SPECIAL DISPATCH

Zyriza rally in Athens. Tough times lie ahead for this party’s members since the forces of global imperialism are surely plotting ways to derail and defeat this unexpected leftist aperture. (via Adolfo Lujan, flickr)

By Michael Faulkner

[dropcap]The article[/dropcap] that follows was written just before the news broke of the murderous assault on the offices of the Parisian satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo by Islamist terrorists. It is hoped that this column will be able to return to that event and consider its consequences and wider significance in the next posting of TPJ Magazine.

 Any claim to express a view “from the left” is not as straightforward as it may appear. What is to be understood by ‘the left’? According to the tenets of the mainstream media in Britain, “the left” encompasses the Labour Party, some representatives of liberal opinion and possibly sections of the trade union movement. Anyone and anything beyond those boundaries is usually referred to pejoratively as belonging to the ‘far left’ or the ‘hard left’, terms intended to convey a sense of being outside the realm of ‘normal’ democratic discourse and not really to be taken seriously. Except, that is, if ‘the far left’ starts winning widespread support in which case they are deemed to pose a threat to democracy. For example, it is becoming increasingly common for much of the mainstream media in Europe to treat the leftist opposition party, Syriza, which at the time of writing looks likely to win the upcoming national election in Greece, in this way.  For the conservative, liberal and social democratic mainstream in Britain and continental Europe it is axiomatic that parties and movements of the left that reject the neo-liberal capitalist system and work for its replacement by a fundamentally different system, are at best woolly-headed dreamers and at worst, especially if they look likely to be voted into power, a dangerous threat that must be defeated at all costs. This is the way that the ‘Troika’ of the European Central Bank, the European Union and the IMF, together with all the governments of the EU are gearing up to stop Syriza from winning a democratic election.

The defenders of the “austerity” status quo that has driven the people of countries such as Greece and Spain to levels of unemployment and impoverishment not experienced since the end of the Second World War claim that the continuation of such draconian measures is the only way to economic recovery. This calls to mind the often quoted comment sometimes attributed to Einstein, that the definition of true insanity is doing the same thing over and over again with the same result, but expecting a different one. It might have been expected that the financial crash of 2008, followed by the longest recession since the 1930s might have resulted in the abandonment of the disastrous neoliberal economic policies that had been largely responsible for precipitating the crisis in the first place. Critical economists such as Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz, from a standpoint situated solidly within the Keynesian tradition of social democracy, argued persuasively against austerity as a way out of recession and postulated an alternative course to economic recovery and greater social equality. They have been totally ignored by the political elites who have chosen instead to press on with the neoliberal agenda that has so signally failed to produce the kind of recovery its practitioners promised it would.

The British celebrity and anarchist, Russell Brand, is quoted in the commercial promotion for his book Revolution as saying that “those who think that the system works, work for the system.” Making allowances for the hyperbole, there is a serious point here. The “view from the left” that will inform what follows starts with the premise that there will be no long term solution to the political, economic and environmental problems confronting the world’s peoples as we enter 2015, unless and until the dominant global system of finance monopoly capitalism is brought to an end. While it does not follow that every crisis and every conflict in the world can be directly linked to monopoly capitalist globalisation, it is the case that growing poverty, intensifying inequalities, escalating religious and ethnic conflicts, economic super-exploitation of third world peoples and ecological despoliation are all ultimately consequences of imperialism and trans-national corporate capitalism. Either this system is ended and consigned to history, or it will destroy the planet. It is not good enough to say that “mankind”, or “humankind” may destroy the planet. It is the prevailing dysfunctional economic system that threatens to do that and it is the responsibility of the peoples of the world to stop it from happening. From this radical left perspective we can make a few observations about some critical issues that have been smouldering for years and others that have reached a critical juncture more recently.

“Regardless what the system’s apologists may say, growing poverty, intensifying inequalities, escalating religious and ethnic conflicts, economic super-exploitation of third world peoples and ecological despoliation are all ultimately consequences of imperialism and trans-national corporate capitalism…”

The rise of Islamism since 1979

The Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 was a seminal event in the emergence of militant Islamist movements in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond.  The 1953 coup, backed by the CIA and Britain, overthrew the secular left-leaning nationalist government of Mohammed Mossadegh who had dared to nationalize the country’s British owned oil industry. This led to the 25 year long absolutist rule of the US-sponsored Shah, Reza Palavi, who restored the oil industry to US and British ownership.  The 1979 revolution unleashed a torrent of pent-up popular opposition to US imperialism, which, lacking a sufficiently strong leftist leadership, united behind the deeply reactionary theocratic populism of the Shia cleric Ayatollah Khomeini.  US support for Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) only intensified Iranian hostility to the United States.

The President of the Republic of Afghanistan, Dr. Mohammad Najibullah, during a visit to a factory. Najibullah, a tragic figure, like his fellow socialist modernizers, tried to bring Afghanistan into the 20th century, but the religious reactionaries, armed and supported by the US, China and Pakistan, turned the clock back and eventually created the Taliban. (Wikipedia)

The 1980s were the last decade of the Soviet Union and the European socialist states associated with it.  These were also the years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency. From 1979 -1989 the Soviet Union was engaged in a bitter war in Afghanistan in support of a secular leftist regime which lacked widespread popular support.
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The opposition to the Soviets was spearheaded by the Islamist Mujahedeen, financed and armed by the United States and China through Pakistan. This was the training ground for Osama Bin Laden and al Qaeda . The Mujahedeen, protégés of the US and its allies, were also the forerunners of today’s Taliban.  They took power in Afghanistan two years after the Soviets left.  A few years later, the Taliban, now in control, stamped their hallmark on Kabul by castrating the former leftist leader, Najibullah, and hanging him in the street.

I N S E T
AS IN GADDAFI’S CASE, WASHINGTON’S REACTIONARY MINIONS METED OUT A BRUTAL DEATH TO NAJIBULLAH. READ BELOW THE DETAILS ABOUT HIS FINAL DAYS AND MURDER AT THE HANDS OF WASHINGTON’S PROTEGÉS, THE MUJAHIDEEN.  

[learn_more caption=”Click on this bar for further details on Dr. Najibullah’s murder”]

Final years and death.  (Source: Wikipedia)
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During his 1992–96 refuge in the UN compound in Kabul, while waiting for the UN to negotiate his safe passage to India, Dr Najibullah engaged himself in translating Peter Hopkirk’s book The Great Game into his mother tongue Pashto.

[53] A few months before his execution by Taliban, he quoted, “Afghans keep making the same mistake,” reflecting upon his translation to a visitor.[54] When the Taliban were about to enter Kabul, Ahmad Shah Massoud twice offered Najibullah an opportunity to flee Kabul; although they were political enemies, Massoud had known Najibullah since childhood. Najibullah refused, believing the Taliban, Ghilzai Pashtuns like Najibullah, would spare his life and not harm him.

General Tokhi, who was with Dr. Najibullah until the day before his torture and execution, wrote that when three people came to both Dr. Najibullah and General Tokhi and asked them to come with them to flee Kabul, they rejected the offer. Najibullah was at the UN compound when the Taliban soldiers came for him on 27 September 1996. He was castrated[55] before the Taliban dragged him to death behind a truck in the streets. His blood-soaked body was hung from a traffic light, his mouth stuffed with Afghan banknotes, cigarettes replacing the fingers on his hands.[56] His brother Shahpur Ahmadzai was given the same treatment.[57] Najibullah and Ahmadzai’s bodies were hanged on public display to show the public that a new era had begun.

At first Najibullah and Ahmadzai were denied an Islamic funeral because of their “crimes”, but the bodies were later handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross who in turn sent their bodies to the Paktia province where both of them were given a proper funeral by their fellow Ahmadzai tribesmen.[57] There was widespread international condemnation,[58] particularly from the Muslim world.[57] The United Nations issued a statement which condemned the execution of Najibullah, and claimed that such a murder would further destabilise Afghanistan. The Taliban responded by issuing death sentences on Dostum, Massoud and Burhanuddin Rabbani.[57] India, which had been supporting Najibullah, strongly condemned his public execution and began to support Massoud’s United Front in an attempt to contain the rise of the Taliban.[59][/learn_more]

REGULAR ARTICLE TEXT RESUMES HERE

Thus, the United States, its Western allies and China all played a part in creating the Frankenstein’s monster of Sunni Islamist terrorism.  The latest incarnation of this monstrosity, ISIS, has outdone al Qaeda in the extremity of its barbarism. But the source of all these fascistic movements is the deeply reactionary Wahhabi brand of Sunni Islam emanating from the oil-rich Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia .

Now the chickens are coming home to roost in Afghanistan and the Middle East. 2015 is very likely to see the Taliban back in power in the former while ISIS continues to rampage over  parts of northern Syria and Iraq, burning, pillaging, and slaughtering its many unarmed  ethnic and heretical enemies with weapons supplied by the US and  surrendered by its incompetent protégés the Iraqi army.  Thus, they hope to establish the new Caliphate, replacing whatever seeds of modern enlightenment may have sprouted over past centuries, with the solace of unquestioning religious obedience; forward to the Dark Ages. If ISIS is to be defeated in Iraq and Syria it will not be by a renewed US and British military intervention in Iraq which is precisely what destroyed the country’s infrastructure and unleashed the ethnic conflicts in the first place. It can only be done by the  internal forces of those countries united in  non-sectarian popular movements opposed to both ISIS and other sectarian Islamist groups and to Western intervention. The creation of such popular forces should be the objective of all those in the Middle East and beyond determined to achieve genuine independence.

Greece

By the end of January 2015 a general election will have taken place in Greece. All the indications are that it will be won by Syriza, a radical left wing party that, since the onset of the economic crisis several years ago, has grown from very small beginnings to be the leading party in the country according to every opinion poll. It is now recognized by the prime minister, Antonis Samaras, that Syriza is likely to top the poll in the election and be in a position to form a government. Should this happen, it will be a sensational result. It will be the first time in Europe that a radical left, Marxist oriented party has won an election. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s the US and its allies did everything within their very considerable power to prevent Communist parties coming to power in elections in France and Italy. It was essential during the Cold War to perpetuate the myth that radical left wing parties were unelectable and could only achieve power through violence. Henry Kissinger notoriously said in the early 1970s, that if the people of Chile were foolish enough to elect a Marxist (Salvador Allende) to the presidency, they would have to take the consequences. They did and were made to pay the price with the coup of 9/11 1973 and the long dictatorship of General  Pinochet.

If Syriza wins this election it will be a cause for rejoicing, not only for working people in Greece, but throughout Europe. The party’s leader, Alexis Tsipras, is committed to repudiate the draconian conditions of the EU/IMF bail-out which have led to the impoverishment of three million Greeks and 25% unemployment .  If Syriza forms a government and stands firm on this commitment, the whole situation in Europe will change. For the first time the ruling elites will be thrown onto the defensive. There could be a knock-on effect throughout the year. In Spain, a similar movement, Podemos, also pledged to reject austerity, will receive a tremendous boost and, particularly in those countries in Western Europe such as Italy, Portugal and Ireland that have suffered most from the recession, the consequences could be profound.  The prospects for real change look more promising than they have for a long time.

The British Election

David Cameron properly represented. The man is a typical unprincipled opportunist and a liar, as befits the high office of an eviscerated  democracy.  (Via Dick Jones, flickr)

There is no such prospect on the horizon here. Nevertheless, the forthcoming election in May offers much food for thought. The country has never been this close to an election before with so little idea how it may turn out. There is widespread public disillusionment with Westminster politics and this affects all the mainstream parties. The Tories have not won an election since 1992 and have only been able to govern for the past five years in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. There is also widespread public cynicism about professional politicians, Tory, Labour and Lib Dem. The country has been subjected to five years of austerity and everyone knows that it is likely to continue for at least another five years whichever party is able to lead a government after the election. There has been a consistent media campaign directed against the labour leader, Ed Miliband, who is no radical. Most mass circulation newspapers in Britain are solidly pro-Tory. But this has not succeeded in boosting the popularity of Tory Prime Minister David Cameron or his party. It is widely predicted that the election will produce another “hung parliament” – one where no party has an overall majority and therefore whichever party has most parliamentary seats will need to enter into arrangements with others in order to form a government.  Such an outcome seems likely. Should it turn out that way, it is possible to predict one possible denouement that could overturn the whole United Kingdom applecart. Not likely, but possible, and perhaps from a left point of view, desirable. It would go like this:

The UK parliament elects 650 members. The present government has a working majority of 75 composed of a coalition of 303 Tories and 56 Liberal Democrats. For the purposes of calculating the majority some elected members (speaker, deputy speakers) are not included. Sinn Fein MPs refuse to take their Westminster seats. On the basis of one reasonable calculation of what the distribution of seats could be after the next election, allowing for a smaller Tory and labour representation than in 2010 and a much smaller Lib Dem representation, but a larger number of Green, SNP and UKIP members, Labour, with fewer seats than the Tories, would still be able in alliance with several other parties to muster the support of between 330 and 335 MPs assuming that they could rely on the Liberal Democrats. This would depend on establishing working relations with up to seven different parties. Such a government would be inherently unstable and unlikely to survive the year.

An alternative outcome would depend on the Tories winning more seats but still being considerably short of an overall majority and therefore dependent on establishing the same kind of working relations with others. As it is extremely unlikely that the Lib Dems will retain even half their present number of MPs (56) and that UKIP may do much better, a minority Tory government would have to rely on UKIP and the Democratic Unionists for a majority. But this would ensure that there would have to be a referendum on Britain’s continued membership of the EU, something that Cameron has already, albeit reluctantly, committed to. Such a commitment could well plunge the UK into a constitutional crisis. UKIP has no support in Scotland and the SNP, probably supported by most Scots, is against withdrawal from the EU. The SNP could make the issue the grounds for a repeat referendum on Independence. It would be difficult for Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP, who has agitated long and hard for the UK to leave the EU, to argue that Scotland, where his party has no support, should not be allowed to leave the UK. Interesting times may lie ahead.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
London Correspondent
Mike Faulkner is a British citizen. He lives in London where for many years he taught history and political science at Barnet College, until his retirement in 2002. He has written a two-weekly column,  Letter from the UK,for TPJ Magazine since 2008. Over the years his articles have appeared in such publications as Marxism Today, Monthly Review and China Now. He is a regular visitor to the United States where he has friends and family in New York City. Contact Mike at mikefaulkner@greanvillepost.com 

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Paul Craig Roberts

Americans need to understand that the only thing exceptional about the US is the ignorance of the population and the stupidity [or wanton criminality] of the government.

The Neocon plague. But it goes deeper: they are but a symptom of the advanced capitalism disease.

[dropcap]Neoconservatives[/dropcap] arrayed in their Washington offices are congratulating themselves on their success in using the Charlie Hebdo affair to reunite Europe with Washington’s foreign policy. No more French votes with the Palestinians against the Washington-Israeli position. No more growing European sympathy with the Palestinians. No more growing European opposition to launching new wars in the Middle East. No more calls from the French president to end the sanctions against Russia. 

Do the neoconservatives also understand that they have united Europeans with the right-wing anti-immigration political parties? The wave of support for the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists is the wave of Marine Le Pen’s National Front, Nigel Farage’s UK Independence Party, and Germany’s PEGIDA sweeping over Europe. These parties are empowered by the anti-immigration fervor that was orchestrated in order to reunite Europeans with Washington and Israel.

Once again the arrogant and insolent neoconservatives have blundered. Charlie Hebdo’s empowerment of the anti-immigration parties has the potential to revolutionize European politics and destroy Washington’s empire.  (See my weekend interview with King World News for my thoughts on this potential game-changer.  http://kingworldnews.com/paul-craig-roberts-new-crisis-worse-russia-unleashing-black-swans-west/)

The reports from the UK Daily Mail and from Zero Hedge that Russia has cut off natural gas deliveries to six European countries must be incorrect. These sources are credible and well-informed, but such a cut-off would have instantly produced political and financial turmoil of which there is no sign. Therefore, unless there is a news blackout, Russia’s action has been misunderstood.

We know something real has happened. Otherwise, EU energy official Maros Sefcovic would not be expressing such consternation. Although I am without any definite information, I believe I know what the real story is. Russia, tired of Ukraine’s theft of the natural gas that passes through the country on its way to delivery to Europe, has made a decision to route the gas to Turkey, thus bypassing Ukraine.

The Russian energy minister has confirmed this decision and added that if European countries wish to avail themselves of this gas supply, they must put in place the infrastructure or pipeline to bring the gas into their countries.

In other words, there is a potential for a cutoff in the future, but no cutoff at the present.

These two events–Charlie Hebdo and the Russian decision to cease delivering gas to Europe via Ukraine–should remind us that the potential for black swans, and unintended consequences of official decisions that can produce black swans, always exist. Not even the American “superpower” is immune from black swans.

There is as much circumstantial evidence that the CIA and French Intelligence are responsible for the Charlie Hebdo shootings as there is that the shootings were carried out by the two brothers whose ID was conveniently found in the alleged get-away car. As the French made certain that the brothers were killed before they could talk, we will never know what they had to say about the plot.

The only evidence we have that the brothers are guilty is the claim by the security forces. Every time I hear government claims without real evidence, I remember Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction,” Assad’s “use of chemical weapons,” and Iran’s “nuclear weapons program.” If a US National Security Advisor can conjure up out of thin air “mushroom clouds over an American city,” Cherif and Said Kouachi can be turned into killers. After all, they are dead and cannot protest.

If this was, and we will never know for certain, a false flag attack, it achieved Washington’s goal of reuniting Europe under Washington and Israeli auspices. But this success has an unintended consequence. The unintended consequence is to unify Europe under the anti-immigration policy of the right-wing parties, thus empowering the leaders of those parties.

If this surmise is correct, Marie Le Pen and Nigel Farage will find their lives and/or reputations in danger as Washington will resist the rise of European governments that do not adhere to Washington’s line.

The consternation caused by Russia’s decision to relocate its gas delivery to Europe is proof that Russia holds many cards that it could play that would bring down the political and financial structures of the Western World.

China holds similar cards.

The two countries are not playing their cards, because they do not think that they need them. Instead, the two powers are withdrawing from the Western financial system that serves Western hegemony over the world. They are creating all of the economic institutions that they need in order to be completely independent of the West.

Therefore, the Russian and Chinese governments reason, “Why be provocative and slap down the Western fools. They might resort to their nuclear weapons, and the entire world would be lost. Let’s just walk away while they encourage us to depart with their provocations.”

We can be thankful that Vladimir Putin and the leaders of the Chinese government are both intelligent and humane, unlike Western leaders.

Imagine, for example, the dire consequences for the West if Putin were to become personally involved as a result of the numerous affronts to both Russia and Putin himself. Putin can destroy NATO and the entire Western financial system whenever he wants. All he has to do is to announce that as NATO has declared economic war against Russia, Russia no longer sells energy to NATO members.

The NATO alliance would dissolve as Europe cannot survive without Russian energy supplies. Washington’s empire would end.

Putin realizes that the insolent neoconservatives would have to push the nuclear button in order to save face. Unlike Putin, their egos are on the line. Thus, Putin saves the world from nuclear war by not being provocative.

Now, imagine if the Chinese government were to lose its patience with Washington. To confront the “exceptional, indispensable, unipower” with the reality of its impotence, all China needs to do is to dump its massive dollar-denominated financial assets on the market, all at once, just as the Federal Reserve’s bullion bank agents dump massive uncovered gold contracts on the futures market.

In order to avoid US financial collapse, the Federal Reserve would have to print massive amounts of new dollars with which to purchase the dumped Chinese holdings. As the Federal Reserve would protect US financial markets by purchasing the dumped Chinese holdings, the Chinese would lose nothing from the sale. It is the next step that is decisive. The Chinese government then dumps the massive holdings of dollars it has received from its selloff of dollar-dominated financial instruments.

Now what happens? The Fed can print dollars with which to purchase the dumped Chinese holdings, but the Fed cannot print foreign currencies with which to buy up the dumped dollars.

The massive supply of dollars dumped in the exchange market by China would have no takers. The dollar’s value would collapse. Washington could no longer pay its bills by printing money. Americans living in an import-dependent country, thanks to jobs offshoring, would be faced with high prices that would seriously erode their living standard. The United States would experience economic, social, and political instability.

Putting aside their brainwashing, their defensiveness and patriotic support of the regime in Washington, Americans need to ask themselves: How is it possible that the government of the United States, an alleged Superpower, is so unaware of its true vulnerabilities that Washington is capable of pushing two real powers until they have had enough and play the cards that they hold?

Americans need to understand that the only thing exceptional about the US is the ignorance of the population and the stupidity of the government.

What other country would let a handful of Wall Street crooks control its economic and foreign policy, run its central bank and Treasury, and subordinate citizens’ interests to the interests of the one percent’s pocketbook?

A population this insouciant is at the total mercy of Russia and China.

Yesterday there was a black swan event, an event that could yet unleash other black swan events. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-16/largest-retail-fx-broker-stock-crashes-90-swiss-contagion-spreads The Swiss central bank announced an end to its pegging of the Swiss franc to the euro and US dollar. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-15/its-tsunami-swiss-franc-soars-most-ever-after-snb-abandons-eurchf-floor-macro-hedge-

Three years ago flight from euros and dollars into Swiss francs pushed the exchange value of the franc so high that it threatened the existence of the Swiss export industries. Switzerland announced that any further inflows of foreign currencies into francs would be met by creating new francs to absorb the inflows so as not to drive up the exchange rate further. In other words, the Swiss pegged the franc.

Yesterday the Swiss central bank announced that the peg was off. The franc instantly rose in value. Stocks of Swiss export companies fell, and hedge funds wrongly positioned incurred major hits to their solvency.

Why did the Swiss remove the peg? It was not a costless action. It cost the central bank and Swiss export industries substantially.

The answer is that the EU attorney general ruled that it was permissible for the EU central bank to initiate Quantitative Easing–that is, the printing of new euros–in order to bail out the mistakes of the private bankers. This decision means that Switzerland expects to be confronted with massive flight from the euro and that the Swiss central bank is unwilling to print enough new Swiss francs to maintain the peg. The Swiss central bank believes that it would have to run the printing press so hard that the basis of the Swiss money supply would explode, far exceeding the GDP of Switzerland.

The money printing policy of the US, Japan, and apparently now the EU has forced other countries to inflate their own currencies in order to prevent the rise in the exchange value of their currencies that would curtail their ability to export and earn foreign currencies with which to pay for their imports. Thus Washington has forced the world into printing money.

The Swiss have backed out of this system. Will others follow, or will the rest of the world follow the Russians and Chinese governments into new monetary arrangements and simply turn their backs on the corrupt and irredeemable West?

The level of corruption and manipulation that characterizes US economic and foreign policy today was impossible in earlier times when Washington’s ambition was constrained by the Soviet Union. The greed for hegemonic power has made Washington the most corrupt government on earth.

The consequence of this corruption is ruin.

“Leadership passes into empire. Empire begets insolence. Insolence brings ruin.”

Ruin is America’s future.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts’ latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.

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Moore: Heavy price for contrarian speech. (David Shankbone, via flickr)