My partner was in town this weekend so I took some downtime from working and dabbled with this new fangled thing called "time off" which is a wild concept when you are a small business owner, but I digress. We both spend a lot of time talking about history and current affairs, or living history, if you will. Thus, this is the way of the world, in that, we are fighting wars and conflicts from centuries ago. We tend to think of history as much further away than it actually is or was and that progress moves at a glacial pace and there always have been enemies of progress.
Every time conflicts flare up in the Middle East, my inner voices sighs "Oh, this again?" and that's not dismissive or ignorant -- its that I know the history and that conflicts flare up sometimes on their own and other times due to other factors or countries volleying the ball back and forth -- as they have been for hundreds if not thousands of years.
For context purposes, I have a BFA in Art History and Studio Arts. Art history isn't just the study of art - it is the study of art in the context of the history of the area in which it was created. Art history teaches the myriad of ways to view the world and to see and interpret any number of things based on critical theory, philosophy, psychology, history, etc. Additionally, I have a tendency to autistically research everything and while much of my historical leanings are part of my ancestral and genealogical research, I am always learning something and seeking out knowledge. As I am writing this, I am listening to a lecture on the origin of alphabet systems and linguistics.
Additionally, my former father-in-law is a world-renowned Arabic scholar, author, and retired professor. I learned many things first hand about various Middle Eastern topics, history, art, culture, linguistics, etc. This has allowed for a greater understanding of the Middle East as a whole and also the ongoing and historical conflicts.
This is a long winded introduction to supporting freedom in Iran. My undergrad art history thesis was on Iranian artist in exile Shirin Neshat's photography series called 'The Women of Allah." This involved academic research into the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and overall practices of veiling in Iran and other cultures. Mostly, it was deconstructing Western views of the Eastern or specifically Middle Eastern world. I need to dig up a copy of it because it would be interesting to read 23 years later.
It's difficult, but possible to see this in a variety of conflicting perspectives. It is an illegal military action and very likely yet another distraction from the PedoFiles and it is doubtful that they actually care about the freedom of Iranian's from the Islamic regime. They could be dumb enough to not realize they are helping people that they would also happily deport from the United States. They don't care about the freedom and of course its probably about the oil, again.
There are some trickle down considerations even though the war is an illegal action -- Iran has been supplying Russia with Shahed drones to terrorize Ukrainians in their fight against the illegal occupation of Ukraine by Russia and yet another genocide of Ukrainian's at the hands of Russia. Indirectly, since Iran and Russia are allies, this could be considered an act of war against Russia.
Does this mean I think its a good thing or support military terrorism? Fuck no! This means I am capable of looking at the whole story and the big picture. Does this mean I don't care about the troops losing their lives? I care. Believe me, I do, my best friend from high school lost her husband during the war in Afghanistan. Do I think we should be meddling in foreign affairs when our own country is at war with itself and a complete shitshow? Its complicated at best and my feelings wax and wane.
The dominoes have begun to fall and somehow through all of this I am calm, cool, and collected, which is rather unusual considering that I have complex PTSD and am old enough to have lived through the latter half of the Cold War. When the first 15 years of your life are under the threat of being nuked by the Soviet Union everyday, then throw in a bunch of wars in the Middle East, 9/11 (I worked for the Philadelphia office of Marsh & McLennan at the time and the first plane impacted the corporate headquarters. We lost about 400 colleagues - some of which I talked to regularly. My boss and I even volunteered in New York a couple weeks after with the families of the colleagues lost and that experience is burned very deep into my soul), add some more wars in the Middle East, various global terrorist events, and dozens of other things. One would think with the abbreviated off the top of my head list that I would be freaking out, but am not...yet.
Is this World War III? At least not right now. It may seem like it and it may end up there, but right now things are changing so fast and its hard to keep up with. Growing up during the Cold War, World War III was mostly defined as a total and complete nuclear annihilation mostly starting with Soviet aggression and escalation. Until the nukes start flying, its a war, nonetheless, but not as of yet 'World War III.' All I can say is that is what I know today. Tomorrow, may yield a different story.