At 09:04 18/04/00 +0000, you wrote:
>Chris wrote:
> > I think it is more an attempt to forge a special relationship with
> Blair in
> > which they are using each other. Putin is a creature created by the
> > oligarch media owners in Russia. He has been well advised by media
> > specialists about how to manage his image. They have clearly liaised
> > closely with Alistair Campbell, Blair's expert spin doctor, in
> > orchestrating the visit by Tony and Cheryl last month to meet the Putin's
> > at a special performance of "War and Peace".
> >
> > Blair has always sought to use personal charm and dynamism to help Britain
> > punch above its weight. He now seeks to present himself as an intermediary
> > between Putin and Clinton, especially on the strategic arms limitation
> > negotiations,
>
>Surely this is to reduce political analysis to clever tricks with
>smoke and mirrors. That it is all a matter of individual
>personalities and internal propaganda advantage. This might be
>interesting comment for the bourgeois press (and their largely
>proletarian and middle class readership) but surely Marxists should
>aim for a little more indepth analysis of the real underlying
>factors for a possible (historic) alliance between Russia and
>Britain, beyond the photo-oportunities with smart suits and
>fashionable wives.
>
>In my view the real important factor appear in your later brief
>paragraph:
> > The press release also refers to financial talks between Britain and
> > Russia, designed of course for Britain to get some tactical advantage
> > relative to German and French capitalism in Russia.
>
>We'll wait and see which is the more important...
>Regards, John
The economic base, yes, is ultimately the determining factor. The economic
basis of solidarity between Blair and Putin is capitalist profit.
But what I describe is more than smoke and mirrors. It is inherent in the
contradiction of state power that the executive committee of the
bourgeoisie has simultaneously both...
1) to appear to stand above classes impartially.
2) to ultimately rule in the interests of the dominant class.
Sophisticated management of modern media is what Blair and Putin have in
common.
Their economic base is also ultimately the same: not small capital, not
even middle sized capital, not industrial capital, and not speculative
capital. It is finance capital at its weightiest and most rational.
They have a natural alliance beyond the closeness of their age.
Note also how Putin is a charmer and a dealer: He has just signed an
agreement with Kuchma of the Ukraine (shortly after Kuchma makes his bid
for greatly enhanced powers) to cooperate in arms manufacture and in
nuclear reactors. Putin has also done a pluralist deal with the Russian
communists. That party has just had its nominee confirmed as speaker of the
Duma. Putin appeals to the nostalgia for the strenght of the old regime. He
is forging alliances that could open the door for the reconstitution of the
USSR (in the service of finance capital).
More than smoke and mirrors. Damn clever footwork in the service of the
powers that be, finance capital.
Chris Burford
London
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