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	International Communist Workers Party
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When Obama supported French and British military strikes that toppled the Gaddafi regime in Libya in 2011, the New Yorker, praising him, coined the expression, “leading from behind.”
The reason, it said, was that “the relative power of the U.S. is declining, as rivals like China rise” and “the U.S. is reviled in many parts of the world.”
George Friedman, CEO of the US think-tank Stratfor, expands on this shift in strategy.  Between 1914 and 1989, especially during two world wars, US policy was to “allow both sides to exhaust each other, and then … collect the winnings with (by comparison) minimal casualties.” He criticizes the policy, in effect from 1989-2008 of “direct and early involvement of US military forces.”
Friedman argues that the US should now build “effective and relevant alliance structures” with “core allies who have an interest in aligning with the United States against regional enemies.  The goal is to “avoid the emergence of a regional hegemon [power] fully secure against land threats and with the economic power to challenge the United States at sea.”
The two potential hegemons facing US imperialism are China and Russia.  “Russia, China top list of threats,” announced the Los Angeles Times (2/4/15). So what Friedman is really peddling is a US strategy to fight World War III.
The main goal of Obama’s visit to India was to recruit India to contain the rise of China and Russia now and militarily confront them later.
But Obama is not India’s only suitor. Russia and China are also wooing India.  The new Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is determined to extract as many concessions as possible from these competing imperialists.  He plans to spur the economic and military rise of India, turning it into a major world power. 
Modi’s “Made in India” project requires tens of millions of new jobs for India’s unemployed youth. His plans for building India’s infrastructure will require massive investments.  Modi envisions China as a big player in both these projects.
Modi led the state government of Gujarat before becoming Prime Minister. His party carried out fascist pogroms against the Muslim population there.  This racist terror enabled his government to weaken labor laws.  This lured huge investments, mainly from China and Japan, into auto, oil, power and transportation.
Modi aspires to repeat China’s economic “miracle.” The $3 billion Obama promised to invest in India won’t help much.
As Obama was leaving India, India’s foreign minister Sushma Swaraj was on her way to China.  China plans to invest $20 billion in new industrial parks.  It offered to loan India 30% of its $1 trillion infrastructure cost through 2017.
The day after Obama left, a newspaper owned by the biggest Indian capitalists (owners of Reliance Industry) wrote an editorial, “Need for re-balance: After engaging with US, time for Modi to deal with China.”  It warned the Modi government not to be seen as aligning with “one particular sphere of influence” (the US).  Instead it urged him to take maximum advantage of the US-China conflict.
Actually, India is a member of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), which aims to end US world domination.  This cannot happen without war: world war.
India, the world’s second most populous country, is a very desirable ally. Obama failed to clinch the military alliance with India that US imperialism desperately needs to fight China, Russia, or both. The US is temporarily India’s main arms supplier, but Obama was unable to break up the strategic India-Russia military relationship. 
“Indian military equipment will continue to be heavily Russia-centric,” says an Indian columnist for the Russia-based Russia and India Report.  “The US is offering the technology for developing a drone…throwing us a toy,” he told those predicting a massive US military technology transfer to India. 
In contrast, Russia and India are collaborating on weapons projects, including nuclear submarines, supersonic cruise missiles, and fifth generation stealth fighters.
China is also dead serious about roping India into military cooperation.  President Xi personally met Foreign Minister Swaraj to prepare for Modi’s visit in May.
China is investing $32 billion to integrate India’s railway system with China’s new Silk Road, connecting China, Central Asia and Russia with Europe.  China also proposes to upgrade the port of Calcutta to link India with its Maritime Silk Road. 
A key aspect of these new Silk Roads is military.  They will facilitate rapid troop deployment from China throughout Asia, Russia and Europe.  This includes strategic locations like Singapore on the Strait of Malacca. Eighty percent of China’s imported oil passes through here. The maritime Silk Road challenges all the sea lanes and choke points now controlled by the US Navy in Asia Pacific.
This vast infrastructure of railways, highways and ports is built entirely by Chinese finance, bypassing western capital.  It will integrate Asia and Europe economically under Chinese domination, posing an existential threat to US economic world domination.  
The US is countering by trying to build trade blocs with Asia Pacific countries and Europe which would exclude China and Russia. This is a recipe for war.
Capitalism makes imperialist world war inevitable.  It’s urgent to build ICWP everywhere.  It’s especially urgent among soldiers and sailors who will be called upon to fight for the bosses’ profits and empires. They and industrial workers must “lead from the front” in mobilizing the masses to make the bosses’ next war their last. 

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