BIDEN’S BOMBS KILL WORKERS AND INCREASE MIDDLE EAST CHAOS
FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2021 AT 2:50PMOn February 25 U.S. President Joe Biden bombed Syria taking only 36 days to join the list of U.S. Presidents whose blood-soaked hands have killed workers across the Middle East. The airstrike on a base in Syria used by an Iranian backed militia to launch rocket attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq came out of the increasing weakness of the U.S. ruling class. Across the Middle East the U.S. bosses are in retreat. The latest bombings, which killed at least 17 people and wounded dozens more (NY Times, 2/26), highlights how, as the U.S. ruling class grows weaker, direct war between the imperialists becomes more and more likely.
This latest bombing, like all the wars between the capitalists, was an example of workers killing workers. The bosses continually pit us against our sisters and brothers in the working class. The bosses use racism and nationalism to turn us against each other. Workers in one country are ordered to kill workers in another. Whether we live in the U.S., Iran, Syria or anywhere else, we have to reject siding with any bosses. Our task is to build internationalism among the workers of the world as one class united. The future for the working class lies in turning the bosses' war into a class war against the bosses for communist revolution and building a society that serves the needs of the international working class.
U.S. bosses are no longer calling the shots in the Middle East
Biden dropped the bombs out of weakness. Over the last 10 years the U.S. has been losing in the Middle East. The U.S. military was forced out of Iraq and is on the verge of leaving Afghanistan, which would give the Taliban nearly complete control of that country. Then, just this week, Biden declared the U.S. was not in a position to punish Saudi Arabian ruler Prince Mohammed bin Salman for killing the U.S. reporter Jamal Khashoggi, who was dismembered on the orders of the Prince (The Hill, 2/27).
Biden and company are trying to portray themselves as somehow being in control of the back and forth between the U.S. war machine and the Iranian backed militias. Nothing could be further from the truth. The U.S. bosses have no more ability to control the tides of war rumbling across the globe than they could control the spread of Covid-19. Capitalism can only go from crisis and war to crisis and war leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
Volatility in the Middle East increases as U.S. bosses position weakens
For the last 60 years, since the 1958 Marine invasion of Lebanon, post World War II (WWII) U.S. ruling class strategy has revolved around military control of the Middle East. For the last 30 years the U.S. has been in almost continual war in Iraq and going on 20 years now in Afghanistan, wars the U.S. bosses have lost (Brooking Institute, 7/27/20). In this period the U.S. ruling class has gone from a growing dominant imperialist power to a declining empire being challenged in every corner of the globe it once dominated.
Prior to losing in Iraq and Afghanistan the U.S. bosses, backed by their gigantic military, controlled the region. That is no longer the situation and has created a free for all between the various ruling classes trying to take control. The increasing volatility driven by the decline of the U.S. empire and the rise of competing capitalists has created an extremely unpredictable and volatile situation.
As the U.S. ruling class has weakened, Iran and Russia are asserting themselves across the Middle East. Biden is faced with trying to reinstall U.S. power. This latest rain of death was the U.S. bosses trying to contain the Iranian bosses who have taken advantage of the U.S. defeat in Iraq to become the largest power there, with Turkey and Syria also vying for control (Middle East Institute, 3/12/20).
Specifics are unpredictable, big picture is clear
The specifics of how all this will play out are hard to predict. The U.S. ruling class is being challenged by Russia and Iran in the Middle East and by China in virtually every other corner of the globe, including Latin America, the U.S. bosses’ backyard. Other ruling classes, like Turkey, seeing the upheaval are taking their own shots at asserting power. That’s a lot of bombs and tanks and fighter jets scrambling to grab pieces of the world.
What is clear is that big wars are on the horizon and the bosses of all these countries are planning to use the working class to fight and die in them. World War I (WWI) and WWII were both driven by the desperation of capitalism in crisis (Internationalism). Millions of workers were killed by the bosses' bombs. At the same time the communist movement united workers in the midst of capitalist war and when the smoke cleared the working class had fought to victory for our class. In Russia during WWI and in China during WWII the working class under the leadership of the communist movement built internationalism and turned the bosses' wars into revolution for workers power. Our hope for the future depends on building the PLP and the communist movement today
