THE New York Times has revealed that the United States and Israel were behind the Stuxnet virus cyber-warfare attack on Iran and its nuclear facilities.
The leak has driven the Republican right wing, led by John McCain, into a furious declaration that: ‘This is not a game. This is far more important than mere politics. Laws have apparently been broken. This leaking of classified information needs to be investigated, and those officials who are found to be responsible, where appropriate, should be prosecuted.’
Stuxnet crippled Iran’s nuclear capabilities and is part of the much larger US cyber war plan.
Stuxnet was used to specifically attack industrial control systems and critical infrastructure in Iran’s developing nuclear industry in order to sabotage it, without all of the safety concerns involved in such a criminal operation that put large numbers of lives in danger.
Just days after the New York Times revelation, Israel admitted its role on the Israeli Defence Forces website. It stated that ‘the IDF has been engaged in cyber activity consistently and relentlessly’, and continued to state that the role of cyber warfare was ‘thwarting and disrupting enemy projects’.
The revelations come hard on the heels of the latest Obama administration warning to US businesses about an unusually potent computer virus that has infected Iran’s oil industry.
The US Homeland Security Department’s warning about the new virus, known as Flame, told American companies no infections had been discovered inside the US so far. It described Flame as an espionage tool that was sophisticated in design, using encryption and other techniques to help break into computers and move through corporate or private networks.
Stuxnet was developed by the CIA in conjunction with the Israeli government, and Flame is a product of that joint work.
A former US official has said about these developments that, ‘It’s part of a larger campaign, a preferable alternative to airstrikes.’
In fact, it is being made clear that the US and Israel have already declared war on Iran.
Part of this is a turn to the right by the Israeli regime inside Israel itself.
There is now an anti-black immigrant campaign being waged by the Israeli administration. Last month, Tel Aviv was the site of rabid attacks on shops and residents in African migrant communities.
Israeli protesters chanted slogans such as ‘infiltrators get out’ and ‘Tel Aviv: A refugee camp’. Three members of the right-wing Likud party – part of the governing coalition – were among the politicians who attended. One of them, Miri Regev, was quoted as saying that ‘the Sudanese are like a cancer in society’.
For the besieged migrant communities, the state of Israel has become a dead-end for human rights.
Israeli President Binyamin Netanyahu recently stepped up the campaign with a brutal decree to deport some 25,000 ‘infiltrators’, stating: ‘Whoever can be sent away should be sent away from here as quickly as possible.’
At the same time, the settlement drive is being stepped up against the Palestinians. Israel announced plans on Wednesday to build 851 new homes for settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli Housing Minister Ariel Atias announced the plan to build 551 housing units in various settlements across the West Bank, and Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier said 300 new apartments would be constructed in the settlement of Beit El.
It is more than clear that there can be no peace in Palestine or anywhere else while US imperialism and its Israeli appendage rule.
The only way to deal with capitalism and imperialism is to overthrow it with socialist revolutions.
