Shifting Sands: Chinese encroachment in Central Asia and challenges to US supremacy in the Gulf

James M. Dorsey

China and Russia are as much allies as they are rivals.

A joint Tajik-Chinese military exercise in a Tajik region bordering on China’s troubled north-western region of Xinjiang suggests that increased Chinese-Russian military cooperation has not eroded gradually mounting rivalry in Central Asia, long viewed by Moscow as its backyard.

The exercise, the second in three years, coupled with the building by China of border guard posts and a training centre as well as the creation of a Chinese security facility along the 1,300 kilometre long Tajik Afghan Border, Chinese dominance of the Tajik economy, and the hand over of Tajik territory almost two decades ago, challenges Russian-Chinese arrangements in the region.

The informal arrangement involved a division of labour under which China would expand economically in Central Asia while Russia would guarantee the region’s security.

The exercise comes days after China and Russia operated their first joint air patrol and months after Tajik and Russian forces exercised jointly.

The “exercise represents a next step in China’s overall encroachment upon Russia’s self-proclaimed ‘sphere of influence’ in Central Asia,” said Russia expert Stephen Blank.

“Moscow has given remarkably little consideration to the possibility that China will build on its soft power in Central Asia to establish security relationships or even bases and thus accelerate the decline of Russian influence there,” added Eurasia scholar Paul Goble.

The perceived encroachment is but the latest sign that Russia is seeking to balance its determination to ally itself with China in trying to limit US power with the fact the Chinese and Russian interests may be diverging.

The limitations of Russian Chinese cooperation have long been evident.

China, for example, has refrained from recognizing Russian-inspired declarations of independence in 2008 of two regions of Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia that recently sparked anti-government protests in Tbilisi.

China similarly abstained in a 2014 United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution that condemned Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Meanwhile, Chinese dependence on Russian military technology is diminishing, potentially threatening a key Russian export market. China in 2017 rolled out its fifth generation Chengdu J-20 fighter that is believed to be technologically superior to Russia SU-57E.

Perhaps most fundamentally, Chinese president Xi Jinping opted in 2013 to unveil his Belt and Road initiative in the Kazakh capital of Astana rather than Moscow.

By doing so and by so far refusing to invest in railroads and roads that would turn Russia into a transportation hub, Mr. Xi effectively relegated Russia to the status of second fiddle, at least as far as the Belt and Road’s core transportation infrastructure pillar is concerned.

China’s recently published latest defense white paper nonetheless praised the continued development of a “high level” military relationship with Russia that is “enriching the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era and playing a significant role in maintaining global strategic stability.”

In a bid to ensure Russia remains a key player on the international stage and exploit mounting tension in the Gulf, Russian deputy foreign minister and special representative to the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov this week proposed a collective security concept that would replace the Gulf’s US defense umbrella and position Russia as a power broker alongside the United States.

The concept would entail creation of a “counter-terrorism coalition (of) all stakeholders” that would be the motor for resolution of conflicts across the region and promote mutual security guarantees. It would involve the removal of the “permanent deployment of troops of extra-regional states in the territories of states of the Gulf,” a reference to US, British and French forces and bases.

Mr. Bogdanov’s proposal called for a “universal and comprehensive” security system that would take into account “the interests of all regional and other parties involved, in all spheres of security, including its military, economic and energy dimensions” and ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance.

The coalition to include the Gulf states, Russia, China, the US, the European Union and India as well as other stakeholders, a likely reference to Iran, would be launched at an international conference on security and cooperation in the Gulf.

It was not clear how feuding Gulf states like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arb Emirates and Iran would be persuaded to sit at one table. The proposal suggested that Russia’s advantage was that it maintained good relations with all parties.

“Russia’s contributions to the fight against Islamic terrorist networks and the liberation of parts of Syria and Iraq can be regarded as a kind of test for the role of sheriff in a Greater Eurasia” that would include the Middle East, said political scientist Dmitry Yefremenko.

Mr. Putin this week asserted himself as sheriff by signalling his support for embattled former Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev, a Putin crony who has been charged with corruption. Following a meeting in Moscow, Mr. Putin urged Mr Atembayev’s nemesis. president Sooronbai Jeenbekov, not to press charges.

At the same time, Mr. Putin, building on his visit to Kyrgyzstan in March, offered Mr. Jeenbekov a carrot.

Kyrgyzstan “needs political stability. Everybody needs to unite around the current president and to help him develop the state. We have many plans for cooperation with Kyrgyzstan and we are absolutely determined to work together with the current leadership to fulfill these plans,” Mr. Putin said.

Russia and Kyrgyzstan signed an agreement during the visit to expand by 60 hectares the Kant Air Base 20 kilometres east of the capital Bishkek that is used by the Russian Air Force and increase the rent Russia pays.

Mr. Putin further lavished his Kyrgyz hosts with US$6 billion in deals ranging from power, mineral resources and hydrocarbons to industry and agriculture.

Mr. Putin also allocated US$200 million for the upgrading of customs infrastructure and border equipment to put an end to the back-up of dozens of trucks on the Kazakh-Kyrgyz border because Kyrgyzstan has so far been unable to comply with the technical requirements of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyaev last month gave the EEU, that groups Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan Belarus, and Armenia, a boost by declaring that Uzbekistan would need to join the trade bloc to ensure access to its export markets.

EEU members account for 70 percent of Uzbek exports.

Said Russia and Eurasia scholar Paul Stronski: “China’s deft diplomacy towards Russia — along with both states’ desires to keep the West out of their common backyard — has kept tensions behind closed doors. But with China now recognising it may need to strengthen its security posture in the region, it is unclear how long this stability will last.”

Poisoned for Profit: Whether in the UK or India, We Are Not the Agrochemical Industry’s Guinea Pigs

Colin Todhunter

Environmentalist Dr Rosemary Mason has just written to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Chemicals Regulation Division (HSE) in the UK claiming that the glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup has poisoned her nature reserve in South Wales and is also poisoning people across the UK (she includes herself here, as she struggles with a neurodegenerative condition). She notes that the widespread spraying of glyphosate went against the advice of directive 2009/128/EC of the European parliament but was carried out at the behest of the agrochemicals industry.

Mason has sent a 24-page fully referenced document with her letter in support of her claims. It can be accessed in full here. What follows is a brief summary of just a few of the take-home points. There is a lot more in Mason’s document, much of which touches on issues she has previously covered but which nonetheless remain relevant.

The thrust of her open letter to these agencies is that glyphosate is a major contributory factor in spiralling rates of disease and conditions affecting the UK population. She also makes it clear that official narratives – pushed by the pesticides industry, the media and various key agencies – have deliberately downplayed or ignored the role of agrochemicals in this. Instead, the focus has been on the role of alcohol use and obesity, conveniently placing the blame on individual behaviour and the failure of people to opt for ‘healthy lifestyle’ choices.

Mason argues that Monsanto emails released into the public domain have revealed that Roundup was kept on the market by capturing regulatory agencies, corrupting public officials, bribing scientists and engaging in scientific fraud. In addition, she notes that documents show that the European Commission bowed to the demands of pesticide lobbies. Former PM David Cameron, Defra, the European Food Safety Authority, the European Commission and the European Chemicals Agency all ignored the warnings that GM crops and Roundup were hazardous to human health and the environment.

In the run-up to the relicensing of glyphosate in the EU, Mason states that in its analysis the Glyphosate Task Force omitted key studies from South America (where herbicide-tolerant GM crops are grown) that associate Roundup with cancer, birth defects, infertility, DNA damage and neurotoxicity. She refers to many studies in support of her claim that glyphosate is deleterious to human health and the environment. It is worth noting that the European Chemicals Agency has classified glyphosate as a substance causing serious eye damage and toxic to aquatic life with long-lasting effects.

Mason reserves a special place for Cancer Research UK (CRUK) in her letter, saying that the agency has been hi-jacked by the pesticides industry and has persuaded key figures in the medical establishment to repeat certain claims: that alcohol, cigarette smoking and obesity are the main causes of cancer. She argues that Monsanto and the US EPA have known for a long time that Roundup is carcinogenic.

CRUK recently made a bold statement about its vision to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured. However, Mason asserts this is fantasy for public consumption. She argues there are a huge number of cancers in the UK and their prevalence is increasing each year in tandem with the rising use of glyphosate and other agrochemicals.

Mason provides the statistics:

“In the UK, there were 13,605 new cases of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in 2015 (and 4,920 deaths in 2016): there were 41,804 new cases of bowel cancer in 2015 (and 16,384 deaths in 2016); 12,547 new cases of kidney cancer in 2015 (and 4,619 deaths in 2016); 5,736 new cases of liver cancer in 2015 (5,417 deaths in 2016); 15,906 new cases of melanoma in 2015 (2,285 deaths in 2016); 3,528 new cases of thyroid cancer in 2015 (382 deaths in 2016); 10,171 new cases of bladder cancer in 2015 (5,383 deaths in 2016); 8,984 new cases of uterine cancer in 2015 (2,360 deaths in 2016); 7,270 cases of ovarian cancer in 2015 (4,227 deaths in 2016); 9,900 new cases of leukaemia in 2015 (4,712 deaths in 2016); 55,122 new cases of invasive breast cancer in 2015 (11,563 deaths in 2016); 47,151 new cases of prostate cancer in 2015 (11,631 deaths in 2016); 9,211 new cases of oesophageal cancer in 2015 (8,004 deaths in 2016); and 5,540 new cases of myeloma in 2015 (3,079 deaths in 2016); 2,288 new cases of testicular cancer in 2015 (57 deaths in 2016); 9,921 new cases of pancreatic cancer in 2015 (9,263 deaths in 2016); 11,432 new cases of brain cancer in 2015 (5,250 deaths in 2016); 46,388 new cases of lung cancer in 2015 (and 35,620 deaths in 2016). In the US in 2014 there were 24,050 new cases of myeloma.”

Arguing that UK farmers are “drowning” their crops in pesticides, Mason notes that it is therefore not surprising that Pesticide Action Network UK’s analysis of the last 12 years of residue data (published by the Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food) shows there are unacceptable levels of pesticides present in the food provided through the Department of Health’s (DoH) School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme (SFVS).

Residues of 123 different pesticides were found, some of which are linked to serious health problems such as cancer and disruption of the hormone system. Moreover, residues contained on SFVS produce were higher than those in produce tested under the national residue testing scheme (mainstream produce found on supermarket shelves). However, Mason says that when PAN-UK sent its findings to the DOH, the agency was told that pesticides are not the concern of the DoH.

Perhaps they should be, given what Baskut Tuncak, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights and hazardous substances and wastes, stated in 2017:

“Our children are growing up exposed to a toxic cocktail of weed killers, insecticides and fungicides. It’s on their food and in their water, and it’s even doused over their parks and playgrounds. Many governments insist that our standards of protection from these pesticides are strong enough. But as a scientist and a lawyer who specialises in chemicals and their potential impact on people’s fundamental rights, I beg to differ.”

He added:

“Paediatricians have referred to childhood exposure to pesticides as creating a ‘silent pandemic’ of disease and disability. Exposure in pregnancy and childhood is linked to birth defects, diabetes, and cancer. Because a child’s developing body is more sensitive to exposure than adults and takes in more of everything – relative to their size, children eat, breathe, and drink much more than adults – they are particularly vulnerable to these toxic chemicals. Increasing evidence shows that even at ‘low’ doses of childhood exposure, irreversible health impacts can result.”

Tuncak says that most victims cannot prove the cause of their disability or disease and this limits our ability to hold those responsible to account. But this is changing. The public is becoming increasingly aware of the industry’s criminal strategy for keeping Roundup on the market, thanks to the various high-profile litigations in the US. Maybe it’s time for the (taxpayer-funded) agencies Rosemary Mason has continually written to over the years to finally act in the public interest. Or would that be too much to expect?

In finishing, we should take note of the current orchestrated campaign (cheer-led by those outside of India with industry links) to get herbicide-tolerant seeds planted in India. Aside from Bt cotton, GM crops are not allowed in the country. This cynical campaign is aimed at increasing GM seed, glyphosate and other toxic agrochemical sales. Given increasingly saturated markets elsewhere, the global GM seed and herbicide industry regards India as a massive potential money spinner.

However, Punjab took the lead in 2018 and banned glyphosate. Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have since followed. But there is still no nationwide ban. With this in mind, author and academic Ashwani Mahajan has started a petition campaign (here) to stop the use of glyphosate in India.

He says that pesticide companies are taking advantage of farmers’ ignorance about the deadly risks associated with glyphosate. Mahajan notes that industry is sending its agents to approach farmers directly and trap them with attractive promotional offers. This is part of a wider strategy to get farmers to break with effective traditional practices and lure them onto agrochemical (and GMO) treadmills as described in the 2017 paper The Ox Fall Down: Path Breaking and Technology Treadmills in Indian Cotton Agriculture (Glenn Stone and Andrew Flachs).

Farmers are being subjected to slick PR and lured because they are told this herbicide is a cost-effective method to kill weeds quickly. What they are not told is that its effectiveness is limited, that it’s a health and environmental hazard and that it’s a risk to their lives. But it’s not just farmers’ lives that are at risk. We just need to look at the statistics provided earlier in this article to realise the risk to the wider public health.

Bangladesh: The Myth of Economic Growth

R Chowdhury

The government of Bangladesh under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed keeps rattling the growth at 8-9% over the past few years, but the statistics do not tally with the global benchmarks, which find the actual number lower by up to 2 points. The lower figure may still look impressive, but the existence of glaring discrepancies in the development calculations rarely meet the eye, much less the outside observers. High stake corruptions in the administration and in Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League flatten whatever little progress the country makes, mostly through its private sector initiatives.

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), a government agency, produces the inflated rates as per directives of the political leadership. If the BBS officials fail to comply, they are at risk of losing their jobs or facing other punitive consequences.

Where is the Remaining 2%?

Why these drummed up numbers? Because the rulers want to fake a “role model of progress” for Bangladesh, irrespective of the ground reality. In other words, it is their campaign to shield their many illegal acts and political wrongdoings. In their greed of staying in power, no concession is allowed in this ugly crusade. It is like charging a 98% scoring son about why he missed the 2 points. Given the sorry state of the opposition, thanks to the fascist practices imposed on the men and women on the other side of the fence, many observers believed that the ruling coalition would have won the December 2018 election comfortably. But the regime, which illegally held on to power through a managed election on December 29, 2008 and a farcical drama on January 5, 2014, was not willing to grant any concession to the opposition this time also. With the help of loyal administration, the police and party thugs, they made all possible illegal moves to keep the opposition candidates, activists and voters away from the election. Yet, a “midnight coup” (stuffing ballot boxes of its own candidates in the dark the previous night) had to be staged to ensure an almost 100% victory. And yet, the infuriated ruling ruffians gang-raped women in front of their family members for voting for the non-Awami candidates. That is the role model of progress in Sheikh Hasina’s rule!

The economic numbers, whatever they are, mean little to the lower strata of society, which continue to groan under the heavy hands of authoritarian misrule. Former US President John F Kennedy said, “Economic growth without social progress lets the great majority of the people remain in poverty, while a privileged few reap the benefits of rising abundance.” That is exactly what is happening in Bangladesh today.

Amidst the administration’s drumming of high development, few outsiders notice the yawning gap between the rich few and the poor multitude in Bangladesh. It is like not seeing the wood for the trees.

Failing to Meet the Aspiration of Millions?

A former Planning Minister of Bangladesh puts it nicely when he questioned: “At this point in time in Bangladesh, when democracy is brutally crucified, opposition successfully persecuted and crushed, good governance purposefully abandoned, corruption flying rampant, rule of law gleefully eliminated,” how this predicament relates to the drummed-up excessive growth rater? The minister did not talk in the vacuum. To support his assertions, he cited extensive references from government figures and reports from various international sources including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Economist, the Washington Post, the New York Times, as well as the reports of The World Bank, The Asian Development Bank and The International Monetary Fund.

He also does not agree with the slogan of development before democracy. “Sorry, this is not acceptable in a civilized world,” he says, further asserting, “Democracy and development go hand in hand.”

After touching an elephant, various blind men describe the mammoth animal differently, from pillar to a wall to a giant leech to a large flapping fan. Similarly, the citizens of Bangladesh see the “progress” differently. To a beneficiary of ill-gotten money–through corrupt practices– the growth is phenomenal. A poor person in the street and in the rural villages has not known it. To an opposition member, it is a torture cell. To the women who refused to obey the ruling thugs, it is hell!

The government obviously crows the voice of the “filthy rich”, who are mostly aligned with the governing coterie. The rest, who form 90% of the population, do not figure in its consideration. People in this vast majority live on less than $2 a day and over 30% of them are below the poverty level. There are three million unemployed and frustrated youths. Many poor rice farmers are forced to burn the results of their year-long toil for not getting what they invested. Hundreds of thousands attempt to escape the gloomy lives at home and venture out searching for a better future abroad, only to end up in various concentration camps if not already dead in the high seas.

“Averages are no consolation to those who have been left behind,” says Angus Deaton in his article, The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality. So, what good is that so-called development which does not match with the aspirations of the millions?

The bigger question is: Where is democracy, freedom, human rights, rule of law and a harmonious development in this official bragging of “high development?”

People are tired of hearing the government’s slogan of “Development First, Democracy Later,” perhaps borrowing the theme from Pakistani President Ayub Khan’s “Decade of Development” campaign in the late 1960s. It did not work for Ayub Khan. Will it for Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh? Only time will tell.

High Stake Corruption Drains the Progress

Moreover, whatever development the country achieves is drained by limitless, high stake corruption, mostly in collusion with top levels of leadership.

A little peek at the real picture: The Daily Star, a government affiliated paper, reported recently that bank loan defaults stand at more than $12 billion, much beyond the limit of the size of the national economy. Yet, another $2 billion of tax payers money was infused to keep these failed banks afloat. Needless to say, these financial institutions belong to most of the 300 bank defaulters made public recently. But, “Mr. Justice” cannot touch them because they roam the corridors of power that be!

Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country, lost about $1 billion in an inside electronic scandal a few years back, and the stolen money, though traced, is all but lost to the public exchequer. In addition to the bank officials, people close to the top political leadership were suspected to have been involved in this heist.

Another fairy tale episode reported in 2018 in the Bangladesh Bank. Lied the touch of a magic wand, a large deposit of gold reserve turned to copper! Black magic indeed!

The infamous Stock Market scams siphoned off billions of dollars from small time investors, many of whom were totally ruined. The perpetrators of this con works were well known yet they could not be touched because of their high political connections with the ruling authority. What is strange, the main character of the swindle advises the Prime Minister in her monetary investment policy, reminding us of the story of leasing the chicken to the jackal.

A little-known fact is that very high and disproportionate credit lines awarded to various projects landed Bangladesh with a public debt of $80 billion, registering a per capita debt increase by 250% in the past decade or so. Nigeria, Venezuela and Sri Lanka are some of the once rich countries embarked on undertaking large prestige projects taking huge, high stake foreign loans, only to sink in debt and bankruptcy soon. More than a century ago, my grandfather acquired two wives and had 20 children. He could afford even more, given his financial standing and social status in his time. Today, most of his grand kids and great-grand kids are paupers, if not on the streets. Economists fear a similar future for Bangladesh.

Much of the showy projects like the Padma Bridge, Metrorail, Monorail, over-bridges, skyscrapers, underwater passageway, which, though necessary, are largely undertaken to benefit the government contractors and its brokers, who slice away a large chunk of the pie. These prestigious projects bring little benefit to 90% of the people who live far away from them.

The Prothom Alo, a Bengali daily, recently reported a sensational news about the “Nuclear Pillow.” For the residents of a proposed nuclear power plant, ordinary sleeping pillows were procured each costing Taka 6800 ($85) a piece that included a carrying cost of Taka 800 from the ground to the room. The real cost would not have been more than $3 if similar pillows were bought locally. In the same vein, we can’t wait to see the cost of a nut for the Padma Bridge when completed. It may run well into hundreds of dollars. In Bangladesh, the making of one mile of a road costs 10 times higher than any other South Asian country, and five times more than in Europe. According to Singapore’s The Business Insider 2019, Bangladeshis have to cope with the highest cost of living with a lower per capita income in South Asia.

A Role Mode Indeed!

“When government agencies can be bribed,” writes Sabria Chowdhury Balland in the South Asia Journal on April 16, 2019,  “when there are no safety measures in construction, when roads are broken and congested with bumper to bumper traffic nearly all day, when unemployment soars with no vision of how to create jobs, when millions of youths do not have any guidance for their future, when the percentage of rapes skyrocket with no measures from lawmakers to hold the perpetrators accountable, etc. the big question remains: where is the progress?”

The pampered administration, which include the police and military, are allowed lucrative massive perks for their “services” to the regime, such as conducting fraudulent elections and crushing any sign of dissent, to help it continue to stay in power.

Much of the ill-gotten money find its way to personal accounts in off shore banks. Family members of the beneficiaries enjoy their lives in luxury in places like Canada, USA, Australia and Singapore and Malaysia whereas, the poor tax payers routinely face batons and bullets, jails and torture, death and disappearance at home. A role model, indeed!

However, Bangladesh is a role model on many other counts. It is a role model where no opposition politics is allowed. It is a role model in which a three- time prime minister is left to die in a solitary cell after being clamped with a 17-year jail term on a nondescript, non-existent false case. It is a role model where the administration that includes the law enforcement agencies function as organs of the ruling party. It is a model where the Election Commission Anti-Corruption Commission and even the Judiciary follow the dictates of the political leadership. Or else…! Chief Justice S.K. Sinha is a case in point.

Ayub Khan, Saddam Hussain, Moammar Gaddafi and many other dictators could not save themselves by the slogans of development before democracy. Can Hasina? We can wait for her fatal fall from the dangerously galloping tiger she is riding!

Feminism – The real Human rights fight in India

Sunny Rajak

Earlier to the mid-nineteenth century, the government influenced the powers delegated and was quite opaque and transgressing towards the rights of women. Only when the men began to speak up against the evil, oppressing practices to be followed by the women of India, like “Sati”, started the First-wave of The Feminist Movement in India. It was later joined by the women. It focused on abortion of evil practices in the name of caste and religion, forbiddance of child marriage and reduction of illiteracy. The Second-wave began in 1915, which involved the emergence of many independent women’s organizations during the Quit India Movement. The Third-wave of Feminism began post-Independence and focused on the fair treatment of women at home after marriage, in the workforce and right to political parity. And not to repudiate that a lot has changed and improved since its inception, still as we move closer to India’s 73 rd Independence this year on the August 15th – I have realized that the women in India have not yet completely achieved the objective and must introspect and re-asses its goals as we enter a new epoch and while we await the fourth-wave.

The wave of Feminism-21 st Century

The achievements of the movement are undeniably immense. Merriam-Webster’s Word of the year 2017 was ‘feminism’, increased by 70% compared to 2016. The meaning and quality of the term have been evolving compared to the 1990s. Many political campaigns and protests have been held over the years and are still vibrant. Starting from the Blank Noise Project (2003)- against eve-teasing, the Pink Chaddi (2009)- underwear movement against moral policing, Slutwalk (2011)- against victim-blaming; the rage was fueled further when the fatal assault of a 23-year old girl in South Delhi, known as the Nirbhaya Rape Case took place and then led to the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2013.

The recent- legally two more incidents which have proven significant for feminism are the “Triple Talaq” and the “Sabarimala verdict” wherein the former was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court against patriarchy masquerading as religion and the latter hailed victory against gender-discrimination which was restricting the women to shrine. The second wave of #MeTooMovement shook India as the women voiced the sexual harassment that they had to face, forced by the men in power both in the workplace and elsewhere. Many predators faced consequences for their behavior. Closer home, the women in Kerala won their right to sit and work; whereas, earlier they were not even allowed for nature’s call during the long working hours. The women won en masse when the 12% GST on Sanitary Napkins was dropped and made tax-exempt; thus, allowing each and every woman the right and access to the necessary hygiene, irrespective of status or religion.

Multi-Layered Struggle

Although there have been many achievements on the part of women, the feminist movement is quite a multi-layered struggle. Though women of India realized that seeking Gender equality, Right to equal wages, Equal political rights and raising a voice against the patriarchal culture were the few injustices worth struggling for, yet there are many layers still waiting to be unraveled. The whole significance of the movement is quite vivacious and complex at the same time. It is said- “Human Issues are Feminist Issues, Feminist Issues should be Human Issues too.” So, if we expand the understanding of what should constitute as “feminist issues” apart from including freedom of choice, consent, bodily autonomy, and sexual freedom, we must combine freedom of sexual oppression with freedom from Caste, Ethnic and Religion oppression. It should broaden its horizons and take a graceful shift from the existing void towards the redistribution of efforts and power in equal shares among all of the aforementioned factors.

Fight against Systems of Oppression

Kyriarchy is a social system or set of connecting social systems built around domination, oppression, and submission. It keeps all the intersecting oppressions in place. Therefore, the fight should not be just against patriarchal culture, it should be against all systems of oppression. Indian feminism should move from only representing the concerns of the upper caste women and start representing the interests and concerns of Indian women as a whole. Marxists and socialist feminists too have pointed out the systemic and structural inequalities are among the many factors that are disadvantageous to the women. Ignorance towards the oppressive systems by one makes one an oppressor- which is completely un-feminist. Also, it is rightly said- “A woman is not free until each and every woman is- even if her shackles are very different and diverse.

The Battle is far from Over The recent refusal by the Supreme Court to recognize “Marital Rape”- proved to be a setback for the movement, making India one of the 36 countries that still haven’t criminalized the same. Also, The Right to Abortion after 20 weeks in cases of risks to the health of a woman is still an area of improvement considering the difficult and tedious norms set by the Supreme Court. Besides the already discussed issues that are relevant to the movement, one more issue that the feminists of India needs to address and soon is- Feminism in India is deeply misunderstood by both women and men. It is high time we realized that there is a difference between feminism and pseudo-feminism. The ubiquity of this problem is another barrier as there are many women out there calling themselves feminists and arguing for laws which will favor them but in turn be discriminatory among men. Hence, the whole concept of feminism which is- Equality, gets lost.

Taking the leaf from history and encapsulating the essence, The Feminist Movement is expected to represent impressive levels of inclusivity and maturity and be self-effacing. And we hope it saves the world from reducing to fragments and rubble.

A Brief History of the CIA’s Dirty War in South Sudan

Thomas C. Mountain

With the CIA’s Dirty War in South Sudan winding down its time to take a brief but comprehensive look at the origins and history of this most secret of Pax Americana crimes in Africa.

It is in the national interests of the USA to deprive China of access to African energy resources, with the Sudanese oil fields being the only Chinese owned and operated in Africa. It was no coincidence that one of the first targets of the “rebellion” in South Sudan was the Chinese oil fields. It has been US vs China in South Sudan from the start.

To begin this history we must go back to the origins of the South Sudan peace process that developed in 2004. This new breakthrough came about following the East Sudan uprising and subsequent intervention in Sudan by the Eritrean military in support of the Beja and Rashida peoples movement in 2003. Eritrean commandos cut the Port Sudan-Khartoum highway, the lifeline for 25 million residents of Sudans capital. For two weeks the Sudanese army counterattacked and ended up utterly defeated by the Eritrean special forces.

Facing critical food and fuel shortages the Sudanese officer core that was then the base of support for the recently deposed Omar Al Bashir capitulated and as part of the peace deal agreed to begin good faith negotiations with the various Sudanese resistance groups, both east, south and even, supposedly, in the west.

This resulted in John Garang, head of the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement and the President of Sudan Omar Al Bashir sitting down together to sign a comprehensive peace deal in Asmara, Eritrea late in 2004.

In December of 2004 we flew into Asmara, Eritrea and checked into the old Imperial Hotel, the Emboisoira, and found ourselves sharing breakfast with senior leaders of the SPLM. We had a satellite dish back in the US with EritreanTV so we had seen our breakfast mates on the news covering the recently signed peace deal in Asmara. They were all in high spirits, still excited about the prospect for peace in Sudan.

Later, after returning home to the USA in 2015 we heard of a new peace deal, this time being signed in Navaisha in Kenya. And this time the deal was brokered by the USA. The only real difference between the 2004 Asmara agreement and the 2005 Kenya deal was the inclusion of a clause calling for a referendum on independence for South Sudan.

The USA forced Bashir and Garang to accept this independence referendum after forcing a new peace “negotiation” and eventual, deal, in Kenya, away from Eritrean mediation efforts. Carrot and the stick, inducements and threats by the worlds superpower forced Garang and Bashir to accept the dismemberment of Sudan and created the conditions for one of the most brutal civil wars in African history. This was the doings of the USA from the get go.

After signing the peace deal John Garang, as head of the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM), held his first public rally in Khartoum and drew a million people or more, three times the largest crowd Bashir had ever had. There he made a fateful speech.

John Garang made it clear that he was strongly AGAINST independence for South Sudan, instead calling on his fellow Sudanese in the North to help elect him president to build a new Sudan based on equal rights and justice for all Sudanese.

Garang stated his intent to be politically independent from the western powers instead looking to China, already in the oil business in Sudan, to develop Sudans economy. Sudan, as a whole, is the largest and potentially richest country in Africa and for the USA to lose Sudan to China wasn’t acceptable to Pax Americana.

John Garang was dead two weeks later in a mysterious helicopter crash and with him died a unified Sudan.

With in a few years a referendum was held for “independence” for South Sudan and voila it was a done deal. The irony is that John Garang, who was vehemently against independence for South Sudan, is now proclaimed “The Father” of the South Sudanese independent state.

In 2009 my old friend Alexander Cockburn contacted me asking for a story about what was going on vis a vis Sudan/South Sudan. I had been living next door in Eritrea for the past few years and I responded with “Storm Clouds Over South Sudan” which Alex and Jeffrey St. Claire published on their website “Counterpunch” where I predicted the upcoming holocaust in the worlds newest “independent” country.

I only wish my words had not come true.

I was repeatedly forced to continue exposing the CIA’s dirty war in South Sudan over the next few years with titles like “US vs China in South Sudan”, “The CIA’s DIrty War in South Sudan” amongst others in an attempt to shine the light of day on this most dirty, and secret, CIA covert war.

I am not exagerating when I call the civil war in South Sudan the most secret major covert military operation by the CIA in the Agency’s history. The proof of this is the fact that not a single writer other than myself has made this charge. This might be explained by the lengths prominent western journalists have attempted to point the blame away from the Agency and instead at the South Sudanese peoples themselves.

Its been horrific first hand stories by award winning progressive journalists like Nick Turse that painted this dirty war as black on black, African tribal violence at its worst.

When I pointed out to Nick Turse that the rebels were being paid $300 a month salaries, Mr. Turse denied the accuracy of my claim. In an exchange on Twitter he said that the rebels were making maybe $300 a year if that, so no need to explain the $6 million a month it would take to pay 20,000 rebel combatants salaries?

The problem with Mr. Turse assertion is that former South Sudanese rebel fighters have confirmed being paid $300 a month when they were under arms. In South Sudan young men join the army because it’s the only way to get enough money to feed your family, not out of patriotic zeal. When the money periodically dried up, usually stolen by the rebel generals, the soldiers start to leave, as my sources had experienced.

Do the math, 20,000 rebels paid $300 a month times 6 years plus food, fuel and ammo and you come out with over $500 million and counting? Honestly now, who has a history of coming up with that amount of cash, entirely secret for that long but the CIA? Must we be reminded of the CIA’s dirty wars in Angola and Mozambique in support of South African Apartheid back in the 1970’s and 80’s?

Show me the money, right? How come no one in the international media has ever asked this question? The rebels have no visible means of support, where could they be getting their funds from?

This story remains the best kept secret “dirty war” the CIA has ever operated. Until the Chinese brought in a couple thousand armed “peacekeepers” to protect their oil fields this CIA operation was successful, shutting down, temporarily Chinese oil production in South Sudan. But more importantly, it pretty much shut down Chinese expansion in South Sudan. That is what this dirty war was all about, preventing China from gaining a major foothold in Africa’s oil fields.

Show me the money? Show me the ONLY party that benefits from this war? Thats right, the ONLY party to benefit from this brutal, foreign funded African holocaust has been Pax Americana, the U.S. of A, by shutting down Chinese oil production and expansion in South Sudan.

Today peace has broken out in South Sudan, shaky as it may be. The CIA had been using the former regime in power in Ethiopia, the TPLF, to funnel their filthy lucre to the rebel armies in South Sudan but with the “Peaceful Revolution” breaking out in Ethiopia this avenue to the rebels was cut off. The rebel leadership had no choice but to cut a deal with South Sudan President Salva Kiir for cash so they could pay their troops salaries. No money, no honey, you get what you pay for and without hard CIA cash to pay their troops it became “Give peace a chance”. Of course corruption remains rife and stolen salaries for various ethnically based military departments have continued to cause revolts and instability.

Yet so far the peace deal signed, sealed and delivered in Asmara in 2018 has been holding. The CIA are now almost completely out of the picture in South Sudan though one should never underestimate the Agency’s capacity for evil. Its in the US national interest to deny China access to African oil so it will always continue to be US vs China in South Sudan, as part of Pax Americana’s designs for Africa as a whole.

Birth of an era for the LGBTIQ community in India

Rahul Sarkar 

Background

LGBTIQ community has been one of the marginalized communities in the world history that has been suffering from disgrace and exclusion for a long time. There are around 70 countries where members from the LGBTIQ community are criminalized because of which they are not able to participate in the development of their country. These acts have resulted in several protests by the members of this community against this injustice. The foundation for these movements was laid by the members of the Mattachine society way back in 1950 in New York. In 1969, New York police raided Stonewall Inn, which was considered a clandestine gay club and this resulted in riots which lasted for five days. It marked the beginning of gay movements, which was followed by a series of demonstrations all over the world. Let’s pay some attention to the situation prevailing in India

Injustice faced by LGBTIQ in India

The past situation in our country was such that same-sex marriages and adoption of children by these members of LGBTIQ were prohibited. They used to stay in constant fear of being arrested by the police and being gang-raped. Victims of homophobic violence were not protected as they were unable to seek help from the policemen, who in this case, turned out to be the real villain. There have been several instances in the country which supports this claim. Let’s discuss some of the recent events which took place within the last few decades. For example, a 2003 report published by a civil liberties group in Bangalore provides testimony of a “hijra” sex worker who was gang-raped by a group of men and was later gang-raped by the police also. In 2006, the offices of HIV/AIDS organization were raided by policemen claiming that they broke the rules of section 377. In 2007 according to documents of Delhi High court, a gay man was gang-raped by policemen for several days.Like this, there have been several cases that have been unreported in the criminal history and thus justice has been denied to members of this community

Rise of gay movements in India

The first gay movement in India took place on 11th August1992, outside the police headquarter in Delhi when activists from an organization called AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan (ABVA) protested against the picking up of innocent men by the police from Central Park in Connaught Place. These type of harassments became a common practice in those days which resulted in the protest, but nothing positive came out of it

In 1994, public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by ABVA in Delhi High Court, challenging the validity of Article 377, and this marked the first legal protest against repression against the LGBTIQ members. Again in 2001, PIL was filed by Naz Foundations (an NGO) challenging Article 377. In 2004, Delhi High Court dismissed the petition. Naz Foundations filed a review petition which was also rejected a few months later

All the above-mentioned cases in 21st century resulted in widespread protests by various activists and other groups which led in several NGOs raising their voices against Article 377 as a result of which Home Affairs ministry filed an affidavit for decriminalizing homosexuality. In 2009, the Delhi High court had decriminalized sex within the same gender, but it was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2013. In Sept 2018, when Supreme Courtdecriminalized Article 377, it was marked as a remarkable victory of this community

After-effects of overturning Article 377

The response from the religious communities was not positive as many conservatives involving Christian, Muslim, and Hindu leaders called the ruling as a shameful act and condemned it. But decriminalizing Article 377 also brought new hope for this community as they will not be criminalized for homosexuality. This brought a good chance for large business and companies to create a welcoming and supportive workplace for these members. Several big companies like Goldman Sachs, Google have already started working on it. Several films have been released by Bollywood like Fire, My Brother Nikhil, Aligarh, etc. which have the potential to educate the citizens of the country and thus create a more friendly and acceptable society for this community. All these steps have helped to make the young generation more tolerant as compared to the old generation. There has been growing worldwide acceptance of LGBTIQ community members which has helped in influencing those countries where same-sex marriages are still decriminalized

Way forward

Many improvements are still required. For example education system can be modified to increase acceptance of LGBTIQ communities among children at a very early age, making it mandatory to have third gender as a category for sex in every application forms, ensuring quality education is provided to children from these communities so that they can work for the development and upliftment of their community. Successful people from these communities can act as a perfect role model for other children and hence can inspire them. Indian Government should take positive steps to increase the participation of these members in the nation-building activities. It can focus on sectors like tourism, which is currently seeing an increase in numbers after the Supreme Courtruling. According to World Travel and Tourism Council reports, the LGBTIQ market over the whole world is estimated to be $5 trillion out of which Asia’s proportion is $1.1 trillion. Countries like Thailand have already started making investments to attract tourists from this community. Therefore its right time for India to form partnerships with organizations like IGLTA and other LGTBIQ travel associations for capturing this market

LGBTIQ members are seen as an integral part of the community in almost all the countries including India and we as Indians should work for the betterment and upliftment of these members in the best possible way.

Factory explosion in central Chinese city kills 15

Robert Campion

A gas plant explosion in Henan province this month killed 15 people, with another 15 seriously wounded. The blast occurred in the air separation unit of a coal-to-gas factory in Yima City, around 5:45 p.m. on July 19.

The blast is another reminder of the official lack of regard for the safety of workers in Chinese factories and for that of residents living near factories.

The explosion shattered glass windows and propelled doors off their hinges within a three-kilometre radius. Streets were littered with debris. A number of houses collapsed, including one 500 metres from the site, injuring an eight-month-old child, according to the state-owned video news agency CCTV+.

The toll could have been worse. A local school was caught in the blast zone but avoided casualties because its students were on summer vacation. As it was, the explosion was so large that 46 fire trucks and 270 firefighters were mobilised to the blast site, as well as 90 medical workers and 30 ambulances.

Like many hazardous facilities in China, the Yima plant was built near residential areas, with no regard for the potential impact on people in the area. A local resident said: “The sound was extremely loud with a ball of fire and clouds of smoke in the air.” Another resident, surnamed Tang, said her home was outside the blast radius and she only experienced “vibrations and a bad smell.” But her friends’ homes had been destroyed. They were “currently homeless,” she said.

Coal gasification plants are a key technology in oil refining, power generation and metallurgical industries. They often handle highly flammable or toxic substances, such as chemical fertilisers and methanol.

Residents feared a secondary explosion, lacking any faith in the authorities to protect local people. In response to these concerns, the Yima municipal government issued a circular saying the public security department would crack down on “rumour-mongers.”

Owned by the Henan Energy and Chemical Group, the plant employs 1,200 people. Officials had recently declared it to be one of the top safety-compliant workplaces in Henan. It was one of 72 “province-level benchmark enterprises” for risk prevention. It also received a China Chemical Safety Association award in January for an “extraordinary contribution” to chemical industry safety standards.

However, according to the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), a non-profit based in Beijing, the Yima factory had a record of excessive emissions and the company was fined several times by the local environmental department between 2014 and 2016.

Matt Hyu from Reach24h Consulting in Hangzhou told Chemistry World recently that enforcement agencies were under-resourced and unable to address safety issues competently. “Many local enforcement staff do not have enough professional knowledge of chemical engineering,” he stated. “Besides, there are many small plants, so it’s very difficult to inspect them all.”

This is the reality facing millions of workers and residents. In many cases, investigators are simply not prepared properly. In the worst cases, investigators actively cover up violations. In November, a gas plant in the northern city of Zhangjiakou claimed the lives of 24 people while injuring another 21. Authorities claimed that the firm responsible had concealed information and misled investigators.

Such accidents also pollute working class neighbourhoods. CCTV+ reported that Lu Huachao, deputy director of Sanmenxia City’s Eco-environment Protection Bureau, said contaminated water from the Yima explosion had flowed into the local Jianhe river and was being treated and quarantined. A Yima government official announced two days later that the air and water had been brought back to within standards, despite concerns about the pungent smell in the air.

IPE director Ma Jun told the Global Times that “within standards” did not indicate no pollution. While the gas could quickly disperse and would not affect people in an immediately noticeably manner, the water and soil could still be polluted.

Environmental testing operations have been severely compromised, especially since the privatisation of these operations in 2015. Chinese newspaper Caixin reported in January that “glaring falsifications and outright corruption persist” throughout the process, leading to “chaos.”

The frequency and severity of industrial “accidents” in China is a product of the systemic exploitation of the working class and the slashing of environmental and safety standards, which has generated rampant wealth accumulation for the capitalist class over the past three decades. Whatever the unsafe and corrupt practices of private industry, the Stalinist Chinese Communist Party leadership is responsible for enforcing the conditions for them to flourish.

After a 2015 explosion in Tianjin that claimed the lives of 173 people, the Beijing government claimed it would undertake serious measures to locate and move potentially hazardous chemical facilities away from residential areas.

The Yima plant was identified in 2016 as posing a “significant risk” to residents but nothing was done to address the situation.

On March 21, a similar blast at a chemical plant in Yancheng, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province killed 78 people and injured hundreds, blowing out the windows of nearby homes. The “Work Accident Map” compiled by China Labour Bulletin has recorded 34 deadly fires and explosions in chemical plants and storage facilities since 2015.

Greece’s New Democracy party seeks to overturn law protecting students from police repression

George Gallanis

The proposal by Greece’s new Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a member of the right-wing New Democracy (ND), to end the country’s Academic Asylum law must be taken as a serious warning by the Greek working class. The Greek ruling class is preparing the grounds for a dictatorial state reminiscent of Greece’s 1967-1974 junta, from whose bloody legacy the law was born.

The law, put in place in 1982, bars police from entering university campuses. Police can only enter campus grounds if given permission by university administrators. The law guarantees students protection from arrest or state brutality. Such a law exists nowhere else in Europe.

The law was put in place in response to the brutal murder by the US-backed military junta of at least 23 students and pedestrians, including a five-year-old boy, during the uprising at the Polytechnic University in Athens, now called the National Technical University of Athens, on November 17, 1973. On that day, the third day of protests, students launched a strike under the slogan of “bread, education, freedom.” Students were calling for the downfall of the Greek military junta, led by CIA-connected George Papadopoulos, which had taken power in 1967. That day, tanks and soldiers would come crashing through the university’s gates and carry out the slaughter.

November 17 is marked annually by demonstrations of youth and workers throughout Greece in remembrance of the victims of the Greek military dictatorship.

In 2011 the law was scrapped under the PASOK government, and for the first time since the collapse of the junta in 1974, Greek police entered university campuses on November 17 of the same year, a day marked by Greece’s largest protests in years. That evening, police entered the campus of Aristotle University after chasing a group of youth into the grounds.

The Syriza government, led by former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, reinstated the asylum law in 2017. This cynical ploy, two years after Syriza took power, was done knowing full well the law could easily be overturned by successor governments in the near future, something of a certainty given the deep hostility by the Greek working class to Syriza at the time.

After coming to power on the promise that it would fight austerity measures, and receiving the undying adulation of pseudo-left groups like the Democratic Socialists of America and Jacobin magazine, Syriza betrayed the Greek masses and implemented the austerity diktat of the European Union (EU). The Greek working class, students and youth were thrown to the wolves. Youth unemployment reached devastating levels and today stands at 40 percent, while Greece’s adult population suffers 18 percent unemployment. This is in addition to the ending of universal health care and the slashing of incomes and public pensions.

Syriza also oversaw the strengthening of the police apparatus, which it brutally unleashed on Greek workers and students during protests. At the same time, the Syriza government corralled helpless refugees fleeing from war and certain death into concentration camps, in which many still languish today. Syriza’s embrace of state repression found its sharpest expression with Tsipras’s flowering relationship with the butcher of the 2011 Egyptian revolution, military dictator General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

The right-wing ND is only intensifying Syriza’s repressive measures. After it defeated the pseudo-left party in the legislative elections earlier this month, new Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis (ND) promised to increase state violence and repression. He said, “We will strengthen the police, which has to do its job well. We have to protect policemen, while there has to be more police activity in the centre of Athens. For the next government security is a political priority ... Police commanders of precincts that go into hostile areas will be rewarded.”

Mitsotakis is putting forth the lie that the Asylum law has allowed university campuses to become festering centers of violence and drug use. He said, “We want universities where students and teachers aren’t afraid; universities that we are not ashamed of … I pledge that no space will be occupied in our public universities. The gangs that today exist there will be eradicated.”

In reality, Mitsotakis, representing the aims of the Greek ruling class, wants to strip away protections from the working class and students that would prohibit the ND government from violently repressing, or as Mitsotakis bluntly put it, “eradicating” demonstrations and strikes by students and workers. This aim is also bound up with the fact that campuses have also been used by refugees as shelters from the Greek police.

In every country the ruling class is responding to the growing revolutionary challenge from below with a sharp shift to the right and toward dictatorial measures. The threat to scrap the Academic Asylum law comes at a time of growing class tensions that have seen a wave of explosive protests and strikes.

European Union threatens Iran with naval mission to Persian Gulf

Alex Lantier

As the British Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday that a second UK destroyer, the HMS Duncan, had arrived in the Persian Gulf, calls were escalating across the European ruling elite to deploy a European naval flotilla or “eurofleet” in the Persian Gulf to threaten Iran.

The pretext for this European escalation is the military crisis provoked by Washington in the oil-rich Persian Gulf. After Washington unilaterally tore up the 2015 Iranian nuclear treaty and reimposed sanctions on Iran last year, and Trump said this year that he had been 10 minutes away from bombing Iran, British troops illegally seized an Iranian tanker off Gibraltar on US orders, and Iranian boats seized a UK-flagged tanker, the Stena Impero. The European Union (EU) powers are reacting, however, not by opposing Washington, but threatening Iran.

After the July 19 capture of the Stena Impero, officials in Britain and other EU countries launched a campaign calling for an EU naval intervention targeting Iran. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called for “better securing the Persian Gulf maritime zone” at the French National Assembly on July 23, adding: “This is why we are now launching a European mission with the British, the Germans, so there will be a mission to observe and ensure maritime security in the Persian Gulf.”

Amid the US war drive against Iran, this mission is a reckless attempt by the European imperialist powers to grab a share of oil resources in the strategic Persian Gulf region.

In 2013, as Berlin remilitarized its foreign policy for the first time since the fall of the Nazis in 1945, a group of German firms formed the Raw Materials Alliance. In a piece titled “Will we see resource wars?”, one of its officials, Dierk Paskert told Handelsblatt: “History shows that many conflicts have their origin in the fight for resources… The supply of raw materials is the basis for added value and the well-being of a country, and so has geopolitical significance.” The paper added that industry wants “more state—and military—involvement in securing raw materials.”

Yesterday, Dieter Kempf, the head of the German Industrial Association (BDI), came out in favor of German military participation in an EU intervention in the Persian Gulf. Echoing Handelsblatt’s earlier call for resource wars, Kempf said: “For Germany, an exporting nation and industrial power, freedom of navigation is of critical importance. … At least one fifth of world oil demand is transported through these shipping lanes.”

Cynically calling the EU expedition to the Persian Gulf a “defensive intervention,” Kempf added, “It is a question of solidarity between us Europeans; Germany should participate in such a mission.”

Kempf’s positions are shared by capitalist politicians across Europe. Norbert Röttgen, a top official of Germany’s ruling Christian-Democratic Union (CDU), called for “a genuine contribution to a European mission” from the German military. German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK), Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ostensible successor, did not rule out participating in the EU mission, declaring: “We can talk about it, once we know exactly what is being planned.”

Last week, it was reported that French, Italian and Danish officials supported the British plan for an EU naval mission, while Spanish and Dutch officials were still studying it.

Yesterday, Iranian officials condemned the planned EU naval missions. “The presence of foreign forces will not only not help the security of the region, but will be the main factor for tension," said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, while government spokesman Ali Rabiei said: “We heard that they intend to send a European fleet to the Persian Gulf, which naturally carries a hostile message, is provocative and will increase tensions.”

It is an open secret in European ruling circles that these plans are coordinated with the Pentagon, which has called for EU powers to send their warships to the Persian Gulf as part of its war plans against Iran. A senior EU diplomat cynically told Reuters: “Britain’s request, rather than Washington’s, makes it easier for Europeans to rally round this. Freedom of navigation is essential; this is separate from the US campaign of maximum pressure on Iran.”

Similarly, officials in South Korea are reportedly discussing sending a warship to participate in “freedom of navigation” operations in the Persian Gulf, targeting Iran.

The campaign for an EU naval mission targeting Iran underscores the hysterical shift to the right in ruling circles across Europe and internationally. Amid a new march towards an ever-greater Middle East war, Washington is reprising the methods of provocation that led to the illegal, US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq, based on lies that Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction.” Yet the EU powers led by Berlin and Paris, who criticized US provocations against Iraq at the United Nations in 2002, today make no public attempt to oppose the war drive against Iran.

Despite the unpopularity of Middle East wars and of Trump in the US, European and international working class, the European bourgeoisies are preparing military operations that, for now at least, largely dovetail with the war plans of American imperialism.

Nonetheless, deep contradictions and conflicts persist between the imperialist powers who are all sending forces to the Persian Gulf. While the Trump administration tries to include EU warships in its war plans, it is also threatening EU corporations with hundreds of billions of dollars in trade-war tariffs and demanding that the EU powers abandon plans for an independent EU army. At the same time, the EU is being shaken by the looming Brexit crisis. These conflicts have led to visible tensions among the EU powers as they try to work out an anti-Iran policy.

After Boris Johnson became British prime minister last week, calling for a no-deal Brexit from the EU, UK officials abandoned the fiction that the “eurofleet” was unrelated to US war plans. “I think we do want to see a European-led approach, but that doesn’t seem to me to be viable without American support as well,” incoming Foreign Minister Dominique Raab told the Times of London. The Daily Telegraph said that Raab’s remarks were “likely to unsettle Germany and France, both of which have stated that any European effort must be independent from the US.”

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas responded by declaring, “We have made clear that we do not subscribe to the United States’ policy of maximum pressure. Our efforts in the region must be recognizably European.”

French Defense Minister Florence Parly told L’Est Républicain, “We are working to organize ourselves only between Europeans, but one thing is clear: our policy must have only one objective, to calm the current tensions and defend our interests. … We do not want to contribute to a force that could be perceived as aggravating the tensions.”

The attempts of Berlin and Paris to distance themselves from US war plans against Iran are shot through with hypocrisy. While proclaiming that they do not want maximum pressure or aggravating tensions with Iran, they are stirring up the crisis, threatening to send warships to one of the world’s most volatile military and commercial flashpoints—a move playing into the hands of US war policy.

The EU’s militarist policy underscores that the only way to oppose the war drive against Iran is to mobilize the vast opposition and disaffection with war among workers internationally in a struggle against all the capitalist governments including the EU imperialist powers threatening Iran.