Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 21:40:15 +0000 (GMT)
From: =?iso-8859-1?q?j=20t?= <nopossesion1-AT-yahoo.co.uk>


Washington will never acknowledge its complicity in other areas which have
a direct bearing on the present. Whilst Bush is mouthing off about the
importance of curbing the funding of terrorist groups and keen to see the
Taliban's overseas assets frozen, it was his own administration, May gone,
that scuttled international efforts to clamp down on tax havens,
withdrawing support for an OECD initiative that called for more
transparency in tax and banking procedures.

Moreover, it was again in May of this year that the Bush administration
was giving the Taliban $43 million as an incentive to reduce the
cultivation of poppies, knowing full well the Taliban were notorious
abusers of human rights and that they harboured terrorists from all over
the Islamic world. And there was no criticism of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan
who for years gave the Taliban military and financial aid.

For quite some time now, US, German and Russian intelligence services have
been alerting Washington to the fact that Osama bin Laden has been trying
to acquire weapon's grade nuclear material, indeed as early as 1993 from
Russian outlets with poor controls. What was the response of the Bush
administration to this? They proposed cutting funds for a programme aimed
at preserving nuclear materials in the former USSR.

Of course all the cant and clever rhetoric and soldier speak of the last
few weeks have helped mask what are now becoming the true intentions of
the US. The attacks on the US on 11 September are now being used to serve
US foreign and domestic policy.

The oil reserves of Central Asia are perhaps second to those of the Middle
East and as Afghanistan is geographically located between the Caspian
basin and the markets of Japan, China and the Indian sub-continent, we can
well see the country's strategic importance to foreign policy planners
wishing to dictate the way in which the region's oil and gas reserves are
utilised to the benefit of the US dollar.

The "war on terrorism" is clearly being used to induce fear and mistrust
in the US, and through this fear a justification will be found to curb all
manner of civil liberties, increase police powers and military spending. 

Furthermore, the current crisis serves to extend US power around the globe
and perhaps set a definite agenda for the coming century, the 'war on
terrorism' serving as a replacement for the Cold War, now that the US has
had its anti-communist passport stamped null and void and is desperate to
maintain a pretext to assert its hegemonic credentials.

None of which surprises socialists. 

We are well attuned to the machinations of the elites of powerful
countries as they seek to promote the interests of their corporate
backers. Though it is no easy task for the uninitiated, we urge our fellow
workers to be as vigilant as ever. 

To believe the arguments of the likes of Bush and Blair is to disarm
yourself intellectually - for it is at times like the present, when the
media is dancing to the tunes of governments, when the trumpets of
jingoism, patriotism and reaction are sounding, that we need to be
fighting the war of ideas.
http://communities.msn.com/realworldsocialism


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts
http://uk.my.yahoo.com