>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: "International"<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >THE RETURN OF THE PIRATES >By Brian Becker and Sarah Sloan > >Just imagine this scenario fifteen years ago: Masked U.S. commandos, >armed with machine guns, descending down rope ladders from attack >helicopters and seizing control of a Soviet vessel on the high seas. >Such a scene was the thing for movie buffs, James Bond techno-spy >flicks and Tom Clancy novels. > >Fifteen years ago, the Pentagon would be well aware that boarding >and seizing a Soviet vessel on the high seas could lead to a major >world confrontation. The Soviet Union, under the leadership of the >Communist Party, would likely have put the country onto a military >alert, even possibly a nuclear alert, in response to such a U.S. >provocation. > >But the Soviet Union has now collapsed. The socialist government >has been replaced by a U.S.-supported regime of bankers and >emerging capitalists. Today, Russia has been reduced to a semi- >colonial status and the images once relegated to fantasy spy movies >have become the reality. > >On Wednesday, February 2, U.S. SEAL commandos seized control >of a Russian oil tanker in the Persian/Arabian Gulf. These >commandos came from the guided missile cruiser USS Monterey. >The machine gun toting masked U.S. commandos did indeed drop >from rope ladders onto the deck of the Volga-Neft-147. > >The U.S. Navy commandeered the vessel to a port in Oman and >under instructions from the United States are draining the tanker of its >4,000 tons of oil and other refined petroleum products. This now >pirated oil will be sold and the revenues will be used, according to >U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen, to pay for the costs of U.S. >Navy and air force surveillance in the Persian/Arabian Gulf. > >What possible legal justification does the United States inveigh to seize >Russian ships? The U.S. asserts that the Russian tanker was being >used to transport oil from Iraq. > >"The president made very clear we're going to vigorously enforce the >sanctions [on Iraq]," said David Leavy, spokesperson for the White >House National Security Council. "It is a top priority to us to continue >to deny smuggling opportunities to the Iraqi regime." > >According to U.S. officials, the U.S. Navy prevented at least five >ships from other countries carrying cargo to Iraq. Since the U.S. and >Britain forced the United Nations to impose economic sanctions on >Iraq a decade ago, the Pentagon and British naval forces have >boarded over 12,000 ships from other countries that were passing >through the Persian/Arabian Gulf. > >IMPACT OF THE COLLAPSE OF USSR > >The United States has reverted to the use of economic sanctions, as a >weapon of choice, against developing countries that do not follow the >political and economic dictates of the Washington and Wall Street >establishment. Iraq is just one of many countries that have been >subjected to this form of economic warfare. > >The human consequences of sanctions are staggering. According to >the United Nations own statistics, more than a million Iraqis have >perished from disease, malnutrition and hunger-related illnesses since >sanctions were imposed in 1990. > >Sanctions could not be maintained without the presence of U.S. and >British military forces. United States taxpayers cough up $50 billion >per year to finance the military operations in the Persian/Arabian Gulf >alone. Tens of thousands of U.S. troops, war ships, carrier groups >and military aircraft are stationed in the Gulf to enforce sanctions. > >The strategy of economic sanctions has existed for many years. >Cuba, for instance, has been sanctioned since 1961 with an economic >blockade. > >But as long as the Soviet Union and the socialist governments existed >as a global economic and military bloc, the impact of sanctions were >significantly mitigated. If imperialism cut off trade and commerce, >there was another economic system with which to trade and from >which aid and assistance could be received. > >Cuba, again, is a good example of how the impact of imperialist >economic sanctions were offset. In spite of the U.S. blockade, >Cuba's socialist government was able to provide the working class >with a relatively affluent (by Latin American standards) quality of life. >Workers were guaranteed a job. Housing was affordable. Health >care and child care were universal and free. Cuba was isolated from >the United States but integrated into the global socialist economic bloc. > >NEW EFFECTIVENESS OF SANCTIONS IN 1990s > >During the years between World War II and 1990, more than two- >fifths of the world's population lived in countries that had socialist >governments. These countries were admittedly poorer than the >handful of imperialist countries like the United States, Britain, France, >Germany, Italy and Japan. In fact, they were using the methods of >socialist planning to try to catch up with the advanced capitalist >countries. > >In spite of its economic backwardness, not to mention its political >problems, the existence of a socialist camp provided breathing space >for all the developing countries. Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Iran, >Syria and other countries in the Middle East had extensive diplomatic, >economic and military relationships with the USSR and the other >socialist governments. > >Today, each of these countries--not only in the Middle East, but >throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe--can be >isolated by imperialism and subjected to economic strangulation >coupled with CIA subversion and military attacks. > >It was the existence of the socialist camp, led by the USSR, that >provided a global shield under which colonized peoples could more >successfully struggle for national independence and begin the process >of economic development. > >How ironic it is that the pro-capitalist Russian government of Vladimir >Putin, that wants to demonstrate its "toughness" against Chechen >guerillas, has allowed the seizure of the Russian oil tanker with only the >issuance of a verbal protest. > >Having embarked on its campaign to be integrated into the world >capitalist economy, with its attendant IMF and World Bank loans, the >new Russian government is prostrate before the piracy of U.S. >imperialism. > >People in the United States must build a movement against U.S. >colonial-style domination over much of the earth. When the U.S. >government seizes the vessels of other countries on the high seas, >when it routinely bombs the Iraqi people and murders their children >with economic sanctions, it acts only on behalf of U.S. oil monopolies >and banks. People in the United States must counter this new >colonialism by building a militant movement against imperialism. > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
