Capitalist Allies: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Recent actions by U.S. allies suggest rapid deterioration in the strength and influence of U.S. capitalism. This increasing weakness is the result of intensified inter-imperialist rivalry driven by a continuing crisis of overproduction. Last fall, after Russia began operations in Ukraine against a U.S.-sponsored coup, the U.S. rallied its allies to impose economic sanctions against Russia. But the French still wanted to deliver two ships they were building for Russia.
Although the French delayed the ship deliveries, the most important sanctions agreed to by the U.S. and its allies in 2014 were refusals to make new capital loans to Russia, both short- term and long-term. But again the French and German ruling class did not want to disrupt their growing economic relationships with Russia. The most important loans to be cut off were loans to refinance existing long-term loans, which did not even require renewal until 2015. This meant that the major sanctions seemingly imposed on Russia by the U.S. and its “allies” last fall were, in fact, NOT fully imposed.
Consider also the cease-fires demanded by the U.S.-led alliance to stop the Russian operations in the Ukraine. After refusals by the Russians to fully comply, the U.S. demanded that its allies impose new sanctions and make stronger military threats. However, French and German bosses ignored the U.S. demands and went separately to Moscow to negotiate a cease-fire with Vladimir Putin. Later, pushed by the U.S., the North Atlantic  Treaty Organization (NATO) engaged in some military posturing but Secretary of State John Kerry has been shut out of cease-fire talks in Ukraine. The U.S. faces reduced influence in the Middle East as well. The Saudis and other players now act without deference to U.S. interests.
NATO, World Bank, IMF Under Siege
In addition, Britain, a longtime ally of the U.S., announced that it would not continue making its specified annual payment to NATO. It also announced general cutbacks in military funding with the intention of reducing its level of engagement as a U.S. ally in Iraq and the Middle East.
Finally, the recent formation of the China-sponsored Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, designed to provide a direct alternative to financing available through the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The World Bank and IMF are post-World War II structures set up by the U.S. and its allies to guarantee U.S./European capital dominance. At the invitation of the Chinese government, almost every major U.S. European ally became a founding member of this new arm of Chinese finance capital, despite objections from the U.S. and Japan. Britain, Australia and South Korea also joined over U.S. objections. Simultaneously, China delivered a pledge of $50 billion to Pakistan to fund infrastructure development—far more than the total U.S. investment in Pakistan. Japan countered with an offer of its own of $110 billion for Asian development.
Workers Suffer as Thieves Fall Out
These recent examples of actions by so-called allies of the U.S. demonstrate that it is highly likely that U.S. finance capital understands that it no longer has reliable long-term strategic allies. The desertion and independent actions of these allies  are driving a rapid deterioration of U.S. power and influence politically, economically and militarily. Basically, the so-called allies are all hedging their bets as competition intensifies.
Each imperialist power must ratchet up the exploitation of its own working class and the workers it exploits internationally in order to survive in the inter-imperialist dogfight. As the rivalries intensify, threatened capitalists must extract more profits from the working class. Among the examples: a reduction in living standards worldwide, the refugee crisis in Iraq and Syria, mass incarceration, police killings, the detention of thousands of immigrant women in the U.S., the intensifying exploitation of the working class in Pakistan, and strikes for better living conditions in China and Russia.
At this time virtually all events in the world are driven or influenced by these inter-imperialist contradictions.  Inside the U.S., the rulers’ inability to agree on domestic and international policy is also driven by these intensifying international conflict. When U.S. policy-makers make a move, one or another imperialist rival trumps them. Only increased exploitation of the workers whom the U.S. still controls can compensate for ground lost to rivals. Meanwhile, much of U.S.-based production and domestic assets are owned by international competitors.
Gridlock Marks Decline of U.S. Empire
The troubles facing the U.S. ruling class are not primarily caused by disagreements internal to the U.S. capitalist class or by capitalist competition between sectors of U.S. capitalism. Rather, they result from intensifying inter-imperialist competition. While appearances may suggest that different strategies generated by partisan political or economic viewpoints — from Hilary Clinton and Jeb Bush to Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders — cause congressional gridlock,  the driving dynamic and cause of gridlock is the rapid erosion of U.S. as the international power and economic influence in the world. Competition from U.S. rivals, including all its former allies, are causing increasing instability of U.S. financial and political power on a daily basis. That is why no short-term U.S. policy succeeds for more than a few weeks. That is why no new long-term strategy can be agreed on. The politicians and their blathering simply reflect this reality.  
Workers in every region can grasp that they are the joint victims of imperialism. As workers increasingly understand the role of inter-imperialist rivalry and its immediate effect in their factories or schools, they will be better able to fight their own local bosses, develop international working-class unity, and destroy preparations for inter-imperialist war. Ultimately, workers can make imperialist war the incubator of revolutionary communism.