04) WAR CLOUDS IN THE PERSIAN GULF

People's Voice Editorial

      The corporate media in North America continues to heap blame on the Assad government for every tragedy in Syria. Little is mentioned about arms shipments and meddling by the western powers, Israel, and Saudi Arabia and other reactionary Gulf Arab states. The pattern is familiar: a government which refuses to kowtow to imperialism faces an intense propaganda attack, followed by sanctions and threats, and then outright military intervention. Countries which resist the stampede to war ‑ in this case Russia and China ‑ are accused of "blocking consensus" and "protecting their own interests." What blatant hypocrisy!

     Meanwhile, the biggest build‑up in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq is underway. The US military surge includes an influx of air and naval forces, ground troops, and even sea drones. The US already has two aircraft carriers and their striker groups in the region. The immediate target of this escalation is Iran, even though the US intelligence community finds no evidence that Teheran has decided to pursue a nuclear weapon - the ostensible reason behind Western sanctions. As an April Pentagon report states, Iran's military doctrine remains one of self‑defence, committed to "slow an invasion" and "force a diplomatic solution to hostilities."

     The media blitz against Syria and Iran is a propaganda cover for the wider aims of imperialism across the entire Middle East/Central Asia region, especially the drive by transnational monopolies to control energy supplies.

     Far from helping the people to address their urgent social issues, military interventions have the opposite effect, as seen in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. War in Middle East will never bring liberation, only huge profits for Big Oil and the military-industrial complex. The shameful threats against Syria and Iran by the major parties in Parliament will be remembered as yet another example of Canadian complicity with U.S. imperialism.

(The above article is from the August 1-31, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)