Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent speech to Congress and the drama surrounding it highlight geopolitical shifts and internal divisions dogging U.S. imperialists. As U.S. foes Iran, Russia, and China get stronger, the two main factions of the U.S. capitalist class are competing to assert control over U.S. foreign policies concerning oil and nuclear-rich Iran.
The main wing of U.S. capitalists, under Obama, seems more reluctant to rely on Israel as the gatekeeper of the Middle East. But some leading Republicans are dancing to the tune of billionaire donors such as casino magnate Sheldon Adelson who advocates for little or no accommodation with U.S. enemies and instead points to Israel as a viable solution. Netanyahu’s speech illustrates that the U.S. capitalists are at odds and are unprepared for the impending imperialist crisis with Iran.
No matter which ruling faction comes out on top, workers worldwide will ultimately pay the price. Workers will both finance and fight a war that will only serve the bosses. The revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party, however, is organizing the working class worldwide not only to fight against the next global war for profits that Netanyahu’s speech forecasts, but to rid the world of the capitalist system that generates these wars along with racism, nationalism and sexism.
Iran Looms over the Middle East
Netanyahu’s hollow bluster and Obama’s need to negotiate both stem from Iran’s rising regional might, backed by Russia and China. Pro-Iranian groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi forces combat Israel, the U.S. and other allies in Palestine, Lebanon and Yemen respectively. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard now has troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria, in the latter 10,000 men six miles from Israel. Though Netanyahu won’t admit it, Iran’s preparedness makes an Israeli, U.S., or joint strike on its nuclear plants impractical:
The Iranians are not fools. They observed the ease with which the Israelis destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981. They buried theirs deep underground. It is therefore not clear…tshat the United States could destroy Iran’s nuclear program from the air. It would require, at the very least, special operations on the ground, and failing that, military action beyond U.S. capabilities…The Israelis are quite aware of these difficulties. (Stratfor, a U.S. strategy analyzing group, 3/3/15)
Liberal Democratic politicians, including Obama, servants of U.S. financiers and industrialists, ExxonMobil and JP Morgan, have long-term global military requirements that for now will allow them to make concessions with Iran. They are thus easing off support for ineffective Israel. U.S. imperialism’s main journal, Foreign Affairs, published a piece on March 2 headed, “The Breakup: The Slow Demise of U.S. Bipartisan Support for Israel.” It said in part:
In the fall of 2013, AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] lobbied for a bill that…. would have required the United States to “stand with Israel” if Israel decided to attack Iran. The bill…won the support of 43 of 45 Republicans, but only 16 of 55 members of the Democratic caucus.
Many Republicans, however, have personal wealth-enhancing outlooks far narrower than the Liberal Democrats’ vision of post-world war domination. Liberal journalist Bill Moyers, who served U.S. presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam Genocide criticized the U.S. Republican party/Netanyahu alliance by outing its’ profit motives:
Everything you need to know about…Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress Tuesday was the presence in the visitor’s gallery of one man — Sheldon Adelson…The party’s presidential hopefuls line up to kiss his assets, scraping and bowing for his blessing, which when granted is bestowed with his signed checks…[He, in 2013] denounced President Obama’s diplomatic efforts with Iran and proposed instead that the United States drop an atomic bomb...” (BillMoyers.com, 3/4/15)
U.S. Lack of Preparation
It’s not that Obama and the far bigger capitalists he serves are against using nuclear weapons. Just the opposite is true. Until and unless the main wing of U.S. rulers can mobilize the population militarily, WWII-style atomic bombs remain their inter-imperialist trump card. The British ruling-class-owned Economist (3/7/15) notes, “The Nobel peace laureate [Obama] in the White House has asked Congress for almost $350 billion to undertake a decade-long programme of modernisation of America’s arsenal.” Competition, however, is widespread:
Russia’s defense budget has grown by over 50% since 2007, and fully a third of it is devoted to nuclear weapons…China…is adding to its stocks and investing heavily in submarines and mobile missile batteries… North Korea…is working on missiles that can strike the west coast of the United States.
The Economist offers a grim, accurate observation of the bosses’ hardball: “No government could allow itself to lose a war that it would win if it were to reproduce nuclear weapons.” When Obama & Co. speak of peace negotiations, grab your helmet!
Workers Pay the Price
The troops needed by the U.S. ruling faction which Obama represents will come from working class youth. Obama and his supporters are working to entice jobless youth, immigrants and undocumented workers into joining the military by promoting nationalism, racism and sexism. Once there, they will fight and kill their working-class sisters and brothers. The picture also looks grim if the Republican ruling-class faction wins.
Only a communist revolution under the leadership of PLP can put a stop once and for all to racism, sexism, nationalism and all wars. Join us today!
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U.S.-Israeli Nuclear Cooperation
The Israeli-U.S. hypocrisy over their opposition to Iran’s nuclear program knows no bounds. While it long been known that Israel itself has nuclear weapons, a U.S. Defense Dept. report detailed how the U.S. aided Israel in its development of a hydrogen bomb while violating international standards.
According to “Courthouse News,” Roger Mattson — formerly of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission’s technical staff — said, “I am struck by the degree of cooperation on specialized war making devices between Israel and the U.S.”
Grant Smith, director of the think tank Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, told a Washington, D.C. District Court late last year that, “In 1987 the Department of Defense discovered that Israel has a nuclear weapon, detailed it and then…covered it up for 25 years in violation of the Symington and Glenn amendments, costing U.S. taxpayers $86 billion.”
“The Symington Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 prohibits most U.S. foreign aid to any country found trafficking in nuclear enrichment equipment or technology outside international safeguards,” wrote Smith. “The Glenn Amendment of 1977 calls for an end to U.S. foreign aid to countries that import nuclear reprocessing technology.” But meanwhile, U.S. rulers continue to shell out $3 billion a year in aid to Israel.
Smith further told the court that, “Under two known gag orders — punishable by imprisonment — U.S. security-cleared government agency employees and contractors may not disclose that Israel has a nuclear weapons program.” Furthermore, the 1987 government report entitled “Critical Technology Assessment in Israel and NATO Nations, found that, “As far as nuclear technology is concerned the Israelis are roughly where the U.S. was in the fission weapons field in about 1955 to 1960….The Israelis are developing the kind of codes which will enable them to make hydrogen bombs.”
So Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu rant about an Iranian nuclear threat while the Israelis themselves have been stockpiling H-Bombs for decades.