When Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in 1914, the world was catapulted into World War I. Alarmingly, we are now in at a similar precipice, following an individual assassination carried out by order of the President of the USA. In a dramatic drone attack on 3rd January 2020 in Baghdad, Brigadier General Qassem Suleimani (or Soleimani), of the Quds (or Qods) and the Iraqi Kataib Hezbollah militia chief – Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were killed. World tensions rose dramatically. Let there be no mistake, no progressive should mourn Suleimani, a ruthless man of ruthless times. He was an enemy of the progressives in Iran and Iraq and anywhere else. But his violent past was well known, so why was he assassinated now? What lies behind the veil around his assassination?
Characteristically, the world’s top imperialist nation the USA, sought no consultation with allies. Because President Trump is himself well known to be impulsive, this act is seen as yet another example of his individual lunacy. But this ignores deep systemic roots in this crisis. In 1914, an assassination resulted in war because of systemic inter-imperialist rivalry. Today, an underlying systemic drive to control the Middle East, has loosed the dogs of war.