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"The widespread confusion about the respective motives and affiliations of the key players in the Syrian conflict, from the Americans to the Russians to the Turks and the Kurds, is not surprising. Part of the explanation is an entirely misplaced reflex reaction by sections of the left of defence of the Russian gangster regime against US imperialism, an indefensible nostalgic overhang from the Cold War days; but it is also due to the confused and constantly shifting situation itself. Just as US imperialism at one time supported Saddam Hussein, using him as a surrogate in his war with Iran, and later turned against him and waged full-scale war to destroy his regime; just as it bombed Gaddafi in the 1980s, targeting him personally and branding him the fount of all subversion, then made him its accomplice in the practice of extraordinary rendition, and finally intervened militarily to overthrow him; so too US imperialism has switched eclectically from one zig-zag to another in relation to the Assad regime. Along with Israel, it opposed Assad as an ally of Iran and the godfather of Hezbollah; then it gratefully used his services (along with Gaddafi’s) as a favourite torture rendition agent; then, as in Libya, it exploited the revolt against him; now it is giving him tacit support in the current civil war, largely through its support of the Kurds. And yet in 2012 it was openly preparing to intervene militarily against Assad, and was prevailed upon to draw back only when the British parliament voted against collaborating with it. Now, however, while fearing the enhanced influence of Russia and Iran under Assad’s regime, there is no doubt that the USA is once again tactically supporting him as the best defence against revolution, as well as against the Islamic State. “Regime Change”? It is a lazy reflex default position on the left to assume that US imperialism’s prime objective is the removal of Assad, and that all reports of atrocities in the Syrian civil war can be discounted as black propaganda, like Saddam’s alleged “weapons of mass destruction”. Perhaps also some on the left have a vague memory of the sharp turn of Assad senior in the 1970s to state ownership of the entire economy, and are unaware of the current regime’s switch to wholesale privatisation. Finally, the horrific antics of the fascist Islamic State – so much more luridly publicised than the monstrous, virtually genocidal acts of Assad’s bombing campaigns – only helped blur scrutiny of the true nature of the Syrian government. The question is now raised of whether or not to call for military aid to the Syrian resistance from capitalist governments. This is especially being pressed due to the slaughter being carried out by the forces of Assad and Putin in E. Ghouta. In one form or another, this is a question that arises repeatedly in all but those rare and brief periods when the proletariat is conscious enough and organised enough to intervene directly on the historical stage. Of course, it is all too easy to issue pious “Marxist” platitudes from afar while workers are facing extermination. Nevertheless, it does no harm to start by restating first principles. Imperialism, after all, is the problem, not the solution. There have been countless cases of military interventions from outside which may initially have appeared to offer immediate relief to mass suffering, but which actually solved nothing. It has been shown again and again that calls for intervention in local or regional conflicts by world imperialism (whether under the flag of the United Nations or otherwise) have been misplaced. There are several parallels within living memory of military interventions from outside which initially appeared to provide immediate relief to mass suffering, but which solved nothing and often led to more intractable forms of oppression. Northern Ireland When an uprising began on the part of the oppressed Catholic minority in Northern Ireland in 1969, the Catholic population initially welcomed the arrival of British troops, expecting them to rescue them and protect them from Loyalist persecution. It didn’t take long before they were bitterly resisting what soon turned out to be a hostile occupying army...." Read full article https://oaklandsocialist.com/2018/03/20/east-ghouta-support-us-intervention/ -- *“How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?” *Sophie Scholl, executed by the Nazis 2/22/1943. She was 21 years old. Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
