US defeat against Iran exposes Zionist grip
on Washington; popular struggle needed
to break it: Activist
August 10th, 11:54 am
by Press TV Website Staff
The United States’ shifting rhetoric on Iran is not a sign of strategic
flexibility but a symptom of a profound defeat that Washington
refuses to accept, says an Austrian writer and activist.
In an interview with the Press TV website, Vienna-based
anti-imperialist activist Wilhelm Langthaler said Zionist
neoconservatives have effectively captured the US
state apparatus and that only a “violent rupture”
or mass popular struggle can dislodge them.
Langthaler is a longtime political and human rights activist based in
Vienna, Austria. He has been vocal about Western interventionism,
Israel’s overriding role in US foreign policy, and the sovereign
rights of nations resisting Western imperialism.
He said Washington’s pattern of “threat, ultimatum, retreat, and
repeat” reveals a fundamental inability to impose its will on
the Islamic Republic of Iran ---- even in the aerial sphere,
where the US once claimed unchallenged supremacy.
“Basically, this is [an] expression of the defeat Washington suffered
against Iran, combined with the unwillingness to accept the
consequences,” Langthaler told the Press TV website.
“The US Empire, with its Israeli chain dog, is still set on keeping its
former position at all costs, according to the old Neocon concept,
which is not in line ....with the reality on the ground.”
He pointed to a series of US failures across the region, from Iraq and
Syria to Libya and Afghanistan, noting that “boots on the ground
proved to be very difficult, up to impossible.”
Langthaler dismissed the notion that President Donald Trump’s
contradictory messaging stems from strategic calculation,
instead attributing it to an unresolvable tension between
Trump’s anti-war campaign rhetoric and the Zionist-
controlled deep-state apparatus in Washington.
“Trump set out to end the endless US wars while promising the
continuation of the US Empire --- including white supremacy.
From the very beginning, this constituted an unresolvable
contradiction, if not a lie,” he asserted.
Asked about the influence of pro-Israel lobby groups
in the US, Langthaler was unequivocal.
“They do have a decisive influence not only on the Trump
administration but on the entire state apparatus. And it
is clear that it was them who pressed for the
aggression,” he stated.
However, the activist cautioned
against framing this as merely
“foreign” interference.
“It is intrinsic. Israel is de facto part of the US,
as Algeria was for France,” he stated.
Langthaler also addressed internal fractures within the so-called
MAGA movement, noting that significant sections are turning
against Israeli control over the US state. He cited the
electoral victory of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of
New York as evidence of the growing
institutional opposition.
“Zionists will do whatever [is] possible to defend their
entrenchments within the US regime. Without an
element of popular mass struggle or also civil
war, they cannot be driven out,” he warned.
On the path forward, Langthaler called for --- a global solidarity
movement modeled on the Vietnam-era anti-war campaigns,
with a specific focus on supporting Iran’s right to national
sovereignty and countering “anti-Islamic prejudice
instigated by our politico-mediatic elites.”
“Iranian steadfastness is the best thing Iran can do. Not only for
its own nation, but for the region and the world. Actually, there
is no other way to deal with Western imperialism,” he said.
He urged activists worldwide to pressure their governments to
stop supporting Zionism and US wars, and to back Iran’s
sovereignty --- under international law.
“We need to make this message pass, which will enormously help
to pressure our elites to distance themselves from Zionism - and
imperialist aggression at large,” he told the Press TV website.
_________________________________________________________________
Israeli cadet in flight training course
commits suicide at military base
August 10th, 9:26am
(PressTV)
A cadet in a flight training course has died by suicide at an Israeli Air
Force base in the southern part of the Israeli-occupied territories.
The Hebrew-language Haaretz daily newspaper reported that the
body of the Israeli Air Force pilot trainee was found at a military
base in the southern part of the Israeli-occupied territories...
on Sunday.
This comes as nearly 50 active-duty Israeli soldiers have taken their
own lives since the outbreak of the Gaza genocide in October 2023
amid reports that many troops are suffering from deep mental
distress after the horrors they witnessed in the besieged
coastal region.
On July 29, Haaretz reported that 17 Israeli soldiers committed
suicide this year, while 24 killed themselves in 2024, and 17
in 2023, including seven following the Gaza war.
The newspaper cited a significant lack of military mental health
professionals, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, and social
workers, as a contributing factor.
It highlighted systemic shortcomings in the military’s capacity to
assist discharged soldiers, reservists, and members of units
exposed to significant trauma – especially those engaged
in the identification of deceased soldiers.
According to the findings presented in the Haaretz report, the Israeli
army’s rehabilitation division admits hundreds of soldiers suffering
from psychological injuries each month, with a considerable
portion experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) due to their combat experiences in Gaza.
The Israeli military announced on July 27 that a reserve soldier was
found dead in his residence in the southern town of Ofakim, with
officials describing the incident as a suicide. The soldier had
been part of a unit tasked with identifying the remains
of deceased soldiers.
As per military reports, 898 Israeli soldiers have lost their lives
and 6,134 have sustained injuries since the onset of the
genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.
The military is facing growing criticism for deliberately
concealing the true extent of its casualties.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli military has launched a brutal
offensive in Gaza, killing more than 73,000 Palestinians and
injuring over 174,000 others. The relentless war and the
blockade have ravaged the region and caused
significant food shortages.