Gaza, Ukraine and China

By David Sole

Despite all the bitter division between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, a bipartisan series of foreign aid bills, totaling $95 billion was passed on April 20. The payouts, mainly in military assistance were Taiwan $8, Israel $26 and Ukraine $61. A few days later the Senate overwhelmingly passed the package and it was signed by President Biden.

In the Republican controlled House of Representatives the votes ranged from 73% to 92% approval. After months of bickering, how can these majorities be understood?

While elections in the United States give the impression of the people having control of laws and policies of the government, in fact it is the capitalist ruling class that has the final say. U.S. capitalism, at this stage of history, and the immense profits accruing to the tiny group of ruling class billionaires, depends on control of much of the world economy. Since capitalism is a system of economic exploitation, and exploitation always breeds resistance, military domination over the world is required.

Of course U.S. imperialism, as it is called, does not tolerate nations that try to maintain economic independence, especially if that involves creating a socialist economic system that has done away, for the most part, with the profit motive. Those countries set a “bad example” to others that still suffer under the thumb of the United States.

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, the great founders of scientific socialism, wrote in the Communist Manifesto of 1848: “The executive of the modern State is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie [capitalist class].” Since the whole U.S. system is based on military domination over much of the world, the squabbles between the parties in Washington D.C. were put aside. The politicians know that the ruling class demanded military aid to flow to three arenas of contention and they bent their knees in obedience.

The People’s Republic of China, with a socialist economic foundation at its core, has grown into the second largest world economy. It is seen by the U.S. ruling class as a formidable enemy of U.S. world domination. Therefore the U.S. is building up the Chinese province of Taiwan militarily and using it to provoke mainland China. In addition to military confrontation the U.S. is also carrying out economic warfare against socialist China.

The State of Israel, created in 1948 in the Middle East to confront Arab nationalism, has always been a creature of U.S. imperialism.. Hundreds of billions of dollars has been doled out to the Zionist colonial-settler state militarily and economically, including a supply of nuclear weapons. The recent appropriation is paying for all the planes, bombs, tanks and other weapons being used to slaughter the Palestinian people of Gaza and the occupied West Bank. At the same time Israel is waging war on Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran. The U.S. is independently bombing Yemen.

Ukraine, meanwhile, is being given the bulk of the military aid in a futile attempt to stave off imminent military collapse in its war against the Russian Federation. The U.S. took control of the Ukraine government in a CIA coup in 2014. The aim, laid out in many documents, was to get Ukraine to fight Russia in order to “weaken” that capitalist adversary. The successes of Russia on the battlefield are causing panic in the neocon ruling class circles. Facing Ukraine’s collapse, will the U.S. allow its proxy to negotiate a surrender? Or will the military hawks escalate the war with US/NATO aircraft and/or troops going directly against the Russians?

The votes on the military aid packages showed the clear unity inside the U.S. ruling class. Unfortunately some elements in the “progressive” movement in this country are still confused about the nature of the Ukraine war and they have taken the wrong side. Some also are confused by the ruling class’ anti-China propaganda and are not standing up against U.S. efforts to shore up Taiwan and provoke People’s China.

This U.S. war drive poses a threat to the working class and oppressed communities here and around the world, even to the point of nuclear war!