Yesterday, President Donald Trump announced that the United States has bombed three nuclear sites in Iran, including the heavily-fortified uranium enrichment plant at Fordo.
Wayne, you are a brilliant thinker and writer. The animal rights movement intersects with most other movements, and you articulate it so well. It’s frustrating that too many people don’t see how important non-violence is or they just can’t control themselves. I read that John Lennon said “When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.” Thank you, Wayne, for your activism and leadership.
Thank you, Wayne, for this glimmer of hope, a"Silver Lining," even as you explain the Backlash Effect. Together, we must harness the power of protest to build, rather than destroy. I believe, as you do, in a movement grounded in kindness towards all beings, and pray that this will bring our species together. Thank you for being the light of kindness in a world of chaos. Your dedication to all animals is what helps to guide me.
I am a huge fan of yours which is why this is very sad to see. Iran getting a nuke would be a disaster and presents a danger to humanity. I take your point about the backlash but if you take that too far there would be no limit. There seems to be few truths more clear than the necessity of preventing and Islamist theocratic regime from getting a weapon that could destroy the world.
Totally get this concern. But we have had nearly 50 years of hostility toward Iran, including multiple bombing campaigns, and we are facing the same problem today. The only way to guarantee failure is to keep doing the same thing when it's not working, IMO.
And yet Iran’s nuclear ambitions had been pushed back by at least a decade by the JCPOA which was a diplomatic solution that was killed. Even the IAEA inspections that recognized Iran was increasing enrichment and provided the false basis for the attacks (US intelligence does not claim to have any evidence that Iran is about to make a nuclear bomb) was the remnant of that agreement.
Even Trump recognized this reality which is why he resumed negotiations with Iran unprompted by anyone else, until he was forced into a corner by Netanyahu to attack.
So one can completely agree with you that Iran gaining a nuke would be a disaster while also agreeing with Trump from a few weeks ago that diplomacy and negotiations were the best solution.
I watched this video because I was hoping to see the opinion of someone who could calmly discuss the situation but I have to say, I found Professor Sayed Mohammad Marandi a little scary. He is directly involved in Iran’s nuclear program. He made several false allegations. I know I’ll probably get booed for disagreeing with the opinions of this thread, but I do not think Iran, Russia, China, etc al are the trustworthy humanitarians here. I don’t understand with past history and very recent history why so many are jumping on Professor Sayed Mohammad Marandi‘s bandwagon. I have never been a Trump supporter, but that certainly doesn’t mean I support Iran developing nuclear warheads.
All that said, I hope the support for animals can continue despite our political differences. That is what brought us to this thread and what we can still agree on.
Wayne, I agree with you about non-violence, and support animal rights too having been vegan for over forty years.
Regarding Iran, it's really worthwhile to get their perspective on what is going on. I can't recommend Professor Sayed Mohammad Marandi highly enough. He's from Iran, and is quickly becoming a rock star on the geopolitical scene. I really appreciate his calm and reasonable way of explaining the Iranian position. Here's a link to one of his interviews.
I just heard the news via a short of Bernie Sanders reading Trumps announcement. I burst into tears for I am Jewish. I can not and have not supported Isreals war in Gaza. What has been h a pending is revenge of the worst kind. Tehran has a very large population of Jews that live side by side with Muslims for hundreds of years. Violence is never tje answer. I saw your email thinking I would distract my heart for a moment with rescue news.
A really well thought out observation of what is happening. I am so Grateful for your words..
They want to take rescue people to jail when trump.did not even follow the law and have a vote in Cingress . I will stay non violent but will not be ruled by a person who has no compassion nor respect. He knows not what he does or says. He is led by boosting his ego. We shall overcome and love, compassion and all inclusive kindness will prevail.
Another lesson is to stop paying all our sttention on the crap and use our attention to move forward . Let us not be distracted and drained.
One has to be either intellectually or morally bankrupt to pretend that eliminating the IRGC's nuclear program was anything but an urgent moral necessity. Good riddance.
I can somewhat understand the Iraq comparison, but there are fundamental differences between dismantling a specific nuclear weapons program and the extended nation-building project that was the Iraq War. These are entirely separate scenarios.
The evidence for Iran's nuclear weapons program is not just overwhelming, but also not meaningfully contested. There is no question that Iran has enriched their uranium stockpiles to 60%+ U235 [1], representing an enormous amount of work beyond the 3-5% enrichment required for any civilian purpose [2]. Until it was destroyed last week, they hosted an Israel Doomsday Clock in Tehran [3], and their government-run news agencies were busy posting fairly transparent threats on social media of a hand caressing a miniature nuclear warhead [4]. The mullahs have been so thoroughly invested in waging war on Israel that they decimated their own country to fund and pass weaponry to terrorist cells across the middle east. As much as I would love a free Iran (and have little doubt that the populace would flourish), this isn't about regime change or democracy promotion — it's about preventing a terrorist organization from acquiring nuclear weapons while explicitly threatening genocide.
Could negotiations and diplomacy have resolved the issue? I think that's the correct first question to ask, and a resounding 'YES' would unquestionably be the ideal option. However, I don't see sufficient credible evidence toward that. The following is a quote directly from Khamenei on his view towards negotiations, in 2015 a few months after JCPOA was signed [5]:
> We will negotiate with the entire world except America... and of course not with the Zionist regime, because the Zionist regime is an illegitimate and false regime. Let me say something about the Zionist regime. After the nuclear talks were over, I heard that the Zionists in occupied Palestine had said: 'In the meantime, thanks to the results of the talks, we will have 25 years of quiet regarding the problem of Iran. After 25 years, we will think of something.' I respond to them by saying: 'First of all, in 25 years you will not be alive.'"
And this is not a one-off statement, similar rhetoric has been repeated regularly and forcefully by Khamenei and, previously, Khomeini.
From the Israeli perspective, the strategic calculus is pretty straightforward. There is a highly credible threat that their unilateraly sworn enemy is working toward a nuclear bomb. This enemy may or may not fear Mutually Assured Destruction, but they certainly fund and supply weapons to genocidal proxies who do not (and, in fact, view death fighting the Jews as a strictly positive outcome for religious reasons). Even if nuclear armament is not a perfectly determined eventuality, every 1% of certainty toward its construction represents some 100,000 expected deaths in Israel alone (and, while likely not part of Israel's calculus, many many more deaths worldwide after nuclear war erupts). Thus, they are faced with three options
(i) Do nothing while the IRGC continues their nuclear program, for which attributing even a 10% chance of success puts millions of lives at risk
(ii) Israel acts alone, requiring a ground invasion since aerial strikes alone can't reach the deep bunkers, or
(iii) The US uses bunker-busting munitions to eliminate the weapons program with minimal civilian casualties.
Of these, (i) is directly neglecting the government's primary duty of protecting the population, and (ii) is a hugely difficult and dangerous course of action much more closely mimicing the Iraq War scenario than would be (iii). Eliminating the weapons program seems to be the only path toward preventing total war.
Stepping back for a second, I think the moral clarity becomes more obvious when we describe the scenario in more abstract terms. Imagine the following plot for a movie. Two countries with extremely close ties, one largely populated by refugees, live at peace. The other undergoes a revolution -- a combined effort from those of many different political and religious ideations -- that gets hijacked by religious extremists. The new leadership oppresses their subjects and runs their country into the ground while spawning terrorist proxies globally, believing this is their divine mission. To complement their terror and weapon smuggling network, the regime builds a nuclear bomb while hosting a doomsday clock and broadcasting explicit threats about its intended use. Their supreme leader also broadcasts his absolute lack of interest in meaningful dialog. In this scenario, what should the film protagonists do: (a) conduct a surgical strike on the weapons program, (b) start an all-out ground war, or (c) twiddle their thumbs and hope for the best? In the real world, one rarely encounters any moral situation where the clarity is nearly this stark. When it does arise, I would hope those in position to act on it would do so.
Mahatma Gandhi in some writing titled 'Hind Swaraj!' apparently expressed the thought of there being a 'black magic' back of Western industrial civilization-- https://globalresearch.ca/food-development-masterpiece-control/5891881 . My own idea is that there is at the very least a reluctance or a refusal to hear any call to knowing or caring on the part of those caught up in the incentives and the signalling of megatechnics, especially when those protesting are doing street actions or are otherwise not coming up to snuff as attractive winners with promising futures. Mary and Joseph could find no room at the inn. It's doubtful they'd find eachother in the current bedlam. So I wonder about a sodality like your's, and what I'd be looking at as far as the promise for me in it. If there could be a reasoning possible in a situation like that, I'm thinking you'd be playing with a pretty powerful hand.
Animal liberation is central, that's for sure, and that's where to brainstorm from. This jerking and lurching could loosen some habits enough to hear sense.
My thoughts on the overall situation:
Hierarchy within humankind is based on speciesism against human groups. Nationalism is hierarchalism, herding, livestocking. Witness the loose use of herding terms like "Americans" and "Iranians" by respective "leaders". Trump telling Iranians to evacuate Tehran. Supreme Leader telling Americans they will answer for this. The herding is pan-human, it is not limited to any territory. It is invasive.
Domination of animals is empowering iinternational nationalistic war.
I wish that a plan to educate "leaders" about this had been developed long before I became a vegan in the mid 90s. The things that are happening are not careful, discriminant actions, they are just obedient to the closed goals of nationalism, herding. It looks like a bumbling hydra-headed gerontocracy that has canceled any ability it might have had to think outside boxes.
Beyond this blog, Wayne, I myself, for my part, would urge you to take the opportunity of this stakes-raising to activate conversation about this aimed "upward" speaking to the "powers" in question.The difficulty is the entrenchment of young people in hateful diets under parental pressure/domination before they develop their own discriminant abilities.
The other thing is the personal goals of the "leaders" involved here.
Trump is a convicted sex criminal who is protecting himself by amping up the military which depends on and protects Oiligarchy. As long as he promises oil to the military, they will prop him up. If Oiligarchy falls, Trump is "fair game". As long as he is commander-in-chief of the Oiligrachy&Tobaccogarchy bodyguard, the "top law enforcer", he can consolidate his personal safety from prosecution for his other impeachable acts and other crimes. Getting himself elected was a Houdini trick which sold the entire hotrod Marlboro man crowd on billionairism. Billionairism was posed and sold as a kind of Houdini beating the odds against "reality" --- the tv screen reality of climate change, pollution.
Netanyahu is a kind of miniature Trumpiab criminal protecting himself against further trials.
And the Supreme Leader has overseen so many horrendous executions he of course is in the business of defending himself.
In the US and Israel, huge complexes of advertizing, law enforcement and espionage depend on herding by "leaders". Herding has so many uses.
Just to be realistic, yet there have got to be people who can bring this conversation to them.
Sorry, not to trivialize Netanyahu. He is applying bible based charismatic 'shepherd king' techniques which Trump continues to learn from. Netanyahu therefor is makes Trump a miniature Netanyahu. The nexus of NYC legal, advertizing, and corruption industries that Netanyahu levitates upon, pins the fugitive Trump and his retinue of charisma gulpers in their roles as herders/livestockers of multiple human populations AND all the animals they dominate.
Wayne, you are a brilliant thinker and writer. The animal rights movement intersects with most other movements, and you articulate it so well. It’s frustrating that too many people don’t see how important non-violence is or they just can’t control themselves. I read that John Lennon said “When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.” Thank you, Wayne, for your activism and leadership.
Exactly right, Ellen!
Thank you, Wayne, for this glimmer of hope, a"Silver Lining," even as you explain the Backlash Effect. Together, we must harness the power of protest to build, rather than destroy. I believe, as you do, in a movement grounded in kindness towards all beings, and pray that this will bring our species together. Thank you for being the light of kindness in a world of chaos. Your dedication to all animals is what helps to guide me.
And your kindness helps guide me! That is the great thing about kindness. It lifts all of us up, rather than tearing all of us down.
I am a huge fan of yours which is why this is very sad to see. Iran getting a nuke would be a disaster and presents a danger to humanity. I take your point about the backlash but if you take that too far there would be no limit. There seems to be few truths more clear than the necessity of preventing and Islamist theocratic regime from getting a weapon that could destroy the world.
Totally get this concern. But we have had nearly 50 years of hostility toward Iran, including multiple bombing campaigns, and we are facing the same problem today. The only way to guarantee failure is to keep doing the same thing when it's not working, IMO.
And yet Iran’s nuclear ambitions had been pushed back by at least a decade by the JCPOA which was a diplomatic solution that was killed. Even the IAEA inspections that recognized Iran was increasing enrichment and provided the false basis for the attacks (US intelligence does not claim to have any evidence that Iran is about to make a nuclear bomb) was the remnant of that agreement.
Even Trump recognized this reality which is why he resumed negotiations with Iran unprompted by anyone else, until he was forced into a corner by Netanyahu to attack.
So one can completely agree with you that Iran gaining a nuke would be a disaster while also agreeing with Trump from a few weeks ago that diplomacy and negotiations were the best solution.
This is a great analysis and point.
I watched this video because I was hoping to see the opinion of someone who could calmly discuss the situation but I have to say, I found Professor Sayed Mohammad Marandi a little scary. He is directly involved in Iran’s nuclear program. He made several false allegations. I know I’ll probably get booed for disagreeing with the opinions of this thread, but I do not think Iran, Russia, China, etc al are the trustworthy humanitarians here. I don’t understand with past history and very recent history why so many are jumping on Professor Sayed Mohammad Marandi‘s bandwagon. I have never been a Trump supporter, but that certainly doesn’t mean I support Iran developing nuclear warheads.
All that said, I hope the support for animals can continue despite our political differences. That is what brought us to this thread and what we can still agree on.
Wayne, I agree with you about non-violence, and support animal rights too having been vegan for over forty years.
Regarding Iran, it's really worthwhile to get their perspective on what is going on. I can't recommend Professor Sayed Mohammad Marandi highly enough. He's from Iran, and is quickly becoming a rock star on the geopolitical scene. I really appreciate his calm and reasonable way of explaining the Iranian position. Here's a link to one of his interviews.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9YF7pld_ec&t=4s
Super inspired, thank you!
I just heard the news via a short of Bernie Sanders reading Trumps announcement. I burst into tears for I am Jewish. I can not and have not supported Isreals war in Gaza. What has been h a pending is revenge of the worst kind. Tehran has a very large population of Jews that live side by side with Muslims for hundreds of years. Violence is never tje answer. I saw your email thinking I would distract my heart for a moment with rescue news.
A really well thought out observation of what is happening. I am so Grateful for your words..
They want to take rescue people to jail when trump.did not even follow the law and have a vote in Cingress . I will stay non violent but will not be ruled by a person who has no compassion nor respect. He knows not what he does or says. He is led by boosting his ego. We shall overcome and love, compassion and all inclusive kindness will prevail.
Another lesson is to stop paying all our sttention on the crap and use our attention to move forward . Let us not be distracted and drained.
Love to all stay safe.
Thank you for your compassion. It's becoming a rare thing in this world, but all the more precious.
Who is very kind, not many people but Wayne is always kind.
Thank You for your light dear Wayne.
One has to be either intellectually or morally bankrupt to pretend that eliminating the IRGC's nuclear program was anything but an urgent moral necessity. Good riddance.
Appreciate this feedback, but wasn't this the same argument used in Iraq 20 years ago? What's changed today in this context?
I can somewhat understand the Iraq comparison, but there are fundamental differences between dismantling a specific nuclear weapons program and the extended nation-building project that was the Iraq War. These are entirely separate scenarios.
The evidence for Iran's nuclear weapons program is not just overwhelming, but also not meaningfully contested. There is no question that Iran has enriched their uranium stockpiles to 60%+ U235 [1], representing an enormous amount of work beyond the 3-5% enrichment required for any civilian purpose [2]. Until it was destroyed last week, they hosted an Israel Doomsday Clock in Tehran [3], and their government-run news agencies were busy posting fairly transparent threats on social media of a hand caressing a miniature nuclear warhead [4]. The mullahs have been so thoroughly invested in waging war on Israel that they decimated their own country to fund and pass weaponry to terrorist cells across the middle east. As much as I would love a free Iran (and have little doubt that the populace would flourish), this isn't about regime change or democracy promotion — it's about preventing a terrorist organization from acquiring nuclear weapons while explicitly threatening genocide.
Could negotiations and diplomacy have resolved the issue? I think that's the correct first question to ask, and a resounding 'YES' would unquestionably be the ideal option. However, I don't see sufficient credible evidence toward that. The following is a quote directly from Khamenei on his view towards negotiations, in 2015 a few months after JCPOA was signed [5]:
> We will negotiate with the entire world except America... and of course not with the Zionist regime, because the Zionist regime is an illegitimate and false regime. Let me say something about the Zionist regime. After the nuclear talks were over, I heard that the Zionists in occupied Palestine had said: 'In the meantime, thanks to the results of the talks, we will have 25 years of quiet regarding the problem of Iran. After 25 years, we will think of something.' I respond to them by saying: 'First of all, in 25 years you will not be alive.'"
And this is not a one-off statement, similar rhetoric has been repeated regularly and forcefully by Khamenei and, previously, Khomeini.
From the Israeli perspective, the strategic calculus is pretty straightforward. There is a highly credible threat that their unilateraly sworn enemy is working toward a nuclear bomb. This enemy may or may not fear Mutually Assured Destruction, but they certainly fund and supply weapons to genocidal proxies who do not (and, in fact, view death fighting the Jews as a strictly positive outcome for religious reasons). Even if nuclear armament is not a perfectly determined eventuality, every 1% of certainty toward its construction represents some 100,000 expected deaths in Israel alone (and, while likely not part of Israel's calculus, many many more deaths worldwide after nuclear war erupts). Thus, they are faced with three options
(i) Do nothing while the IRGC continues their nuclear program, for which attributing even a 10% chance of success puts millions of lives at risk
(ii) Israel acts alone, requiring a ground invasion since aerial strikes alone can't reach the deep bunkers, or
(iii) The US uses bunker-busting munitions to eliminate the weapons program with minimal civilian casualties.
Of these, (i) is directly neglecting the government's primary duty of protecting the population, and (ii) is a hugely difficult and dangerous course of action much more closely mimicing the Iraq War scenario than would be (iii). Eliminating the weapons program seems to be the only path toward preventing total war.
Stepping back for a second, I think the moral clarity becomes more obvious when we describe the scenario in more abstract terms. Imagine the following plot for a movie. Two countries with extremely close ties, one largely populated by refugees, live at peace. The other undergoes a revolution -- a combined effort from those of many different political and religious ideations -- that gets hijacked by religious extremists. The new leadership oppresses their subjects and runs their country into the ground while spawning terrorist proxies globally, believing this is their divine mission. To complement their terror and weapon smuggling network, the regime builds a nuclear bomb while hosting a doomsday clock and broadcasting explicit threats about its intended use. Their supreme leader also broadcasts his absolute lack of interest in meaningful dialog. In this scenario, what should the film protagonists do: (a) conduct a surgical strike on the weapons program, (b) start an all-out ground war, or (c) twiddle their thumbs and hope for the best? In the real world, one rarely encounters any moral situation where the clarity is nearly this stark. When it does arise, I would hope those in position to act on it would do so.
[1] https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/update-on-developments-in-iran-6
[2] https://phys.org/news/2025-06-uranium-enrichment-nuclear-scientist.html
[3] https://www.timesofisrael.com/irans-doomsday-clock-for-israels-end-halts-amid-power-cuts/
[4] https://x.com/iraninarabic_ir/status/1935033123856679199
[5] https://www.memri.org/reports/iranian-supreme-leader-khamenei-25-years-there-will-be-no-such-thing-zionist-regime-region
Mahatma Gandhi in some writing titled 'Hind Swaraj!' apparently expressed the thought of there being a 'black magic' back of Western industrial civilization-- https://globalresearch.ca/food-development-masterpiece-control/5891881 . My own idea is that there is at the very least a reluctance or a refusal to hear any call to knowing or caring on the part of those caught up in the incentives and the signalling of megatechnics, especially when those protesting are doing street actions or are otherwise not coming up to snuff as attractive winners with promising futures. Mary and Joseph could find no room at the inn. It's doubtful they'd find eachother in the current bedlam. So I wonder about a sodality like your's, and what I'd be looking at as far as the promise for me in it. If there could be a reasoning possible in a situation like that, I'm thinking you'd be playing with a pretty powerful hand.
Animal liberation is central, that's for sure, and that's where to brainstorm from. This jerking and lurching could loosen some habits enough to hear sense.
My thoughts on the overall situation:
Hierarchy within humankind is based on speciesism against human groups. Nationalism is hierarchalism, herding, livestocking. Witness the loose use of herding terms like "Americans" and "Iranians" by respective "leaders". Trump telling Iranians to evacuate Tehran. Supreme Leader telling Americans they will answer for this. The herding is pan-human, it is not limited to any territory. It is invasive.
Domination of animals is empowering iinternational nationalistic war.
I wish that a plan to educate "leaders" about this had been developed long before I became a vegan in the mid 90s. The things that are happening are not careful, discriminant actions, they are just obedient to the closed goals of nationalism, herding. It looks like a bumbling hydra-headed gerontocracy that has canceled any ability it might have had to think outside boxes.
Beyond this blog, Wayne, I myself, for my part, would urge you to take the opportunity of this stakes-raising to activate conversation about this aimed "upward" speaking to the "powers" in question.The difficulty is the entrenchment of young people in hateful diets under parental pressure/domination before they develop their own discriminant abilities.
The other thing is the personal goals of the "leaders" involved here.
Trump is a convicted sex criminal who is protecting himself by amping up the military which depends on and protects Oiligarchy. As long as he promises oil to the military, they will prop him up. If Oiligarchy falls, Trump is "fair game". As long as he is commander-in-chief of the Oiligrachy&Tobaccogarchy bodyguard, the "top law enforcer", he can consolidate his personal safety from prosecution for his other impeachable acts and other crimes. Getting himself elected was a Houdini trick which sold the entire hotrod Marlboro man crowd on billionairism. Billionairism was posed and sold as a kind of Houdini beating the odds against "reality" --- the tv screen reality of climate change, pollution.
Netanyahu is a kind of miniature Trumpiab criminal protecting himself against further trials.
And the Supreme Leader has overseen so many horrendous executions he of course is in the business of defending himself.
In the US and Israel, huge complexes of advertizing, law enforcement and espionage depend on herding by "leaders". Herding has so many uses.
Just to be realistic, yet there have got to be people who can bring this conversation to them.
Sorry, not to trivialize Netanyahu. He is applying bible based charismatic 'shepherd king' techniques which Trump continues to learn from. Netanyahu therefor is makes Trump a miniature Netanyahu. The nexus of NYC legal, advertizing, and corruption industries that Netanyahu levitates upon, pins the fugitive Trump and his retinue of charisma gulpers in their roles as herders/livestockers of multiple human populations AND all the animals they dominate.