Amancay Riquelme | Chilean Communist Party (Proletarian Action)
A world in decay
Imperialism is disintegrating. Even in the knowledge of its inevitable fatal outcome, it will refuse to leave the stage of history voluntarily.[1] In their drive for expansion, driven by the absolute necessity to avoid a colossal economic collapse that would ultimately mean the end of the hegemony of the imperialist countries, the NATO countries[2] have for decades relentlessly tried to contain the development of Russia and China.
NATO is evolving from a North Atlantic alliance into a global war alliance.[3] The USA is known to have formed alliances against China. AUCUS and the “Five Eyes”. It is also expanding in South America.[4][5] In Haiti, the USA is preparing a “new MINUSTAH”, the MSSM.[6]
NATO’s history shows that it does not operate on a single front, that it imposes its “peace” and “war” policies on the whole world, and that in many cases it has pursued its interests by military means. It forces Russia, China and other sovereign states to respond to its destabilizing and belligerent actions. It forced Russia to invade Ukraine under the threat of a massacre of the Russian-speaking population in that country.[7] It is currently dragging Iran into a war against Israel and China into a military conflict over Taiwan and Hong Kong. And it is the US that is provoking South Korea’s military confrontation with the DPRK.[8] It is also the US that is fomenting a military conflict over Venezuela.
Despite the fact that the hegemonic NATO countries, especially the USA, currently have the upper hand, despite the fact that NATO dictates economic, military and diplomatic policy to the whole world, despite the fact that NATO is becoming a global organization, despite the fact that NATO seems to be synchronizing military conflicts in the world and despite the fact that NATO, in its eagerness to wage war against Russia and China, is dragging large parts of human civilization to its death, in the end there is no force that can save imperialism from death. Humanity will give and is already giving an immeasurable, unimaginable and terrible sacrifice to bring capitalist imperialism, the ultimate society of exploitation and oppression, to its grave, but it (humanity) will prevail. The first foundations of such a collapse were laid in 1917 and what we are witnessing today is nothing but the continuation of the long and painful death of the last human system of exploitation and oppression.
National liberation struggles in the world
In Africa[9], the people are taking the path of struggle for national sovereignty with increasing determination, driving out the colonial powers of Western Europe and, more recently, the United States, which for years have supported and financed terrorism in the region in order to destabilize it.[10] The US is reluctant to lose its global influence (because its economy, based on plundering other countries’ natural resources, would collapse in an instant)[11].
The people of Yemen (and their resistance group Ansar Allah) and the people of Lebanon (and their resistance group Hezbollah) have decided, in solidarity with the Palestinian people, to take up arms against Israel and all the countries that support it. Ansar Allah, which has won de facto the war against Saudi Arabia, has attacked all ships flying the Israeli flag, coming from countries allied to Israel or calling at Israeli ports. At the time of writing, Ansar Allah is in the midst of its fourth phase of retaliation in support of the Palestinian people. The US and Britain, in their usual cowardice towards weaker countries, have not hesitated to attack Yemen directly. The latter has repelled such attacks with astonishing success. In Syria and Iraq, the armed resistance forces have intensified their attacks on the US military bases in Syria in order to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and to weaken the US military presence in the region.
I believe that what is happening today in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, where the Taliban have driven out the US forces, can be assessed positively. Afghanistan has come a long and painful way to where it started. Having paid a high price for its alliance with US imperialism, Afghanistan is now building its main economic and manufacturing links with Russia and China, i.e. the Russians and the Communists, which is ironic given that all the misery in that country began when the Mujahideen joined forces with the Americans to drive out the Soviets, i.e. the Russian Communists. It just goes to show how strange the twists and turns of life can be.[12]
The Islamic Republic of Iran has always opposed the US imperialism, NATO and Israel, carried out solidarity actions with the national liberation struggles in West Asia and Latin America (especially Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela) and expanded its relations with several African countries, China and Russia despite the economic sanctions and the continued terrorist and interventionist actions of imperialism against it.
Iran’s confrontation with US imperialism and its lackeys and its open support for national liberation struggles around the world is strengthening the regional and global resistance. Iran’s “True Promise” response to Israel’s attack on the Iranian diplomatic mission in Syria was inevitable, forced by Israel (and the USA) and welcomed by the vast majority of the peoples of the region. Iran did not intend to attack Israel on a large scale, but to send a message: Israel must know that its actions will no longer go unpunished.[13]
Iran is the only country in the region that poses a real threat to Israel. Israel could not stand up to it alone. The support of US and British imperialism (and other countries such as Germany and France) is essential for its survival.[14]
Demonstrating that Israel cannot act with impunity and that it is vulnerable was not the only positive consequence of this important event. More important was the fact that the Sunni-Shia divide is narrowing. The Hamas statement supporting the Iranian response is significant.[15]
Another important consequence of the “True Promise” is that with this response Iran has demonstrated that it can reach not only any part of Israeli territory, but also any part of the region where US troops are stationed. It is not for nothing that the US has asked Iran not to attack its troops in the region.
But perhaps the most important consequence has been the reactions of China and Russia. China has supported Iran with its characteristic diplomatic posturing, as it did with Russia and the special military operation in Ukraine.[16] Russia’s support for Iran’s “True Promise” was, as usual, more direct.[17]
A new world is maturing
In my view, China and Russia are the only two countries capable of stopping NATO globally. By this I mean the ability to provide global military and economic support to any nation attacked by this organization. The cases of Libya and Syria are exemplary in this respect.[18]
As the only two countries capable of stopping NATO on a global scale, they are also the ultimate target of NATO. This is the main dilemma of the present, from which arises the inevitability of a great confrontation between imperialism, on the one hand, and Russia, China and all the peoples of the world who want to be or remain sovereign, on the other.
Stopping NATO is one thing, defeating it is another. Russia’s special military operation was the new beginning of the struggle against fascism, imperialism and its criminal instrument, NATO. But defeating NATO is a task that has to be carried out, if not by all, at least by a large part of humanity. Russia and China are not able to do it alone. They need all kinds of anti-imperialist, anti-fascist, patriotic, socialist, democratic, revolutionary, believing and non-believing forces, all communists in all parts of the world, all peoples, the vast majority of humanity. And all these forces need Russia and China. There is the DPRK, Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Vietnam and Laos, Mexico and Bolivia, there is the revived African continent, there is Palestine, Yemen and Lebanon, Afghanistan, there is the BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation, the Belt and Road Initiative, there is a world in which non-imperialist capitalist and socialist countries cooperate in peace, there is also us.
In the late 1990s, Brzezinski[19] suggested that the most potentially dangerous scenario for the United States and its goal of maintaining its hegemony over the world for as long as possible might be a grand coalition of China, Russia and perhaps Iran.[20]
The growing cooperation between Russia and China and Iran points to a promising future in terms of the defeat of imperialism, but not only in this respect: China bases its strength on the vigorous economic and political development of its country, oriented towards the construction of socialism. Thus, the forthcoming clash between NATO and China will not only be a clash between two superpowers, but above all a clash between systems, between a dying imperialist capitalism and a socialism which, after the terrible defeat of 1989 with the liquidation of the USSR, is regaining its historical cause.
In the preface to the text “On the Critique of Political Economy”, Marx pointed out that the present “social formation, therefore, the prehistory of human society comes to an end.”[21]
Therefore, the national liberation struggle, the anti-imperialist struggle, the anti-fascist struggle and the struggle against NATO are the manifestations of the international class struggle and these struggles contain the seeds of socialist society. Thus, with the overthrow of imperialism, personified by the USA, EU and NATO, a new horizon opens for humanity: the passage from human prehistory to socialist civilization.
Notes
[1] The disintegration of the world organized in NATO strengthens the aggressive policy of this warmongering organization to prevent the immediate collapse of the economies of its member states.
The finance capital determines the political decisions of the world organized in NATO and directs the functioning of these economies by destabilizing them through speculation, while relentlessly pushing the member states to open up new markets in search of new investment opportunities and cheap access to sources of raw materials, labor, transport and trade routes, as well as new centers of speculation, in order to continue its intoxicating casino economy.
[2] The expansion of finance capital is followed by military expansion. This leads to a growing political, economic and military threat to societies that resist this exploitation, while those that submit to it are impoverished by the unfavorable conditions imposed on them for the unimpeded plundering of their economies.
In particular, the USA, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy.
[3] The NATO website states:
“NATO has a number of ‘partners around the world’ or ‘global partners’ with whom the Alliance works on an individual basis. NATO’s global partners include Afghanistan1, Australia, Colombia, Iraq, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand and Pakistan. NATO’s engagement with global partners is becoming increasingly important in a complex security environment where many of the challenges facing the Alliance are global rather than geographically confined”.
A footnote reads:
“The Partnership with Afghanistan is currently suspended due to decisions taken by the North Atlantic Council in the context of the security environment”.
[4] US General Laura J. Richardson has blatantly demonstrated the colonialist and interventionist mentality of the USA by repeatedly pointing out that the natural resources of our countries are strategic interests of the USA. In order to impose military, economic and political structures in the interests of the USA, she is constantly visiting different Latin American countries.
[5] In 2017, Colombia became one of NATO’s global partners and its first Latin American partner. In 2018, preparations began for Chile’s application to join the second tier of the classification system for non-NATO countries. This process is expected to be completed later this year. Argentina applied to NATO this year for Global Partner status.
[6] MSSM: Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti. The MSSM is a new military intervention, this time justified by the serious problem of criminal gangs kidnapping, terrorizing and murdering innocent people. What is not mentioned is that these criminal gangs are supported by the country’s national oligarchs, who in turn are supported by the USA, and that they are targeting the only person fighting against them: Jimmy “Barbacoa” Cherizier, leader of the revolutionary forces of the G9, who enjoys broad popular support and has a strong social and anti-imperialist conscience.
[7] NATO sought to create “living space” in eastern Ukraine by “cleansing” the “insurgents”, which would have paved the way for NATO to militarize Ukraine and, as mentioned above, directly broken nuclear parity between Russia and the US to Russia’s detriment.
[8] This grave situation has led the DPRK to conclude that the diplomatic track with its southern counterpart is now exhausted.
[9] Algeria is a particularly interesting case. The TSA quotes Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune:
“If you are in debt, you are finished: you cannot defend Gaza, Western Sahara, human rights or the rights of the oppressed in Africa or anywhere else as long as you are a slave to debt and to those who lent you money! That is why we are not indebted and we have not become indebted, even if we have been set up,” said the Arab president.
Algeria is one of the last countries in the world to be completely free of foreign debt and even foreign military bases.
The Arab state’s leaders decided in the 2000s to get rid of its foreign debt after the government of the day accumulated loans and debts during the rebellion of religious radicals in the 1990s.
Since gaining independence in a bloody armed war of national liberation, the leadership of the ruling Arab socialist party, the National Liberation Front (FLN), has pursued a long-term strategic policy of total renunciation of foreign loans and foreign military installations on Algerian territory. It has set itself the goal of total self-sufficiency in all areas.
[10] The current anti-colonial uprisings in countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, which have brought patriotic military governments to power, are encouraging evidence of the revival of the fighting spirit of the peoples of the African continent. The recent decision by Niger and Senegal to end their military cooperation with the United States and demand the immediate withdrawal of US troops from their countries is a significant step towards national sovereignty for the countries and a great signal to the continent and the world. Niger has signed a new military agreement, this time with Russia. US troops must go, Russian troops must come. And that’s pretty much what happened. At least the part about Russian soldiers going to Niger to help fight terrorism was fulfilled, and they were greeted with a standing ovation by the Nigerien people. Shortly after arriving in the country, the Russian soldiers entered the US military base in Niger, which since their arrival is supposed to be their new home, while the US troops, who are taking an inordinate amount of time to leave the country, are still there. So it happens that the Russian soldiers are camped at one end of the military base, which the Americans are reluctant to leave, while the latter are stationed at the other end, without a word being exchanged between the two groups. A comic scene in the midst of a serious international situation.
[11] As more and more African countries decide to end their “cooperation” with the United States, the latter is preparing to find a way to regain what it has lost. The man oeuvres being carried out by the United States in West Africa are part of Washington’s “offensive” and are “a bit suspicious” because of the large number of military personnel taking part in them, Professor Francis Onditi, Associate Professor of Conflictology and Head of Department at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Riara University in Nairobi, Kenya, told Sputnik Africa. This tells us that the defeat of imperialism is far from being consolidated and that there will be tough battles against it.
[12] In spite of this history, it is commendable that the country has managed to convert its agricultural production from opium to food, that it is taking decisive steps to re-industrialize the country, that it has managed to expel US troops from the country and that it has taken steps to exercise national sovereignty over the sources of raw materials on its territory.
[13] Undoubtedly, it would have been in Israel’s interest for Iran to attack its country in such a way that the United States would have been forced to intervene in its defense against Iran. The proof that Iran never intended to launch a full-scale military attack against Israel is the fact that if the US and Israeli intelligence services really had information about such an attack by Iran, they would have moved warships from the western to the eastern Mediterranean and many more aircraft to bases near Iran, if not in countries in the region, because Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and even Turkey have refused to provide the US with NATO bases for a confrontation with Iran, at least in countries like Cyprus.
[14] Iran’s first real response to Israel’s constant and vile provocations led to the flight of more than 300,000 Zionist settlers. This shows that large sections of the Israeli population have no confidence in the ability of their army or government to protect them from possible Iranian wrath. If more than 300,000 settlers left Israel because of a single attack, one can only imagine how many would have left if Iran had responded seriously.
[15] On Sunday 14 April, Hamas declared:
“We, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), consider the military operation of the Islamic Republic of Iran against the Zionist occupation regime as a natural right and a deserved response to the crime of attacking the Iranian consulate in Damascus and assassinating a number of Revolutionary Guard leaders there”.
[16] Reading between the lines, China’s support and positioning on Iran’s side is clear. The Global Times, for example, states:
“The main cause of the current conflict between Israel and Iran is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But the United States has turned a blind eye to the real causes of the Middle East crisis. Worse, since the beginning of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the United States has not done enough to stop Israel’s actions. On the contrary, it has provided Israel with massive military aid and political support, making it an absolute accomplice and co-conspirator in the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.”
[17] Putin’s words were:
“What the Islamic Republic of Iran did in response to this criminal act and in the face of the inaction of the UN Security Council was the best way to punish the aggressor and a proof of the tact and wisdom of the Iranian authorities.”
[18] In Libya, Russia and China did not intervene after it was agreed with the NATO members that there would be no intervention from either side (i.e. NATO from one side and Russia and China from the other). But, as we know, the word of the imperialist countries is worthless. The NATO members made sure that China and Russia would not react in Libya and catapulted the country “back into slavery”. Russia and China did not make the same mistake in Syria. And Syria could not be destroyed.
[19] Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński was an American diplomat and political scientist. He was an advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981.
[20] Brzeziński’s words:
“Potentially, the most dangerous scenario would be a grand coalition of China, Russia, and perhaps Iran, an ‘antihegemonic’ coalition united not by ideology but by complementary grievances. It would be reminiscent in scale and scope of the challenge once posed by the Sino-Soviet bloc, though this time China would likely be the leader and Russia the follower. Averting this contingency, however remote it may be, will require a display of U.S. geostrategic skill on the western, eastern, and southern perimeters of Eurasia simultaneously.”
[21] Marx wrote:
“The bourgeois relations of production are the last antagonistic form of the social process of production, antagonistic not in the sense of individual antagonism, but of an antagonism arising from the social conditions of life of the individuals, but the productive forces developing in the womb of bourgeois society create at the same time the material conditions for the solution of this antagonism. With this social formation, therefore, the prehistory of human society comes to an end.”