US 'empire' in crisis Pt 4

Iran
Over Iran, the US has been compelled to reverse its policy of 27 years in offering talks with a regime described by Bush as one of the "axis of evil". Although US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, declares that there is no 'grand bargain' on offer to Iran, it is clear that the US has miscalculated. Its sabre-rattling has not succeeded in eliminating Iran's nuclear programme. One observer commented that the US's approach towards Iran over its nuclear programme and the possibility of nuclear weapons in the future amounted to an ultimatum: "Please hand over your gun and then I'm going to shoot you."

Although there is mass internal opposition to the mullahs' regime in Tehran, given the history of imperialist intervention and the nationalist resistance to this by the Iranian people, the majority of Iranians are implacably opposed to the threats of Bush and US imperialism.

Contrary to the expectations of Bush, the intervention in Iraq, rather than weakening Iran, has enormously strengthened its position as a regional power in the Middle East. Through its contacts with Hezbollah and because of the retreat of Syria from Lebanon, it is now a major player there. It has also stepped in to finance Hamas in its conflict with the Palestinian authority.

Record oil prices and an increase in trade with Russia, China and India have allowed Iran to shrug off the pressure of the US to give up its nuclear programme. There are sections of the US administration - led, it seems, by Vice-President Cheney - who still wish to resort to a military solution. But a full-scale military invasion of Iran, three times the population of Iraq, is ruled out. The bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities, however, is still an option which 'remains on the table', such is the deranged outlook of the Bush administration.

However, due to the opposition of other capitalist powers, the US looks as though it has been forced to put even this plan into cold storage, preferring to rely on Europe in particular, and China and Russia, to pressurise Iran to come to some kind of compromise.

We oppose the resort to nuclear energy by Iran, never mind the acquisition of nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, it is sheer hypocrisy for the US to denounce the Iranian regime while Iran is surrounded on all its borders by nuclear powers - some, like Israel, armed to the teeth by US imperialism.

Weakening
The changed approach of the US over Iran signifies the weakening of its position, a setback for the underlying philosophy of the Bush administration of unilateralism and 'pre-emptive strikes' against the perceived enemies of the US.

Its military prowess is not underwritten, as was the case in the past, by its dominant economic situation. It has been enormously weakened by the hollowing out of its economy through deindustrialisation and its dependency on Asian capitalism, particularly China, to plug the 7% deficit in the US's balance of trade by buying up its dollar assets. How long this will continue is another matter, as we have explained in previous issues of the socialist.

One thing is clear: the writ of US imperialism has not gone unchallenged, either in the neo-colonial world or elsewhere. In fact the world design of US imperialism's domination has been severely checked. The mass strikes on the issue of immigration in the US, together with the growing discontent of the American workers, are also indications of the colossal social opposition which is brewing domestically in the US. Internationally, protests in France and now Chile show the massive worldwide opposition to capitalism and imperialism.

This is fuelled by the huge wealth divide, which is now being challenged by workers and the mass opposition demonstrated towards the Iraq War and the bellicose international actions of US imperialism. This has not yet found an organised political expression in the formation of a distinct mass workers' party of the US working class, but the actions of the Bush regime are preparing the ground for precisely such a development.

The brutal Roman Empire provoked the slaves' revolt - this modern 'empire' will do likewise. However, the slaves of Rome could not offer a higher form of production and development of society. The modern wage-slaves of capitalism, both in the 'advanced' and the neo-colonial worlds, represent human progress, the future of socialism and a world planned economy in answer to the militarism and barbarity of US imperialism and the world system it defends today.