By Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired
I am not the only observer that has pointed to the general decline of US imperialism’s global economic power. This is brought about to a large degree with the rise of China and to a lesser extent Russia. A state of permanent war has also weakened the US economically despite reaping significant profits for the investors in the arms industry.
I am not the only observer that has pointed to the general decline of US imperialism’s global economic power. This is brought about to a large degree with the rise of China and to a lesser extent Russia. A state of permanent war has also weakened the US economically despite reaping significant profits for the investors in the arms industry.
We used to point out that the violence directed at the anti Apartheid movement in South Africa intensified the closer that racist regime came to its demise. It’s like a match that flares up prior to burning out or an animal that is at its most dangerous when wounded or weakened in some way. The same applies to US capitalism except that here we have a decaying system armed to the teeth, and armed with Nuclear weapons. As of 2013 the US had a stockpile of almost 8000 nuclear warheads.
This is what is so astonishing about Obama’s claims this week that a rejection of the deal with Iran on its nuclear program means war. “The choice we face is ultimately between diplomacy or some form of war.” Obama said at the American University in Washington. While pushing for his diplomatic solution Obama assures the Zionists and the wing of the US 1% that supports him that he can be tough, “I’ve ordered military action in seven countries,” he said adding that, “There are times when force is necessary, and if Iran does not abide by this deal, it’s possible that we don’t have an alternative.”
But Iran hasn’t threatened the US with war. It is nonsense to assume or claim that Iran would invade or attack the US; it would be suicidal. The Mullah’s may, like all religious extremists use religious mythology to dupe their populations but they’re not completely mad, not all of them. Some are, as some of the US Congress obviously are.
What Obama means is that if Iran doesn’t comply with the US and Israel’s demands then Israel and the US will bomb it. Obama’s speech at the American University is aimed at the US population. Our minds are better occupied with the fear of foreigners invading us or bombing our cities than the war Obama and the class he represents is waging at home. There is little support for the present predatory wars the US is engaged in and Obama is appealing to this mood and basically terrorizing the US population in to supporting the deal for fear of more austerity to pay for war as well as losing more young American working class lives.
The Zionist regime and predominantly Christian Zionists in the US, the American equivalent of the Mullah’s or the Taliban, are all calling for attacking Iran or taking a position that, unless it opts for complete humiliation, Iran cannot accept. For the evangelicals they’ll finally get to meet their maker and the Jews will rot in hell. Along with the massive nuclear arsenal the US has, the Zionist regime also has a huge nuclear stockpile but, unlike Iran, is not under any obligation to allow an international monitoring of it. The Zionists refuse to even comment on it. And as Obama pointed out in his speech, the US defense budget is more than $600 billion a year, Iran’s is $15 billion.
Pro-Zionists and other notable conservatives in the US are calling for blood:
“It’s long since been
time for the United States to speak to this regime in the language it
understands—force. … We can strike at the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC), and weaken them. And we can hit the regime’s nuclear weapons program,
and set it back.” Bill Kristol, The Weekly Standard
It’s amazing how people who don’t fight wars or whose children usually spend the war years at college are the most hawkish supporters of conflict with talk of how “we” need to enter the fray. In another opinion piece titled, “War with Iran is probably our best option” Joshua Muravchik wrote in the Washington post, “In this sense, it is akin to communist, fascist and Nazi regimes that set out to transform the world. Iran aims to carry its Islamic revolution across the Middle East and beyond.“
But working people in the US should have no beef with Iran. Iran is not cutting funding to social services, closing our public schools, cutting wages and benefits on the job or having its militarized police force beat up, abuse and even murder US citizens.
And let’s be honest, the US has no problem supporting dictatorial regimes. Next to Iran is Bahrain which is close to an absolute Monarchy that recently put down a movement for reform, for freedom of religion and other democratic norms and for some, the creation of a republic. As this regime murdered protestors and even imprisoned doctors and medical personnel that treated those injured by government forces, the 15,000 US troops but a few miles away on Bahraini territory did nothing.
The US finances and arms the Saudi military and just backed its invasion of Yemen that has led to a humanitarian nightmare. No problem there. And the most destabilizing aspect of US foreign policy in the region is the unconditional support the US gives the Zionists and their Apartheid regime.
Iran has repeatedly stated it has no intention of building a nuclear bomb, but even if the government is lying about that, what right does the US have to threaten a country with war if it decides to build its defenses up to the point of having nuclear weapons? This seems to be the only way to keep the US from invading and bombing regimes that don’t allow US capitalism free reign when it comes to plundering the region’s wealth. Look at the disaster that the US has created in Iraq, a catastrophe of historic proportions in a country that borders Iran. It’s no accident that of the Bush “Axis of evil” trio, North Korea hasn’t been invaded or threatened with US bombing.
Behind US capitalism’s hostility to Iran is the same as its hostility to Iraq under Hussein or Syria under Assad. These are secular “statist” regimes where huge sectors of the nations economy are under state control.
Iran’s distrust of US imperialism and its British lapdogs has some justification as the US orchestrated the coup that overthrew the democratically elected secular government of Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 and both countries have meddling tirelessly in Iran’s affairs, most importantly installing the dictator and murderous Shah after Mossadegh’s downfall.
But this hostility and paranoia toward Iran has noting to do with the lack of democracy of that it is a theocracy. The Zionist regime is a big part of it as this is the most reliable ally of US imperialism in the region but it is Iran’s statist economy that is a problem as was Iraq under Hussein. The Syrian regime was similar. Just like in the US where the private sector supported by the state is in the process of eliminating all forms of public expenditure and public property, like education and the postal service for example, in these countries the US introduces privatization by the bomb.
This CIA world Factbook explains clearly what the problem is with Iran:
“Iran's economy is marked by statist policies, inefficiencies, and reliance on oil and gas exports, but Iran also possesses significant agricultural, industrial, and service sectors. The Iranian government directly owns and operates hundreds of state-owned enterprises and indirectly controls many companies affiliated with the country's security forces. Distortions - including inflation, price controls, subsidies, and a banking system holding billions of dollars of non-performing loans - weigh down the economy, undermining the potential for private-sector-led growth.” (my added emphasis)
We don’t have to look to far to find regimes led by ruthless dictators to find friends of the US 1%: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and many more. The US installed Mobutu after it conspired with Belgian colonialism to murder Patrice Lumumba. Marcos, Pinochet, Sukharno, the world has suffered the fate of many US installed murderers.
While the Iranian regime is no doubt a brutal undemocratic religious clique, we have the foreign policies of the US and before the US, British capitalism to thank for the Mullahs.
We must reject the push to war with Iran being led by the US and Israel. Iran has had a rich history of working class struggle against British colonialism and also internally. After September 11th two million turned out in Iran in sympathy with the US. But wanting to maintain oil profits and unconditional support for the Zionist regime the US is driven to war with Iran. US foreign policy, since the collapse of Stalinism, has seriously weakened the working class throughout the Middle East, and has led to the rise of religious fanaticism. But this doesn’t alter the fact that there is no way out on the basis of capitalism and the only solution is working class unity and the building of a federation of democratic socialist states.
What is lacking here in the US is a working class political alternative to the two parties of the 1%, the Democrats and Republicans, without such a party, we have no political voice that can appeal to workers internationally to join us and us support them in the global struggle against capital. The trade union movement can fill that void to an extent but we are also saddled there with a leadership that supports US foreign policy which is, in actuality an extension of a domestic policy that believes the bosses and workers have the same interests and national unity as opposed to class unity.
The movement that will inevitably arise as the capitalist offensive will not cease, will tend to overcome these obstacles, including the obstacle of our own leadership and seek to build links and unity across national and racial lines.
But no one said it would be easy? But we have no alternative.
It’s amazing how people who don’t fight wars or whose children usually spend the war years at college are the most hawkish supporters of conflict with talk of how “we” need to enter the fray. In another opinion piece titled, “War with Iran is probably our best option” Joshua Muravchik wrote in the Washington post, “In this sense, it is akin to communist, fascist and Nazi regimes that set out to transform the world. Iran aims to carry its Islamic revolution across the Middle East and beyond.“
But working people in the US should have no beef with Iran. Iran is not cutting funding to social services, closing our public schools, cutting wages and benefits on the job or having its militarized police force beat up, abuse and even murder US citizens.
And let’s be honest, the US has no problem supporting dictatorial regimes. Next to Iran is Bahrain which is close to an absolute Monarchy that recently put down a movement for reform, for freedom of religion and other democratic norms and for some, the creation of a republic. As this regime murdered protestors and even imprisoned doctors and medical personnel that treated those injured by government forces, the 15,000 US troops but a few miles away on Bahraini territory did nothing.
The US finances and arms the Saudi military and just backed its invasion of Yemen that has led to a humanitarian nightmare. No problem there. And the most destabilizing aspect of US foreign policy in the region is the unconditional support the US gives the Zionists and their Apartheid regime.
Iran has repeatedly stated it has no intention of building a nuclear bomb, but even if the government is lying about that, what right does the US have to threaten a country with war if it decides to build its defenses up to the point of having nuclear weapons? This seems to be the only way to keep the US from invading and bombing regimes that don’t allow US capitalism free reign when it comes to plundering the region’s wealth. Look at the disaster that the US has created in Iraq, a catastrophe of historic proportions in a country that borders Iran. It’s no accident that of the Bush “Axis of evil” trio, North Korea hasn’t been invaded or threatened with US bombing.
Behind US capitalism’s hostility to Iran is the same as its hostility to Iraq under Hussein or Syria under Assad. These are secular “statist” regimes where huge sectors of the nations economy are under state control.
Iran’s distrust of US imperialism and its British lapdogs has some justification as the US orchestrated the coup that overthrew the democratically elected secular government of Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 and both countries have meddling tirelessly in Iran’s affairs, most importantly installing the dictator and murderous Shah after Mossadegh’s downfall.
But this hostility and paranoia toward Iran has noting to do with the lack of democracy of that it is a theocracy. The Zionist regime is a big part of it as this is the most reliable ally of US imperialism in the region but it is Iran’s statist economy that is a problem as was Iraq under Hussein. The Syrian regime was similar. Just like in the US where the private sector supported by the state is in the process of eliminating all forms of public expenditure and public property, like education and the postal service for example, in these countries the US introduces privatization by the bomb.
This CIA world Factbook explains clearly what the problem is with Iran:
“Iran's economy is marked by statist policies, inefficiencies, and reliance on oil and gas exports, but Iran also possesses significant agricultural, industrial, and service sectors. The Iranian government directly owns and operates hundreds of state-owned enterprises and indirectly controls many companies affiliated with the country's security forces. Distortions - including inflation, price controls, subsidies, and a banking system holding billions of dollars of non-performing loans - weigh down the economy, undermining the potential for private-sector-led growth.” (my added emphasis)
We don’t have to look to far to find regimes led by ruthless dictators to find friends of the US 1%: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and many more. The US installed Mobutu after it conspired with Belgian colonialism to murder Patrice Lumumba. Marcos, Pinochet, Sukharno, the world has suffered the fate of many US installed murderers.
While the Iranian regime is no doubt a brutal undemocratic religious clique, we have the foreign policies of the US and before the US, British capitalism to thank for the Mullahs.
We must reject the push to war with Iran being led by the US and Israel. Iran has had a rich history of working class struggle against British colonialism and also internally. After September 11th two million turned out in Iran in sympathy with the US. But wanting to maintain oil profits and unconditional support for the Zionist regime the US is driven to war with Iran. US foreign policy, since the collapse of Stalinism, has seriously weakened the working class throughout the Middle East, and has led to the rise of religious fanaticism. But this doesn’t alter the fact that there is no way out on the basis of capitalism and the only solution is working class unity and the building of a federation of democratic socialist states.
What is lacking here in the US is a working class political alternative to the two parties of the 1%, the Democrats and Republicans, without such a party, we have no political voice that can appeal to workers internationally to join us and us support them in the global struggle against capital. The trade union movement can fill that void to an extent but we are also saddled there with a leadership that supports US foreign policy which is, in actuality an extension of a domestic policy that believes the bosses and workers have the same interests and national unity as opposed to class unity.
The movement that will inevitably arise as the capitalist offensive will not cease, will tend to overcome these obstacles, including the obstacle of our own leadership and seek to build links and unity across national and racial lines.
But no one said it would be easy? But we have no alternative.
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