress Court, the Court has completed its adjudication and full conformity with its decisions. There is no predetermined endpoint. There is no negotiated lifting of the boycott. Submission to judicial process is the sole mechanism for resolution.
Article 7 — The Court
The Congress Court has mandatory jurisdiction over all alleged violations of this Charter. It operates independently of the Congress membership. Its judges are appointed by lottery from qualified jurists nominated by member nations. No nation may have more than one judge serving at any time. The Court determines its own procedure, whether a violation occurred, assigns responsibility, and specifies remedy.
Article 8 — Membership
Any sovereign nation may join the Congress by ratifying this Charter. Ratification constitutes acceptance of all obligations including automatic participation in boycotts. There is no veto. There are no permanent members. There are no privileged positions. Each member nation has one vote on matters requiring decision.
Article 9 — No Veto
No nation may block, delay, or modify the automatic operation of the boycott mechanism. No nation may exempt itself from boycott obligations. No nation may exempt another nation from being subject to boycott. The mechanism is automatic and universal.
Article 10 — Trade Framework
Member nations establish preferential trade terms among themselves. The specifics are determined by majority vote. The framework is designed to reduce member dependence on non-member economies and to ensure that the boycott mechanism is economically survivable for members imposing it.
Article 11 — Withdrawal
Any nation may withdraw from the Congress. Withdrawal takes effect one year after notification. A withdrawing nation loses all trade preferences and collective security protections immediately upon the effective date of withdrawal.
Article 12 — Amendment
This Charter may be amended by two-thirds majority of member nations. No amendment may introduce a veto, create permanent privileged membership, or weaken the automatic operation of the boycott mechanism.
Drafted March 2026
Open for ratification by all sovereign nations
Annexe A: The categories of those killed in February 2026 by the United States and Israel conducting a joint military operation against the Islamic Republic of Iran, codenamed Operation Epic Fury by the United States and Operation Roaring Lion by Israel.
The Head of State and his family. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, aged 86, was killed in strikes on his compound in Tehran. His daughter, son-in-law, grandchild, and daughter-in-law were killed in the same strikes. His wife, Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, died from her injuries on 2 March. Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was also confirmed killed.
The entire senior military command. Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Abdolrahim Mousavi. Defence Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh. Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, General Mohammad Pakpour. Admiral Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and adviser to the Supreme Leader. Mohammad Shirazi, head of the military office of the Supreme Leader. Intelligence and military sources reported approximately forty senior officials killed in total.
The intelligence apparatus. Four senior commanders of the Ministry of Intelligence were killed, including Javad Pourhossein, head of foreign intelligence; Mohammad-Reza Bajestani, head of the security unit; Ali Kheirandish, head of counterterrorism; and Saeed Ehya Hamidi, adviser on the war with Israel. Saleh Asadi, chief of intelligence in the military emergency headquarters, was also killed. Gholamreza Rezaeian, head of the internal police intelligence organisation FARAJA, was confirmed dead.
The defence research establishment. Hossein Jabal Amelian, chair of the Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), and Reza Mozaffari Nia, former head of SPND, were both killed.
Civilians, including children. At least 555 people were killed across Iran within the first three days, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. Strikes hit 24 of Iran's 31 provinces. The deadliest single incident occurred at a girls' primary school in Minab, where the death toll rose to 180 children. A sports hall in Lamerd was bombed during girls' practice, killing at least 18 civilians. Residential buildings in multiple cities were destroyed, including in Tehran, Sanandaj, and Kermanshah. Thousands of IRGC personnel, including several senior officials, were killed or wounded as military bases across the country were struck.
Regional casualties. Iranian retaliatory strikes killed at least nine civilians in Israel, including at a synagogue in Beit Shemesh. Four US service members were killed. Strikes and counter-strikes caused casualties and damage across Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, and Oman. An Iranian drone struck a runway at a UK military base in Cyprus.
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left. ... Hold no regard for unsupported opinion.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious. [Fred Wedlock, "The Folker"]
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious. [Fred Wedlock, "The Folker"]
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.