Ukraine War: Imperialist Rivalry and Global Hunger

Richard Mellor

 

It’s hard to write at times there’s so much to write about and it would be a lot easier to have a pint or two. But I have to do something to ease my mind as so much of the bourgeois media makes one sick that it’s hard to know where to start.  It’s not fake news, it has a class bias which is more perfidious.

 

I have not abandoned the belief that the US working class will enter the stage at some point and am inspired by recent events in the class struggle as young workers are trying to unionize, but the delay means a lot of unnecessary suffering along the way.

 

The first irritating little snippet concerns Michelle Obama’s best friend and “partner in Crime” the mass murderer and war criminal George W. Bush. Reading a report of him speaking to a group of sycophants at his library (all four books were there) in Dallas earlier this week, he was trying to stress the difference between a “democratically” elected Zelenskiy in the Ukraine (Who, were it not for the war wouldn’t have been re-elected according to most reports) and the “rigged elections and despotism of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.”.  Instead of Ukraine he said Iraq.  Of course, he invaded Iraq not Putin. "I love him to death. He's a wonderful man, he's a funny man." Michelle Obama has said of Bush. These people know what class solidarity is all about and workers should take note. We can learn from our enemies.

 

In his memoirs, the report said, Bush wrote of the invasion of Iraq, “No one was more shocked and angry than I was when we didn’t find the weapons”. My guess is that about 20 million Iraqi’s might have been a little angrier and possibly “shocked” somewhat more than the imbecile Bush. After all, the US strategy in Iraq was called “Shock and Awe” and it was simply a mistake; anyone can make a mistake and if you’re the guy with the big guns there’s no consequences for it.

 

Then I have to return to a point I made the other day. The Russian foreign ministry announced that it would consider opening up the Black Sea ports if removing the sanctions on Russia is on the table. The UN is pleading with Russia to do so saying millions will die of starvation due to the blockade.

 

Now let’s not forget that there is a war on and I have stated on more than one occasion that there is no side in this war between competing imperialist powers, the US/NATO bloc and Russian/Chinese competitors, (China is the US’s main target) in which workers have any interest in at all other than as observers and victims. Given the UN’s comments about starving people in the world, if Russia’s offer to open ports were met with a US/NATO bloc willingness to ease the pain of sanctions which are hurting Russian workers, would this not save millions of lives? Not just Russians, but Ukrainians and especially millions in the underdeveloped world who are facing starvation. Would it not ease the tension and fear that people throughout the world have over the possibility of a conflict between two nuclear armed powers? I think it would.

 

Hell, the stock market might even go up.

 

Sanctions after all, do not harm US imperialism's rivals in the Kremlin, Putin or his support network. The US sanctions on Iraq that killed some 500,000, mostly women and children never gave Saddam Hussein hunger pains. These half a million deaths "were worth it",  the former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright said,

 

But no. The US Senate, that undemocratic body if there ever was one, has just approved a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine. The US taxpayer, many of whom do not have the luxury of clean drinking water in urban centers, an access to health care, public transportation and other social services, is forking out $6 billion to train the Ukrainian military and $9 billion so the Ukrainian government can replace stocks of US made weapons we’ve already sent (the defense industry lobbyists were there for that one I’m sure). Another almost $9 billion is economic assistance for the Ukrainian government, itself a government of oligarchs and $5 billion for food and to cover the high increase in prices.

 

Military equipment the US is sending includes 18 Howitzers, 18 tactical vehicles to tow them and 18 artillery tubes.  This will not win this war for Ukraine but will prolong it and increase US defense corporations bottom line. In addition, the burden of this deficit spending will be borne by the US workers and middle class for years to come. As Blinken said, weakening Russia is the goal for the US here, not saving lives, people starve all the time due to economic decisions made by world powers. Anyway, China is the main economic rival and economic rivalry is aggression.

 

The Biden Administration (the Europeans don’t matter) is upping the anti-unfortunately and rather than taking that step which would be advantageous to the working class internationally I would think, is aiming to supply Ukraine's ruling oligarchy with anti-ship missiles so it can target Russian ships blocking the Black Sea ports. This is getting perilously close to the US openly at war with Russia.

 

The US body politic, dominated by representatives of the two parties of capital, is a dangerous animal at a time when US imperialism’s global influence is threatened, there is madness among them and Putin has given it a temporary boost as late stage capitalism cannot avoid its wars and conflicts that is heading dangerously close to the abyss.

 

There was some opposition to the aid package. One US Senator objects as it “shortchanges priorities at home.”, this might be a voice in the wilderness, maybe cooler heads prevail,  but……“I mean we could build the border wall twice over and seal it with this amount of money.” says Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri.

 

Oh Well.