From The American Left History Blog Archives (2007-08) - On American Political Discourse – THE WILD BOYS ARE ON THE LOOSE AGAIN- U.S. HANDS OFF IRAN!! (2007)

Markin comment:

 

In 2007-2008 I, in vain, attempted to put some energy into analyzing the blossoming American presidential campaign since it was to be, as advertised at least, a watershed election, for women, blacks, old white anglos, latinos, youth, etc. In the event I had to abandon the efforts in about May of 2008 when it became obvious, in my face obvious, that the election would be a watershed only for those who really believed that it would be a watershed election. The four years of the Obama presidency, the 2012 American presidential election campaign, and world politics have only confirmed in my eyes that that abandonment was essentially the right decision at the right time. In short, let the well- paid bourgeois commentators go on and on with their twitter. I, we, had (have) better things to do like fighting against the permanent wars, the permanent war economies, the struggle for more and better jobs, and for a workers party that fights for a workers government . More than enough to do, right? Still a look back at some of the stuff I wrote then does not a bad feel to it. Read on.

************

THE WILD BOYS ARE ON THE LOOSE AGAIN- U.S. HANDS OFF IRAN!!

YOU DON’T NEED SEYMOUR HERSH TO KNOW WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS.

FORGET DONKEYS, ELEPHANTS AND GREENS- BUILD A WORKERS PARTY!

In the wake of Seymour Hersh’s revelations in the New Yorker concerning the Bush administration’s potential military plans, including a possible nuclear option, toward Iran there has been a hue and cry in political circles against some of the rasher aspects of such action. From the traditional opponents of such an action plan -the Left? No! From liberal politicians? No! If anything those types have been more belligerent and to the right on the issue of Iran than the Bush administration. The cry has come from conservative think tank magazines and hawkish political commentators like New York Times writer Thomas Friedman. After the disastrous consequences of their support for the adventure in Iraq as least a few of the more rational conservatives have learned something. Whether they continue to hold out once the onslaught of patriotism and so-called national interest comes into play remains to be seen. However, their self-made dilemma is not what interests me.

As I write these lines the paint has not even dried on my poster in opposition to the continuing Iraq occupation for an anti-war rally. Now that the newest plans of the Wild Boys in the basements of the White House, Pentagon and State Department have been“leaked” I have to add another slogan to that banner- Hands Off Iran! Overreacting one might say. No!! If we have learned anything in the last few years from the Bush Administration it is that the distance from “war games” and “zero sum game theory” to front page newspaper and television screen casualty counts is a very, very short elevator ride away.

That, however, begs the question of whether the current Islamic leadership in Iran is a threat. Damn right it is a threat. This writer opposed the Shah of Iran when he was an agent of American imperialist interests in the Persian Gulf. This writer also opposed the rise and takeover by the Islamic fundamentalists in 1979 when many Western leftists were, overtly or covertly, supporting these elements as‘anti-imperialist’ agents of change. Unfortunately, many Iranian militants also supported these same fundamentalists. That did not stop the mullahs from rounding up and executing or imprisoning every leftist or militant worker they could get their hands on. The fate of the Western leftist supporters of the‘anti-imperialist’ mullahs was almost as tragic. They, at great personal sacrifice, mainly went on to careers in the academy, media or parliament.

So let us have no illusions about the women- hating, anti-Enlightenment, anti- post 8th century hating regime in Teheran (Except apparently, nuclear technology. Did anyone else find it surreal when a recent photograph showed several thousand heavily- veiled Iranian women demonstrating in defense of a nuclear facility?). However, do we really want to outsource “regime change” there to the Bush Administration (or any administration in Washington)? No!!! Just as working people cannot outsource “regime change” in Washington to the liberals here this job of ousting the mullahs belongs to the Iranian workers, students, poor slum dwellers and peasants.

Let’s be clear here though. If the United States, or an agent of the United States, moves militarily against Iran all militants, here and worldwide, are duty bound to defend Iran against such imperialist aggression. Even with the current mullah leadership? Yes. We will hold our noses and do our duty. Their ouster is a separate political battle. We will settle accounts with them in due course.

he anarchists and others have it all wrong when they confine their slogan to Class Against Class in a conflict between capitalist states. Yes, in the final analysis it will come down to that. The problem is today we are dealing with the most powerful military power, relatively and absolutely, the world has ever known against a smaller, almost militarily defenseless country. A victory for American imperialism is not in the interest of the international working class and its allies. Thus, we have a side under those circumstances. And we certainly do not take some ‘third camp’ pacifist position of a plague on both your houses. IMMEDIATE UNCONDITIONAL WITHDRAWAL FROM IRAQ! U.S.HANDS OFF IRAN!! BETTER YET- HANDS OFF THE WORLD!!!

From The American Left History Blog Archives (2007-08) - On American Political Discourse – YOU DON’T NEED SEYMOUR HERSH TO KNOW WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS. (2007)

Markin comment:

In 2007-2008 I, in vain, attempted to put some energy into analyzing the blossoming American presidential campaign since it was to be, as advertised at least, a watershed election, for women, blacks, old white anglos, latinos, youth, etc. In the event I had to abandon the efforts in about May of 2008 when it became obvious, in my face obvious, that the election would be a watershed only for those who really believed that it would be a watershed election. The four years of the Obama presidency, the 2012 American presidential election campaign, and world politics have only confirmed in my eyes that that abandonment was essentially the right decision at the right time. In short, let the well- paid bourgeois commentators go on and on with their twitter. I, we, had (have) better things to do like fighting against the permanent wars, the permanent war economies, the struggle for more and better jobs, and for a workers party that fights for a workers government . More than enough to do, right? Still a look back at some of the stuff I wrote then does not a bad feel to it. Read on if you like     

************
 YOU DON’T NEED SEYMOUR HERSH TO KNOW WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS. (2007)

In the wake of Seymour Hersh’s revelations in the New Yorker concerning the Bush administration’s potential military plans, including a possible nuclear option, toward Iran there has been a hue and cry in political circles against some of the rasher aspects of such action. From the traditional opponents of such an action plan -the Left? No! From liberal politicians? No! If anything those types have been more belligerent and to the right on the issue of Iran than the Bush administration. The cry has come from conservative think tank magazines and hawkish political commentators like New York Times writer Thomas Friedman. After the disastrous consequences of their support for the adventure in Iraq as least a few of the more rational conservatives have learned something. Whether they continue to hold out once the onslaught of patriotism and so-called national interest comes into play remains to be seen. However, their self-made dilemma is not what interests me.

As I write these lines the paint has not even dried on my poster in opposition to the continuing Iraq occupation for an anti-war rally. Now that the newest plans of the Wild Boys in the basements of the White House, Pentagon and State Department have been “leaked” I have to add another slogan to that banner- Hands Off Iran! Overreacting one might say. No!! If we have learned anything in the last few years from the Bush Administration it is that the distance from “war games” and “zero sum game theory” to front page newspaper and television screen casualty counts is a very, very short elevator ride away.

That, however, begs the question of whether the current Islamic leadership in Iran is a threat. Damn right it is a threat. This writer opposed the Shah of Iran when he was an agent of American imperialist interests in the Persian Gulf. This writer also opposed the rise and takeover by the Islamic fundamentalists in 1979 when many Western leftists were, overtly or covertly, supporting these elements as ‘anti-imperialist’ agents of change. Unfortunately, many Iranian militants also supported these same fundamentalists. That did not stop the mullahs from rounding up and executing or imprisoning every leftist or militant worker they could get their hands on. The fate of the Western leftist supporters of the ‘anti-imperialist’ mullahs was almost as tragic. They, at great personal sacrifice, mainly went on to careers in the academy, media or parliament.

So let us have no illusions about the women- hating, anti-Enlightenment, anti- post 8th century hating regime in Teheran  (Except apparently, nuclear technology. Did anyone else find it surreal when a recent photograph showed several thousand heavily- veiled Iranian women demonstrating in defense of a nuclear facility?). However, do we really want to outsource “regime change” there to the Bush Administration (or any administration in Washington)? No!!! Just as working people cannot outsource “regime change” in Washington to the liberals here this job of ousting the mullahs belongs to the Iranian workers, students, poor slum dwellers and peasants.

Let’s be clear here though. If the United States, or an agent of the United States, moves militarily against Iran all militants, here and worldwide, are duty bound to defend Iran against such imperialist aggression. Even with the current mullah leadership? Yes. We will hold our noses and do our duty. Their ouster is a separate political battle. We will settle accounts with them in due course.

The anarchists and others have it all wrong when they confine their slogan to Class Against Class in a conflict between capitalist states. Yes, in the final analysis it will come down to that. The problem is today we are dealing with the most powerful military power, relatively and absolutely, the world has ever known against a smaller, almost militarily defenseless country. A victory for American imperialism is not in the interest of the international working class and its allies. Thus, we have a side under those circumstances. And we certainly do not take some ‘third camp’ pacifist position of a plague on both your houses. IMMEDIATE UNCONDITIONAL WITHDRAWAL FROM IRAQ!  U.S.HANDS OFF IRAN!! BETTER YET- HANDS OFF THE WORLD!!!

From The American Left History Blog Archives (2007-08) - On American Political Discourse – The Slippery Slope to War-Iran

Markin comment:

In 2007-2008 I, in vain, attempted to put some energy into analyzing the blossoming American presidential campaign since it was to be, as advertised at least, a watershed election, for women, blacks, old white anglos, latinos, youth, etc. In the event I had to abandon the efforts in about May of 2008 when it became obvious, in my face obvious, that the election would be a watershed only for those who really believed that it would be a watershed election. The four years of the Obama presidency, the 2012 American presidential election campaign, and world politics have only confirmed in my eyes that that abandonment was essentially the right decision at the right time. In short, let the well- paid bourgeois commentators go on and on with their twitter. I, we, had (have) better things to do like fighting against the permanent wars, the permanent war economies, the struggle for more and better jobs, and for a workers party that fights for a workers government . More than enough to do, right? Still a look back at some of the stuff I wrote then does not a bad feel to it. Read on if you like     

************

The Slippery Slope to War-Iran

The recent swirl around Iran makes me nervous. Every since Seymour Hersh’s article on White House Iranian war preparations in the April 2006 New Yorker I have been taking sideway glances at developments around that issue closely. I do not like what I see right now.  Let me just summarize the litany here.

·        Over the past several weeks General Fallon, the head of U. S. Central Command (that means the  Middle East), has been knocking over or kicking downs doors all over the capitals of most Middle Eastern countries giving the word on American intentions toward Iran. Fallon, like all top American generals, is not known for ‘blowing smoke’ when war is in the air. He is also not known, when the deal goes down, for being slow on the trigger.

 

·        The French Foreign Minister has ‘accidentally’ mentioned that the military option was not off the table in order to resolve the Iranian situation. His boss immediately reigned him in on this but the ‘cat is out of the bag’ now.   

 

·        The United States Senate, the same people who couldn’t muster up the energy to pass the placid Webb amendment on ‘troop rest’ has this past week gone out of its way to vote to label the nefarious Iranian Revolutionary Guard that sprung forth from the United States Embassy takeover in 1979 a “terrorist” organization. That means something unlike the non-binding tripartite partition of Iraq resolution. I note that leading Democratic presidential contender Senator Hillary Clinton voted for the designation. Thus bi-partisan support for any future actions against Iran has a running start. This time it would be nice if Senator Clinton and the others at least read the documentation before they vote for war. Vain hope.  

 

·        The periodic talk, recently louder, about the Iranian role, and the need to call them to account for it, in providing powerful IED’s that are claimed to be the number one of death to American troops to both Shiite and Sunni factions in Iraq.

 

·        Reports that Iran is shelling in northern Iraq in an effort to break one of its internal oppositional guerilla groups based in that area.

 

·        The ongoing international pressure to increase various sanctions against Iran in order to halt its nuclear development program. Many of these types of embargos  and boycotts are ‘acts of war’ under international law.

 

·        The recent visit of the cunningly bizarre Iranian president to New York where he was cheered and jeered, mainly jeered with a frenzy that matched some of the buildup against Saddam Hussein (remember him) before the occupation of Iraq. Whether the president is anything more than a front man for the mullahs on the Supreme Council he is still the ‘face ' of Iran to the international public.

 

·        Finally, the key to the whole situation, one George W. Bush and his coterie. Bush, already in a neck and neck race with Millard Fillmore for the title of least popular president, has nothing to lose. He is probably thinking why shouldn’t he go out in a blaze of glory. And if he is not up to it, his puppet master Karl Rove, oops, fellow draft dodger Vice President Dick Cheney certainly has the appetite for it.

 There are some impediments in the way like a depleted American army in Iraq but where there is a will there is a way. In some ways there is a hell of a lot more going on concerning Iran than before the run up to the Iraq war. Yes, I am definitely nervous. A three front war strategy is in the air. We better have a three front anti-war strategy. Better dust off the old slogan-Hands Off Iran!

  Lest anyone think that I wish to ‘coddle’ the Iranian lead ship I have posted a commentary around the time of the Hersh’s article from my blog. Hersh’s intelligence report probably needs some updating but the thrust of his article and my comments still retain there validity.

 

From The American Left History Blog Archives (2007-08) - On American Political Discourse – Pulling the Hammer Back on Iran

Markin comment:

In 2007-2008 I, in vain, attempted to put some energy into analyzing the blossoming American presidential campaign since it was to be, as advertised at least, a watershed election, for women, blacks, old white anglos, latinos, youth, etc. In the event I had to abandon the efforts in about May of 2008 when it became obvious, in my face obvious, that the election would be a watershed only for those who really believed that it would be a watershed election. The four years of the Obama presidency, the 2012 American presidential election campaign, and world politics have only confirmed in my eyes that that abandonment was essentially the right decision at the right time. In short, let the well- paid bourgeois commentators go on and on with their twitter. I, we, had (have) better things to do like fighting against the permanent wars, the permanent war economies, the struggle for more and better jobs, and for a workers party that fights for a workers government . More than enough to do, right? Still a look back at some of the stuff I wrote then does not a bad feel to it. Read on if you like     

************
Pulling the Hammer Back on Iran

Anyone who thinks that we do not live in nightmarish times-think again. The latest news out of Washington is that the Bush Administration has decided to pull the hammer back on Iran. For those without a sense of recent history that means the trigger is ready to be pulled. Bush proposes a series of unilateral actions under the aegis of the ‘war of terrorism’ aimed directly at the military capacity of the Iranian state. These include essentially outlawing the Revolutionary Guard and putting the Quds Special Forces units beyond the pale. Frankly, these are acts of war, and should be treated as acts of war by the Iranian military. The only thing that I can say about that is that if I were an Iranian military leader I would be working 24/7 to get that nuclear program in place but the Americans are coming. For those with any savvy the only thing that can keep the American wolf from the door is such nuclear capacity. For all those who thought that Bush would not dare to open a three front war strategy-think again. The question really is whether we oppositionalists are capable of a three front anti-war policy. For now though- U.S. Hands Off Iran!   

 

OCT 6 ACTION AGAINST WARS ABROAD & POLICE STATE ATTACKS ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, Planning mtg Wed.

OCT 6 ACTION AGAINST WARS ABROAD & POLICE STATE ATTACKS ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, Planning mtg Wed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From : Marilyn Levin
Subject : OCT 6 ACTION AGAINST WARS ABROAD & POLICE STATE ATTACKS ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, Planning mtg Wed.
To : bostonunac@googlegroups.com, BostonUNAC-announce , UJP Planning , New England United , Bos-pal-discussion , Code Pink Greater Boston , massaction-boston , unac-discussion@googlegroups.com, act-ma , Arab Calendar , UJP Discussion Listserv , Fund Our Communities , stopfbi-boston@googlegroups.com, 'BCPR'
Tue, Sep 18, 2012 09:55 PM




BUILD OCTOBER 6 ACTION AGAINST WARS ABROAD

AND POLICE STATE ATTACKS ON CIVIL LIBERTIES AT HOME



Join us in a march and rally to protest the dangerous escalation in threats of military action

against Syria and Iran and increased racist violence and repression at home.



SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1:30 PM

PARK ST.





Eleven years ago on October 7, the U.S. unleashed a war on Afghanistan, followed by the war on Iraq based on lies. While thousands of troops remain in these countries, U.S. drone missiles rain down on Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. Now the government imposes sanctions and threatens to attack Syria and Iran. The U.S. sends troops and threatens to retaliate against anti-US protesters in the Middle East. These actions will escalate the nightmare of war in the Middle East, not end it.



To wage war abroad, they must wage war at home. The last decade has seen escalating repression and poverty at home. Islamophobia and scapegoating of Muslims leads to manufactured frame-ups and violence against the Muslim community. Civil liberties and the right to dissent are under siege with indefinite detention and extra-judicial assassinations now the law of the land.



Racism is a weapon of war. They use it against Muslims and immigrants. They’ve stepped up the war on Black and Latino youth, with racial profiling, stop and frisk, and harsh sentencing -- resulting in police brutality, mass incarceration, military weapons in the hands of police, and a hugely profitable prison industry.



To pay for wars and to maximize the profits of the haves, they take more and more from the have-nots. We see cuts to the social safety nets, attacks on labor, huge unemployment, privatization of public services, neglect of infrastructure, and poisoning of the environment.



LET’S STAND TOGETHER IN UNITY AND SOLIDARITY. TOGETHER WE ARE POWERFUL!



HANDS OFF SYRIA AND IRAN! NO TO RACISM, RAIDS, AND REPRESSION! NO TO ISLAMOPHOBIA!



* United National Antiwar Coalition * United for Justice with Peace * International Action Center *

* Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Boston *

* Committee for Peace & Human Rights, Boston * New England United * Rhode Island Mobilization Committee

* Veterans For Peace, Smedley D. Butler Brigade *





**Please add your organizations to list of endorsers by emailing BostonUNAC@gmail.com.

**If you or your organization would like to speak at the rally, contact Marilyn Levin, marilynl@alumni.neu.edu.



THERE WILL BE A PLANNING MEETING FOR THIS ACTION ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER, 19, 7:30 PM AT IAC OFFICE, 284 AMORY ST., J.P. (Brewery complex, near Stonybrook on Orange line).

From The SteveLendmanBlog-Stepped Up Media War on Syria

Sunday, June 10, 2012


Stepped Up Media War on Syria

by Stephen Lendman

When America goes to war or plans one, media scoundrels march in lockstep. Journalism is the first casualty. Managed news misinformation substitutes for truth and full disclosure.




Cheerleading propaganda is relentless. Readers and viewers are betrayed. Imperial wars are called liberating ones. Separating fact from fiction is challenging.




Only replacing independent regimes with pro-Western puppet ones matters. Media scoundrels support it. Blood on their hands doesn't deter them. Steady income eases conscience pangs. Soul selling pays well.




NYT and Washington Post editorials discussed below reflect the latest White House statement on Syria. It reads like bad fiction, saying:




"The United States strongly condemns the outrageous targeted killings of civilians including women and children in Al-Qubeir in Hama province as reported by multiple credible sources."




"This, coupled with the Syrian regime’s refusal to let UN observers into the area to verify these reports, is an affront to human dignity and justice."




"There is no justification for this regime’s continued defiance of its obligations under the Annan Plan, and Assad’s continued abdication of responsibility for these horrific acts has no credibility and only further underscores the illegitimate and immoral nature of his rule."




"The future of Syria will be determined by the Syrian people, and the international community must come together in support of their legitimate aspirations."




"We call once more on all nations to abandon support for this brutal and illegitimate regime, and to join together to support a political transition in Syria—one that upholds the promise of a future for which far too many have already died."




Fact check




Assad security forces and/or supporters had nothing to do with Houla and Qubeir village massacres. Western-recruited death squads bear full responsibility. Claiming otherwise won't change facts.




According to Reuters, UN monitors visited Qubeir. So did journalists accompanying them. Claiming otherwise ignores what some media sources reported.




"The smell of burnt flesh hung in the air and body parts lay scattered around the deserted" village, said Reuters.




UN spokeswoman Sausan Ghosheh said one house showed bullet and rocket fire damage. Another was burnt.




One home had "pieces of brains on the floor." Blood was everywhere. Around 78 people were shot at close range, stabbed, or "burned alive." Targeted Qubeir residents were pro-Assad loyalists.




They were murdered for supporting the wrong side. Pro-Gaddafi Libyans were killed the same way. Reuters may have inadvertently absolved Assad, saying:




Qubeir killings replicated Houla deaths two weeks earlier. "The conflict is becoming increasingly sectarian. (Pro-Assad) shabbiha militiamen from the Alawite community appear to be off the leash...."




UK journalist Alex Thomson said Syrian insurgents tried to get him killed. On June 8, his blog site headlined "Set up to be shot in Syria's no man's land?" saying:




Dead journalists are bad news for Assad. His Channel 4 News team travelled in UN vehicles. They were abandoned when surrounded by "shouting militia."




They were fired on. They had to take evasive action. The incident took place last weekend. Thomson and crew are back home.




Were they set up to be shot, he asked?




"Suddenly four men in a black car beckon us to follow. We move out behind."




"We are led another route. Led in fact, straight into a free-fire zone. Told by the Free Syrian Army to follow a road that was blocked off in the middle of no-man’s-land."




"At that point there was the crack of a bullet and one of the slower three-point turns I’ve experienced. We screamed off into the nearest side-street for cover. Another dead-end."




"Predictably the black car....led us to the trap....I'm quite clear the rebels deliberately set us up to be shot...."




"The UN duly drove back past us, witnessed us surrounded by shouting militia, and left town."




"Please, do not for one moment believe that my experience with the rebels....was a one-off."




Human rights lawyer Nawaf al Thani tweeted him. He was also set up. Thomson believes so have others getting too close to insurgents.




"In a war where they slit the throats of toddlers back to the spine, what's the big deal in sending a van full of journalist into the killing zone" to die?”




On June 8, a New York Times editorial headlined "Assad, the Butcher," saying:




Qubeir was "the fourth massacre in two weeks."




"Despite his claims that the violence is the work of 'terrorists,' (Assad) has a lot to hide. On Thursday, Syrian troops and pro-government supporters barred the monitors from Qubeir, and the monitors were fired upon."




Fact check




Insurgents fired on monitors, not Assad forces. It wasn't the first time and won't be the last. Earlier, observer head General Robert Mood had a close call.




He could have been killed but said little. The incident passed. It's forgotten. Maybe it warned him to support pro-Western forces, not Assad.




It happened again. On May 9, Reuters headlined "Syria rebels kill 7, bomb explodes near UN monitors," saying:




Eight Syrian soldiers were wounded. They were escorting UN monitors. Mood led them. He downplayed the incident, saying:




"The important thing is not speculating about who was the target, what was the target, but to make the point that this is what the Syrian people are seeing every day and it needs to stop."




Speaking forthrightly might help. Downplaying attacks that could have killed him betrays his mandate. So does not naming responsible parties.




Assad forces were protecting him. Insurgents attacked. Twice he escaped unharmed. Maybe next time he won't be as lucky.




As explained above, monitors went to Qubeir. They were delayed but not deterred. Neither were journalists accompanying them.




According to Times-think, Annan's peace plan "g(ave) Russia, China and some other" Security Council members "six more weeks to excuse their inaction."




Russia and China are "complicit in more than 12,000 Syrian deaths....A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman was still in a fantasy world on Friday, calling on both sides in the conflict to stop the fighting."




"....Washington needs to marshal all of the pressure and shaming it can find" to get both countries to bend.




Fact check




Moscow and Beijing reject foreign intervention. They understand Washington's regime change plans. They don't want Syria to replicate Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. They support conflict resolution, not more war.




They have no blood on their hands. Obama's are irreparably stained. Scoundrel media share guilt. Promoting bloodshed is unconscionable.




"With every new atrocity, calls for military action grow."




The Times effectively endorsed it. Imperial interests alone matter. Mass killing followed by more of it is a small price to pay. Who's keeping count?




A same day Washington Post editorial headlined "The UN's Syria disaster," saying:




"THIS MAY BE remembered as the week in which the illusion that the bloodshed in Syria could be stopped by United Nations diplomats was destroyed once and for all. Inside the country, the killing sharply and sickeningly accelerated."




These type comments come perilously close to endorsing war.




Regime change "in Syria" depends on "Assad (being) confronted with irresistible force."




This one crosses the line.




How long Russia and China can prevent what looks certain remains unclear. They're trying. On June 8, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:




"There will not be a Security Council mandate for outside intervention, I guarantee you that."




"There are sides in the Syria conflict, especially the so called (opposition) Syrian National Council, who are saying no negotiations with the regime, only continued armed battle until the Security Council gives a mandate for outside intervention."




"Either we gather everyone with influence at the negotiating table or once again we depart into ideology... where it is declared shamelessly that everything is the fault of the regime, while everyone else are angels and therefore the regime should be changed."




On June 9, SANA state media reported Syrian UN envoy Bashar al-Jaafari saying Qubeir killings occurred hours before armed clashes happened. He added that Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabia, and other media aired fake videos.




"The Syrian TVs will air the true images of the massacre," he explained. "The instigative media channels have taken to airing such fabrications before the UN Security Council meetings."




Responsible gunmen came from Jreijes village. Residents called police for help.




"What is taking place in some parts of Syria is an unjustifiable heinous massacre, but some statements made during this session are part of the butchery, since the diagnosis of the situation is incorrect as it is based on political and media operation rooms that are detached from the situation on the ground."




"The Syrian government extends a hand of reconciliation with all political powers whose hands are clear of the Syrian blood to reach the shores of safety we all spire to."




"Are suicide bombings that targeted Syria acts in self-defense? Are attacks on hospitals, medical staffs and schools democratic (acts)?''




On June 9, Press TV reported that insurgents attacked Damascus infrastructure. A power station was shelled. Blackouts followed.




"Gunmen have also reportedly targeted military units charged with protecting an oilfield in" Dayr al-Zawr.




Car bombs killed police and civilians in Damascus. Another one killed police in Idlib.




Insurgents bear full responsibility for months of violence. Assad is right calling them "outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups." He also said unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.




The buck stops in Washington. Media scoundrels share blame. Don't they always?




A Final Comment




On June 8, DEBKAfile said Moscow "flatly rejected (Obama's) proposal to post 5,000 armed UN monitors in Syria, most of them Russian troops, as the core of a new plan to resolve the Syrian crisis."




DF said Russia is getting more hardline. Talks aren't being held to replace Assad. Annan's peace plan failed. It wasn't designed to succeed.




Washington's mission to Moscow reached a "dead end." The "Syrian conflict and Iranian nuclear controversy are becoming inextricably intermeshed."




P5+1 countries are "seriously considering not turning up for their third round of nuclear talks in Moscow on June 18 - 19."




DF also says "Russia is prepared to use military power to defend Iran and Syria."




Last February, Russia Today interviewed Colonel-General (ret.) Leonid Ivashov. He's a former Russian Joint Chiefs of Staff member.




He said maneuvers conducted at the time were meant to "demonstrate Russia's readiness to use military power to defend its national interests and to bolster its political position."




Iran and Syria are allies, he said. They're "guaranteed partners of Russia."




"A strike against" either country "is an indirect strike against Russia and its interests. Russia would lose important positions and allies in the Arab world. Therefore, by defending Syria (and Iran), Russia is defending its own interests."




He added that Russia is "defending the entire world from Fascism. Everybody should acknowledge that Fascism is making strides on our planet. What they did in Libya is nearly identical to what Hitler and his armies did against Poland and then Russia. Today, therefore, Russia is defending the entire world from Fascism."




On June 4, DF said Obama this fall plans to implement "an embargo on aircraft and sea vessels visiting Iranian ports. Any national airline or international aircraft (entering) Iran will be barred from US and West European airports."




The same holds for "private and government-owned vessels, including oil tankers."




Obama keeps advancing the ball closer to war. First Syria, then Iran, then other targeted states.




Canadian psychiatrist Robert Hare describes psychopathic behavior clinically. He said 10% on Wall Street exhibit it. It holds for Obama, top administration officials, and congressional party leaders.




They're amoral, deceitful, manipulative, and completely self-interested. They breach social and legal standards. They suffer no guilt. They exhibit callous unconcern for others.




They disregard safety and can't maintain long-term relationships. They're anti-social and have no sense of moral responsibility. They're "without conscience." Clinically, they're psychopathic. "(T)heir game is self-gratification at" the expense of others.




They're all take and no give. They flagrantly violate societal rules. They're psychopathically vicious. They're indifferent to human suffering.




Hare stressed that "if we can't spot them, we are doomed to be their victims, both as individuals and as a society."




Perhaps he had George Bush, Dick Cheney, Obama, Romney, and other amoral hawks in mind.




Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.




His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"




http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html




Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.




http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

From The Smedley Butler Brigade-Veterans For Peace- In Boston- Memorial Day for Peace-May 28, 2012, 1:00 - 3:00 pm

Click on the headline to link to the Smedley Butler Brigade VFP Facebook page.

Memorial Day for Peace
May 28, 2012, 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Christopher Columbus Park
Boston, Massachusetts
Please join us

Please join Veterans For Peace, Smedley Butler Brigade, Chapter 9 and Samantha Smith, Chapter 45, Military Families Speak Out, Mass Peace Action, United for Justice with Peace as we commemorate Memorial Day on Monday May 28, 2012

There will be no parade, no marching band, no military equipment, no guns and drums, no Air Force fly-overs.

There will be veterans and supporters who have lost friends and loved ones. Veterans who know the horrors of war and the pain and anguish of loss. There will be friends and families of soldiers, remembering their loved ones. There will be Iraqi Refugees who have suffered terrible losses and will join with us as we remember and show respect for their loss.

There will be flowers dropped into the harbor for each fallen U.S. soldier from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Flowers will also be also be dropped into the harbor remembering the loss of Iraqi family and friends.

Additional information will follow
as the program is finalized

From The Smedley Butler Brigade-Veterans For Peace- In Boston- Memorial Day for Peace-May 28, 2012, 1:00 - 3:00 pm

Click on the headline to link to the Smedley Butler Brigade VFP Facebook page.

Memorial Day for Peace
May 28, 2012, 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Christopher Columbus Park
Boston, Massachusetts
Please join us

Please join Veterans For Peace, Smedley Butler Brigade, Chapter 9 and Samantha Smith, Chapter 45, Military Families Speak Out, Mass Peace Action, United for Justice with Peace as we commemorate Memorial Day on Monday May 28, 2012

There will be no parade, no marching band, no military equipment, no guns and drums, no Air Force fly-overs.

There will be veterans and supporters who have lost friends and loved ones. Veterans who know the horrors of war and the pain and anguish of loss. There will be friends and families of soldiers, remembering their loved ones. There will be Iraqi Refugees who have suffered terrible losses and will join with us as we remember and show respect for their loss.

There will be flowers dropped into the harbor for each fallen U.S. soldier from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Flowers will also be also be dropped into the harbor remembering the loss of Iraqi family and friends.

Additional information will follow
as the program is finalized

From The Smedley Butler Brigade-Veterans For Peace- In Boston- Memorial Day for Peace-May 28, 2012, 1:00 - 3:00 pm

Click on the headline to link to the Smedley Butler Brigade VFP Facebook page.


Memorial Day for Peace
May 28, 2012, 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Christopher Columbus Park
Boston, Massachusetts
Please join us

Please join Veterans For Peace, Smedley Butler Brigade, Chapter 9 and Samantha Smith, Chapter 45, Military Families Speak Out, Mass Peace Action, United for Justice with Peace as we commemorate Memorial Day on Monday May 28, 2012

There will be no parade, no marching band, no military equipment, no guns and drums, no Air Force fly-overs.

There will be veterans and supporters who have lost friends and loved ones. Veterans who know the horrors of war and the pain and anguish of loss. There will be friends and families of soldiers, remembering their loved ones. There will be Iraqi Refugees who have suffered terrible losses and will join with us as we remember and show respect for their loss.

There will be flowers dropped into the harbor for each fallen U.S. soldier from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Flowers will also be also be dropped into the harbor remembering the loss of Iraqi family and friends.

Additional information will follow
as the program is finalized

The Latest From The United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC) Website- Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops, Mercenaries, Contractors, Etc, From Afghanistan! Hands Off Iran! -Mawrch On Chicago May 20th

Click on the headline to link to the United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC) Website for more information about various anti-war, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist actions around the country.

March and Rally

Chicago May 20, 2012

Markin comment:

Every once in a while it is necessary, if for not other reason than to proclaim from the public square that we are alive, and fighting, to show “the colors,” our anti-war colors. While, as I have mentioned many times in this space, endless marches are not going to end any war the street opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as protests against other imperialist adventures has been under the radar of late. It is time for anti-warriors to get back where we belong in the struggle against Obama’s wars. The UNAC appears to be the umbrella clearing house these days for many anti-war, anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist actions. Not all the demands of this coalition are ones that I would raise but the key one is enough to take to the streets. Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops, Mercenaries, Contractors, Etc, From Afghanistan! Hands Off Iran!

BostonUNAC.org | 781-285-8622 | BostonUNAC(S)gmail.com

From The Smedley Butler Brigade-Veterans For Peace- In Boston- Memorial Day for Peace-May 28, 2012, 1:00 - 3:00 pm

Click on the headline to link to the Smedley Butler Brigade VFP Facebook page.

Memorial Day for Peace
May 28, 2012, 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Christopher Columbus Park
Boston, Massachusetts
Please join us

Please join Veterans For Peace, Smedley Butler Brigade, Chapter 9 and Samantha Smith, Chapter 45, Military Families Speak Out, Mass Peace Action, United for Justice with Peace as we commemorate Memorial Day on Monday May 28, 2012

There will be no parade, no marching band, no military equipment, no guns and drums, no Air Force fly-overs.

There will be veterans and supporters who have lost friends and loved ones. Veterans who know the horrors of war and the pain and anguish of loss. There will be friends and families of soldiers, remembering their loved ones. There will be Iraqi Refugees who have suffered terrible losses and will join with us as we remember and show respect for their loss.

There will be flowers dropped into the harbor for each fallen U.S. soldier from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Flowers will also be also be dropped into the harbor remembering the loss of Iraqi family and friends.

Additional information will follow
as the program is finalized

From "Divest From War"-U.S./Allies Hands Off Iran!

Help Stop the Next WAR

Are you worried about an Israeli attack on Iran dragging the US and the entire Middle East into yet another war?

Do you feel helpless in the face of our so-called elected officials' unwillingness to stand up to the Israeli government?

What Can We Do?

The Israeli government is not worried about the US Congress or any western government. However, they are worried about grassroots boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movements that are challenging their impunity. We can use this concern to help raise the cost of an attack on Iran, and thereby help prevent the next war in the Middle East.

By signing the Divest From War Pledge, you commit to boycotting Israeli products and divesting from Israeli government bonds if Israel initiates a preemptive attack on Iran.

After you sign the pledge, be sure to spread the word nationally and internationally.

We can stop the next war, but only if we mobilize large numbers.

Some helpful new sites:

National Iranian American Council: www.niacouncil.org

Al Jazeera English: www.aliazeera.com

Interesting article on results of Pentagon Iran "war games" simulation: http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun ol am/2012/03/20/iran-war-game-predicts-dire-consequences-for-u-s-forces-after-israeli-attack/

From Veterans For Peace- The VFP President Calls Things By Their Right Name-End The Endless Wars

Click on the headline to link to a Veterans For Peace presentation against the endless wars confronting those who are knee deep in sponsoring them.

Markin comment:

The video speaks for itself-End the endless wars!

From The Archives Of The “American Left History” Blog -As We prepare For The 2012 Anti-War Spring Offensive- On The Question Of Organizing For A Major Anti-War March This Spring – A Commentary (2010)

Markin comment:

In a recent blog entry, “As The 2010 Anti-War Season Heats Up- A Note On The Three Whales For A Class Struggle Fight Against Obama’s Wars”, dated January 19, 2010, I put forth a few ideas, particularly around the concept of forming anti-war soldieries and sailors solidarity committee, that the circle of anti-war militants that I work with locally are committed to pursuing this year as the struggle against War-monger-in-Chief Obama’s Afghan war policies take shape. The elephant in the room that was missing in laundry list of tasks listed in the entry was any notion of supporting a national mass anti-war march in Washington, D.C. this spring, now scheduled for the anniversary of the start of the Iraq war March 20th. And there is a good and sufficient reason for that. The circle is split on an orientation toward that event. Thus, the comment that follows in favor of such an endeavor and putting some resources and energy into the event is my own personal take on the question, fair or foul.

Certainly, given the priorities listed in that previous blog entry mentioned above, it would be quite easy to walk away from serious organizing for, getting transportation for, making housing arrangements for and the thousand and one details that go into providing a contingent for a national march. Moreover, as has been argued in the circle by a number of militants, for just one more of a seemingly endless series of mass marches over the past several years. And normally I would agree with that analysis, especially once it becomes clear that the main strategy of those groups who call such national marches is to make that the main point of extra-parliamentary opposition. Or worst, see these things as an effective political tool for “pressuring” politicians, especially “progressive” Democrats (if there are any left as of late). Pleeaasse..

Hear me out on this one thought. President Obama made his dramatic announcement for a major Afghan troop escalation on December 1, 2009. That, along with a less publicized build-up in February 2009, and the odd brigade here or there since has meant that the troop totals ( I will not even bother to count “contractors”, fro the simple reason that who knows what the numbers really are. I don’t) are almost double those that ex-President Bush nearly had his head handed to him on a platter for in the notorious troop “surge” of 2007. And the response to Obama’s war-mongering. Nada. Or almost nothing, except a small demonstration in Washington with the “usual cast of suspects” (Kucinich, McKinney, etc. Al) and a few hundred attendees and small local demonstrations around the country.

Now this might seem like an argument for wasting no more time on the spring March tactics. And that argument is enticing. But, as a veteran of way too many of these demos, and as a militant who has spilled no small amount of ink arguing against the march strategy on many previous occasions I still like the idea of a spring March. First, because Obama needs to know that those on his left, particularly those who supported him in the 2008 election cycle are more than just passively angry at him for the Afghan troop escalation. And that is true even if the numbers do not match those of the Bush era. Secondly, those of us on the extra-parliamentary left need to see who those disenchanted Obamians are. If we are going to be successful we have to get our fair share of these left- liberals before they ditch politics altogether. And lastly, as the bikers say- “we have to show our colors”. Large or small we need to see what we look like. All those may not be sufficient reasons but I will say this to finish. Unless you plan to have an anti-war demonstration outside the gates of places like Fort Bragg, Fort Hood, Fort Drum, and Fort Lewis, in which case I will be more than happy to mark you present you should be I Washington on March 20th. And ready to fight around the slogan – Obama- Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal of all U.S./Allied Troops and Mercenaries from Iraq and Afghanistan!

From The "Stop The Wars"Coalition- NO War On Iran-Ten Reasons To Oppose War On Iran

Click on the headline to link to the Stop The Wars coalition website.

Markin comment:

Ten reasons or ten thousand-American Imperialism and its allies-Hands Off Iran!

U.S., Israel, Canada:Hands Off Iran!Down With Imperialist Sanctions!

Spartacist Canada No. 171
Winter 2011/2012

U.S., Israel, Canada:Hands Off Iran!Down With Imperialist Sanctions!

The following article is adapted from Workers Vanguard No. 991 (25 November), newspaper of the Spartacist League/U.S.

The Obama administration’s November 21 announcement of a sharp escalation of economic sanctions against Iran is the latest in a series of belligerent moves by the U.S. imperialists and their Israeli junior partners. For its part, the Harper government in Ottawa had already called for intensifying sanctions against Iran, declaring on November 18: “The question is not if, but rather the degree to which, we will act.” True to form, the social-democratic NDP quickly hailed the sanctions as “very important,” calling to “cut the financing mechanism” for Iran’s nuclear development program.

The stated purpose of these moves is to stop Iran’s purported attempts to develop nuclear weapons, which the Iranian government has always denied. Taking aim at Iran’s central bank and petroleum industry, the sanctions aim at making the country’s economy scream, threatening to further pummel working people who are already suffering from rampant inflation, widespread unemployment and mounting shortages. Ottawa’s push to tighten the imperialist economic stranglehold on Iran is also part of an increasing effort by the Canadian rulers to project a hardline pro-Zionist profile on the world stage.

Last year, the Iranian government responded to prior sanctions, which had cut almost 2 percent off the annual growth of Iran’s GDP, by taking an ax to government subsidies of fuel and other essential goods. The price of bread quickly tripled, while gasoline prices shot up fourfold. Now, Washington targets the Iranian Central Bank (ICB) as a “money laundering concern,” while Britain announces it will deny Iran access to the financial hub in London. The imperialists aim to further restrict the ability of countries to pay for Iranian oil and gas, the source of 75 percent of that government’s revenue.

The latest sanctions come two weeks after a November 8 report by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran. In 2007, the IAEA stated that Iran had dismantled efforts to build an atomic bomb four years earlier. Now, contradicting that conclusion, the same agency coyly speaks of “indications” that “some activities” related to nuclear weapons may have continued after 2003 and “may still be ongoing.”

On November 18, just hours after the IAEA in Vienna adopted a resolution condemning Iran for its alleged nuclear program, the UN General Assembly in New York voted overwhelmingly to demand that Iran cooperate with an investigation into the crackpot story that Tehran had plotted to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. The bizarro accusation peddled by Washington is that Iran, using a flaky Iranian American used-car salesman as its agent, tried to hire hitmen from a Mexican drug cartel. (His “contact” turned out to be an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.) The Iranian government cogently compared this fiction to the George W. Bush administration’s concoction of Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction” as a pretext to launch the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The UN resolution exemplifies the role of that body as a fig leaf for the pursuit by the imperialists—centrally the U.S.—of their great-power interests, including through naked aggression against semicolonial countries.

The escalating sanctions come as Israeli officials have been whipping up war hysteria and threatening to launch air strikes against suspected nuclear research sites in Iran. Determined to maintain its monopoly on nukes in the Near East, Israel conducted air strikes against Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007. The stakes are much higher in any attack on Iran, which is a significant and historic power in the region.

The news that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed striking Iran was broken earlier this year by Meir Dagan, the former head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. In May, Dagan had told the press that a military strike aimed at taking out Iran’s nuclear facilities was “the stupidest thing I ever heard,” and would threaten to push Israel into a “regional war that it would not know how to get out of” (Haaretz, 1 June). Under Dagan, who has plenty of blood on his own hands, Israel tried to thwart Iran’s nuclear program by injecting the Stuxnet computer virus into Iran’s centrifuge system, which enriches uranium, and by carrying out assassinations of scientists as well as a senior commander of Iran’s missile development program.

U.S. president Barack Obama, for his part, has repeatedly rattled his sabre at Iran, declaring that he would keep “all options,” including the threat of military attack, “on the table.” Washington recently announced that next year U.S. and Israeli military forces will carry out their largest-ever joint exercises, “simulating the ballistic missile defense of Israel.” Imperialist sanctions and military “options” go hand in hand. Recall that the 2003 war against Iraq, which led to the death of upward of a million Iraqis and unleashed communalist slaughter on a mass scale, was prepared by UN sanctions imposed 13 years earlier that killed 1.5 million people.

The misinformation offensive over Iran’s nuclear program was powerfully exposed by journalist Seymour Hersh in “Iran and the Bomb: How Real Is the Nuclear Threat?” (New Yorker website, 6 June). Hersh recalled that the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), a summary of the views of senior officers from all major U.S. intelligence agencies, concluded “with high confidence” that Iran had stopped working toward a nuclear weapon in 2003. Hersh wrote that the original draft of this year’s NIE update, later changed under pressure from the Obama White House, stated that Iran’s supposed earlier nuclear weapons research targeted not Israel or West Europe but Iran’s longtime nemesis Iraq, which Iranian leaders thought at the time was trying to develop nukes. Hersh explained: “The Iranian nuclear-weapons program evidently came to an end following the American-led invasion of Iraq, in early 2003, and the futile hunt for the Iraqi W.M.D. arsenal.”

Iran has repeatedly stated that its nuclear program is intended solely for peaceful purposes. In fact, in the face of imperialist nuclear blackmail and with continuing military threats, it is entirely rational and necessary for Iran to pursue getting nuclear weapons and adequate delivery systems to deter attack. As the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a major think tank for the U.S. ruling class, admits, nuclear weapons “offer a deterrent capability: unlike Saddam’s Iraq, a nuclear Iran would not be invaded, and its leaders would not be deposed” (“After Iran Gets the Bomb: Containment and Its Complications,” Foreign Affairs, March/April 2010).

U.S. Imperialist Terrorists

In the event of any military attack by the U.S. or by Israel on Iran, working people and the oppressed internationally must not be neutral but must take a clear side with Iran. As Marxists, we do not give an iota of political support to the reactionary Islamic regime in Iran. But it is the nuclear-armed U.S. imperialists who are the main enemy of the world’s working people and oppressed.

It was the U.S. that incinerated some 200,000 Japanese people in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, an unprecedented atrocity which was immediately hailed by Canada’s bourgeois rulers. The U.S. ruling class that is today threatening Iran is the same obscenely rich capitalist class that gorges itself on profits while busting unions, throwing millions out of work, slashing social services, destroying health care and stealing pensions—attacks that hit particularly hard at the black masses segregated at the bottom of society. In opposing the U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and other imperialist adventures, we raise the call for class struggle at home, promoting the understanding of the need to mobilize the proletariat to sweep away the murderous imperialist order through socialist revolution. We demand: All U.S./Canadian/NATO forces get out of Afghanistan now!

Although the Obama administration is seeking—at least for now—to rein in Israel and head off an immediate military attack on Iran, support for such an action has been growing within U.S. ruling circles, and not only in Wall Street Journal editorials and the speeches of Zionist neocons. A sign of the broader “bomb Iran” sentiment was an exchange between strategists for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), which includes former officials from both Democratic and Republican administrations, and others from the Council on Foreign Relations.

CFR spokesmen argued in Foreign Affairs (March/April 2010) that, in the event Iran succeeded in developing nukes, the U.S. should threaten to attack with any means, “including nuclear weapons,” if Tehran crossed certain “redlines,” such as “initiation of conventional warfare against other countries” or “stepped-up support for terrorist or subversive activities.” Initially, the CSBA authors argued a more restrained line of keeping up the current policy of sanctions and military pressure (Foreign Affairs, January/February 2011). Yet one day after the November 8 IAEA report, the same CSBA authors posted a statement online titled: “Why Obama Should Take Out Iran’s Nuclear Program: The Case for Striking Before It’s Too Late.”

It takes some chutzpah for the U.S. rulers, echoed by imperialist Britain and France, to rail against Iran possibly acquiring nuclear weapons. The U.S. capitalists possess enough nuclear firepower to destroy humanity many times over. The atomic bombing of Japan, which was ultimately meant as a warning to the Soviet Union, epitomized the role of the U.S. rulers as the greatest menace to the workers and oppressed the world has known. That act of imperialist barbarism has been followed by a long line of wars and military operations, from Korea and Vietnam—where the U.S. failed to reverse social revolutions—to Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya more recently. The destruction of the Soviet degenerated workers state by capitalist counterrevolution two decades ago removed what had been the chief military and diplomatic obstacle to the imperialists’ pursuit of their global ambitions.

The U.S. funnels billions in aid every year to Zionist Israel, whose existence is predicated on the displacement and brutal oppression of the Palestinian people. The Zionist rulers have transformed Gaza into a concentration camp for Palestinians, surrounded by an electric fence, a wall and the Mediterranean, while forcibly ghettoizing the West Bank Palestinians as well. Surrounded by Arab populations, Israel’s rulers consider themselves to be in a permanent state of war and have repeatedly shown their willingness to use military force.

Israel got its start as a nuclear-armed power with the aid of France, which in 1958 built the reactor for the Dimona nuclear facility in the Negev desert. The U.S. subsequently provided support for Israel’s nuclear program while shielding it from international scrutiny, helping to maintain a veil over the extent of Israel’s stockpile of nukes. In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu, a former technician at Dimona, pulled back the veil, revealing that Israel had acquired an arsenal of some 200 nuclear warheads. For his heroic exposure of the scope and scale of Tel Aviv’s doomsday machine, which targeted the USSR as well as nations in the Near East, Vanunu was convicted of treason and sentenced to 18 years in prison, eleven of those spent in solitary confinement. Forbidden to leave Israel since his release in 2004, Vanunu was twice again arrested and imprisoned. The vindictive Zionist rulers want him forever silenced, but the working class internationally will be forever in Vanunu’s debt.

Mounting Pressure Against China

Increasing belligerence toward Iran comes as the U.S. is preparing to withdraw almost all of its troops from Iraq and draw down its forces in Afghanistan, while strengthening its position elsewhere in the region. The U.S. is reportedly planning to beef up its military contingent in Kuwait, while reinforcing its naval presence in the Persian Gulf. The Obama administration is also looking to negotiate a stronger military alliance with the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, dominated by Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Turkey have announced the placement of an American anti-missile radar system on Turkish territory, 435 miles from Iran, by the end of the year.

Chief among U.S. rulers’ concerns in redirecting their forces is pursuing the military encirclement of China, the largest and most powerful of the remaining bureaucratically deformed workers states. In the name of fighting “terrorism,” the U.S. has in the past decade enhanced its military presence in the Philippines and resumed open military relations with Indonesia, in addition to establishing bases in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Washington has also strengthened military ties with the Japanese imperialists and continues to buttress capitalist Taiwan. Last week, Commander-in-Chief Obama announced plans to deploy 2,500 marines to Darwin in northern Australia as a move to counter China.

Capitalism was overthrown in China by the 1949 Revolution. Today, despite major inroads by both foreign and indigenous capitalists, the core elements of China’s economy remain collectivized. Ultimately, the imperialists aim to restore capitalist rule in China, and for this they have a multipronged strategy: capitalist economic penetration combined with military pressure and support to domestic counterrevolutionaries, such as the “Free Tibet” movement. It is vital for the international proletariat to stand for the unconditional military defense of China and the other deformed workers states—Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and Laos—against imperialism and internal counterrevolution. Thus, we support the testing and development of nukes and delivery systems by North Korea and China.

China is highly dependent on the flow of Iranian oil—in 2009, Iran ranked as China’s second largest oil provider. Despite this fact, the Stalinist regime in Beijing supported all four previous rounds of UN sanctions directed against Iran, a measure of the Stalinist bureaucracy’s futile strivings for “peaceful coexistence” with the imperialists. In the interest of its economic relationship with the U.S., the Beijing bureaucracy has also embraced the imperialists’ “war on terror.” Through its appeasement of imperialism and opposition to the program of world socialist revolution, the nationalist Stalinist bureaucracy undermines the defense of the workers state. It is necessary for the Chinese proletariat to carry out a political revolution to oust the Stalinist misrulers and establish a regime based on workers democracy and revolutionary internationalism.

Anti-Imperialism Abroad Means Class Struggle at Home

The working people of Iran have a long history of subjugation by the imperialists and bloody suppression by their “own” rulers. In 1953, after the modernizing nationalist regime of Mohammad Mossadeq tried to nationalize Iran’s oil fields, the CIA staged a coup, installing Shah Pahlevi and propping up his savage rule for 25 years. In 1979, in a “revolution” hailed by almost the entire left internationally, the Islamic hierarchy under Ayatollah Khomeini seized power, going on to crush struggles by workers, women and oppressed national minorities. Women were segregated from society under sharia law and forced to don the sweltering head-to-toe veil; workers organizations were smashed; leftists were jailed and executed. Uniquely, our organization, then known as the international Spartacist tendency, championed the proletariat’s class interests against the forces of Islamic reaction. Our battle cry was: “Down With the Shah! Don’t Bow to Khomeini! For Workers Revolution in Iran!”

Today, Iran is again a cauldron of discontent, with the working people, youth and women suffering privation and chafing under the mullahs’ rule. The multinational Iranian working class, leading all the oppressed behind it, must overthrow the Persian-chauvinist, clericalist regime. Key to this perspective is the forging of a Leninist workers party in Iran. Such parties must be built throughout the Near East in struggle against all forms of fundamentalism and nationalism. In Egypt, where there has been a new outburst of mass opposition to military rule, the working class must emerge as a contender for power in its own right, against both the army and the powerful, reactionary forces of political Islam. In Israel, where recent popular struggles against economic privation have helped reveal the class divisions that define that society, Zionism continues to chain the overwhelmingly Jewish proletariat to its class enemy (see “U.S./Israel Tighten Screws on Palestinians,” WV No. 988, 14 October).

The International Communist League fights for a socialist federation of the Near East, necessarily linked to the struggle to sweep away the rapacious imperialist rulers in the U.S. and elsewhere through workers revolutions. Imperialist subjugation, military occupations and war are endemic to capitalism in its death agony, and can only be fought through a struggle against the entire system of exploitation and oppression. The Trotskyist League/Ligue trotskyste is committed to building a multiracial workers party that breaks the political chains tying the working class to its “own” exploiters, particularly via the labour bureaucracy and the pro-capitalist NDP. Such a party is the necessary instrument to lead the struggle for workers power to victory.

Photo Report Via Boston Indy Media On The February 4th Hands Off Iran March And Rally-Hands Off Iran!

Click on the headline to line to a Boston IndyMedia entry for the February 4, 2012 March and Rally for Hands Off Iran!

Markin comment:

A good, if small, start toward mass opposition to the next step in the American (and its allies) imperialist state's march to war. Enough! Hand Off Iran!

The Latest From The United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC) Website- Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops, Mercenaries, Contractors, Etc, From Afghanistan! Hands Off Iran! All Out In Boston On February 4th

Click on the headline to link to the United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC) Website for more information about various anti-war, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist actions around the country.


Hands Off Iran! March and Rally
Park Street Station, Boston Common
February 4th, 1:00 PM

Markin comment:

Every once in a while it is necessary, if for not other reason than to proclaim from the public square that we are alive, and fighting, to show “the colors,” our anti-war colors. While, as I have mentioned many times in this space, endless marches are not going to end any war the street opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as protests against other imperialist adventures has been under the radar of late. It is time for anti-warriors to get back where we belong in the struggle against Obama’s wars. The UNAC appears to be the umbrella clearing house these days for many anti-war, anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist actions. Not all the demands of this coalition are ones that I would raise but the key one is enough to take to the streets. Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops, Mercenaries, Contractors, Etc, From Afghanistan! Hands Off Iran!

BostonUNAC.org | 781-285-8622 | BostonUNAC(S)gmail.com

Anti-War First Night in Boston- Photos

Click on the headline to link to a Boston IndyMedia entry for the anti-war rally on First Night in Boston.