Mobilize Worldwide for Communism – Our Lives Are at Stake
A child holds a fragment of the US Lockheed Martin made MK-82 bomb used in the August bombing of a school bus full of Yemini children.
Over ten thousand of our working-class family in Yemen have been killed by merciless Saudi air attacks. Fifty thousand more have starved to death in a famine caused by the bombing of civilians’ farms and fisheries, together with a Saudi naval blockade. Fourteen million more are on the verge of starvation.
Over two million Yemenis are internal refugees. Thousands more have fled the country. In August, the Saudis dropped US-made bombs on a school bus, killing 44 children and 10 adults.
Only communism can put an end to this atrocious carnage!
Imperialists Face Off Over Control of Oil Profits, Sea Lanes
The devastation in Yemen has been created by the world’s major imperialists and local capitalists fighting over control of oil and sea lanes. US imperialism and its traditional allies are facing off against the rising Russia-China-Iran imperialist axis. At stake is the enormously profitable southwest Asia (“Middle East”). Since World War II this region has been the cornerstone of the US petrodollar empire.
Yemen is strategically important because it lies at the mouth of the strait of Bab el Mandeb. Over 4.8 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products travel through this strait daily. Long-standing US control of this chokepoint is now threatened by Iran’s expanding influence in Yemen, through its Houthi allies.
Yemen also has a porous 1,000-mile border with Saudi Arabia. In case of an Iran-Saudi war, a Houthi-controlled Yemen could serve as a base to mobilize the two million Iranians living in eastern Saudi Arabia, which produces 90% of Saudi oil.
Under capitalism, geography and natural resources become reasons to slaughter workers by the millions. This mass murder is dictated by the needs of capitalists-imperialists to maximize their profits. Only communist revolution can end this inhumane system.
In communism, the working masses will turn geography and natural resources to serve our own needs. One united international working class will work collectively and share the products of our labor according to need in a world without borders or nations or money.
Once we have rid the world of capitalism, we won’t fight or compete over any place, no matter what resources it has or is near. The life of each and every worker will be valued above all else. Not one drop of workers’ blood for oil! Not one child starved for “strategic” geography!
The Crimes of Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman
On Oct 2, 2018, Saudi operatives murdered Jamal Khashoggi inside their embassy in Turkey. Khashoggi was a journalist for the Washington Post, a member of the Saudi royal family, and a critic of virtual dictator Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
Some US rulers are using this brutal murder as an excuse to expose the Saudis’ genocidal three-year Yemeni war. Until recently it had US blessings, weapons and intelligence. But that’s not really why they turned against MBS. His real crime – in their view – is refusing to change course in Yemen. His bigger crime is making deals with Russia and China.
The US Council on Foreign Relations calls the Saudi war in Yemen a failure. This group is the mouthpiece for the main section of US imperialism. They advocate a negotiated settlement, while bombing missile sites to strengthen their negotiating position. These imperialists want to extricate the US from Yemen to better pursue their plans to prepare to confront China in the South China Sea and Russia in Eastern Europe.
The Iranian rulers are also seeking to negotiate in Yemen. They are overextended by supporting Hezbollah and Hamas as well as the Houthis. And they are facing strikes by industrial workers and other mass protests against an austerity war budget.
US, Saudi Rulers Divided — Communist Working Class Will End All Capitalists and Imperialists
The US rulers are divided over Middle East policy. This was clear when the CIA confirmed that MBS ordered Khashoggi’s murder but the Trump administration denied it. MBS is key to their plans.
The Saudi ruling class is divided about Yemen and whether to stay with the US or join the China-Russia axis. A newly-formed Saudi opposition group has called for King Salman’s brother to take power. An outspoken critic of MBS and his Yemen war, he returned to Saudi Arabia from London on Oct. 30 to organize opposition to MBS.
The struggle among capitalists and between US, Chinese and Russian imperialists over the Middle East is sharpening. But the masses under attack—from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the whole world—are growing angry and seeking solutions.
Workers can’t side with any of these capitalist-imperialist murderers. The solution is communism, a world where all the resources are shared, where human life is nurtured in growing collectives. ICWP is committed to building a world without wars, exploitation, racism, sexism, nationalism or xenophobia.
ICWP must grow worldwide now. Only a communist working class mobilizing for communism can stand in the way of the rulers’ mass slaughter. Workers, soldiers and youths like you need to join ICWP. Together we will turn the capitalists’ crises and wars into a fight to bury their deadly system forever. Together we will build the communist world we need and deserve.
MBS Strengthens Ties with Russia and China
The Saudi rulers promised Trump to purchase the $15 billion US-made THAAD missile system. But they hinted in late September that they were planning to buy the less expensive Russian S-400 instead.
Also, Saudi Arabia and Russia struck a private deal in September to raise oil output to cool rising prices. They are increasingly deciding oil output policies bilaterally, before consulting with the rest of OPEC or the US.
Some US companies boycotted MBS’ “Davos in the Dessert” conference in Saudi Arabia after the Khashoggi murder. Here the Saudis joined the newly-renamed Russia-China-Saudi Direct Investment Fund.
The head of the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news channel wrote that if the US imposed sanctions on Saudi Arabia, it would “stab its own economy to death.” He threatened that Saudi Arabia would produce less oil which would double its price, and would price it in Yuan or other currency. This would be a death blow to the petro-dollar.
He also wrote, “Imposing any sanctions on Saudi Arabia will cause the kingdom to resort to other options…Russia and China are ready to fulfill Riyadh’s military needs [which] will include a Russian military base in Saudi Arabia.”
That’s what has angered many US imperialists – but not Trump, who has his own Russian connections.
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