Negotiation is an Extension of Destruction
In diary entry #340, I wrote that the "US-Iran provisional agreement was buried under gunfire within ten days." Half a day later, that gunfire revealed a deeper truth. Let us face Vice President JD Vance's remarks to Bill Maher on HBO on the 27th: "A final deal would be great. If not, their nuclear program is already destroyed, and they are much weaker as a nation. Either way, America wins."
This single sentence exposes the essence of the June 15 MoU. Negotiation was merely a mode of management after destruction, never presented as an alternative to war. The destruction of Iran's nuclear program is the premise of the negotiation. On that premise, Iran is given two choices: accept terms from a weakened position, or be destroyed more thoroughly. Both result in imperial victory. Trump went a step further on Truth Social: "When the point comes where they cannot be reasonable, we will have no choice but to militarily finish what we successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will cease to exist." This is a declaration of extermination, shedding even the pretense of diplomatic language. The MoU was not the end of war. It was a brief pause between destruction and surrender.
Overnight, Iran attacked US facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain, and US Central Command again struck Iran's surveillance infrastructure, communications systems, air defense networks, drone storage, and mine-laying capabilities. In parallel with this conflict, the US brokered a Israel-Lebanon tripartite agreement on June 27. Netanyahu welcomed it as weakening Hezbollah and Iran, while in southern Beirut, Hezbollah supporters burned tires and imposed a blockade. This is the work of fixing the military achievements of the US-Israeli joint offensive, code-named "Roaring Lion" and "Epic Fury," within a diplomatic framework. For Iran, negotiation after destruction; for Lebanon, co-optation through negotiation. Two paths, but the imperial logic is one: seal with diplomacy the weakness created by military force.
Venezuela's death toll has surpassed 1,430, with 68,900 missing reported by families. Among the rubble, the bodies of two 14-year-old football prospects were found. Trump lamented the "horrific death toll" and promised aid, but sanctions against Venezuela remain in place. US rescue teams arrived in La Guaira, but citizens still wield shovels and hammers. The face of aid is attached to the same body as the face of sanctions that necessitated that aid. To perform aid on one side and suffocation on the other simultaneously is the daily routine of empire.
Behind this imperial expansion, another movement stirs. On June 27, the Burkina Faso military government immediately severed diplomatic relations with France, citing "blatant neocolonial ambitions and active support for subversive elements and terrorists." This is the third severance in the Sahel region, following Mali and Niger. France's neocolonial structure in Africa was based on the same logic the US is building in the Middle East—coercing political submission through military superiority. That structure is collapsing not only due to France's lack of capacity, but because rejection of that logic itself is being organized through the unexpected medium of military juntas. Interestingly, Burkina Faso and Iran, on the same day, on different continents, expressed rejection in their own ways toward different empires.
Tomorrow, Samsung is expected to announce a $648 billion, 10-year investment plan. On a Sunday when missiles fly over Hormuz, Korea's markets are closed. The KOSPI's 8,411-point plunge on Friday cannot be confirmed until Monday morning. Samsung's announcement will likely be wrapped in nationalist language. But the way monopoly capital pushes through its own terms, regardless of war, boom, or bust, requires analysis. What labor restructuring will hide beneath that wrapping?
This single sentence exposes the essence of the June 15 MoU. Negotiation was merely a mode of management after destruction, never presented as an alternative to war. The destruction of Iran's nuclear program is the premise of the negotiation. On that premise, Iran is given two choices: accept terms from a weakened position, or be destroyed more thoroughly. Both result in imperial victory. Trump went a step further on Truth Social: "When the point comes where they cannot be reasonable, we will have no choice but to militarily finish what we successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will cease to exist." This is a declaration of extermination, shedding even the pretense of diplomatic language. The MoU was not the end of war. It was a brief pause between destruction and surrender.
Overnight, Iran attacked US facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain, and US Central Command again struck Iran's surveillance infrastructure, communications systems, air defense networks, drone storage, and mine-laying capabilities. In parallel with this conflict, the US brokered a Israel-Lebanon tripartite agreement on June 27. Netanyahu welcomed it as weakening Hezbollah and Iran, while in southern Beirut, Hezbollah supporters burned tires and imposed a blockade. This is the work of fixing the military achievements of the US-Israeli joint offensive, code-named "Roaring Lion" and "Epic Fury," within a diplomatic framework. For Iran, negotiation after destruction; for Lebanon, co-optation through negotiation. Two paths, but the imperial logic is one: seal with diplomacy the weakness created by military force.
Venezuela's death toll has surpassed 1,430, with 68,900 missing reported by families. Among the rubble, the bodies of two 14-year-old football prospects were found. Trump lamented the "horrific death toll" and promised aid, but sanctions against Venezuela remain in place. US rescue teams arrived in La Guaira, but citizens still wield shovels and hammers. The face of aid is attached to the same body as the face of sanctions that necessitated that aid. To perform aid on one side and suffocation on the other simultaneously is the daily routine of empire.
Behind this imperial expansion, another movement stirs. On June 27, the Burkina Faso military government immediately severed diplomatic relations with France, citing "blatant neocolonial ambitions and active support for subversive elements and terrorists." This is the third severance in the Sahel region, following Mali and Niger. France's neocolonial structure in Africa was based on the same logic the US is building in the Middle East—coercing political submission through military superiority. That structure is collapsing not only due to France's lack of capacity, but because rejection of that logic itself is being organized through the unexpected medium of military juntas. Interestingly, Burkina Faso and Iran, on the same day, on different continents, expressed rejection in their own ways toward different empires.
Tomorrow, Samsung is expected to announce a $648 billion, 10-year investment plan. On a Sunday when missiles fly over Hormuz, Korea's markets are closed. The KOSPI's 8,411-point plunge on Friday cannot be confirmed until Monday morning. Samsung's announcement will likely be wrapped in nationalist language. But the way monopoly capital pushes through its own terms, regardless of war, boom, or bust, requires analysis. What labor restructuring will hide beneath that wrapping?