KKE: In the “minefield” of the imperialist competition 20 03 15

source: http://bit.ly/1EC4rEI

While Victoria Nuland, the USA’s Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs was meeting in Athens with the Greek Prime Minister, A. Tsipras, the Deputy Defense Minister, K. Isychos was traveling to Moscow.

It is becoming obvious that the new Greek government has made a choice to approach as many imperialist centres as possible, playing the card of the country’s strategic value, in order to upgrade the position of the Greek monopolies, of course, with its stable euro-atlantic orientation unchanged and particularly the “strategic cooperation” of Greece with the USA.

The Foreign Minister, N. Kotzias, when he briefed the members of the parliament’s Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee about the issues under his reposnibility, once again repeated the role that a “stabilized Greece” could play in the fight against the Jihadists and for the protection of “Christian populations in the Middle east”. The EU is paving the way for a new imperialist campaign in the Middle East, using the activity of the Jihadists as a pretext. Characteristic of this were the decisions of the EU Council of Foreign Affairs Committee in Brussels. Decisions that bear the signature of the Greek government as well (the deputy Foreign Minister, Nikos Chountis, represented it). The decisions of the EU, which characterize “military action” as “necessary” and are in line with the leaks concerning an impending campaign in the Middle East and North Africa at the initiative of the USA and NATO and EU states, with the “Islamic State” as the pretext.

At the same time, information for the Defense and Foreign Ministries show that the SYRIZA-ANEL government is declaring its readiness (and as some analysts note its wish) to contribute to such missions. Because they want Greece to become a forward base for the Euro-atlantic plans, immediately providing the Suda base, which is a crucial piece of infrastructure in order to support and conduct aerial and naval operations over an area stretching from Libya to Syria and Iraq.

After its first 45 days, the new government confirmed its participation in NATO and all its military missions, stated that it was in favour of strategic cooperation with the USA and Israel, joined forces with the EU in imposing sanctions on Russia and in the preparations for a new imperialist war in the Middle East. The government, aside from the fact that it maintains bases and NATO command centres, also participates in the Euro-atlantic military “Joint Training Exercises”, the “Crisis Management Exercises”, and in the implementation of “NATO's Readiness Action Plan”.

At the same time as all this, the government states that it is “against the militarization of the crisis in Ukraine, against the deterioration of relations, both political and economic, between Europe and Russia” and adds that “we must talk about the future of Euro-Russian and Greco-Russian relations only being conducted without the use of sanctions, only through peaceful dialogue, which will allow us to avoid new conflicts between East and West, a new Cold War, which can only be harmful for the European peoples.”

Of course, no one can overlook, in relation to this, the recent statements of the V. Nuland, the USA’s Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, on the relations between Greece and Russia: “We have no problem and we want Greece to have a normal relationship with Russia (…) A relationship between Greece and Russia was very useful in the past as regards the transmission of clear messages. And I would like that to continue.”

So the question arises: What are the aims of the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government? And the answer is the “geo-strategic enhancement” of the country in the region of Eastern Europe and the South East Mediterranean. This is a region with ongoing inter-imperialist contradictions and conflicts from the Ukraine and the Black Sea to the Middle East and North Africa. So the Greek government believes that the so-called “military diplomacy”, the more active and “multi-dimensional foreign policy” can facilitate its negotiations with the creditors for the management of the debt, of course to the benefit of the capitalists and monopolies.

Of course, everyone knows that Greece’s membership of NATO and the EU (a strategic choice of all the Greek governments and of the present one as well) did not safeguard and will not safeguard the country’s sovereign rights.  The continuing involvement in the imperialist plans and the international intra-bourgeois competition only creates more dangers for the people.

So, it is crucial that the workers, the popular strata do not support the government’s plans. They must organize their struggle against the imperialist plans and Greece’s participation which is being promoted by the coalition government. So that the people can leave the “minefield” of the imperialist competition, which has been laid on the terrain of capitalist barbarity.