Romney pullout gives Bush advantage in Republican money race

Patrick Martin

The official withdrawal of Mitt Romney from the race for the Republican presidential nomination, only three weeks after he indicated interest in a third presidential campaign, means that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is likely to enjoy a huge financial edge over potential challengers for the nomination.
Romney’s announcement Friday, in a five minute conference call with supporters and fundraisers, came after a series of rebuffs for the 2012 Republican nominee, most notably from media mogul Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, as well as from casino boss Sheldon Adelson and hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer.
The Journal lashed the prospect of another Romney candidacy in a harshly worded editorial that began, “If Mitt Romney is the answer, what is the question?” Congressional Republicans were also distinctly negative about a possible Romney candidacy.
Pressure from the as yet undeclared Jeb Bush campaign was reportedly a major factor in both Romney’s decision and the timing of the announcement, more than a year before the first actual contest of the nomination campaign. Dozens of Republican Party operatives and fundraisers, including Romney’s own Iowa caucus coordinator, had aligned themselves with Bush.
Romney and Bush had a face-to-face meeting January 22 at a Romney vacation home in Utah, although it is not known what role that may have played in the decision to pull out.
What is remarkable is how openly the American press describes the process by which a few dozen multimillionaires have begun weeding out the Republican presidential field. The New York Times said the decision not to run “came after days of increasingly gloomy news reached the Romney family.” The newspaper continued: “Donors who supported him last time refused to commit to his campaign.”
The Times quoted one such fundraiser, California investor William Obendorf, who mobilized billionaires such as Charles Schwab and Betsy DeVos (Amway), among others, to pressure Romney not to run.
The Washington Post described three weeks of phone calls by Romney and top aides with Republican money men: “Romney was warned this month that, unless he acted to show interest in another campaign, there could be little left of the financial and political network that carried him to the nomination in 2012.”
After the Romney announcement, Brian Ballard, a Romney fundraiser in 2012 who is now attached to the Bush campaign, gloated to the Post, “It’s a great day for Jeb Bush. I think Jeb had 75 percent of the money folks here. This brings in the other 25 percent.”
It is, indeed, the “money folks” who control the Republican Party, just as they do the Democratic Party. The sentiments of working people—who for the most part would prefer a close encounter with the Ebola virus to a third Bush in the White House—count for nothing in this process.
Romney’s announcement of non-candidacy included an endorsement of “our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well known as I am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started.” The language was a clear slap at Jeb Bush.
This was followed by a Romney dinner engagement with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a potential challenger to Bush, although spokesmen for both Romney and Christie said the meeting was a previously planned social event and not an endorsement.
Christie is expected to be Bush’s main rival for Republican establishment fundraisers, but the New Jersey governor is hampered by state and federal laws that bar direct solicitation of contributions from Wall Street firms that handle the state’s huge bond business.
The Times noted Sunday that Christie and Bush had “plunged into all-out battle this weekend for the biggest unclaimed prize in American politics and the decisive advantage that could go with it: the billion-dollar donor network once harnessed by Mitt Romney.”
The newspaper cited “hundreds of phone calls” being placed to generate the $50 million to $100 million war chest each candidate must assemble just to be judged a “credible” candidate by corporate America. Other candidates were seeking to exploit the opening left by Romney’s withdrawal, including Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
Besides Bush, Walker received the biggest boost from the media in the wake of Romney’s withdrawal, with favorable reports on his standing in Iowa, the first contest in the 2016 campaign. A Des Moines Register poll found him leading a thoroughly splintered Republican field, with 15 percent, followed by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul at 14 percent, Romney at 13 percent. Jeb Bush placed only sixth, with eight percent.

Tsipras rushes to reassure EU, banks on Greek debt

Robert Stevens

Greek Prime Minister and Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras reassured Greece’s creditors Saturday that his government would do nothing to jeopardise the country’s euro zone membership. He insisted Greece would not default and would not make unilateral demands in talks over its €323 billion debt.
In an e-mailed statement to the Bloomberg news agency, he said: “Despite the fact that there are differences in perspective, I am absolutely confident that we will soon manage to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, both for Greece and for Europe as a whole.”
“No side is seeking conflict and it has never been our intention to act unilaterally on the Greek debt,” he added.
He stressed that any declaration by his government so far—such as its refusal to negotiate with the “troika,” consisting of the European Union (EU), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—“in no way entails that we will not fulfil our loan obligations to the ECB or the IMF.”
Late Friday, Tsipras contacted ECB head Mario Draghi to personally assure him that Athens was seeking an amicable solution on the issue of debt repayment.
These comments followed Friday’s press conference between Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the euro group of finance ministers. Varoufakis said Greece was “working from the standpoint of the best possible cooperation with its institutional partners and the International Monetary Fund, but not with a [bailout] programme that we think is anti-European.”
Responding to Varoufakis’ comments that Greece was requesting an international conference to deal with Greece’s total debt, Dijsselbloem said: “As for the thought of a conference on debt restructuring, you must realise that this conference already exists and it’s called the euro group.”
Expressing the international financial oligarchy’s contempt for the democratic will of the Greek people, he added: “The problems of the Greek economy have not disappeared overnight with the elections.”
While Syriza has made a few, well-publicized gestures to break with previous Greek governments’ slavish obedience to the “troika,” it is signalling to Greek and international finance capital that its policies are compatible with EU austerity and NATO foreign policy. Last week, it voted to support economic sanctions against Russia.
On Friday evening, Varoufakis was interviewed on the BBC “Newsnight” program about Syriza’s economic policies. He said that while Greece would no longer meet with the “troika,” negotiations would still be held with each of the institutions separately.
“I have never said that we are not interested in discussion with our creditors,” Varoufakis declared. “Indeed, exactly the opposite. I’ve said we are very keen to enter into fruitful negotiations with the European Central Bank, the IMF, the European Commission, every single member state of the euro zone.”
Varoufakis pledged that Syriza would push ahead with “structural reforms” in Greece, correcting the BBC interviewer, who had said that Syriza’s manifesto called for EU austerity measures to be reversed. “Not only do we not want to reverse structural reforms, we want to deepen them and make them more extensive,” Varoufakis said.
Asked what he thought of the government’s statement that full privatisation of the port of Piraeus would be halted, he said: “The particular investment in the port of Piraeus that has been unfolding over the last few years has my full support. I would like to be part of an attempt to attract to this country foreign direct investment that has a similar effect on raising productivity and competitiveness.”
His only complaint was that previous privatisations were “a kind of fire sale,” where “assets that are potentially very valuable… are being sold off during a deflationary crisis for peanuts.”
Varoufakis’ “clarifications” and Tsipras’ assurances were made as representatives of the “troika” and the German government warned that a refusal by Greece to pay off its debts would result in the cancellation of further loans. Without further loans, including a tranche postponed when the previous New Democracy government was unable to reach agreement on new austerity measures, Greece will default.
Greece must pay back €3.5 billion in the course of February and March. If it fails to reach an agreement with the nation’s creditors by the end of February, the ECB could cut off credit to Greek banks, threatening their collapse. Further payments of €1.5 billion are due in June. In July, €4.7 billion is up for repayment, as is €3.6 billion in August.
An estimated €700 million to €1 billion a day was withdrawn from Greece’s four main banks last week. On Friday, Standard & Poor’s put the banks on review for a potential downgrade of their credit ratings as their share prices plunged.
On Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel refused to countenance any moves to restructure or write down Greece’s debt. She told the B erliner Morgenpost, “I don’t see a further debt haircut.” Europe would work with Greece and other debtor nations only “if these countries undertake their own reform and saving efforts.”
On Friday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said, “If I were a responsible Greek politician, I wouldn’t lead any debates over a debt haircut.” He warned, “We’re prepared for any discussions at any time, but the basis can’t be changed.”
The onerous terms of the €240 billion in loans agreed by the “troika” with Greece over the last five years were “exceptionally generous,” Schäuble declared, adding that Berlin would work only “in this framework and no other.”
Syriza is seeking to win support in the ruling class internationally against German-led policies of austerity and tight credit, particularly from the United States and other European countries dissatisfied with various aspects of German policy, such as France, Italy, and Spain.
This week, Tsipras and Varoufakis are visiting European capitals in what the Guardian described as a “charm offensive.” Tsipras is to visit Italy and France and will meet European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker ahead of the European Union leaders’ February 12 summit. Greek officials are not currently scheduled to travel to Germany.
On Sunday, Varoufakis met with his French counterpart Michel Sapin. Varoufakis is also scheduled to meet with UK Chancellor George Osborne, and, according to the Financial Times, “may also meet investors in London, where Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank are trying to fix meetings.”
Indications are that the French government will prove as intransigent as Germany in support of austerity measures against the working class. On Friday, Reuters cited a source close to President François Hollande who said Hollande and Merkel were agreed “that it is important to respect the choices of the Greek people and for Greece to respect its commitments” to its creditors.
The Greek government has appointed the Franco-American investment bank Lazard Frères to assist in “debt and fiscal management” ahead of negotiations over repayment. Lazard advised the Greek government on the debt restructuring agreed in 2012. Trumpeted as a substantial debt “haircut,” it led Greece’s debt to skyrocket to 175 percent of gross domestic product today.
Over the weekend, Russia moved to cement ties with Greece. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told CNBC it would consider lending money to Greece if requested by Athens. He said, “If such a petition is submitted to the Russian government, we will definitely consider it, but will take into account all the factors of our bilateral relationships between Russia and Greece, so that is all I can say.”

Sri Lanka: A Silent Revolution

Asanga Abeyagoonasekera

The dramatic build-up to the Presidential election in Sri Lanka on 08 January 2015 turned out a silent revolution. The common candidate who ran against the then President Rajapaksa was from within his Government. President Sirisena’s intended crossover pre-election was planned in utmost silence. Earlier commentaries published under this column over 2014 also reflected this trend in the regime’s character. "Stronger Democratic Values for a Better Tomorrow" and "Train to Jaffna" demonstrated why a largely popular regime could lose its governance focus despite being the very regime that ended a three-decade war. Both these commentaries were questioned by the former secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs as to why this author’s expression illustrated sentiments against government policies. In response, this author maintained that these were recommendations to the government to strengthen its democratic values, and questioning questionable policy was one’s right to the freedom of expression. This month’s column is written in a free political environment.

Less than 500,000 votes gave President Sirisena his victory. Much of the voter base responsible for the political overhaul lay in the majority of the minority population and the rest on the floating vote and new voters featuring strongly the social media generation. Over the final three weeks of the election campaign, social media was used as a tool to expose the Rajapaksa regime of allegations which could not be effectively countered on the same platform. Of nearly 1.5 million users of social media active on the election platform, a majority expressed the need for change by voting or otherwise. This was the silent revolution similar to the format in many places that toppled strong regimes, such as in the Middle East, and geographically closest to Sri Lanka, India.

This change expressed by voters was democratically achieved. The new interim budget introduced this year isa great relief to many common citizens who would feel great relief from the high cost of living. The RTI (Right to Information Act), repealing of 18th amendment and bringing back the 17th amendment to secure Independent Commissions will cement the aim towards good governance and restoring citizen power. After RTI, websites such as ipaidabribe.lk that report on corruption and quantify the amount of corruption could be strengthened like in India. Political corruption could be minimised by introducing new tools, for example for the Election Commissioner to understand the growth of assets of individual political candidates, to analyse the difference of asset growth from election to election, and to see the growth of assets of politicians. RTI will also give power to ordinary citizens to question the ministries, provincial, local councils and departments of their budget allocation and spending.
Sri Lanka, with its new administration, will need to do some serious reforms especially to strengthen the loss-making institutions, fight corruption and introduce meritocracy at all levels. The journey from 2009 after winning the war from a factor-driven economy to a efficiency-driven economy is an improvement but to qualify to the next level - an innovation-driven economy – energy must be focused on producing the best knowledge workers and invest in innovation and R&D. Sri Lanka, with its ancient history, was a nation of great engineers who built amazing irrigation systems. This will have to be emulated to restart its role in innovation by creating the right eco system.
The importance of innovation to a society was discussed at the foot hills of Davos earlier in January 2015, where this author participated as a Young Global Leader from Sri Lanka. The World Economic Forum was founded more than four decades ago by Prof Klaus Schwab, a visionary who got the great minds of the world to Davos to discuss global issues and design solutions. This time, the theme was "the new global context." It is evident that the horrors by many terrorist extremist groups, the economic instability and social political changes that are taking place are the reasons for a new global context with a better vision and direction by our leaders. The massacres in Paris, Nigeria and Peshawar threaten democratic values. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, “This year has started with a bang that shook us to the core. This terrible attack against Jewish citizens, journalists and police forces in Paris shows us all that we are facing challenges that don’t stop at the borders of Europe.” The millions that rallied in France with forty world leaders was a great example of the existing strength to preserve the true values of democracy. Trust is another area that needs to improve. As Prof Schwab said, "How can we restore trust in our future in our institutions? Trust is not only related to ethical behaviour. Trust means a leadership responsibility, where you respond to the needs of those who have trusted you with leadership." The contribution from science and technology discussions explained many developments in information management, DNA, robotics, brain science and many more including the neural processing units (NPU) that will transform the computational processing when commercialised this year.
2015 ushers in an era that strengthens the citizen’s power through technology. It was clear from the usage of social media in the Sri Lankan elections. The traditional processes of election rallies and massive political campaigns played a negative role as most citizens are owners of a super computer in their hand. The processing power of today's smart phone is equal to a super computer of several decades ago. The transition manifested in Sri Lanka’s political overhaul towards good governance. This transfer of power to the citizens is a positive thatmust be strengthened and used to its fullest over the coming months and years.

As Rousseau says "Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains" - it seems modern technology has helped to break the chains and empower individuals for the silent revolution.

Japan-South Korea: Antagonism Despite Alignment

Sandip Kumar Mishra

On 29 December 2014, Japan and South Korea concluded a military intelligence-sharing agreement related to the North Korean nuclear and missile programmes. It is a three-way pact in which the US is the connecting party. The negotiations between South Korea and Japan on a similar but bilateral pact got into controversy two years ago when the information about it became public in South Korea. The recent agreement, even though limited in scope and trilateral in character, was considered to be the right note for the beginning of the new year. This year is the 70th anniversary of the Japanese surrender in World War II. Just as former Japanese Prime Ministers Tomiichi Murayama and Junichiro Koizumi expressed remorse over wartime atrocities on the 50th and 60th anniversaries, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is also expected to at least reiterate the old Japanese position.

In another move in early January, a high-level economic consultative meeting between the two countries happened in Seoul in which both agreed to boost their economic relations despite politically strained ties. It is interesting to note that despite the acrimonious verbal exchanges, which both countries have quite frequently, their bilateral trade is almost US$90 billion and neither tries to hamper their bilateral economic exchanges with their political disputes.

Furthermore, in the second week of January, a parliamentary delegation from South Korea visited Japan with South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s message to improve bilateral relations. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly responded that he would like to make this year “a year to improve Japan-South-Korea relations.” These moves indicate that Japan and South Korea may be able to forge a cordial relationship with each other and would move forward in resolving their differences. The top leaders of both countries who apart from a few awkward encounters such as in November 2014 at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum have not met each other after assuming their positions - Shinzo Abe in 2012 and Park Geun-hye in February 2013 - might finally have a direct dialogue in 2015.

But amidst these positive moves there have also been the old acrimonious murmurs that seem to be straining the attempts to move forward in the bilateral relationship. On 27 January, South Korea expressed concern that Shinzo Abe may backtrack from the Japanese apology on the comfort women issue, which was expressed by former Japanese Chief Secretary Yohei Kono in 1993. China also expressed similar doubts because Abe recently made a statement that he might change the terms of apology which was used in 1995 and it would reflect his government’s present position. The Japanese government has also not announced any specific date about the release of Abe’s statement on the 70th anniversary which would be in August this year.

Japan considers that it has put in ‘maximum efforts’ to address the comfort women issue and South Korea should therefore not put any precondition for a summit meet between the two leaders. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshidhide Suga made this statement in reaction to the South Korean President Park Gue-hye’s remarks on 13 January in which she asked for a more sensitive response from Japan on the comfort women issue before expecting direct talks between the two countries.

On 18 January, South Korea also protested to Japan against the distribution of the Korean version of Japan’s Defense White Paper, which claimed Takeshima as a Japanese territory. The islands, which South Korea calls Dokdo, have been in Seoul’s possession for more than six decades, and Korea has a historical claim over it.

The long trajectory of Japan and South Korea relations indicates that even though both countries share a common friend in the form of the US and a common threat in North Korea (also China during the Cold War), their bilateral relations have always been complicated. There have been impressive economic, cultural and educational exchanges between the two countries for the normalisation of relations since 1965, but they continue to have negative political postures against each other because of historical disputes related to textbooks, Yasukuni Shrine visits, comfort women and also territorial disputes such as Dokdo/Takeshima.

Basically, it is politically convenient for leaders of both the countries to continuously use the controversial issues for their vested political interests. Common people in South Korea are more interested in economic opportunities and their daily lives. While they do not seek another Japanese apology, Japanese political provocations may sometimes induce them to behave otherwise. Similarly, Japan’s common people are not eager about these controversial issues but when there are huge politically motivated emotional outbursts from Korea, Japanese people also become more adamant. This vicious cycle does not allow Japan and South Korea to move forward towards a future-oriented relationship and it seems that the trend of antagonism despite alignment in their bilateral relations would continue in the near future.

Indian Ocean: Exploring Maritime Domain Awareness

 Vijay Sakhuja

Attacks on maritime targets such as the USS Cole and MV Limburg off Yemen by al Qaeda, the 2008 Mumbai attacks by the Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and the 2014 attempt on Pakistan Navy ship by al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) have exposed the weaknesses of surveillance systems and intelligence agencies of the Indian Ocean littorals. Likewise, the rise in piracy attacks in Southeast Asia and Gulf of Aden/Somalia have highlighted the sophistication of pirate communication networks, which the naval and maritime forces could not penetrate. Security agencies concur that a robust intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communication network is the key to robust counter-terrorism and anti-piracy operations and can effectively reduce the risk of attack by the perpetrators.
In the Indian Ocean, three wide-area CISR networks have been set up to respond to threats and challenges posed by non-State actors such as terrorists and pirates. These networks receive vital information from multiple systems such as the Automatic Identification System (AIS), the long-range identification and tracking (LRIT), satellites and shore based Electro-optical systems and radars to enable real-time data of ships operating in the oceans.
The Information Fusion Centre (IFC) is a Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) initiative, and was established in 2009 at the Changi Command and Control Centre (CC2C) in Singapore. It is a 24/7 regional maritime focal point and undertakes a number of activities to enhance maritime situation awareness. The IFC is a symbol of effective mechanism of ‘multi-agency co-operation and interoperability amongst national and regional maritime agencies’ and an enabler for technological and operational interoperability among maritime forces which ensures timely regional responses to crisis. The IFC is linked to nearly 45 agencies from 28 countries and manned by the RSN personnel and 30 multi-national staff called International Liaison Officers (ILOs) from 12 countries who work together to generate a maritime situation picture.
Likewise, the Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) at Gurgaon in India is an Indian Navy initiative and connects national coastal radar stations and other maritime systems and collates, fuses and disseminates critical intelligence and information about ‘unusual or suspicious movements and activities at sea’ for use by Indian agencies. It is part of the National Command Control Communication Intelligence (NC3I) network and was commissioned in November 2014.
The Piracy, Maritime Awareness and Risks (PMAR),  a European Union initiative for capacity-building of Eastern and Southern African/Indian Ocean (ESA-IO) region, aims to enhance maritime situational awareness and counter-piracy capability of the regional States. It provides a real-time Maritime Situational Picture (MSP) of the Western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden to the Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (RMRCC) under the control of Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) in Mombasa and the Anti-Piracy Unit of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) in the Seychelles. The PMAR is a roll on project and will be operational for fifteen months (July 2014 and October 2015); earlier, it had focused on the Horn of Africa (2010- 2012) and Gulf of Guinea (2011- 2013).
In the past, a number of multilateral information-sharing and intelligence exchange mechanisms such as the Shared Awareness and Deconfliction (SHADE), the Contact Group for Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) and the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC) were set up in the Indian Ocean to counter piracy in the Gulf of Aden, and maybe wound up given that only 11 incidents of piracy were reported during 2014.  
While these are noteworthy initiatives, there are at least three challenges for a robust MDA in the Indian Ocean. The IFC and IMAC lack institutional and technological networking to generate a common maritime picture for the Indian Ocean countries. Further, given that maritime security is transnational and transoceanic, these are not linked to similar agencies/systems in other regions such as the MARSUR, an initiative of the European navies. Second, the PMAR is temporary in nature and would be withdrawn/shifted to another region by the EU on completion of the stipulated fifteen months. Third is the necessity of obtaining and sharing additional information about shipping given that AIS is prone to data manipulation.
As far as a pan-Indian Ocean MDA is concerned, the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) is a useful platform to explore the above idea. After all, the idea of the IFC may have had its genesis in the 18th International Seapower Symposium at Rhode Island, US, where Chiefs of Navy of the participating countries acknowledged that information-sharing is critical for maritime domain awareness, and since then it has become a ‘common thread championed at various security dialogues and forums’.
The IMAC could consider inviting ILOs from Indian Ocean countries and enhancing multi-national naval cooperation. It is also a good idea to explore if IMAC can support regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and Search and Rescue (SAR) operations, and augment environmental surveillance through situational information.

Insurgency in Northeast India: The Chinese Link

Wasbir Hussain

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has just ended a four-day visit to China where she discussed “bilateral, regional and global issues of concern” for both countries. The range of discussions with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, that stretched to over two hours, were rather extensive: finalising the transit issue for Indian pilgrims to Kailash Manasarovar through Sikkim to the border question, to defence contacts between the two neighbours, trade and commerce, and possibly river waters, in view of the concerns in India over the massive damming of the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra). What is not known, however, is whether Sushma Swaraj or the new Foreign Secretary, S Jaishankar, an expert China hand who spent four years in Beijing as India’s Ambassador there, raised the issue of official Chinese arms manufacturing companies regularly selling small arms (man-portable lethal weapons like AK series rifles, light and sub-machine guns, grenades etc) to insurgents in Northeast India. China, in fact, holds the key to the availability of weapons and ammunition among the terror groups in Northeast India that is actually keeping insurgency alive in this far-eastern frontier.
One has heard the Modi Government at the Centre talking of a ‘zero tolerance policy’ on terror, something that has not been clearly articulated as yet. Going by New Delhi’s diktat to the security establishment in Assam to go all out against the insurgents indulging in violence, in the wake of the 23 December 2014 massacre of around 80 Adivasis in the state by rebels of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit faction), one can assume that the Centre now is in favour of tough action to neutralise trigger-happy rebels. The approach seems to have yielded good results because from 23 December 2014 to 31 January 31, 2015, security forces engaged in stepped-up counter-insurgency operations against the NDFB (Songbijit) have arrested nearly 140 cadres, killed a top commander, and recovered nearly two dozen rifles, including sophisticated German HK 33 and US-make M 16 rifles and a range of AK series ones, most likely made in China. Close to 2,000 rounds of ammunition have been seized.
There is every reason to believe that unless the flow of small arms to the region is checked, insurgency cannot be eliminated or controlled in Northeast India. Any new anti-terror policy that New Delhi may formulate in the coming days would have to take this fact into consideration. It is here that the China factor will come into play, something that the Modi Government will have to confront.
In fact, if one looks at the charge-sheet filed by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) on 26 March 2011 against Anthony Shimray, chief arms procurer of the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), it becomes clear that the insurgent group was actively buying weapons from Chinese companies. The FIR lists out the plan in detail and specifically says that Shimray, accompanied by a representative of another rebel group, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), visited the Norinco headquarters in Beijing. Norinco or the China North Industries Corporation, is one of China's largest State-owned weapons manufacturers. Bangkok-based NSCN-IM rebels paid USD 500,000 to Norinco and bought 1,800 weapons that landed at Bangladesh’s Cox Bazar in 1996 and were transported onwards to Northeast India, to NSCN-IM and NDFB camps. Half of these weapons, of course, were seized by Bangladeshi security forces while being off-loaded.
Around 2007, NSCN-IM faced desertion from its ranks with people going away with weapons. That was the time the outfit again decided to buy 1,000 weapons, mainly AK series rifles, light machine guns, sub-machine guns, pistols, rocket-propelled grenades etc. NSCN-IM approached another Chinese arms manufacturing company, TCL, and paid USD 1,00,000. The money was paid through a Thai arms dealer Wuthikorn Naruenartwanich alias Willy. The deal did not materialise due to the ‘disturbed situation’ in Bangladesh where the consignment was meant to be delivered. The NIA has electronic receipt of the payment.
Reports attributed to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that a definite money trail exists as payment to the Chinese firm was made through normal banking channels via a leading private bank's branch in an African country. NSCN (I-M), according to the MHA, has parked its funds in bank accounts across several African nations. The NIA is bent on pursuing the Anthony Shimray arms procurement case to its logical end and has received a shot in the arm with the arrest in 2013 of Wuthikorn Naruenartwanich. His extradition to India was cleared by a criminal court in Thailand but Willy has since moved a higher court there and is awaiting its verdict on the matter of his extradition. What is clear is the Chinese link in weapons supply to rebels in Northeast India.
Bangladesh and Myanmar have been the key transit routes through which small arms made in China reaches the Northeast. The main conduits in Myanmar are the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). These two ethnic insurgent groups have acted as the interlocking chain for the illegal weapons flow from Yunnan in China via Myanmar to Northeast India, but the most effective illegal weapons trader in Myanmar is another armed ethnic group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA).
The UWSA is the military wing of the United Wa State Party (UWSP) founded in 1989 with members of the Wa National Council (WNC), which represent the Wa ethnic group and former members of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB). The UWSA’s biggest source of revenue is its involvement in the illegal small arms network across South and Southeast Asia. It manufactures Chinese weapons with an “informal franchise” procured from Chinese ordnance factories. The main motive is to sell these weapons for huge profit to armed groups in Northeast India.
A security situation in the Northeast that remains under control is vital to the pursuance of India’s Look East Policy. Therefore, New Delhi will have to devise a strategy to neutralise insurgency in the Northeast, and that strategy will have to factor in the flow of small arms to these groups. The ability to chock this flow right at the source of its origin could well hold the key.

New Leadership Lineup in Saudi Arabia: Reading the Tea Leaves

 Ranjit Gupta

In Saudi Arabia, the incumbent King has the absolute right to designate a successor who is titled as the Crown Prince. However, with an eye to ensure acceptable successions in the future given the intense factional rivalries within the royal family and the advancing age of potential monarchs, King Abdullah established the Allegiance Council in 2006 to decide upon succession matters. Also, in March 2014, King Abdullah, controversially, created a new designation - Deputy Crown Prince - and appointed his half-brother Prince Moqren, thus placing him second in the line of succession. The appointment decree was strangely worded, stating that the appointment had been made in consultation with the Crown Prince, had been approved by the Allegiance Council, and could not be changed by anybody in the future. Disgruntled members of the royal family tweeted objections and it became publicly known that unprecedentedly a quarter of the Allegiance Council did not agree. The reality is that the Allegiance Council has functioned as a rubber stamp. The fact is that in the normal course it would have been highly unlikely that Moqren, the son of a Yemeni slave woman, who never had a front rank job, would be in the line of succession, particularly as there remained an elder brother, the youngest of the powerful ‘Sudairi Seven’, Prince Ahmed. It was clear that Moqren’s appointment was designed to ensure that Abdullah’s sons would have a prominent governmental future. 
King Salman, already 79 and in poor health, is the last of the prominent sons of the founder King, and the time is inevitably coming for the crown and other important portfolios to pass on to the next generation. For years there has been speculation of when that might happen and who would be the chosen one. 
All this was settled within a few hours of Salman’s ascending the throne and even before King Abdullah was buried. The single most important decision announced by King Salman was the appointment of the incumbent Interior Minister Prince Muhammad bin Nayif to be concurrently the new Deputy Crown Prince, unequivocally making the latter the first amongst the next generation to be in line to take the crown. He is 59 years old. The other particularly significant appointment was that of his son, Mohammed bin Salman, only 32 years old, as the new Defence Minister and also the Head of the Royal Court, a singularly important post. He will also be a member of the newly created high-powered Council of Political and Security Affairs (chaired by the new Deputy Crown Prince and Interior Minister) and head the newly created high-powered Council of Economic and Development Affairs. To assign two particularly powerful portfolios and give membership of the government’s newly created policy and implementation hubs to an untried and untested rather young individual is absolutely unprecedented. He has been clearly placed in the line to become King one day. 
The many changes also affect two of the late King Abdullah’s sons who have been removed from significant jobs by making Faisal bin Bandar Governor of Riyadh instead of Turki bin Abdullah and reinstating Khaled al-Faisal as Mecca Governor less than two years after he was replaced by Mishaal bin Abdullah.
All these appointments cumulatively herald the return of the Sudairies to overriding power after the 20 year Abdullah hiatus - 10 years as virtual regent and King for another decade. The former King’s son, Prince Meteb, remains the head of the National Guard - it would have been hazardous to remove him since the National Guard has been commanded by Abdullah since 1962 and more recently by Prince Miteb, is numerically larger than the army, as strong as the army, and fiercely loyal to the Abdullah clan.
Prince Moqren was confirmed as Crown Prince but remains the fly in the ointment. This was probably done not to rock the boat immediately on taking over. In the past once designated as the Crown Prince he has invariably become the King unless he predeceased the incumbent King like Crown Prince Sultan and Crown Prince Nayef successively. However, Moqren has no supporting constituency in the country either in the royal family or in the governmental establishment or amongst clerics or the people, and it should not be too difficult to remove him if only the ailing King Salman has enough time left to consolidate his hold on power and earn sufficient popularity with the people. In the meantime he is unlikely to be given any significant role in the new and evolving set-up.
Moqren has lost his most powerful supporter Khalid Al-Tuwaijri, the erstwhile head of the Royal Court. Despised and deeply resented by the vast majority of the royal princes, his removal was the first and entirely predictable decision taken by the new monarch upon accession to the throne.
Significantly the Oil Minister Naimi has been retained, clearly indicating that Saudi Arabia will continue its policy of retaining market share even at the risk of keeping oil prices low. Despite resultant budgetary constraints this year, the new King has showered large monetary hand-outs to a vast number of people and entities totalling several dozens of billions of dollars to garner popularity. He is the first Saudi King to use social media  and has racked up more than 450,000 new followers on the microblogging site Twitter (@KingSalman), bringing the total to over 1.75 million. King Salman has certainly got off to a very deeply personally satisfying beginning.

New Zealand: Labour leader outlines his pro-business agenda

Tom Peters

Last week’s “state of the nation” speeches by Prime Minister John Key and Labour Party leader Andrew Little served to underscore yet again the lack of any significant differences between the government and opposition. Both are committed to making the working class pay for the deepening crisis of global capitalism through harsh austerity measures and attacks on jobs and working conditions.
The speeches were delivered amid soaring social inequality and poverty. Since the 2008 economic crash, living standards for hundreds of thousands of people have collapsed, while New Zealand’s billionaires and multi-millionaires have vastly increased their wealth, assisted by generous tax cuts and the deliberate driving down of wages.
Tens of thousands of workers have been laid off by the National Party government and private companies, while basic social services such as welfare, education and healthcare have suffered from successive budget cuts. Wealthy speculators have created a property bubble, which has dramatically driven up house prices and rents, making the country one of the least affordable for housing in the world.
Little, who was installed as Labour’s new leader following the party’s third consecutive election defeat last September, spoke to an audience largely composed of business and trade union figures in Auckland. He referred briefly to the crisis facing large numbers of working people. He noted that the number of children living in poverty had risen by 20,000 to 260,000 (one in four children) since National was first elected in 2008, and declared that “the incomes of the top 10 percent are nine times the income of the bottom 10 percent.”
However, Little did not advance any policies to address this social disaster. His speech consisted mainly of pledges to boost the profits of large and small businesses, and fraudulent claims that this would lead to “better, higher paid jobs for everyone.” He emphasised that a Labour government would collaborate with the trade union bureaucracy and corporations to eliminate regulatory “red tape” and improve “productivity”—that is, to intensify the exploitation of workers.
Little’s assertion that trade unions worked with businesses to raise wages and defend jobs fly in the face of reality. In the 1980s, the Labour government launched an assault on the social position of the working class—including sweeping privatisations, tax cuts for the wealthy and the introduction of consumption tax. The union bureaucracy has worked hand-in-glove with successive governments and the corporations to suppress resistance to down-sizing and wage cutting, all in the name of boosting “international competitiveness.”
The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), which was led by Little from 2000 to 2011, helped to impose thousands of redundancies, including recently at state-owned mining company Solid Energy and NZ Post.
Little began his speech by blatantly falsifying the EPMU’s record, stating that in 2005 it had worked with Air New Zealand to prevent 300 engineering jobs from being moved overseas. According to Little, this was an example of “good management and a well-led workforce working together ... [to] create gains for both.” He did not mention that the following year the union agreed to 200 job cuts and in 2007 signed off on 300 more “voluntary” redundancies at the airline.
Another outcome of the EPMU’s collaboration with management in the interests of “productivity” was the explosion at the Pike River coal mine in 2010, which killed 29 men. The EPMU, which represented about half the miners, did not once protest against the dangerous conditions at the site, let alone organise industrial action. After the disaster, Little immediately defended Pike River Coal, telling the New Zealand Herald that there was “nothing unusual about Pike River or this mine that we’ve been particularly concerned about.”
Little made virtually no criticism of the Key government’s pro-market measures because Labour has accepted almost all of them—including the 2010 increase in the Goods and Services Tax, corporate tax cuts, public service cuts and the partial privatisation of power companies.
Little criticised the government’s plan to sell 8,000 of the country’s 68,000 public housing units to charities, churches, Maori tribal businesses and other private companies. The proposal will inevitably further inflate rents while delivering a windfall to investors. However, Little told the National Business Review that he would make no pledge to re-nationalise the houses as it “would be reckless to do so.”
Labour campaigned in the election on a policy of building 10,000 houses a year and selling them at market rates, which would be beyond the means of most working people. The party also joined the right-wing populist NZ First Party and Maori nationalist Mana Party in a xenophobic campaign blaming Asian immigrants for driving up property prices.
The Labour leader’s speech was well-received by the corporate media, including the editors of The Press and the New Zealand Herald. Dr Oliver Hartwich, executive director of the pro-business think tank The New Zealand Initiative, hailed Little for advocating “a reconciliation of social democracy with the market economy.”
Pro-Labour columnist Chris Trotter, writing on The Daily Blog, absurdly tried to paint Little’s speech as progressive and even “radical,” pointing to Little’s vapid rhetoric about reducing unemployment.
There is considerable anxiety in the political establishment—including liberal and pseudo-left circles—about the historic collapse in support for Labour, which has long served as a key prop for bourgeois rule. Among workers and youth it is widely seen as a party of big business and militarism, just like National. The attempt to give Labour a “left” image and boost its support following the installation of David Cunliffe as leader in 2013 was a dismal failure. The party received just 25 percent of the votes at last year’s election, its worst result in 92 years.

Federal panel calls for slashing tens of billions from veteran benefits

Tom Hall

A federal panel tasked with slashing veterans’ benefits released its final report last Thursday, calling for the shifting of new veterans onto private healthcare schemes and 401(k) retirement plans, as part of a plan to cut tens of billions of dollars in payroll expenses over the next two decades.
The Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission was established by the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed in January of that year, which set aside $633 billion for Washington’s worldwide military operations. It was enacted in the midst of wrangling between Obama and congressional Republicans over austerity measures, which led to the so-called “sequester” cuts automatically kicking in in March 2013, after Congress failed to reach agreement on the size and scope of the cuts.
The commission estimates that the changes will save the military $26.5 billion from 2016 to 2020, and a further $6.7 billion annually until 2033. The increasing expenses per-soldier on wages, healthcare and retirement funds, which have nearly doubled since 1998, are a major source of concern for the military. The Armed Forces spent $417 billion on uniformed compensation last year, according to an interim report by the Commission last summer, around three-quarters of which went towards retirement funding, healthcare, and other payments such as education subsidies.
The Commission consists of career politicians and retired generals with histories in and around the financial industry. Alphonso Maldon, Jr., President Obama’s appointee and chairman of the Commission, is a retired colonel who had worked in the financial sector since his military retirement. He is also part owner of the Washington Nationals baseball team. Another member, former senator Larry Pressler, was a member of Obama’s Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction commission in 2010.
The Commission, acutely aware of the unpopularity of its proposed measures, was at pains to paint the report as reflecting the mood among service members and veterans, peppering the 302-page document with anonymous testimonials from respondents to a survey conducted by the Commission.
The Commission argues for a massive overhaul of the pension system. Currently, military retirees begin receiving a defined-benefit pension, measured at 50 percent of their base pay, immediately upon their retirement if they have served for 20 years. The report calls for a shift to a hybrid plan incorporating elements of a defined contribution pension. The payout to twenty-year veterans would be slashed to 40 percent, and would be restricted to a set retirement age. However, about 75 percent of all service members would be enrolled in the federal civilian Thrift Savings Program, a 401(k)-style retirement plan.
The move in large part reflects the increasing unattractiveness of the military as a lifelong career. According to the study, approximately 17 percent of enlisted personnel stay on long enough to qualify for the current pension scheme.
The report laments the fact that beneficiaries of the current government-run military healthcare plan, known as Tricare, receive healthcare “at a significantly higher rate than do people with civilian health insurance plans.” Tricare’s inability to “effectively manage the rate at which users consume health care,” according to the report, is primarily due to the fact that out-of-pocket expenses are low when compared to civilian healthcare programs. In addition to raising out-of-pocket expenses, the commission also recommends various “nonmonetary tools” such as “preventing hospital admissions, shortening inpatient stays, and avoiding readmission,” which they implausibly claim will lead to “better healthcare outcomes.”
Towards this end, the Commision’s report calls for market-based healthcare “reform” which would phase out Tricare. Family members and retirees under the age of 65 would be forced onto the private health insurance market under a scheme reminiscent of Obamacare, in which they would receive vouchers, called the “Basic Allowance for Healthcare,” to help offset the costs. The program would be similar to the civilian Federal Employee Healthcare Benefits Program and run out of the same federal office rather than by the Defense Department.
The report also advocates cost-savings in the military’s commissary system, upon which many soldiers and their families rely for food, cutting over $500 million from the budget for commissaries by 2021, compared to the current budget of $1.4 billion. The military’s version of food stamps would also be eliminated. The Commission’s recommendations will not be included in this year’s budget, according to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, but would “inform discussions that DoD will have with Congress over the course of this year.” However, whether or not the new Republican-controlled congress will act on these recommendations remains to be seen. The initial response so far has been lukewarm. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that he opposes the plan to abolish Tricare, but added that the report deserves “thorough review and thoughtful consideration.” Marc Thornberry (R-TX), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, cautioned that the military “must compete with the private sector for talent.”
Obama, mere days after praising the Commission for their work, announced a proposal yesterday to increase funds for the VA system, funded partially by reallocating a token amount of money from an existing healthcare “choice” program for veterans, in a transparent attempt at grandstanding. House Republicans immediately voiced their opposition to his proposal, ending any possibility of its passage. The Veteran’s Choice Program that he proposes to cut into was passed overwhelmingly last summer in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and Obama himself signed the bill into law in August.
In reality, both parties support the Commission’s argument that benefit costs must be reined in, in particular the Commission’s call for the privatization of veteran’s healthcare. The political establishment seized upon a scandal last year surrounding the deaths of 40 veterans while waiting for treatment at an Arizona VA hospital to “prove” the ineffectiveness of government-run healthcare.
There is, however a clear concern within the government that cutting too deeply into military benefits, the most attractive component of otherwise relatively low-paying employment, would negatively impact the effectiveness of the military at a time when US military aggression is being increasingly utilized to counteract diplomatic crisis and economic decline.

“Smoking gun” documents prove massive Canadian spy operations

 Dylan Lubao

Confidential government documents recently published by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in collaboration with online publication The Intercept have exposed yet another mass spying operation conducted by the Canadian Communications Security Establishment (CSE), the country’s foreign signals intelligence agency. The documents, initially obtained by National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden, provide what is being widely regarded as a “smoking gun” showing that the Canadian government spies on the entire Canadian population in violation of their constitutional rights.
Codenamed “LEVITATION”, the newly unmasked program allows CSE analysts to access information on 10 to 15 million uploads and downloads of files per day from 102 different file-sharing websites, including popular sites such as Rapidshare and the now-defunct Megaupload.
The CSE asserts that LEVITATION is “mandated to collect foreign signals intelligence to protect Canada and Canadians from... threats to our national security, including terrorism.” According to its own figures, however, its analysts flag a minuscule 350 “interesting download events” per month, amounting to less than 0.0001 percent of total collected traffic.
Claims by the Canadian security-intelligence apparatus that it is spying on the entire population in order to protect them are repeated ad nauseam, in spite of all evidence pointing to the fact that the working population is the actual target of state surveillance.
In the process, millions of individuals have had their online information collected en masse, including at least two Canadian IP addresses from a Montreal-based data server that were flagged as “suspicious”. Given the fact that file-sharing websites are accessed by millions of people all over the world, it is a certainty that thousands, if not millions, of Canadians have had their internet data collected by the LEVITATION program without their knowledge or consent.
After flagging a user’s IP address, CSE analysts can plug it into an electronic database operated by the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), which allows them to potentially view the past five hours of the targeted user’s online activity. The CSE also has access to a robust database operated by the American National Security Agency (NSA), which contains internet traffic logs spanning up to one year.
The power and reach of the LEVITATION program further confirms the CSE’s role as an indispensable partner and a de facto subcontractor of its American counterpart, the NSA, in its illegal global spying operations.
This decades-long partnership, under which the CSE was made responsible for eavesdropping on the Soviet Union during the Cold War, sees the two agencies routinely exchange personnel, information and material support. The NSA often provides funding for joint projects, and utilizes the CSE to conduct espionage in countries where Canada has a stronger diplomatic presence.
As Glenn Greenwald, the former Guardian journalist and an editor at The Intercept put it, “It’s really the first time that a story has been reported that involves [CSE] as the lead agency in a program of pure mass surveillance.” Greenwald was instrumental in helping to bring Snowden’s revelations about the NSA to the world’s attention.
Prior to this most recent exposé, ample evidence had already been brought to light that the CSE and its sister agencies in the “Five Eyes” intelligence partnership were spying on the phone and internet communications of Canadians and millions of others around the world.
In the summer of 2013, during Snowden’s initial disclosures, it was revealed that the Canadian government had been spying on Canadians’ communications since 2004 through the systematic collection and analysis of their communications metadata. The metadata collection program was initiated by the Liberal government of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin, and expanded by their Conservative successors led by Stephen Harper.
For months after the initial revelations, the Conservative government lied profusely about the CSE’s clandestine operations, insisting that they were targeted at “foreign” threats and not at the Canadian population.
After this explanation was exposed as a complete fraud following revelations that the CSE had collected all Wi-Fi traffic at a Canadian airport in 2012 and tracked targeted individuals for up to two weeks afterward, the Conservatives changed tack and asserted the right to collect the metadata of Canadians’ communications.
The Conservatives based their argument on the spurious claim that because metadata is the information on the “envelope” of a private electronic communication, it is separate from the constitutionally-protected contents of that communication and can be legally collected and analyzed by the government at will.
In fact, as numerous legal experts continue to insist, the collection and analysis of metadata would allow a spy agency like the CSE to construct a detailed personal profile of an individual or an organization. This includes identifying daily patterns of behaviour, friends and associates, workplaces, and political opinions and affiliations.
Numerous substantial revelations, all of them furnished by Snowden and venomously denounced by the CSE and the Canadian government, have painted a picture of a Canadian security-intelligence apparatus that operates with full impunity to track domestic political dissent for future repression and support the overseas crimes of the Canadian ruling class and its counterparts in the Five Eyes.
The CSE functions under secret Defense Minister directives known at most to a handful of cabinet ministers and a cabal of security-intelligence operatives. Furthermore, the “legal wall” that nominally separates the CSE from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), which is tasked with discovering and countering “national security threats”, is effectively null and void. CSIS routinely seeks and receives the CSE’s aid in obtaining communications data on Canadian citizens, regularly lying to the courts in the process.
It must be noted that the CSE and CSIS, along with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), have, under the direction of the ministries of Public Safety as well as Defense, blurred the lines between political dissent and “terrorism”. Under current definitions held by both ministries and the government as a whole, peaceful opposition to the government’s right-wing and anti-worker measures can and has been labeled a “public security threat” and even low-level “terrorism”.
Reports have come to light demonstrating that security-intelligence agents have surveilled and infiltrated peaceful oppositional groups such as environmentalist, aboriginal rights, and anti-capitalist organizations. Protests like those at the 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto, and the protests against the construction of the Kinder Morgan Pipeline in British Columbia, are just a few examples of the targets of state surveillance and repression.
The rapid construction of the scaffolding of a police state in Canada, represented by the blatantly unconstitutional operations of the CSE, CSIS, and the RCMP, has met with muted criticism by the corporate media and the opposition Liberals and New Democratic Party (NDP). After raising a few tepid calls for greater parliamentary oversight of these patently anti-democratic spy agencies in the immediate aftermath of Snowden’s revelations, they inevitably lapse into silence.
The reason for their silence is clear. Seven years into the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the Canadian bourgeoisie, and its political representatives in all the main big business parties, is preparing to confront a resurgence of working class opposition to its demands for austerity and war. To an ever-increasing degree, the bourgeoisie sees dictatorship and a police state as its only option for crushing any movement of the working class towards socialism.

South Africa: Apartheid-era assassin Eugene De Kock granted parole

Thabo Seseane

In a mockery of justice, apartheid-era assassin Eugene De Kock, who was serving two life terms plus 212 years for other crimes, has been granted parole by South African Justice Minister Michael Masutha. The minister said he was being paroled “in the interests of nation-building.”
Nicknamed “Prime Evil,” De Kock confessed to more than 100 acts of murder, torture and fraud, and took full responsibility for the activities of his undercover unit. He was never tried for most of the killing and maiming he perpetrated on activists fighting white minority rule in the 1980s and early 1990s.
De Kock made his confessions in front of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which was established a year after South Africa’s first fully democratic elections in 1994.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who chaired the TRC, said the decision to release him represented a milestone on South Africa’s road to reconciliation and healing. He added: “I pray that those whom he hurt, those from whom he took loved ones, will find the power within them to forgive him. Forgiving is empowering for the forgiver and the forgiven.”
Masutha denied De Kock parole last June, saying he had “made progress” towards rehabilitation but that some of the families of his victims had not been consulted “as required by law.”
In 2012, De Kock sought out the relatives of some of his victims, including the mother and widow of African National Congress (ANC) lawyer Bheki Mlangeni. The family refused him forgiveness, questioning the sincerity of his request. Mlangeni was blown up by a bomb planted in a tape recorder sent to him in February 1991 while he was working to expose the activities of Vlakplaas, the secret police unit commanded by De Kock and named after the farm that served as its headquarters west of Pretoria.
De Kock was sentenced in 1996 for the murders of Japie Kereng Maponya and the Nelspruit Five—Oscar Mxolisi Ntshota, Glenack Masilo Mama, Lawrence Jacey Nyelende, Khona Gabela and Tisetso Leballo. Four were shot and killed in an ambush in the early hours of March 26, 1992 outside Nelspruit, Mpumalanga province. The fifth, Leballo, was killed later the same day “and the body subsequently destroyed by means of explosives at Penge Mine near Weltevreden,” according to the TRC amnesty application of De Kock and nine accomplices.
The TRC was a piece of high political theatre, also carried out in the name of “nation building.” Short on truth and long on reconciliation, it was designed for the benefit of the elite, black and white, but not for justice. No submission to the commission is permissible as evidence in court. None of the accomplices named by De Kock have been brought to trial, much less the bureaucrats and politicians who ordered and facilitated the murders carried out by Vlakplaas operatives.
In a guest column in the Daily Maverick posted just before Masutha’s decision, Jane Quin asks, “[H]ow dare we as a country spend precious ... time, money and energy considering the release of the killers who are captive, when we haven’t even bothered to bring the others to book?”
Quin’s sister Jacki was shot and killed by Vlakplaas members under De Kock in a cross-border raid in Maseru, Lesotho in December 1985. The ultimate responsibility for this crime rests with the politicians, bureaucrats and assassins who planned and carried it out.
By the same token, certain prosecutors and investigators are complicit for making the call not to pursue criminal cases against those responsible. This is where responsibility and blame for the release of De Kock should be apportioned, not to “we as a country”, if that includes working class South Africans who want nothing more than to see apartheid-era oppressors brought to justice.
The consideration shown De Kock, a highly capable purveyor of state violence, runs counter to the democratic aspirations of the masses who sacrificed so much in the anti-apartheid struggle. His parole is an addendum to Nelson Mandela’s discredited narrative of “a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world” and upheld to this day by the ruling ANC and the likes of Tutu.
This explains why among mainstream commentators, the news of De Kock’s parole has been broadly well received. “We are not a vengeful nation,” veteran journalist Max Du Preez pontificated in an interview with e.tv.
Speaking at the time of De Kock’s previous, unsuccessful parole application, right-wing opposition Democratic Alliance leader James Selfe commented, “It seems ... inequitable that Mr. De Kock is ... the only one [being] punished.” In other words, since none of his accomplices were in jail, De Kock had no business being behind bars either.
A month before his inauguration in May 2009, President Jacob Zuma of the ANC reportedly paid a secret visit to De Kock at Pretoria Central Prison. According to the Sunday Independent, De Kock gave Zuma information regarding the involvement in apartheid crimes of people who have thus far gone scot-free.
This could implicate figures now serving under the ANC government, since apartheid agents are known to have infiltrated the resistance movements. Most likely, any sensational information will be kept under wraps and used to settle matters between the various factions in the ruling party behind closed doors.
Masutha granted De Kock parole at the same time he denied Clive Derby-Lewis’s bid for medical parole. “There is nothing to suggest Mr. Derby-Lewis’s condition is such that he is rendered physically incapacitated … so as to severely limit daily activity,” said Masutha.
?Derby-Lewis, who has terminal lung cancer, was convicted for aiding and abetting Polish national Janusz Walus in the assassination of Chris Hani, a member of the ANC and the Stalinist South African Communist Party. Walus borrowed from Derby-Lewis the gun he used to kill Hani in the driveway of his home in Dawn Park, Ekurhuleni on April 10, 1993.
Masutha delayed a decision on the parole application of Ferdi Barnard, another apartheid state hitman, found guilty 17 years ago of the murder of anti-apartheid activist David Webster. “I was paid a R40,000 [US$3,400] production bonus after the killing. For a job well done,” Barnard boasts in Jacques Pauw’s Into the Heart of Darkness: Confessions of Apartheid’s Assassins (Jonathan Ball, 1997).
“It was an approved operation,” he maintains, “and Joe Verster [then director of the Civil Co-operation Bureau, Barnard’s unit] knew about everything.”
Barnard was sentenced in 1988 to 63 years and two life terms, the second being for an attempt on the life of Dullah Omar, who went on to serve in the cabinet of former President Mandela.
Whatever the fate of Derby-Lewis and Barnard, the ANC government has with De Kock’s parole signalled its contempt for any popular concept of justice. Through an endless series of backroom deals, the ruling elite is cynically whitewashing the past and palming off these efforts as “nation building.” The result is a country that is safe for mass murderers, a playground of the well-connected and rich criminals.
Workers have thus gained an insight into the ANC’s attitude towards the instruments of state security. As proved by the Marikana Massacre in 2012 that left 34 striking miners dead, and as it will be in the class struggle now developing, the uniformed brutes who come after Barnard and De Kock can also expect to get away with murder.

Australian PM recommits to war and austerity

Nick Beams

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott appears to have staved off an immediate push for his removal as leader of the Liberal Party following yesterday’s address to the National Press Club, but the crisis surrounding his government will continue.
Abbott’s speech came in the wake of last weekend’s Queensland state election, which saw the ousting of the Liberal National Party government as a result of a growing wave of opposition throughout the working class to austerity and spending cuts. His address and responses to questions from journalists had one central objective: to convince the corporate and financial elites, as well as key media interests, in particular media baron Rupert Murdoch, that he was determined to press ahead with their demands to further cut the living standards of the working class.
At the same time, the prime minister scotched rumours that he might be persuaded to resign by warning the party room that he would not go quietly and that any forced removal would destabilise the entire government.
The speech began with the now stock-in-trade of bourgeois politicians around the world—lies and falsifications coupled with invocations of the bogus “war on terror” to justify militarism and deepening attacks on democratic rights. The ISIS “death cult,” Abbott said, had created “a new dark age” over much of Syria and Iraq and inspired the “terrorism” that had hit Melbourne and Sydney.
In fact the incidents to which he referred, the police killing of 17-year-old Numan Haider in Melbourne and the Lindt café siege in Sydney, had no relationship to ISIS, but arose from the actions of two disturbed individuals.
Abbott returned to this theme when he set out his agenda for the future, foreshadowing major attacks on democratic rights. He claimed people were sick of “Australian citizens” making excuses for Islamist fanatics in the Middle East and that he would be seeking new legislation to outlaw certain organisations.
“If cracking down on Hizb-ut-Tahrir and others who nurture extremism in our suburbs means further legislation, we will bring it on and I will demand that the Labor Party call it for Australia.”
He made clear that the government’s anti-terror legislation would go further. Police and security agencies had told him they needed access to telecommunications data to deal with a range of crimes and “they should always have the laws, money and support they need.”
While the invocation of the “war on terror” was part of the government’s fear campaign, it also had a deeper significance. The development of more authoritarian forms of rule is part and parcel of the economic agenda directed against the working class that Abbott recommitted himself to impose.
He pointed to the economic stagnation in Europe, the slowest growth for a quarter of a century in Australia’s economic locomotive, China, and the halving of the price of iron ore—Australia’s biggest export—as evidence of “troubled times,” insisting that the government “is more determined than ever to make the changes our country needs.”
As always, when capitalist politicians speak of “our country” or “the nation,” they are outlining the demands and interests of the ruling elites, which insist that under worsening global economic conditions attacks on the living standards of the working class must be deepened.
At the centre of those “changes” is the slashing of social services—ending “the age of entitlement” as Treasurer Joe Hockey indicated in a speech almost three years ago—to cut the budget deficit. Setting out his agenda, Abbott said: “Our problem is not that taxes are too low; our problem is that government spending is too high.”
This was a guarantee to the corporate elites that the government would seek to meet their demands for lower “internationally competitive” tax rates and that it would not touch the massive concessions that have provided billions of dollars to the rich and super-rich.
In response to a question noting that two independent reports had found that the impact of last May’s budget fell disproportionately on the lowest income earners, Abbott resorted to the twisted logic with which the government intends to try to justify its measures—the concept of “intergenerational fairness” to rationalise greater inequality.
The greatest unfairness, he said, was to load future generations with deficit and debt. Reducing the deficit was therefore the “fair thing to do” and economic growth was the fastest way to return to surplus. In reality, under the profit system, in conditions of mounting global economic stagnation, any economic growth increasingly depends on lowering wages and social services, while boosting financial speculation—both of which widen social inequality.
At the same time, Abbott tried to deflect fears that the government’s forthcoming budget in May would intensify the cuts imposed last year. As much of the hard work had already been done, he said, “We won’t need to protect the Commonwealth budget at the expense of the household budget.”
This brought a rebuke from today’s Financial Review editorial, which attacked Abbott for “slipping back into his old pre-election habit of glossing over painful cuts and reforms when there is clearly more cutting to come.”
The Murdoch press, which played a significant role in sparking the leadership speculation, indicated its appreciation for Abbott’s recommitment to the austerity program it has demanded.
Today’s editorial in the Australian began by noting that Abbott “only gave a passing hat tip to those of his critics demanding contrition and malleability, preferring to channel his inner Margaret Thatcher and pronounce he was not for turning.”
While indicating that Abbott and his MPs had to do better, the editorial said he had provided a template for the “mission to constrain budget spending” and his government was the only sensible choice.
However, the unease within the Liberal Party room, among cabinet members as well as backbenchers, over Abbott’s leadership—brought to a head following the Queensland state election defeat—has not gone away.
Asked specifically whether he still had the confidence of the party room, Abbott only dealt with the question when specifically pressed and then only to make a threat. Acknowledging, in response to questions from journalists, that the government had had a “rough couple of months” and that some MPs were not supporting him, he continued: “When things are difficult the last thing you want to do is make a difficult situation worse.”
In response to an earlier question, Abbott insisted that, while party rooms chose leaders, once parties had gone to an election, things changed and it was “the people” that hired and fired.
In other words, Abbott was telegraphing to the party room he would not go easily and that his removal would only lead to the type of turbulence that had characterised the previous Labor government’s Rudd-Gillard conflict, making a bad situation for the government worse. While these considerations may stay the hand of some of his internal opponents, the concept of après moi le deluge does not represent the firmest foundation for his leadership.
Seeking to assuage criticism from within Liberal ranks, Abbott promised that there would be no more “captain’s picks” of the type that led him to offer a knighthood to the Queen’s consort, the Duke of Edinburgh, sparking widespread condemnations of his judgement and contributing to leadership tensions. He also promised to be more “collegial and consultative.” As one journalist noted during question time, such a commitment had been delivered on 12–15 previous occasions.
While promising to eschew individual actions on secondary issues, Abbott made clear there was one area in which he would act unilaterally—foreign and security policy. Citing his denunciation of Russia over the bringing down of Malaysian Airlines MH 17 last July, he said that was the type of “captain’s call” he would continue to make in the future.
The example is revealing of another central plank of the government—its unswerving commitment to the agenda of US militarism. Abbott’s initial response to the downing of MH17 was to declare that the situation was unclear. Only hours later, however, after consultations with officials of the Obama administration, he became Washington’s leading international attack dog over the issue, culminating in his threat to “shirt front” Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Brisbane G20 summit.
Abbott’s National Press Club address was an assertion that, notwithstanding deepening popular opposition, war and austerity will remain the foundation of his government’s agenda.

Germany’s working poor and the government’s “jobs miracle”

Dietmar Henning

Despite the endless rhapsodising over Germany’s so-called “jobs miracle” by the government and media, more and more studies are proving that this “miracle” is based on the brutal exploitation of low-wage and part-time workers. The number of those who can barely manage to live on their income has increased by 25 percent compared to the figure in 2008. Evidence from the Federal Statistical Offices shows that 3.1 million employed workers were living below the poverty threshold at the end of 2013. In 2008, the number of so-called “working poor” stood at around 2.5 million people.
Those considered to be at risk of poverty are people on incomes less than 60 percent of median income, including all government payments (e.g., residential and child support). In 2013, the threshold in Germany was €979 net per month for a single person and €2,056 for a family with two children under 14 years of age.
According to statisticians, this has far-reaching consequences for those affected and especially for their children. About 379,000 employed people at risk of poverty were unable to pay their rent on time in 2013. Some 417,000 went without adequate heating. Approximately 538,000 tried to save on food costs by having a full meal only every second day. Almost 600,000 of these workers could not afford to run their own cars. Even a weeklong annual holiday is beyond the finances of approximately 1.5 million people.
Shortly before Christmas, consumer advice centres reported that more and more families have to make do without electricity on public holidays. According to the Federal Network Agency, electricity was temporarily disconnected from nearly 345,000 households in the last year alone. The consumer centres consider the number to be significantly higher.
The increase in poverty among the working population is a direct result of low wages, which even the minimum wage regulation fails to adequately supplement, and low social benefits such as those for housing and child support. Another reason for the poverty increase is the growing number of those who have no alternative but to work part-time.
It is true that the number of people employed in Germany reaches a new high almost every year. The federal government never tires of presenting this as a major success. However, the proportion of part-time and marginal jobs in Germany is higher than in most other European countries. This is by shown by a new study from the Institute for Macroeconomic and Business Research (IMK), a subsidiary of the Confederation of German Trade Unions’ (DGB) Hans Böckler Foundation.
According to the study, only Iceland, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway have employment rates—i.e., proportions of employees in the respective working-age populations—that are higher than the rate in Germany. But these rates give no indication of the kind of employment involved. The study states: “The nominal employment rate is based purely on counting the number of employees, without distinguishing between those with full-time and part-time jobs.” The high employment rate in Germany is therefore misleading, because a quarter of the country’s employees—almost 11 million people—work in part-time jobs. The proportion of part-time workers is higher only in the Netherlands and Switzerland.
In addition, the part-time workers work for only very few hours a week. People employed in marginal jobs and earning a maximum of €450 a month constitute about half of all part-time workers in Germany. These 5 million-plus people mainly work in low-wage jobs. Furthermore, another 2.35 million of the marginally employed do part-time work in addition to another job.
According to recent surveys by the Federal Statistical Office, more than 3 million people employed in Germany want to work longer hours. In particular, many women have less employment than they would like. They are unable to find a full-time job or have to care for children or relatives.
Overall, every sixth citizen of Germany was affected by poverty or social marginalisation in 2014. This amounts to over 13 million people, according to the Federal Statistics Office’s report in October. The number of working poor is growing particularly in Berlin, the Ruhr area and many eastern German regions.
While poverty is increasing, wealth is concentrating at the other end of society. Private assets in Germany have grown to well over €10 trillion, i.e., 10,000 billion euros. The hundred richest German individuals and families alone possess a fortune of €336 billion.
The gap between the rich and the poor is continually widening. This is the result of a policy which floods the financial markets in the interests of the rich with hundreds of billions of euros that end up in the bank accounts of large-scale shareholders. The billions slipped into the pockets of the super-rich are then recuperated from the workers and unemployed through austerity programmes—a massive redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top.
The trade unions bear major responsibility for these policies. Not only did they support the introduction of the miserly Hartz social benefits legislation ten years ago and the bank bailout of half a trillion euros in 2009. Above all, they play the key role in preparing the ground for the attacks on jobs, wages and working conditions carried out in the factories.
The pious oratory and quietly delivered social critique, via the DGB’s Hans Böckler Foundation, of the German Confederation is aimed at covering the union’s own tracks, while simultaneously warning the ruling class that these policies will spark social protest and open revolt. This above all the DGB and its unions fear like the plague.

German military experts demand purchase of drones

Johannes Stern

According to a report in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, German security officials and military experts are urging the rapid purchase of armed drones.
The defence policy spokesman for the Christian Democratic Union-Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) fraction in parliament, Henning Otte, told the newspaper, “Last year, we initiated a debate about the necessity of combat-ready drones and clearly spoke out in favour of this capability.” He went on to say that it was now time “to take the next step and secure drones with this capacity for the German army.”
The defence spokesman for the CSU, Florian Hahn, expressed a similar view. He said that Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) had to “urgently take the decision this year.”
The drones were “a key question for our sovereignty in defence policy and a key capability for a modern, efficient army,” he continued. Other problems in defence policy, such as the supply of A400M transport aircraft, should not result in “a decision on the purchase of a drone being set aside,” Hahn added.
According to Die Welt, the Social Democrats (SPD) are also stepping up pressure on von der Leyen. “We expect the minister to make this decision quickly,” Rainer Arnold, the SPD’s defence spokesman, was cited by the paper as saying.
High-ranking military officials are supporting the calls from politicians. The chairman of the Bundeswehr (German army) association, Lieutenant Colonel Andre Wüstner, referring to current crises in Africa, Syria and Iraq, declared that future conflicts would be carried out by means of drones. The Defence Ministry had to finally begin purchasing and developing combat drones, he insisted.
The Air Force inspector, Lieutenant General Karl Müller, warned that if Germany did not develop its own drones, it would be internationally dependent.
According to Welt am Sonntag, the purchase of military drones is no longer a question of if, but when. A spokesman for the Defence Ministry said a policy was being worked on.
The newspaper claimed that €323 million in a secret part of the defence budget had been “allocated for the purchase of three combat-ready aircraft and two ground control stations.” The options being considered, according to Die Welt, are the Israeli model “Heron TP” and the US “Predator B.” In the medium term, the development of a European drone was the goal.
Germany’s move to acquire combat drones exposes the lies of the media and politicians that the German ruling class and its military have been forced to wage war in defence of human rights and democracy. Drones epitomize the US-led criminal wars of conquest around the world.
Washington has deployed drones mainly in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. According to research by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalists, the US military and CIA have already claimed the lives of between 2,400 and 3,900 people in Pakistan alone through the use of drones. Victims of the targeted killings, which are personally approved by President Obama, are often women and children. Often they are guests at birthday parties or weddings targeted for drone attack.
The Bild newspaper recently revealed that Germany has been more broadly involved in such methods of warfare (which are illegal under international law) than had previously been reported. Extensive documents from the German army and foreign intelligence service (BND) confirm that Major General Markus Kneip, who commanded Germany’s ISAF troops in Afghanistan and today is head of the strategy and deployment department of the Defence Ministry, personally selected individual targets for the US targeted killing programme.
The purchase of drones would give the German military the ability to conduct its own targeted killings. Although the vast majority of Germans oppose this illegal practice, plans for the development of a military drone program have for some time been systematically developed behind the backs of the population.
Already in 2009, the CDU/Free Democratic Party (FDP) government stated in its coalition agreement that it was “essential” to carry out “the sustainable development and expansion of independent national capabilities—in particular, future aircraft systems.” In the summer of 2012, then-Defence Minister and current Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière described drones as “ethically neutral weapons.” Shortly afterwards, a strategy paper entitled “Air Power 2030” was published by the Air Force that called for the development of drone technology.
“The utilisation and further development of the capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicle systems is to be optimised in all areas of surveillance-directing-impact and support, and their scope of deployment expanded,” the paper stated. The Air Force intended, according to the report, “to invest in these programmes so important for the future because we are convinced that the German army can thereby be strengthened as a whole.” The Air Force would increase “the capacity to act and the efficiency of the entire German military system” so that it could contribute “flexibly and globally at any time to German army deployments.”
Since German President Joachim Gauck and other politicians announced Germany’s return to an aggressive great power foreign policy at the beginning of last year, a systematic campaign has been waged in the media in favour of the purchase of these instruments of murder. Particularly prominent in this campaign has been Humboldt University Professor Herfried Münckler.
In June, he told public broadcaster ARD’s “Mittagmagazin” (Mid-day Magazine): “The wars of the future will be a mixture of classical wars and more modern police interventions. Drones will play an increasing role in this policing role of the military.”
He went on to say that drones were “very well equipped for such police-style missions, certainly better than combat helicopters, bombers and possibly also light infantry.”
He continued: “I think one has to realise that the development of combat-readiness on many levels is coming. Geopolitical factors play a role in this, demographics, how many young men do you have, i.e., how many victims can be risked, technological developments, tactical innovations, strategic ideas.”
He added that “Post-heroic societies like ours, societies that are not held together by particular ideals of masculinity, by the ideas of honour and sacrifice” were dependent upon “using technological assistance as a crutch to secure the capacity to act on the military level.”
In a further interview with the provocative title “To Proscribe Drones Would Be Absurd,” Münckler said incompetence in security policy was being defended by invoking morality.
German history was also a problem, he noted. Due to "an intense feeling of guilt,” Germans were adverse to developing a “heightened responsibility” to “engage in those places where something like genocide is taking place,” he declared. He complained that "because Germany stood at the centre of two world wars,” ordinary Germans were inclined “to fold their hands and do nothing.”

Oil giants take hard line against US workers on strike

Jerry White

Nearly 4,000 workers are on strike at oil refineries in Kentucky, Texas, California and the state of Washington after negotiations between the United Steelworkers (USW) union and major oil corporations for a new three-year labor agreement broke down over the weekend.
On Sunday morning, union officials called a limited strike—involving nine out of the 65 oil refineries it organizes and only 3,800 out of the 30,000 workers covered by the national agreement. The action was called after Royal Dutch Shell, the lead bargainer for the oil companies, walked out of talks without giving the USW anything it could present as a concession to help overcome rank-and-file opposition to another sellout deal.
Despite the sharp slide in crude oil prices, the energy conglomerates, which also include ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and Marathon, are taking in windfall profits and are paying their top executives multimillion-dollar bonuses. The value of the oil company shares have more than doubled since the last contract signed by the USW in 2012.
Like workers throughout the United States, oil workers are determined to regain lost pay after more than a decade of stagnant wages and rising health care and other living expenses. In addition, many oil workers are subjected to 12-hour shifts and are forced to work as many as 14 straight days, according to the USW, resulting in fatigue and the danger of fatal accidents.
The politically connected oil industry faces little, if any, oversight—whether Democrats or Republicans are in office—from federal and state regulators despite a raft of deadly explosions, chemical releases and other environmental disasters.
Two of the refineries selected for picketing were the locations of deadly disasters over the last decade. This includes the Marathon Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas (formerly owned by BP), where 15 workers were killed and 170 injured in a March 23, 2005 hydrocarbon vapor cloud explosion. Investigations found BP responsible for unsafe conditions due to corporate cost cutting, a failure to invest in the plant infrastructure and a lack of oversight on safety and major accident prevention. BP sold the facility to Marathon for $2.5 billion as part of a divestment plan following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010.
The other facility is the Tesoro Anacortes Refinery in the state of Washington where seven workers were killed in an explosion on April 2, 2010. State regulators cited the company for 39 “willful” and five “serious” violations of health and safety regulations. An investigation by the US Chemical Safety Board concluded that Tesoro had a “complacent” attitude towards flammable leaks and occasional fires; did not correct a history of recurring leaks and placed workers in dangerous conditions; and did not adequately maintain equipment before the lethal blast. It also found that the accident was rooted in “a deficient refinery safety culture, weak industry standards for safeguarding equipment, and a regulatory system that too often emphasizes activities rather than outcomes.”
Last August, the Obama administration’s Justice Department shut down its four-year investigation into violations of occupational safety and environmental laws, claiming that the evidence it found “does not reach the exacting bar for criminal prosecution.”
After appeals by Tesoro’s attorneys, a judge in the state of Washington threw out 27 of the 39 “willful” violations and reduced the company’s fine from $2.39 million to $685,000. Judge Mark Jaffe could knock that down even further in a ruling expected this year.
In comments to the local media web site, click2houston.com, Josey Wales, a supporter of the oil workers, replied to comments criticizing the strikers. “[This] is about what the company wants to take away. It’s about the safety in the plants. Maybe you have not been paying attention to the explosions, fires, environmental incidents and the exposure these guys are constantly facing... These corporations don’t care if you’re exposed to cancer-causing chemicals on a constant basis on your job. But do you care if your family is? Are you ignorant enough to believe these chemicals stop at the gate around these plants? That they don’t show up in your water your family is drinking?
“My dad and grandfather both worked in the plants. They worked shift work, nights, evenings, days. They worked holidays and weekends. By the time they were 60 years old they were worn out old men. They buried friends that burned to death in fires and explosions. They buried friends that died from cancer… These plants are making record profits and the CEOs are taking home 40 million-plus a year plus stock bonuses. If you think cheap oil is going to hurt them you are ignorant to how it works. Oil companies buy oil to refine and then sell the byproducts from it. It’s the drilling companies that are laying off. The oil companies are going to make a killing with cheap oil.”
The USW has made sure the strike has the least possible impact. The Tesoro refinery in Martinez, northeast of Oakland, for example, was already operating at half capacity because of scheduled maintenance. Although the USW represents workers at refineries that account for two-thirds of the nation’s refinery capacity, the strike only affects nine facilities, responsible for 10 percent of capacity. The remaining USW-represented refineries are continuing to operate under rolling, 24-hour contract extensions, according to the union, while operations at nearly 200 unionized oil terminals, pipelines and petrochemical plants continue. There has not been a national oil workers strike since 1980 when workers were out for three months.
The sabotage of the strike is not an accident. The USW executives are opposed to any serious fight against the oil giants. While posturing as defenders of safety and workers’ living standards, the USW has collaborated with the oil companies to slash jobs and labor costs in the name of improving “competitiveness” just as it has done in the steel industry.
In 2013, President Obama appointed USW President Leo Gerard to serve on the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Steering Committee, charged with “enhancing the nation’s competitiveness.” In his latest statement on the union’s web site, Gerard praises Obama as a champion of the “middle class” and opponent of social inequality even though he has overseen the greatest transfer of wealth from the bottom up in history.
Obama has not only let corporate criminals—like Tesoro, BP, General Motors and JPMorgan Chase—get away scot-free, he has made the reduction of American workers into a cheap labor force the center of his manufacturing strategy. The president differs from the Republicans only in his greater willingness to use the services of Gerard & Co. to suppress working-class opposition to these corporate attacks.
Phony statements of international solidarity coming from Unite, the British union, which has a record of betraying workers, is no substitute for a real struggle to unite workers internationally against the global oil giants. If the livelihoods and very lives of workers are not to be subordinated to the anarchy of the capitalist market—and the booms and busts of speculative bubbles—then the oil industry must be nationalized, placed under the democratic control of the working class and run on the basis of human need, not profit.
The conduct of this struggle must be taken out of the hands of the USW. Rank-and-file committees, consisting of the most militant and class-conscious workers, must be set up to spread the strike and shut down the entire industry. At the same time, oil workers must reach out to the broadest sections of workers and youth to fight for the development of a powerful industrial and political movement of the working class against both big-business parties and the capitalist system they defend.