Di war for Iran wey don enter four months don scatter things for everywhere. Millions of pipo dey suffer from starvation, and everybody dey pay wetin dem dey call Trump war tax. But plenty powers dey wey fit bring am down.
Di conflict wey don reach deadlock dey remind pipo of old US quagmires for Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam. At first, warnings of another forever war look like exaggeration. But now, no be so. Di negative humanitarian, economic and geopolitical fallout from this fiasco go cause more permanent global damage than any of those past US-made disasters.
Question wey dey important now: who go stop Donald Trump? Trump don start something wey e no fit finish. E dey box imself into corner, with Israel warmonger-in-chief Benjamin Netanyahu dey encourage am. Either e resume illegal bombing of Iran on bigger scale, dey threaten war crimes to force surrender; or e accept negotiated compromise wey go fall short of im original aims, including eliminating Iran nuclear programme. E go leave angry, more hardline regime wey don get strategic strength.
Neither choice dey attractive or tenable for Trump. E and im fanatical sidekick Pete Hegseth suppose know by now say bombing no fit blow away Iran defiance and resilience. Even for military side, 70% of Iran missile stockpile still intact. Trump threats to break ceasefire, like im aborted Project Freedom for strait of Hormuz, dey face opposition from Gulf states wey dey fear more retaliatory attacks. Washington allies, except Israel, and most US voters also dey oppose.
A peace deal wey dey line with Barack Obama 2015 nuclear pact with Tehran, wey Trump foolishly wreck, and wey be di most Iran dey willing to offer now, go count as abject Trump failure. E go represent landmark US strategic defeat with big implications for global contest with China and Russia. Any deal wey leave regime dey charge transit fees for strait of Hormuz go be utterly humiliating. No amount of spin fit conceal such presidency-defining calamity.
Trump know e no fit do nothing. E dey lurch indecisively back and forth, dey appear both manic and Micawberish. Blood-curdling threats dey follow, sometimes same day, by claims say something go turn up. For one sense, na im problem. Im approval ratings don collapse to about 37%, wey e fully deserve. Unfortunately, di standoff dey do immense, possibly irreversible harm to pipo all over di world. Trump Iran problem na everybody problem now.
Among poorest countries, need to end war no be ideological. E be existential. Staples like rice and wheat don double for price for Somalia since conflict start. Shortages of fertiliser fit ruin growing season, presaging devastating famines. World Food Programme dey predict say if war continue, additional 45 million pipo go face acute hunger. Di misery dey worsen by Trump and UK and other countries foreign aid cuts.
Economic impact on better-off dey painfully evident too. Developed countries from Europe to Asia dey penalise through spiralling energy, fuel, food and commodity prices. Full impact still dey come. For effect, ordinary pipo everywhere dey pay Trump war tax.
Trump war dey upend geopolitical balance. US now dey publicly at odds with closest allies Germany, France and Britain. Gulf states dey question US alliance wey make dem Iranian targets. All this dey boost Russia, wey oil exports dey face reduced sanctions, and dey hurt Ukraine. Meanwhile, to consternation of Japan, South Korea, Philippines and Taiwan, this month Beijing summit confirm China growing global ascendancy as subservient, clueless Trump fail to secure im help for Iran.
Universally negative knock-on effects of this unprovoked, avoidable conflict dey unfold daily. E dey undermine democratic accountability, political stability, human rights, UN charter, Geneva conventions, environmental conservation and climate policy, common decency and, most of all, common sense. Yet where dey furious shout of global outrage at wetin Trump, almost single-handedly, dey do to world? Where dey pushback as this crisis dey intensify?
Ever-expanding catastrophe no be inevitable. Trump must and fit be stopped. Radical, concerted action dey urgently required. Western governments dey wield most leverage, individually and collectively. If Britain, for example, truly get special relationship with US, now be time to exploit am for general good. Emmanuel Macron, France president, don urge so-called middle powers like Canada, India, Brazil and Japan to join Europe for coalition of independence. Now be time to deploy this idea for battle to make Trump see reason.
Where governments dey already grouped together, like for EU, African Union, G20 and Brics, much tougher, united approach to Washington dey necessary. If Trump continue to block meaningful peace talks, US should face downgrading of ties, punitive sanctions and import tariffs. Next month EU summit, and G7 summit for France wey precede am, wey Trump dey expected to attend, be moment when leaders of other western democracies, acting together, must finally bring am to heel.
UN security council be another platform where greater pressure should be applied. Wetin if France and UK join China, Russia and other members for demanding immediate, permanent end to hostilities, followed by independent mediation? Dat fit give Washington pause. European Nato members fit suspend or limit non-Ukraine military cooperation. More US bases for Europe fit face restrictions or closure. And why maintain fiction of cordial diplomatic relations? Send Trump typically underqualified, loud-mouthed ambassadors back home for rethink. Boycott next month World Cup or move matches to non-US venues. Ban McDonald. Ban Budweiser. All this and more fit be attempted by global community of nations wey dey seriously damaged by capricious US war of choice and refuse to be im helpless victim.
Yet di most direct way of stopping Trump remain pressure from Americans themselves. Most dey deplore im war. Most dey endure steep cost of living rises. Dem too dey worry where im tyrannical behaviour dey lead. Action to stop this constitutionally unauthorised war dey under way for Congress. These efforts must be redoubled. And when November midterm elections arrive, Trump and im spineless Republican enablers must be punished severely.
Di disease of Trump and Trumpism, so destructive of US itself, dey risk to become global pandemic. Im Iran war na but symptom. Cuba fit be next to be infected. Trump must be made to understand im deficit-funded, ill-led, school-bombing, over-sized military no make am boss of world. Bold, radical and imaginative collective intervention by US friends dey urgently required. By all legitimate means, Trump must be stopped.
Do you have a news tip for NNN? Please email us at editor @ nnn.ng
