Issue 49 Autumn 2023
CONTENTS: Niger - France and US manoeuvre to keep control, Alex Davidson Chile 50 years on from the coup, Dan Morgan Britain and Chile's 9/11, Pablo Navarrete Grenada - Revolution and invasion 40 years on, Paul Sutton BAE systems - vital to British state interests, John Moore NATO or non-alignment, Gary Lefley Review of world views and events, Pat Turnbull Poland does US bidding in Europe, Simon Korner NATO's cyber warfare, Claire Bailey Review - Mission to Moscow, Milly Cunningham Tory infighting and Starmer's flawed strategy, Frieda Park
COMMENTARY
The world continues to change rapidly - exactly where some of these developments will lead is hard to predict. However the move towards a multipolar world and resistance to the diktats of the United States and other major powers is continuing. Another thing is clear – the US and its allies/rivals will not allow their power to be diminished without a fight.
Niger
An example of resistance to the West has been the spate of military coups across west Africa in the last few years. In Niger – France and the US manoeuvre to keep control, Alex Davidson argues that, “Each of these coups was led by military officers angered by the presence of French and US troops and by the permanent economic crises inflicted on their countries.” He takes a closer look at the situation in Niger spelling out both the poverty in the country alongside the exploitation of its natural resources, especially uranium, vital to the French nuclear power industry. France is the historic colonial power and has used its control of the currency in west Africa, the CFA franc, and all the usual tactics of imperialism, to maintain its dominance in the region. However, France is being challenged by the US. Both have an extensive military presence in Niger.
Unsurprisingly sanctions have been imposed and, with the encouragement of France, the Economic Community of West Africa is threatening military intervention. The infamous Victoria Nuland, Acting US Deputy Secretary of State has been deployed in the region to promote US interests and gather forces to try to intervene.
Drive to war
The malign effect on Britain of the militarisation of the economy is dealt with by John Moore in BAE Systems - vital to British state interests. BAE systems manufactures armaments, warships, tanks and war planes. It is raking in huge profits from the war in Ukraine – in 2022 it made £2.5 billion, up 12.5%. The company is critical to the projection of British power. As such it has strong links to politicians, universities and think tanks. These links, which are spelled out by Moore, help it promote its interests and he paints a picture of the British military-industrial complex at work.
The reliance on the arms industry for skilled working class jobs also has its effects ideologically. This could be seen at last year’s TUC which narrowly passed a motion in favour of more “defence” spending, reversing its previous policy. But the Tories already plan to double spending by 2030 at a time when working class people are suffering as wages are not keeping up with the soaring cost of living and with our infrastructure and public services falling apart.
Are the people’s interests best served by sacrificing their living standards to the military build-up or would they be better served by Britain taking a different path? Gary Lefley makes the case against the NATO war machine and for non-alignment as a foreign policy in, NATO or non-alignment? As the world is shifting, shouldn’t we consider abandoning an alliance which only promotes imperialism and war, very different from the people’s interests, and join developments, such as BRICS, which emphasise collaboration and which challenge US dominance.
Chile and Grenada
A concrete example which exposes the myth that Britain and the US stand for democracy is the coup in Chile. We remember the 50th anniversary of this event in articles by Dan Morgan and Pablo Navarrete. In Britain and Chile’s 9/11 Navarrete exposes evidence that it was not only the United States that was trying to undermine Salvador Allende and Popular Unity. Even before Allende was elected attempts were underway to undermine Chilean democracy and Britain played a key part in that.
Meanwhile Morgan considers the history of Popular Unity and asks if it could have succeeded in, Chile - 50 years on from the coup. Chile faced external enemies and a fascist right wing at home willing to use brutal force to crush democracy. The viciousness of that onslaught and the ultimate retreat of “constitutionalists” within the armed forces was something Popular Unity was ill prepared for. In addition there was disunity withing its own ranks and with the ultra left following tactics which lost the government support. This was compounded by provocations engineered by the United States and destabilisation caused by sanctions. Along with the actions of the right within the country this led to economic chaos and shortages of essentials. The US believed that it needed to crush Popular Unity and roll back the advances made under Allende. And so it sponsored the military coup that then lead to the torture, disappearance, imprisonment and murder of so many Chileans. Morgan concludes that the unity of progressive forces is essential to left advance.
This is a similar conclusion that can be drawn from Paul Sutton’s, Grenada - Revolution and Invasion 40 years on. Whilst the United States invaded Grenada to defeat the revolution there, divisions in the movement made it harder to resist imperialism. The progressive policies of the New Jewel Movement and the independent course being pursued by the Grenadian government made it a target as the US sought to extinguish another socialist threat in the Caribbean. It would not tolerate another Cuba.
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