Nord Stream 2 Fight: Sharpening Inter-Imperialist Rivalry
The Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline is complete, after a five-year battle. It will deliver Russian gas to Germany. US sanctions against Russian, German and other European construction companies could not stop it.
Russian and US imperialists are fighting over Europe. Nord Stream 2 will increase the dependence of the European Union (EU) on Russian gas from 40% to over 60%. US imperialism fears losing Europe’s support in an eventual war with Russia.
German capitalists’ support for the pipeline shows the shattering of the 73-year-old Trans-Atlantic Alliance. Cooperation between imperialists is temporary. Their struggle for power and profits is absolute. This makes global war inevitable.
European workers face soaring gas prices and the deadly prospect of unaffordable heat. The poorest and immigrant workers will suffer the most, but the profit system is deadly for the whole working class.
Capitalist rulers worldwide depend on workers and soldiers to produce their profits and fight their wars. Workers have risen against this exploitation and soldiers have turned their guns around and helped overthrow their mutual masters.
We’ll do it again! This time for communist workers’ power. To replace capitalism-imperialism’s reign of terror with communism, where our needs are met without money, profits, or competition.
Geopolitics and Nord Stream 2
Nord Stream 2 shows a divided EU. Ten Eastern European countries, some receiving gas directly from Russia, opposed it as US allies. Italy opposed it because its gas will now transit through Germany. France and Germany support it.
The pipeline by-passes Ukraine, which currently pipes Russian gas to Europe. Ukraine fears losing both cheap gas and transit fees ($3 billion a year, its annual military budget). The pipeline also bypasses Poland which, like Ukraine, acts as a US proxy against Russia.
Russia did not create Europe’s crisis of high gas prices and low supplies. Putin used it, however, to speed up Germany’s pipeline approval before a European law goes into effect which would break Russia’s monopoly in transporting and distributing gas in Europe.
Germany’s Imperialist Ambitions
Amidst this US-Russia pipeline battle, German imperialists, with Europe’s biggest economy, are striving to become the undisputed leaders of Europe.
They do not want to be junior partners to a weakened US imperialism. With Nord Stream 1 and 2, Germany is positioned to be the main distributor of Russian gas in Europe. Europe’s energy security will now depend on both Russia and Germany.
US opposition to Nord Stream 2 exposes that NATO and the transatlantic alliance are no longer a viable security bulwark against Russia. So does US’ recent military alliance AUKUS (with Australia and the United Kingdom) which halted France’s lucrative submarine deal with Australia.
Germany previously supported US initiatives expanding NATO eastward, which furthered its own geopolitical interests.
German rulers don’t want to play a secondary role to Russia either. They want to chart an independent course for Europe.
German capitalists don’t want a US-backed Polish-Ukrainian war against Russia on their borders. Nor do they want Poland and Ukraine to divide the EU. They are therefore leaning on Russia to provide cheap gas and other concessions to both countries to neutralize them.
A New EU Army
“The need for more European defence has never been as much evident as today,” said the EU foreign affairs representative about the US recent Afghanistan debacle.
This means building a modern European army on the backs of the European working class. It will intensify the class war between European workers and their capitalist masters.
US imperialism’s decline and the rise of Chinese, Russian, German and other imperialists bring war closer. Our choice is ever clearer: crushing poverty, fascism and war —or communist revolution.
The world’s masses are in motion against this genocidal capitalist future. Let’s seize this opportunity to mobilize the masses for communism. Workers, soldiers, and youth of all “races” everywhere have the same interests in ending capitalism’s deadly wage slavery, racism, and wars for profits.
In a communist world, we will develop plentiful, safe forms of energy to share with masses everywhere to meet our needs in harmony with nature, without nations or borders. And without any price tag.
We invite Red Flag readers to join and build ICWP collectives, write for Red Flag and help distribute it!
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