Where the workers in Russia and China have interests hostile to those of the leaders of those countries, which otherwise would lead them to join with workers in the West to fight not only for better wages, and so on, but also for an expansion of their democratic rights and freedoms, the consequence of labour movements in the West becoming simply allies of imperialism, is to split the workers of Russia and China off from them, and force them into the arms of their own oppressing rulers. Nationalism by labour movements in NATO countries inevitably provokes nationalism in the countries that NATO lines up in its sights, just as it did in the Franco-Prussian War, WWI and WWII. And, in countries with intermingled populations, this creates conditions where national antagonisms can explode into violent conflict, as the Balkans has repeatedly shown. As Trotsky again put it, in relation to the period prior to WWII, and the German nationals trapped in the Sudetenland and elsewhere.
“The results are known: democratic Germany, unable to stand the yoke of the Versailles treaty, threw herself in despair onto the road of fascism. It would seem that the Czechoslovakian democracy which stood under the August protection of Franco-British democracy and of the "socialist" bureaucracy of the USSR had every opportunity to show the Sudeten Germans the great advantages in reality of a democratic regime over a fascist one. If this task had been resolved, Hitler would not dare, of course, to make an attempt on the Sudetenland. His main strength lies now precisely in the fact that the Sudeten Germans themselves want unity with Germany. This desire was inspired in them by the rapacious and police regime of Czechoslovakian "democracy" which "fought" fascism by imitating its worst methods.
Superdemocratic Austria found itself until a short time ago under the tireless solicitude of the democratic Entente, which seemed to have made it its business not to let Austria live or die. It ended by Austria's throwing herself into the embrace of Hitler. On a smaller scale the same experiment was previously tried in the Saar region, which after having remained in the hands of France for fifteen years and having tried out all the benefits of imperialist democracy, by an overwhelming majority expressed a desire for unity with Germany.'? These lessons of history are more significant than resolutions of all the pacifist congresses...
Intolerable social and political conditions must exist for citizens of a "democratic" country to be seized by a desire for fascist power. The Germans of the Saar in France, the Austrian Germans in the Europe of Versailles, the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia felt themselves citizens of third rank. "It will not be worse," they said to themselves. In Germany, at least, they will be oppressed on the same basis as the rest of the population. The masses prefer under these conditions equality in serfdom to humiliation in inequality. The temporary strength of Hitler lay in the bankruptcy of imperialist democracy.”
Banning Russian sportspeople from taking part in international tournaments, for example, isn't an attack on Putin and the oligarchs, but will be seen by ordinary Russians, as simply an attack on them as Russians, a purely nationalistic attack. And, precisely because the Russian oligarchs, and the rest of the Russian ruling class are part of the global ruling class, that global ruling class is going to be very circumspect in any actions it does take against them. After all, that global ruling class does not want to set the precedent that its property rights can be infringed willy-nilly, because that would mean that others might take them seriously, and begin to simply confiscate their property too! Russian billionaires might find that their property is temporarily frozen, but they are not going to have it permanently removed.
Those Russian workers will look at the actions of Boris Johnson and the Tories, whilst considering the fact that he and the Tories have taken tens of millions from those same oligarchs that stand behind Putin. They will look at the perennial war monger Biden in the US, and his relationship with the Ukrainian government, and consider the fact that his son, Hunter, was employed by the Ukrainian firm Burisma Holdings, owned by a Ukrainian oligarch, and was paid up to $50,000 per month. Even other Democrat advisors warned against it, because of reputational damage, and its clear that he only got the gig because of who he is. It allowed Trump to use it, and to make unproven allegations from it, which will undoubtedly be used again as the mid-term elections approach. The reality is that conservative social-democracy is inseparable from the global ruling-class, the owners of vast amounts of fictitious-capital, and their hands are plunged deep into each others pockets, every minute of the day. Those pockets are stuffed full with the gold they have robbed from ordinary workers from all over the world, and those workers know it, and increasingly dislike it. For a long time they were powerless to do anything about it, but that situation never lasts forever.
The US, in particular, is highly dependent upon funding from places like China, which might not respond favourably if it thinks it is next on the list of places whose property the US wants to simply confiscate. The astronomical level of US debt, is, in large part, held by the US Federal Reserve, itself an indication of the extent to which it has been inflated by the continual printing of money tokens, but another large part is held by China, and other large creditor countries. Russia too, which has, in recent years, had large foreign earnings from oil, gas, and other primary products, was a large holder of US debt, not to mention the private holdings of oligarchs. Russia sold around 84% of its US debt holdings a while ago, but that is deceptive. Amongst the top 5 holders of US debt is the UK, Ireland, and Luxembourg, and this reflects the fact that shell companies are based in these locations, through which Russia and other countries, as well as oligarchs, and others seeking to hide their wealth and dealings, operate.
If the feeling takes hold that the US is no longer playing by the rules of the international game, and is confiscating property, then it would not just be China that might begin first to stop buying new US debt, and to start selling some of what it already has. At a time when the US, as with other economies, is facing rising interest rates, and yields on its debt, as a result of the astronomical levels of borrowing, a run on its debt markets is the last thing it wants, and certainly the last thing that Biden and the Democrats want, in the months leading to the mid-term Congressional elections, elections they already look set to perform abysmally in.
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