#Meanwhile

On the Middle Eastern front of World War III, the dangers haven't been higher. And on the Western calendar, it's only the third day of the year. 

Yesterday, in Baghdad, Iraq, a US military strike killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, a much respected and loved leader in high Iranian circles. It is not difficult to imagine how this move will escalate. Iran has already declared it would replicate.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said harsh revenge awaits the "criminals" who killed the commander of its elite Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, and called for three days of mourning. Iran's National Security Council spokesman Kiwan Khosravi promised there will be an emergency meeting to discuss what she called a "criminal attack" that killed Soleimani. 

Mohammad Marandi, the head of the American Studies Department at the University of Tehran, told Al Jazeera that the United States had thus "declared war" against Iran and Iraq, and "it's best for Westerners to evacuate countries like UAE and Iraq immediately".

This can no longer be justified or tolerated. Trump’s US policy is illegal and murderous.

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As a journalist, I feel terribly frustrated to follow this and share the news.

The current American president Donald Trump today defended the killing of Suleimani this: 'We did not take action to start a war'... Yet he took the stage at an ‘Evangelicals for Trump’ event at a Florida church and doubled down on the claim that the military action interrupted an attack Suleimani had planned: He was preparing for an attack, Trump said of Iran’s general, “and we got him,” he added, while his critics pointed the "unverified nature of that claim"!

Mike Pence, the Vice President of the United States, justified the drone strike by calling the Iranian general “an evil man who was responsible for killing thousands of Americans” -  claiming - without evidence! - that Iran supported the September 11 attackers...  

Most foreign-policy called the vice-president’s assertion inaccurate and dangerous.

U.S. Senator from Connecticut Chris Murphy wrote on Twitter that: "Soleimani was an enemy of the United States. That’s not a question. The question is this - as reports suggest, did America just assassinate, without any congressional authorization, the second most powerful person in Iran, knowingly setting off a potential massive regional war?"

Yet, here we are, with a murderous administration, bluntly lying to cover war-going actions.

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As a journalist, again, posting Trump's words is part of the job; at this stage, as a human being it feels like reporting his propaganda.

 In 2003, when the second in Iraq was about to be launched, I was in Chicago as a young journalist-to-be discussing why France refused to support that war. Now no one resists this policy anymore. 

So women and children are paying the high price.

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My work with the Arnolfini enabled me to recall how women’s contributions to the arts and activism is what we need more than ever in this violent, destructive era based on patriarchy...

The situation in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Iran has been turned into utter hell by the decade-old US-led war-going policy, that culminates this morning. We can’t ignore it anymore here in Europe without endorsing it!

#Meanwhile, women work to protect their communities and still strive for life. 

I’ve travelled to Iraq, Turkey, and many other countries ravaged by war, meeting countless women in NGOs and community work trying to rebuild their cities and hold on to hope... 

We need to wake up and choose a different path!!

I'm using this hashtag for now, #Meanwhile, I've been for a few months, to reclaim the news that don't make the headline, to share this stories, to detail the point of view of the ones behind the curtains, mainly women and this called as "minorities", even if their reality is much more complicated...

There will be a few more on them in the coming month... Watch this space.

And thank you.