The Zionist state, in Israel/Palestine, has extended its war of annexation, as I said it would. Zionism, as a reactionary nationalist, racist and colonialist ideology, of itself is forced to continually seek to expand the territory over which it exercises its remit, much as European colonialism did in the Mercantilist period from the 17th to the end of the 19th century. But, the Zionist state, in Israel/Palestine, is not just such a reactionary nationalist/colonialist state, it is, also, an imperialist state, based upon large-scale monopoly capitalism, closely tied to the state, and to global imperialism, primarily US imperialism. It serves a similar purpose, for US imperialism, in the Middle East, that the Ukrainian imperialist state serves in Eastern Europe.
In both cases, the interests of EU imperialism coincide with that of US imperialism, and yet, also, differ from those of US imperialism. US imperialism is concerned with its global strategic hegemony, exercised via its huge military machine that dwarfs every other military on the planet, and via its NATO imperialist alliance, through which it, also, exercises its domination over those subordinate imperialist allies in Britain, the EU, Japan and elsewhere. It is concerned to limit and control the expansion of Chinese imperialism, and its imperialist alliance with Russia, and the other imperialist and sub-imperialist powers within BRICS+.
The Ukrainian imperialist state enables US imperialism to fulfil that function in Eastern Europe, using it as an unsinkable aircraft carrier, with an endless supply of Ukrainian workers blood, to keep Russia tied up on its western border. Its aim, though one it has not been successful in achieving, was to undermine Putin, and open the door to further insurgencies, within the Russian Federation itself, to break it apart, and, thereby, to put in place its own client regimes, much as it thought it had done with Yeltsin, so as to have access to the vast resources of Russia.
The Zionist imperialist state in Israel/Palestine, is used by US imperialism to check the growing influence of Chinese imperialism in the Gulf, and to an extent in North Africa, as well as the influence of Russian imperialism, with its historic links to Iran, Syria, and the role it is playing via the Wagner group in Sudan, Mali and elsewhere.
The interests of EU imperialism are somewhat different. EU imperialism is primarily concerned with creating, a large single market, which is why it created the EU in the first place. It seeks to continually expand the size of that single market, to meet the needs of capital in the EU, which must operate on an ever larger scale, to compete with the mammoth imperialist capitals in the US and China. But, a single market requires the states within it to all operate on the basis of common laws and so on, which requires them to be free of the kinds of corruption that many states in Europe suffer. Before, being allowed to join, states in Europe have had to go through a probationary period in which they became more aligned with the EU. It means that the EU could have closer relations with a range of states on its periphery, without them being EU members, and yet, from which EU imperialism gained advantages, as with its deals with Russia, for the supply of cheap oil and gas.
EU imperialism has gradually expanded its single market Eastwards, with Ukraine being the next state to be drawn into its orbit, though, as with Turkiye, it was never likely to gain membership of the EU any time soon, given its huge levels of corruption. The EU had the potential to continue that course of imperialist expansion via increased trade and cooperation, including with Russia, but such an expansion would not have been in the interests of US imperialism. It would have strengthened both EU imperialism and Russian imperialism, at the expense of US imperialism, and would have weakened the ties and subordination of EU imperialism to US imperialism. It is EU imperialism that has borne the cost of the imperialist war in Ukraine, not only via the huge costs of arms and other aid supplied to Ukraine, but also as a result of its reduced trade with Russia, and a huge rise in its energy and food costs resulting from its boycott and sanctions against Russia.
The effect of that on European workers, with social-democratic parties, and even sections of a social-imperialist “Left” backing such imperialist war, has provided the material conditions for a further expansion of the far-right, whose forces had already grown as a consequence of the 50% growth of the petty-bourgeoisie over recent decades.
The EU had, also, developed similar economic relations with the economies of MENA that they had done with the economies of Central Europe, following the collapse of Stalinism. That created a corresponding path of economic development, and eventual expansion of the single market into the Middle East and North Africa. It is again clear why such a development would not be in the interests of US imperialism, as it further strengthens EU imperialism, and establishes closer ties with those oil rich states that the US had dragged away from the old European colonial powers, after WWII.
The Iraq War, fought on the basis of an obvious lie about WMD, was fought by US and UK imperialism, and opposed by most of the EU, to the ire of the US. It led to chaos in Iraq, and rise of the jihadists, which spread into Libya and Syria, destabilising the region and its economic development, and along with it the relation to the EU. As with the war in Ukraine, it was the EU that bore the cost, not the US, as not only did it result in this economic dislocation, but large numbers of refugees found their way into EU countries, providing yet another bit of grist to the mill of the far-right.
But, as I wrote, some time ago, the interests of both US and EU imperialism coincide in seeing the need for the Zionist state in Israel/Palestine to deal once and for all with what it sees as the Palestinian problem. The EU, in order to get back to those kinds of relations it sought to develop prior to the Iraq War, and the chaos it spread across the Middle East and North Africa, needs Israel to establish “normal” relations with its Arab neighbours, as the basis of forming some form of common market. US imperialism, also, seeks such a development, because, with its client state, Israel, being the most powerful, and dominant state in any such common market, and with closer ties to the EU, it draws those states away from the growing influence of China and Russia.
The fact that the Zionist state has been able to cross every red-line supposedly put down by the Biden regime, with impunity, that it laughs in the face of “the international community”, and its “rules based order”, not only ignoring the rulings of that “community's” courts, the ICJ and ICC, but has done so with US backing, which has similarly supported the ridiculous claims that the courts rulings were a result of it being “anti-Semitic”, shows just how much the genocide being committed by the Zionist state is being done with the full support of US and EU imperialism. Its no wonder that when the reactionary nationalist regime of Starmer and Blue Labour, found itself losing Muslim members and voters, as a result of its own support for that genocide, it responded, in typically racist and colonialist fashion, by describing it as simply “shaking off fleas”!!!
The genocide being committed, in Gaza most visibly, but also underway in the rest of Palestine, exposes the sham nature and hypocrisy of the calls for a two-state solution. The reality is that two states have existed in Israel and Palestine, but it provided no solution. The Palestinian state is recognised by 145 countries, representing 75% of UN members. What those who talk about a two-state solution mean is actually, US recognition of that state of Palestine, and of course, although US imperialism, itself, continually talks about such a solution being the only way forward, it continually prevents such a solution, by voting against recognition, and by continuing to support the Zionist state in refusing to accept the existence of such a state.
Palestine is a state, and another state, the Zionist state in Israel, has simply acted to impose itself on it, via its military might, a military might made possible by, and supported by, US and EU imperialism. The existence of a state, can no more provide a solution for Palestinians than could the existence of a state for Poland prevent Hitler's armies invading it, and annexing it! To believe otherwise, in the age of imperialism, is to believe in bourgeois-liberal fairytales. As Marx put it,
“They forget, however, that club-law too is law, and that the law of the stronger, only in a different form, still survives even in their “constitutional State.””
(A Contribution To The Critique of Political Economy)
The Zionist state, with the full support of US, UK and EU imperialism, has carried out genocide in Gaza, it rapes and tortures Palestinians across the whole of Palestine, and publicly defends such rape and torture, and it backs and promotes Zionist settlers in annexing further Palestinian land in the West Bank, as it also, rapes and murders Palestinians to drive them from that land. As I wrote previously, it is carrying out a similar process of extermination of Palestinians to that conducted by European colonialists in the Americas, and Australasia. But, that is only the start of the planned annexations by the Zionist state, as I also noted. It is already beginning the process of expanding that war of annexation into Lebanon, and Syria.
For months, it has been attempting to provoke Hezbollah into a more overt attack, but without success. Its bombing of Beirut, which signifies a qualitative stepping up in those attempts, and the assassination, thereby, of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, was justified on the basis of a claim that Hezbollah had launched a missile strike on Majdal Hams, in the Israeli occupied, Golan Heights, which killed twelve people. There are a number of points to raise about that. Firstly, as the Syrian representative to the UK noted, the Golan Heights are Syrian, not Israeli territory. The Zionist state illegally occupies that territory, just as it has illegally occupied Palestinian territory. As an occupying force, the Zionist state has no right of self-defence.
Secondly, those killed, not only were not Israeli citizens, but Syrians, they also, were not Jewish citizens, but Druze Christians. In fact, when Netanyahu turned up in Majdal Shams, those Druze residents heckled him, and gave him a hostile reception, because they see him, and the Zionist state as the occupiers, and responsible for their plight.
Hezbollah have also, from the start, rejected the Zionist claim hat they fired the rocket, and its not clear why they would do so. It has, however, given the Zionist regime a pretext to hugely expand its war in the region. Similarly, its assassination of Ismail Haniyeh while he was in Tehran for the inauguration of the new Iranian President, not only breaks international law, but also shows that the Zionist regime backed by US imperialism has no intention of negotiating a ceasefire, as it continues its genocide.
The Zionists are seeking to expand the war, and provoke a response from Hezbollah and Iran, in order to step up the scale of the war, and draw in US imperialism, which, as well as UK imperialism, has already been drawn into active military involvement, as well as providing the weapons required by the Zionist regime. Those claiming that US imperialism does not want such an escalation have not been paying attention. At every stage, they have claimed not to want an escalation of the war in Gaza, and yet, each red line crossed by the Zionist regime has resulted only in further backing, further arms, further justification of its actions, and more US and British war ships being sent to the region ready to back it further when such escalation occurs.
No comments:
Post a Comment