ON THE CAUCASUS WAR

Communicate from the Communist Platform of Italy

Recent events in the Caucasus and questions posed by the war between Georgia, allied of the USA, and Russia, demands to take a clear position.

First of all we must be conscious of the reactionary and imperialist nature of this war. This is a war for the distribution of influence zones and the resources (the oil reserve of the Caspian Sea, the second ones after Persian Gulf’s reserves): This war, incubated since years, is the continuation by other means of the politics of the great foreign powers and the internal struggle of its dominating classes.

Particularly for the USA this is the continuation of its politic of enclosing and isolation of Russia, the control of the energetic resources and the transport channels in a region midway between Europe and Asia.

North-American imperialism uses its military, politic and economic weight in the struggle for the sharing of the zone in its favor. It wants to affirm its domination in the region, reinforce its military presence and maintain its world supremacy by weakening its imperialist competitors which depends on the oil and the gas.

The free way to the Georgian offensive, is in fact one more act of the “infinite war”, after the Iraq and Afghanistan ones; a war promoted by the interest of the military-industrial complex and the oil monopoles, supported by Zionism.

As for Putin and Medvedev, after having economically reinforced themselves, they try to break the barrier raised by their competitors, reestablishing their influence on the energetic resources from which they had been expelled. Without any doubts, with the military strike-back in Georgia and the recognition of Abjazia and South Ossetia, they have reinforced their position in the zone.

We are witnessing an inter-imperialist conflict, independently on who has initiated the armed aggression (in this case the Georgian marionette Saakashvili); the roots of this conflict have their origin in the politic followed by the great foreign powers since the collapse of the soviet revisionism until now.

The theories from who defends the purely “defensive” nature of the Russian imperialism in order to safeguard its threatened interests in its borders are wrong. This is a position which is typical from the opportunists. The “defensive” nature of the Russian military action is not what Lenin indicated, because Russia is not an oppressed state, which is deprived of its rights, struggling against a greater power, so it cannot be defended in any way.

Russia is an imperialist country which is preparing, with all the means it got (which are not different from the ones of its North-American, European and Asiatic imperialist rivals) for conflicts of greater dimension. The action of the Russian bourgeoisie has got no progressive nature.

At the same time it is necessary to remind that between the USA and the others foreign powers like Russia, Germany, France, Japan, China, Italy, etc, are differences of strength, of military capacity, of political positions, etc, etc, but not of quality. They are no countries “less imperialists” tan others.

The conflict in the Caucasus is comprehended into the tendency of the imperialist war, of the new distribution of the world, that characterize the last decades as the consequence of the imbalance created by the collapse of the revisionist USSR.

In order to get out of the economic and financial crisis, which is getting deeper, the imperialism resorts more and more frequently to war. At the same time, the conflict in the Caucasus stresses the rivalry and the contradictions between foreign imperialist powers, creating the conditions for bigger conflicts.

The second aspect that must be underlined, is the question of the auto determination of the nations that have nothing to see with the real motivation of the war, which is a war of the oppressors of the most of the nations in the world for the reinforcement and extension of their oppression. The bourgeoisie is trying to hide its eagerness for pillage with lies about the “liberty and the national independence” of this or that nation. What they really want is to oppress the nationality and not to liberate it. The USA and Russia do not fight for the auto determination of the peoples of the region, but to oppress them and include them into their respective strategic areas, yet as a military force, yet as instruments of diplomatic and political-economical pressure.

The imperialism is oppression for the peoples that suffer also the political tyranny of the corrupt regimes that governs them. The peoples of the region are all victims of the imperialist domination that suffocates them, their liberty, their sovereignty, their culture and their right for life and peace.

To recognize the right for the auto determination of the peoples of Abjazia and South Ossetia, is fair; but no political support can be given, from a communist and internationalist point of view, to the national bourgeoisies that want to take refuge under the “protective” shelter of Putin’s Russia, who cynically pretend to tutelary the army and the peoples.

In this case, this is not about a fight for conquering the national independence from al the imperialist states. If it would be like that, we communists should give them all our political support; but today, any nationality from the Caucasus that choose to take shelter into any of these imperialist powers fighting against the others, will be dependent of this power and become a protectorate, as in the case of Kosovo. At the same time we have to unmask the positions in favor of the “territorial integrity of Georgia”, supported by who has favored with all means the disintegration of Yugoslavia and Iraq!

At last, we must signal that there have been many manifestations of contradictions into the occidental field, particularly between the USA, in an offensive strategy, and the EU searching for an agreement, in spite of being in the same field, with the NATO. Particularly the Italian bourgeoisie, in a position of weakness, has shown herself as very worried by allying with the French and German positions. It is clear that the government of Berlusconi is trying to have its feet in two shoes: into the NATO and as a friendly client of Russia who with he does not want to have antagonism… It will be difficult to maintain this balance in when the NATO will spread in the Caucasus, the anti-missile shield will become a reality and the conflict will extend to Ukraine, Moldavia, etc.

In this sense the reactionary and military forces, connected to the USA and the Vatican (well represented in the Democratic Party) are working on a bigger alignment and subordination with the NATO, and they are taking the opportunity to deviate the attention from the growing dissatisfaction inside the country and to break the resistance mass movement.

We call for mobilization! We must not allow our country to be an accessory of the raise to a war which is opposite to the interests of workers and peoples! We refuse to pay the price of the military adventure of the bourgeoisie!

Stop the “infinite war” for oil! USA, Israel and NATO out of the Caucasus! No the expansion of the NATO and to the anti-missile shield! No to Russia’s imperialist and chauvinist voracity! Out of the NATO and the EU! North-American bases out of out of our territory! No to the raise of the military expenses in detriment of social expenses and salaries! Next to the peoples in fight against imperialism!

Let’s conquer a better society, without exploitation, misery nor oppression and pillage wars! For socialism!

¡Let’s rebuilt the Communist Party!

August 2008

PIATTAFORMA COMUNISTA

Read More »

Capital Once Again Sets the Caucasus on Fire

Madrid, August of 2008
Communist Party of Spain (Marxist-Leninist)
Secretariat of the Central Committee

Once again the Caucasus region has become a scene of confrontation between great powers.

On repeated occasions, our Party has referred to the attempt of Yankee imperialism to tighten the net around Russia: the recently concluded agreement with Poland and the Czech Republic to establish an anti-missile shield in the area, as well as the attempts, so far unsuccessful, to integrate Ukraine and Georgia into NATO, were clear examples of this.

On this occasion, with at least the consent of the U.S., their Georgian ally, the Mafioso Mikhail Saakashvili, set out to massacre the population of South Ossetia (which is in favor of joining Russia), an attack that was also a warning to the equally rebellious region of Abkhazia. The Russian response, in defense of both its peacekeeping troops that were stationed there as well as of its citizens in Ossetia, was not long in coming and was more forceful than expected, leading to the destruction of key military installations in different cities of Georgia, in a harsh counter-offensive.

Naturally, contradictory reports were put out by both sides, regarding both attacks against the civilian population and non-military infrastructure, as well as the use of prohibited weapons. However, we must emphasize the shameful role of the Western press, which has brazenly supported Washington’s version, gradually developed by the U.S., systematically hiding the responsibility of Georgia in beginning the conflict and exceeding even the position of the leaders of the EU, who quickly but in a “friendly” manner have worked to obtain an agreement among the opposing parties, conscious of what they were risking.

The aggression has concluded, for the moment, in a draw, in which the U.S. (with the support of France and the United Kingdom) is trying to go back on the agreements for the cease fire, while the Russians have suspended their collaboration with NATO, increased the area controlled by their troops in Georgia and opened the “Pandora’s box” of the future status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. With the blocking of any possible solution in the UN, the immediate result of Saakashvili’s adventure will therefore be a precarious equilibrium, filled with uncertainties about the future of his country and, of course, of its population.

However, the key point of the clash is not just political. As Medvedev stated, “we will never let anyone kill our citizens, soldiers and peacekeeping officers unpunished. Russia has economic, political and military options for that.” In effect, with its response Russia has expressed more than its anger at Western policies in Kosovo, or at the expansion of NATO. Russia has shown that it is in a position to begin to recover its influence and to intervene effectively in the shaping of international politics, on the three fronts mentioned.

It is clear that this was a political and diplomatic victory of Moscow over Washington: it has "bruised" the Georgian Mafioso ally of the U.S.; it has opened the door to the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia under its tutelage, before the entrance of Georgia into NATO; and it has paid the U.S. back with interest for the slap in the face it received in Kosovo, leaving Bush without arguments against the future independence of those two regions. As for the EU, the division of opinions that already occurred at the Bucharest Summit regarding Russia has been consolidated. Although the United Kingdom, France the Baltic Republics and Poland are aligned with the U.S., Condoleezza Rice could not impose U.S. authority at the extraordinary meeting of the NATO Council, called on August 19 at the demand of the U.S., to “put Russia in its place”. The Alliance did not accept Bush’s proposal to reduce its links with Russia, nor was it willing to accelerate the incorporation of Georgia, which is the goal the U.S. is seeking as a result of the conflict.

On the military level, the clash in Georgia can be related to the struggle that the U.S. and Russia are maintaining, with the clear predominance of the former, but in which Russia is preparing to advance its positions: besides its military collaboration with Byelorussia, Moscow is trying to renew its military presence in Cuba, as was announced just a few days before the Georgian attack against South Ossetia; with this, the Russians “moved their piece” under the pressure of the U.S. deploying its missile shield in Poland; their Foreign Minister also stated that “we will have to react, and not only with diplomatic protests”. The demonstration of force in Georgia faced with Saakashvili’s aggression can therefore be a warning of what Russia will not tolerate in the future.

But the touchstone, the unifying element of all these contradictions is undoubtedly the economic one. The resolution with which Russia has faced the crisis, going way beyond assuring its Ossetian citizens, has the same profound causes as the attitude of Washington’s European allies: economic interests. Russia, which is extending its economic influence around the world thanks to trade agreements and investments, makes up a third of its Gross Internal Product with its profits from oil and gas, which are primarily purchased by the European Union. In fact, the commercial trade between Russia and the EU is some seven greater times than that between Russia and the U.S. These figures explain the relative coolness with which the Europeans and the Russians have carried on their relations in the last weeks, above all within NATO in relation to the U.S. Besides, the Europeans should look favorably on the fall of an element such as Saakashvili, who is not very good for their business; and, with him, the loss of influence of the U.S. in the Caucasus, which complicates the relations between Russia and the EU.

However, the strategic importance of Russia for the transport of hydrocarbons, both their own as well as those from the Caspian region, has diminished since the opening in 2005 of the BTC [Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan] oil pipeline, that connects Azerbaijan with Turkey, passing through Georgia. Currently, besides, countries such as Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and probably Uzbekistan are trying to escape from the dependence on Russia’s gas lines, leaning toward Turkey (via Armenia), a country that is trying to put an end to Gazprom’s status as the only buyer of Central Asian gas, with the approval of Israel. Without a doubt, the deepening of the instability in Georgia contributes to making the transport of hydrocarbons through the BTC less attractive, and serves to show the EU (and its oil companies and the BTC stockholders) that their best option is Russia. As Konstantin Simonov, General Director of Russia’s National Energy Security Fund, stated: “this situation increases the attractiveness of the Russian routes of supplying energy resources to Europe”. Thus the war in Georgia would have as a result, whether consciously or not, of definitively dissuading Europe from using the corridor from the Caspian Sea and Central Asia via Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia. Moreover, the Russian demonstration can serve as a “warning for seafarers”, directed at the other former Soviet republics of the region to maintain their economic and political links with Moscow, after years of Yankee penetration.

Finally, without forgetting that the origin of the conflict was the aggression by the Georgian chauvinist State, backed by the U.S., we cannot forget that at the base of the problem are the inter-capitalist contradictions, the fight for access to and control of strategic regions for the extraction and transport of hydrocarbons. And that is the fundamental reason not only for the pressure and the aggressiveness of the U.S. and its main allies against Russia, but also of the latter’s efforts to respond to the attacks and to build new alliances.

For the Self-Determination of the Peoples and Against Capitalist Looting

Imperialists Out of the Caucasus!

Read More »

Stop the Imperialist Escalation in the Caucasus

Communiqué of the Communist Party of the Workers of France (PCOF)

For several days, the situation in the Caucasus is again becoming dangerously inflamed.

Pushed by the US imperialism, the Georgian reactionary regime began the hostilities with a military operation whose stated goal was to retake control of the "separatist" territory of South Ossetia supported by Moscow. The Russia of Medvedev and of Putin responded with a military counter-offensive of great scope. The bombs of the two camps have fallen on the civil population in South Ossetia, but also in Abkhazia and various towns of Georgia, leading to many casualties and hundreds of thousands of refugees.
This is not a "thunderbolt in a cloudless sky," but the result of a long escalation that has as a backdrop the struggles between the great imperialist powers for control of a region rich in hydrocarbons. Georgia represents for the Caucasus what Afghanistan represents to the Middle East: a transit zone to transport Azerbaijani oil from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea. As most of the former republics of the south of the Soviet Union, it is the instrument of a policy of destabilization used by US imperialism against Russia. This policy, which has already set fire and sword on the Balkans, took a more and more aggressive and provocative turn with the installation of the infamous "anti-missiles shield" in Eastern Europe and the pressures to accelerate the integration of Georgia into NATO.
Let us not be deceived; just as with Kosovo, it is not a matter of the United States and its allies defending democracy and the rights of peoples to run their own affairs! At the bottom of the energy crisis and the economic recession, it is a matter of a war of imperialist redivision! The violence of the Russian response, called "disproportionate" by the Western powers, is a sign by Moscow of limits that it will not allow anyone to overstep.
Sarkozy and his Minister of Foreign Affairs have gone to play mediators in the name of the 27 countries of the European Union. If the positions of the governments of the EU are far from being unified, it is become some do not want an open conflict with Russia, nor a too unstable situation, where they would be on the front line.
Our Party denounces this war between two reactionary camps, of which the peoples of the Caucasus are paying the price.
This confirms, if it was need, the danger of the "Atlantist" policy developed by Sarkozy. This policy, which was recently shown by a reinforcement of the French presence in Afghanistan - in response to Bush's expectation - and by the reintegration of France into all the structures of NATO, is a aggressive and warmongering policy.
Stop the imperialist provocations! Stop the bombardments!
Work to reinforce the international solidarity of the peoples in their struggles against the imperialist warmakers!

Paris, August 12, 2008

Read More »

Statement of The Party of Labour of Iran (Toufan) about the USA's Plans on the Middle East

Stop the War!
No Sanctions, No Bombs Against Iran!
March 17, 2007

The US has, directly after its occupation of Iraq, been building up several military bases close to the Iranian border.

The US has made repeated demands on the Iranian government to accommodate to US policies concerning the "new American order". Replacement of the regimes in Iraq, North Korea and Iran is, and has been, part of the Bush doctrine. Right now, as the US has failed in Iraq, its war-mongering against Iran is on the increase. The US has now dispatched two aircraft carriers to the Gulf of Persia and placed 50 warships just off the Iranian coast. The US accuses Iran of possessing nuclear arms or of aiming at producing them. This is the hysterical US propaganda against Iran, in spite of the fact that all inspectors have declared that Iran has got no nuclear arms; those statements, however, don’t suffice for G.W. Bush. According to what the US dictates, independent nations have no right to develop peaceful nuclear power for civil use. The US dictate does not concern Israel, which is a nuclear power in the Middle East. Nor does it apply to Pakistan, or India, et al. What is being said,!
is that the Tehran regime must obey the US on the Palestine/Israel conflict; must not oppose US policies in the Persian Gulf on matters concerning oil; must accommodate entirely to the IMF and the World Bank, etc. In short, Iran must unconditionally align itself with the US in the rivalry of the latter with the EU, Japan, and China. Can this be realized without any military intervention? Yes, that alternative might be possible. The capitalist clergy regime in Tehran has the character of selling out to the US for the sake of power. All factions within the Tehran regime have shown marked tendencies of compromise with the US. Examples of this are that the Islamic regime, during bombardments of Iraq and Afghanistan, has been collaborating with "the alliance Britain-US" and, according to its own statement, "the US wouldn’t succeed in Iraq and Afghanistan without help from Iran".

Iran was one of the first states to recognize the stooge regime in Baghdad. The Tehran regime has from the very beginning been acting against the resistance movement in Iraq, and has been close to the US line, while yet being accused of responsibility for the US failure in Iraq.

An invasion of Iran is, given the situation of huge US problems in Iraq and internationally, unlikely to occur. Nevertheless, the war-mongering is dangerously similar to the war-mongering that preceded the invasion of Iraq. If it is not possible, in the end, to change the Iranian regime in favour of US desires, it might finally lead to a military action against Iran. The US doesn’t care about the form or medieval character of the Iranian regime. History has shown that the US may collaborate with any kind of Satan to realize its aims and goals. Decisive to the Bush administration is that Iran chooses a pro-US line like Kuwait, Bahrain, Turkey, Qatar et al. The possible intrusion of US imperialism into Iran is of the same nature as its intrusion into Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and other countries, and must be condemned. The US has its imperialist political, economical and strategic interests, and no thinking person should believe that US meddling into Iranian affairs has !
anything to do with democracy, freedom or justice. That is nothing but sheer imperialist propaganda. The people of Iran can, by its own might, overthrow the reactionary theocratic regime and build a free and democratic society without the "aid" of imperialism. Iranians are never going to forget the 1953 event, when Prime Minister Mosadegh was overthrown by a joint US-British action following his nationalization of the oil industry. The Shah was reinstated, oppression and terror became everyday features, and the democracy movement was drowned in blood. One should not be blinded by the terror regime in Iran to forget about the colonial and barbaric aims of US imperialism.

US Out of Iraq Immediately and Unconditionally!
No Sanctions, No Bombs Against Iran!

The Party of Labour of Iran (Toufan)
www.Toufan.org

March, 2007

Read More »

ICMLPO: Resolution on the Situation in the Middle East

* This article translated in Greek is available on issue 243 of Anasintaxi.

The International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO), meeting in Brazil, at its XIIth Plenary Session, has examined the situation in the Middle East. In the first place, the participants greet the International Conference of Solidarity with the People of Lebanon and other peoples of the region, a conference which is held in Lebanon.

The ICMLPO has particularly examined the following points:

1. U.S. imperialism which, together with its English ally, has been occupying Iraq since 2003, is continuing to massacre the civilian populations, is practicing torture on a grand scale, is murdering, imprisoning, and forcing into exile the Iraqi elites, promoting communal and ethnic rivalries to divide the country, is sinking the popular masses into misery and ignorance, and is systematically looting the oil wealth of the country. Faced with this imperialist barbarism, the Iraqi people, counting on the solidarity and sympathy of the workers, peoples, revolutionaries and progressive people of the world, is waging a tenacious armed resistance that has dealt the occupiers political and military disasters, to the extent that it has been forced to speak of a "new Vietnam", while seeking a way out of the Iraqi hell.

2. The Zionist State of Israel, with the blatant support of U.S. imperialism and the European imperialists, as well as with the tacit or open collaboration of the reactionary Arab states, is continuing to massacre the Palestinian people in Gaza and in the West bank, creating a famine by blocking the arrival of international aid, is murdering, kidnapping and imprisoning its leaders, destroying their homes and infrastructure, expelling thousands of families, "Judaizing" their land and places of worship to subject this martyred people and impose on them the imperialist-Zionist plans that deny them their national rights.

In reaction to these policies of extermination, the Palestinian people are continuing their resistance and struggle to recover their land, to achieve their independence and to build a future with dignity, peace, democracy and progress. The Palestinian cause demands the ever increasing support of the peoples and the freedom-loving forces.

3. Last summer, the Zionist State, with the direct support of the Bush government and the majority of the governments of the European Union and the collaboration of the reactionary Arab states, declared a savage war against Lebanon. Entire towns were destroyed, civilian populations were massacred or forced into exile. The majority of the economic and civilian infrastructure was destroyed. In that aggression, prohibited weapons were used. The brave Lebanese people and their armed resistance, counting on the solidarity and sympathy of the peoples and the anti-imperialist forces of the world, inflicted a defeat on the Zionist army that has restored confidence to the Arab peoples of the whole region in their potential and their ability to win.

4. Since 2001, Afghanistan has been under the military occupation of the U.S. imperialists and their allies. This occupation has brought chaos, lack of security and misery to the country. The armies of occupation do not bother to conceal the massacres that they are committing in the name of the "war on terrorism". The Afghan people are continually showing their rejection of the occupation. The armed resistance is developing and intensifying from day to day to expel the occupying forces. U.S. imperialism and its allies have been threatening Iran and Syria for months, in order to subject those countries to their imperialist dictates.

The ICMLPO, in consideration of all these facts, energetically condemns the imperialist actions against the Arab peoples and the peoples of the Middle East in general.

It denounces the hypocritical nature of the pretexts invoked to justify themselves, such as the "war on terrorism" or the "proliferation of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction", the "defense of democracy and human rights", etc.., and condemns the racist, hateful and ideological cover for those wars and aggressions, as if these were a "clash of civilizations" or a "war between religions".

It points out that the real objectives of U.S. imperialism and its European and Zionist allies, are nothing more than to install their total domination in this strategic area rich in petroleum. The goal of the Bush government is to create a "Great Middle East" and a "New Middle East" in order to establish domination of the region.

It reiterates its support to the peoples of the Middle East and the armed resistance which are confronting the imperialist and Zionist aggressors. The ICMLPO considers that the struggle of these peoples is an integral part of the struggle of the workers and peoples against imperialism. The result of these struggles directly concerns the peoples, because every weakening of imperialism, headed by U.S. imperialism, reinforces the struggle in ones own country and internationally. Thus, the Arab peoples and the peoples of the region in question should not mistake the nature of their struggle, which is not religious or racial, but anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist. The workers and peoples of the other countries are their allies, regardless of their religion, race or culture, even in the aggressor countries, where thousands and thousands have come out into the street to protest against the imperialist war.

The ICMLPO calls on the workers, peoples, progressives and revolutionaries of the world, to support ever more actively the struggle of the peoples of the Middle East for their national independence. The workers of the imperialist countries have the duty to fight against their governments and to demand the withdrawal of their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to withdraw their support from the Zionist, racist and criminal State of Israel.

The ICMLPO also supports every international attempt to put an end to the impunity of the assassins of the peoples and to demand that the imperialist and Zionist leaders be judged for crimes against humanity committed in Iraq, Palestinian, Lebanon and Afghanistan.

Brazil, November of 2006

International conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations

Revolutionary C.P. of Brazil (PCR)
C.P. of Chile Proletarian Action (PC-AP)
C.P. of Colombia (Marxist-Leninist)
C.P. of the Workers of Denmark (APK)
Communist Party of Labor of the Dominican Republic
Marxist-Leninist C.P. Ecuador
C.P. of the Workers of France (PCOF)
Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
Party of Labor of Iran – Toufan
C.P. of Mexico (Marxist-Leninist)
C.P. of Spain (Marxist-Leninist)
C.P. of the Workers of Tunisia
Revolutionary C.P. of Turkey (TDKP)
Revolutionary C.P. of Volta

Read More »