A DESPOTIC supreme leader clinging to power; a rabid religious fundamentalist ruling class; the suppression of dissent, with citizens butchered by the state.

Of course you’d want to see regime change.

But no, I’m not talking about Iran. The scenario I’ve set out applies to the United States, and it could equally apply to its comrade in arms, Israel.

What happened at the weekend, the cold-blooded murder of a country’s leader in an unlawful and unjustified assault on a sovereign independent state, must be condemned.

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This coordinated attack by the US and Israel was no more or less than a crime against humanity.

As Senator Bernie Sanders pointed out, even within the law of the US, this war on Iran is “illegal, premeditated and unconstitutional”.

There should and must be consequences for Donald Trump and his allies.

This wilful decision to plunge the region into an unnecessary state of war is yet another stain on Trump’s soiled record.

Innocent people are dead and injured. Both Trump and Netanyahu have blood on their hands.

Rather than heading up their respective nations, they should be standing in the dock in the International Criminal Court.

Without question, the Iranian regime is deeply unsavoury, and rightly its leadership needed to be called to account.

Indeed, brave Iranians, fed up with the leadership, have been doing just that in a campaign of civil resistance.

But it is not the job of the United States or Israel to decapitate Iran’s leadership and unleash terror from the skies on the Iranian people.

Indeed, Trump’s actions only undermine the opposition in Tehran and cement in power hardliners within the state.

Sitting on the fence – which is what the UK, France and Germany did at the weekend – shows an appalling lack of leadership.

It must be clear by now that any support for Trump, no matter how lukewarm, is not in the interests of their countries.

Trump has already shown contempt for Europe, and he has threatened the sovereignty of a fellow member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

He has undermined Europe’s economies and he has shown contempt for his allies.

As the assault on Venezuela last year demonstrated – a military campaign motivated purely by his greed for oil – he is a clear and present danger to global peace and security.

That is something the taoiseach should be thinking about as he contemplates his trip to the United States for St Patrick’s Day.

Supping green Guinness with the devil would be less objectionable than celebrating the saint’s day with America’s deranged, warmongering, apology for a head of state.

Indeed, it would be an affront to St Patrick and all he is supposed to stand for.

I get the importance of the St Patrick’s Day events for Ireland’s so-called soft power. But enough is enough. Leave the gifts of shamrock for Trump’s successor.

This past weekend’s events are yet another nail in the coffin for the notion that the United States is a force for good in a world dominated by a malign Russian Federation and a predatory China.

Closer to the truth is that the US is one constituent part of an unholy trinity of evil.

Set aside the Cold War rhetoric we have been fed on since the end of the Second World War; the reality is that recent history can be measured in paroxysms of violence as the United States as flexed its imperial muscles: Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, even poor little Grenada.

Between them, the Americans, Russians and Chinese are fighting a piecemeal World War Three while the rest of us look on in fear of what might yet befall us – a misunderstanding leading to a chain reaction, a slip of the finger on a nuclear trigger, the targeting of innocent civilians through terrorism, drones, and cybercrime.

Meanwhile, the agencies which are supposed to be the global safety net – most notably the United Nations – stand impotent. Where is the leadership? The silence is deafening.

The unspoken policy of the world’s leaders seems to be to sit, wait and hope for the best: to pray that something will turn up – a timely visit by the grim reaper, perhaps. Trump and Putin are not getting any younger.

Or the electorate: the mid-term elections in the case of Trump (elections he is actively working to undermine); a Kremlin coup; the downfall of Xi after one purge too far.

History suggests that the Micawber Principle – that something will turn up – is a fallacy.

What is needed instead is a determined effort by non-aligned nations to pool their power and to stand up for basic principles of international justice.

No matter how impotent we feel, it’s important we say ’enough is enough’ and we say it as loudly as we can.

The victims today are in Tehran, Dubai, Minnesota, Caracas, Gaza... tomorrow they will certainly be us.

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