Russia Sanctions: U.S. Desperate to Regain Imperialist Control in EU

On August 2, the U.S. declared new economic sanctions against Russia. This move reflects a growing desperation among U.S. capitalist bosses, whose declining but still-lethal empire faces growing challenges from Russian and Chinese imperialists—especially after Russia’s successful military intervention in Syria.
Sanctions are a standard tactic in capitalist competition. In this latest economic attack, U.S. bosses will be freezing money and blocking business deals involving the Russian bosses. For the international working class, it’s only a matter of time before trade wars among major imperialists become a global shooting war—a war in which workers have no side.
The international communist Progressive Labor Party calls on workers, students, and soldiers to fight for their class, not their country! We fight for a world without money, racist borders, racism, or sexism—a world ruled by the working class. The capitalist class will never give up its rule or profits without a fight. It’s up to our class to turn the looming inter-imperialist war into a war for communist revolution.
What “Sanctions” Mean
Allegations of Russian election interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election are echoed constantly in the U.S. bosses’ media. While the charges may well be true, they also provide political cover for the U.S. to drive a wedge between Russia and the European Union. In reality, the sanctions have nothing to do with election meddling. For years, the U.S. bosses have been looking to curb the dependence of Europe, and particularly Germany, on Russian natural gas—the bulk of it piped through Russia’s western neighbor, Ukraine.
Since the formal collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, U.S. bosses have spent $5.1 billion on so-called “democracy building” in Ukraine (Politifact, 3/19/14). In February 2014, the pro-Russian Ukrainian president was removed from office following massive U.S.-backed demonstrations. Its current pro-U.S. president, Petro Poroshenko, has vowed to join the U.S.-led NATO military alliance, which could bring U.S. military forces to Russia’s border.
But the U.S. has been less successful in undermining Russia’s gas monopoly in Europe or its growing influence in the Middle East. The latest sanctions are a desperate attempt by U.S. bosses to regain some momentum.
Natural Gas Can Ignite War
Nord Stream is the world’s largest underwater natural gas pipeline. It connects Russia and Germany through the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine completely. (A major expansion project, Nord Stream 2, is currently underway by Russia’s state-owned gas company, Gazprom.) The U.S. sanctions target more than 200 EU-based contractors and subcontractors providing steel and other materials for Nord Stream (Reuters, 8/3/17). Meanwhile, the U.S. hopes that its first delivery of liquified natural gas to Eastern Europe seduces European countries to dump Russia (Foreign Policy, 6/8/17).
In any case, the U.S. bosses can no longer dictate global politics as they once did. Economically, the sanctions are too little, too late: “[M]ost of the big contracts for steel, port logistics, and construction have already been concluded” (Reuters). Politically, the U.S. bosses’ desperation may be driving historical allies like Germany into the arms of Russian imperialism. The German bosses went so far as to say that the new sanctions “breach international law” (CNN, 8/2).
Following the vote of Britain, the most reliable U.S. ally, to exit the European Union, it’s unclear how much influence the U.S. has left in Europe. But it’s very clear that deadlier imperialist wars are on the horizon, and that workers around the world have no stake in them. The need to organize for communist revolution grows only more urgent. Join PLP!