Comrade Callinicos renders his position more profound.

Comrade Callinicos is back again on Iran( Socialist Worker 21st January) and there has been a certain evolution in his views; from they would have to be stupid to attack Iran ( so, surely, they won’t do it) to they’re stupid enough to do anything( and, therefore, may well do it). So in the last couple of months he’s arrived at a conclusion many of us reached a long time ago – the War Party are stupid( I would rather say, mad). He’s come late to this dread realization but better late than never.

What conclusion does he draw from this last-minute embrace of reality. Is his article an appeal to the British people and his own membership to get out and mobilise against a terrifying escalation into the next phase of War without End( such as Tony Benn, president of Stop the War made last summer), a plan in which our own government is clearly implicated?

Not at all! After “guessing” that Iran intends to develop nuclear weapons Callinicos muses, like a cheap tabloid journalist, on “what the US and its allies can do to punish Iran’s defiance” whether his “guess” is correct or not. The punch line is the speculation that the results of an attack

“ are likely, once again, to demonstrate the limits of US power”.

Oh well, that’s all right then! Why not just sit back and watch it on TV?