Day 425 of Israeli genocide in Gaza: 44,532 killed, 105,538 injured
Al Jazeera: At least 44,532 people have been killed and 105,538 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, 2023, the enclave’s Health Ministry said Wednesday. Of those, 30 Palestinians were killed and 84 wounded in the latest 24-hour reporting period, the ministry added.
Countercurrent – December 4, 2024
Beit Lahya Is Being Wiped Out
Gaza (Quds News Network)- Israeli forces have escalated their assault on Beit Lahya in northern Gaza, targeting the city’s 60,000 residents in a campaign that threatens to wipe out the population.
The bombardment has targeted residential areas, schools, and hospitals, turning what was once a haven for displaced families into a warzone.
Residents in Beit Lahya report that Israeli drones and helicopters have been relentlessly firing at homes. Barrel bombs have been planted in neighborhoods, causing widespread destruction and killing dozens of besieged civilians.
Israeli forces have also surrounded Abu Tammam school, the last remaining displacement shelter in the area. This schools is now under siege, with no access to food, water, or medical aid. Israeli forces also started burning parts of the school even as about 4000 civilians are trapped inside.
At Kamal Adwan Hospital, the situation is dire. Israeli drones have attacked the hospital multiple times, injuring three medical staff members, one of whom is in critical condition. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyya, the hospital director, condemned the attacks, calling them “barbaric and unjustified.” He confirmed that drones dropped bombs filled with shrapnel, endangering patients and staff. “We are exhausted by this brutality,” he said. “Every day, we are systematically targeted.”
The Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza described the situation in Beit Lahya as catastrophic. Speaking to Al Jazeera, the spokesperson stated that Israeli forces are committing ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza. “We cannot provide medical or rescue services due to the relentless attacks,” he said. Many victims remain trapped under rubble, with no way for rescue teams to reach them.
In the past 24 hours, two massacres have been reported in Gaza. Hospitals have received the bodies of 36 victims, along with 96 wounded, but the actual toll is likely higher. Civilians in northern Gaza have endured two months without proper food or clean water. Their homes are no longer livable, and the humanitarian crisis deepens by the hour.
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli attacks have killed 44,502 Palestinians and injured 105,454, according to health officials. Beit Lahya, once a sanctuary for those displaced by earlier strikes, now faces complete obliteration.
https://countercurrents.org/2024/12/beit-lahya-is-being-wiped-out/
Over 60,000 Palestinians in northern Gaza 'on verge of death' as Israeli siege rages on
Gaza's civil defense agency has described as “catastrophic” the situation in the besieged northern Gaza Strip, saying at least 60,000 Palestinians living in the area are at risk of death.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesman of the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza, made the remarks in a statement on Wednesday, as the Israeli regime continues its relentless aggression and siege on the territory.
Basal went on to say that residents of the northern Gaza Strip have not received food and clean water for 60 days.
“The situation in the city of Beit Lahia and other northern areas is catastrophic, and we are unable to provide health, medical and emergency services to the residents of these areas,” he said, adding that houses in the area have become uninhabitable.
The spokesman for Gaza's civil defense agency further noted that the occupying regime forces are committing genocide against the residents of the northern Gaza Strip.
Backed by the United States and its Western allies, Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime in response to its decades-long campaign of oppression against Palestinians.
The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed 44,502 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 105,250 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.
The Tel Aviv regime has imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.
International aid organizations have repeatedly raised the alarm over the deteriorating conditions in Gaza, saying aid shipments reaching Gaza now stand at their lowest since the start of the Israeli aggression.
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations has already called for unrestricted and safe access to deliver emergency aid into war-ravaged Gaza in order to prevent the spread of famine there.
Earlier, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, a Geneva-based NGO, reported that nearly 70,000 Palestinians are trapped in northern Gaza, facing famine due to a crippling Israeli siege on the area for over three months.
Israeli forces raid Turkish hospital in occupied West Bank
Eyewitnesses report live bullets and sound bombs being used in hospital corridors, creating panic among patients and staff.
The Israeli army has attacked a Turkish hospital in Tubas city of the occupied West Bank, detaining hospital staff, terrorising patients, and damaging parts of the facility.
Media reports say the raid late on Tuesday followed an Israeli drone strike in Aqabah village, which targeted three Palestinians allegedly affiliated with Hamas.
The strike reportedly killed two individuals and moderately injured a third. The casualties were then transported to the nearby Tubas Turkish State Hospital.
Israeli forces then broke inside the building to seize the bodies and arrest the wounded. The raid left several sections of the hospital damaged, including smashed windows, shattered doors, and a vandalised reception area.
Eyewitnesses reported live bullets and sound bombs being used in hospital corridors, creating panic among patients and staff.
The Palestinian Authority’s WAFA news agency reported that Dr Mahmoud Ghannam, head of the hospital’s emergency department, was briefly detained alongside five other medical staff, including the hospital's general director.
Iran ready to consider troop deployment to Syria upon official request
Iran is prepared to consider deploying troops to Syria, where the government is combating a resurgence of terrorism, should Damascus make an official request, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.
In an interview with the Qatari-owned news outlet New Arab, Araghchi warned that the surprise offensive by terrorist groups in northwestern Syria could pose a more serious security threat to neighboring countries, such as Turkey and Iraq, than to Iran.
He expressed his concerns about the potential collapse of the Astana process, a diplomatic initiative that began in 2017 and involves three main guarantor states: Russia, Turkey, and Iran.
The Astana process was established to facilitate dialogue and negotiations aimed at resolving the Syrian conflict, but its effectiveness has come under scrutiny as terrorist violence continues to escalate.
Under this initiative, the three countries committed to preventing a resurgence of militancy in Syria. However, the recent surge in terrorist activities has led to criticism of Turkey, a primary supporter of foreign-backed militancy in Syria since 2011, for failing to uphold its obligations.
Araghchi also discussed his recent visit to Ankara, noting that Tehran consistently seeks consultation and dialogue with Turkey regarding their differences. He said there are ongoing preparations aimed at calming the situation in Syria and creating opportunities for a lasting resolution.
On Iran’s relationships with allies in the Axis of Resistance, Araghchi stated that "Iran does not command resistance factions in Arab countries and does not have organizational ties with them; rather, it supports their cause and provides assistance when necessary."
Regarding the possibility of an agreement to halt the Israeli campaign of genocide in Gaza, Araghchi said "if Israel enters negotiations with Hamas for a ceasefire and the release of captives, it would signify Israel's defeat."
On Iranian relations with Saudi Arabia, he indicated that they are progressing positively but emphasized that these relations are distinct from those between Tehran and Washington. Concerning Iran's negotiations with Europe regarding its peaceful nuclear program, Araghchi expressed "many reasons for pessimism" about these discussions.
He said Iran currently has no intention of engaging in dialogue with Washington due to a lack of basis for such discussions.
"We are waiting to see how the new administration will shape its policies; then we will formulate our own policy."
India alarmed at Nepal PM’s visit to China
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Nepalese Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli is in China on a four-day visit. Oli’s visit to China was his first to a foreign country since his July swearing-in, a break from the customary destination of New Delhi, with which Kathmandu has centuries-old ties.
Indian media has been closely following Oli's China visit. Calling Oli "a pro-China leader," the Hindustan Times noted that Oli broke with "the usual practice of Nepali prime ministers making India their first destination in the neighborhood after assuming charge, amid media reports that he did not get an invitation from New Delhi."
India's Business Standard described Oli as a "veteran communist politician," who "seeks to reduce its traditional dependence on India." The media outlet also raised "debt concerns" regarding a $216 million loan from China to build an international airport in Pokhara.
Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow with the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said that the choice of China as the first foreign country to visit after Oli took office in July shows that the Nepalese government attaches great importance to China-Nepal relations and regards the development of relations with China as the main direction of its diplomatic work.
"New Delhi should not overly interpret the China-Nepal cooperation, which does not target any third party… Instead, the cooperation is conducive to promoting regional common development and safeguarding regional stability."
Hu stressed that many South Asian countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives have achieved their own development by participating in BRI projects. "The BRI is a big cake for cooperation. Nepal wants to share the cake as well," Hu said.
China and Nepal signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on bilateral cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative in May 2017. President Xi paid a state visit to Nepal in October 2019.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Tuesday, pledging efforts to advance its strategic partnership of cooperation with Nepal.
Expressing appreciation for Oli's firm commitment to promoting friendship between the two sides over a long period of time, Xi said China and Nepal, linked by the same mountains and rivers, are good neighbors, good friends and good partners, and bilateral relations have maintained sound and steady development.
China is ready to continue offering assistance to Nepal's economic and social development within its capacity, and to encourage Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Nepal, Xi said.
During his first term as prime minister in 2016, Oli cut a petroleum deal with China after New Delhi imposed a six-month oil blockade on Kathmandu a year earlier.
That move upended India’s status as Nepal’s sole fuel supplier and paved the way for increased co-operation with Beijing.
China has since extended Nepal a loan of $216 million to build an international airport in Pokhara, the second-largest city about 200 km (124 miles) west of Kathmandu, which began operating last year.
But the Chinese-built airport, claimed by Beijing as a symbol of Belt and Road success, has grappled with problems, such as a lack of international flights, due to India’s refusal to let planes use its airspace to reach Pokhara.
According to official statistics, after India, China is the second-biggest trade partner of Nepal. Bilateral trade volume between China and Nepal in 2023 was $1.8 billion, an increase of 9.1 percent year-on-year. From January to August 2024, trade volume between China and Nepal was $1.28 billion, surging 18 percent year-on-year.
Bilateral trade between China and Nepal accounts for 17 percent of Nepal's total, according to the Xinhua News Agency, citing Ramesh Aryal, deputy director general of the customs department of Nepal's Ministry of Finance.
Meanwhile, India is Nepal's largest trading partner, accounting for more than 65 percent of its total trade, the Kathmandu Post said.
Nepalese Foreign Minister Deuba visited China last week and held extensive talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the Chinese city of Chengdu, sharing Nepal’s perspective on the revival of the BRI projects.
"We signed the BRI framework in 2017 and whatever assistance and support we receive from China now is in the periphery of the BRI. Things have not moved beyond that," Foreign Minister Deuba told the media on her return from Chengdu on Saturday.
"Mainly, we are focused on projects related to connectivity and cross-border infrastructure. The two parties agreed on a modality of future cooperation under the BRI framework,” the Post quoted her as saying.
"In my meeting with Wang, I have made it clear that we are not in a position to take loans to fund the projects. They listened to our concerns carefully,” she said.
“Our debt is now 41 per cent of the GDP, which is alarming,” she said.
Countercurrent – December 4, 2024
Resistance to the International Criminal Court By the World’s Most Powerful Nations
by Lawrence S Wittner
The International Criminal Court’s recent issuance of arrest warrants to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza has stirred up a considerable backlash. Dismissing the charges as ﾓabsurd and false,ﾔ Netanyahu announced that Israel would ﾓnot recognize the validityﾔ of the ICC’s action. U.S. President Joe Biden denounced the arrest warrants as “outrageous,” while the French government, after agreeing to support them, reversed its stance.
Thanks to a vigorous campaign by human rights organizations, the International Criminal Court (ICC) became operational in 2002, with the mandate to prosecute individuals for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and, after 2018, the crime of aggression. Nations ratifying the Rome Statute, the ICC’s authorizing document, assumed responsibility for arresting these individuals and submitting them to the Court for trial. The ICC prosecutes cases only when countries are unwilling or unable to do so, for it was designed to complement, rather than replace, national criminal justice systems.
Operating with clearly delimited powers and limited funding, the ICC, headquartered at the Hague, has thus far usually taken modest but effective action to investigate, prosecute, and convict perpetrators of heinous atrocity crimes.
Although 124 nations have ratified the Rome Statute, Russia, China, the United States, India, Israel, and North Korea are not among them. Indeed, the world’s major military powers, accustomed to the privileged role in world affairs that their armed might usually affords them, have often been at odds with the ICC, for it has the potential to investigate, prosecute, and convict their own government officials.
The desire of the “great powers” to safeguard themselves from the enforcement of international law is exemplified by the record of the U.S. government. Although President Bill Clinton signed the Rome Statute in December 2000, he warned about “significant flaws in the treaty,” among them the inability to “protect US officials.” Refusing to support U.S. Senate ratification, he recommended that his successor continue this policy “until our fundamental concerns are satisfied.”
U.S. President George W. Bush “unsigned” the treaty in 2002, pressured other nations into bilateral agreements requiring them to refuse surrendering U.S. nationals to the Court, and signed the American Servicemembers Protection Act, authorizing the use of military force to liberate any Americans held for crimes by the ICC.
Although, subsequently, the Bush and Obama administrations warmed somewhat toward the Court, then engaged in prosecuting African warlords and Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, President Donald Trump reverted to staunch opposition in 2018, informing the UN General Assembly that the U.S. government would not support the ICC, which he claimed had “no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, and no authority.” In 2020, the Trump administration imposed economic sanctions and visa restrictions on top ICC officials for any effort to investigate the actions of U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.
Like the United States, Russia initially signed the Rome treaty. It withdrew its signature, however, after Ukraine appealed to the ICC in 2014 and 2015 to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity that Russia committed in Ukraine. The ICC did launch a preliminary investigation that, after the full-scale Russian military invasion of February 2022 and Russian murder of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war in Bucha, expanded into a formal investigation. Taking bold action in March 2023, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for the mass kidnapping of Ukrainian children.
Having previously denied wrongdoing in Bucha, the Russian government reacted furiously to the kidnapping charge. “The very question itself is outrageous,” declared Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, and the ICC’s decisions “are insignificant for the Russian Federation.” Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of the Russian Security Council and a former Russian president, publicly threatened a Russian hypersonic missile attack upon the ICC headquarters, remarking: “Judges of the court, look carefully at the sky.” Subsequently, Moscow issued arrest warrants for top ICC officials.
Meanwhile, the United States has continued its ambivalence toward the ICC. President Joe Biden scrapped the Trump sanctions against the Court and authorized the sharing of information and funding for it in its investigations of Russian atrocities in Ukraine. But he reaffirmed “our government’s longstanding objection to the Court’s efforts to assert jurisdiction” over U.S. and Israeli officials.
The incoming Trump administration seems likely to take a much harsher line. The Republican-led House of Representatives recently passed legislation to sanction the ICC, while Republican Senator Lindsay Graham, calling the Court a “dangerous joke,” urged Congress to sanction its prosecutor, and warned U.S. allies that, “if you try to help the ICC, we’re going to sanction you.”
Given the policies of the “great powers,” are the Court’s efforts to enforce international law futile?
Leading advocates of human rights don’t think so. “This is a big day for the many victims of crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine,” declared Amnesty International upon learning of the Court’s arrest warrants for top Russian officials. “The ICC has made Putin a wanted man and taken its first step to end the impunity that has emboldened perpetrators in Russia’s war.” Similarly, Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, stated that the ICC’s issuance of arrest warrants for top Israeli officials represented “an important step toward justice for the Palestinian people. . . . Israeli generals must now think twice about proceeding with the bombing and starving of Palestinian children.”
And, indeed, the ICC’s actions have started to bear fruit. Invited to South Africa to participate in a BRICS conference, Putin canceled his visit after his hosts explained that, in light of the arrest warrant, he was no longer welcome. Also, later that year, Russian officials returned hundreds of Ukrainian children to their parents. Although the results of the ICC’s action against Israeli officials are only starting to unfold, numerous countries have promised to honor the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
Even so, the ICC’s enforcement of international criminal justice would be considerably more effective if the major powers stopped obstructing its efforts.
Lawrence S. Wittner (https://www.lawrenceswittner.com/ ) is Professor of History Emeritus at SUNY/Albany and the author of Confronting the Bomb (Stanford University Press).
Dead but not counted: Hidden victims of Pakistan’s latest political clash
Al Jazeera spoke to family members of PTI supporters whose deaths last week were denied by the government.
By Abid Hussain
Islamabad, Pakistan – Anees Shehzad’s death certificate says he died from a pelvic injury and gunshot wound.
He was killed while protesting alongside thousands of supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in the capital, Islamabad, on November 26, following clashes with security forces. Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) insists that he was among a dozen civilians killed in police firing that day.
However, according to the government, no protester was killed, not even Shehzad, 20.
A week after PTI members laid siege to Islamabad and were subsequently dispersed in a late-night operation by law enforcement agencies, the government and the PTI are locked in a tense standoff over conflicting accounts of the number of casualties during those clashes.
While some PTI leaders initially said hundreds of supporters had been killed, party chairman Gohar Ali Khan later said the number of dead protesters stood at 12.
Attaullah Tarar, the federal information minister, mocked that discrepancy in a message on social media platform X on Tuesday. “These bodies will only be found on TikTok, Facebook and WhatsApp. They are playing politics of jokes and lies with the nation,” Tarar wrote in his message in Urdu.
Earlier, on November 28, during a press interaction with foreign media, Tarar maintained that there were no deaths during the protests.
He cited statements from Islamabad’s two largest public hospitals — PIMS and Poly Clinic — stating they had received no bodies. “The health department has issued two separate statements confirming this,” he said in response to a question from Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera spoke to the families of four PTI supporters, including Shehzad, killed in the clashes with security forces, and also reached out to Tarar, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Rana Sanaullah, the political adviser to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, to seek their comments on the claims and counterclaims. However, no one in the authority responded.
The PTI has now released the names of the 12 supporters it says were killed between November 24 and 26, with at least 10 reportedly suffering bullet wounds. Among them was Shehzad, from Kotli Sattian, a small town in Punjab province.
‘Still in shock’
Shehzad’s cousin, Nafees Satti, described the young man as a devoted PTI supporter who insisted on joining the rally. “We all tried to stop him, but he was adamant because Imran Khan, his political idol, had called for it,” Satti told Al Jazeera.
The demonstrators, led by Bushra Bibi, Khan’s wife, were demanding a reversal of February’s election results, the release of political prisoners, including Khan, and the annulment of a constitutional amendment allowing government oversight of senior judicial appointments.
On the afternoon of November 26, hundreds of PTI supporters managed to reach the D-Chowk, the protest’s focal point near Islamabad’s government buildings, where they set fire to police kiosks, chanted slogans in favour of Khan and waved party flags. Shehzad was one of them.
The protesters soon encountered paramilitary forces using tear gas and rubber bullets. They also allegedly fired live rounds, though the government denies it.
Shehzad’s family received a call from Poly Clinic at about 4pm, informing them that he had been critically injured. By the time they arrived, Anees had succumbed to his injuries.
“It’s been a week, but his mother and youngest brother are still in shock,” Satti said. “His brother keeps fainting now and then. Our entire family is devastated.”
‘The call suddenly dropped’
The tragedy extends beyond Anees’s family. Another PTI supporter, Mobeen Aurangzeb, 24, from Abbottabad, was the sole breadwinner for a family of nine and had been living in Islamabad for several years.
His younger brother, Asad, said Mobeen, an active PTI member, had planned to attend the protest, but the family did not realise the extent of the risks involved.
“He was talking to my sister on the phone when the call suddenly dropped. When she called back, a stranger answered and told her that Mobeen had been shot and was being taken to hospital,” Asad recounted.
Asad and other family members struggled to reach Poly Clinic, where Mobeen had been taken. Roads had been closed to stop more waves of protesters from reaching the heart of Islamabad, and those who reached the hospital said authorities there were uncooperative.
“The hospital people initially refused to release the body. After hours of pleading, they handed it over around midnight,” Asad said.
The family is still struggling to cope with their loss. “He was the first son after three sisters and our parents’ favourite. You cannot imagine their state,” 22-year-old Asad said, adding that the responsibility of supporting the family now falls on him.
Other family members who spoke to Al Jazeera also recounted tales of how difficult it was for them to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones from the hospital authorities, as they claimed they were pressured into signing affidavits committing to not filing first information reports (FIRs) and pursuing legal cases against security forces.
‘They kept pressuring me’
Like Mobeen’s family, Abdul Wali from Mardan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, struggled to retrieve the body of his brother, Malik Sadar Ali, who died on the evening of November 26.
Sadar Ali, an active PTI member who frequently travelled from Dubai to attend party events, was killed due to a “firearm injury” in his head, according to the death certificate from PIMS hospital, seen by Al Jazeera.
Wali said law enforcement officers tried to pressure him to sign a statement promising not to file an FIR about his brother’s killing.
“They kept pressuring me, but how could I promise that when my brother was murdered?” he said. It was only after persistent pleading that the family was allowed to take Ali’s body for burial. They had waited for more than 12 hours at that point.
The list of PTI victims also includes Mohammad Ilyas, who was killed in a hit-and-run incident allegedly involving security forces on November 25 night.
Ilyas’s body was taken to PIMS in the early hours of November 26, according to his death certificate issued by the hospital and seen by Al Jazeera.
His elder brother, Safeer Ali, who himself spent almost four weeks in jail after PTI’s previous protest call in October, said he and Ilyas were joined by other party workers as they gathered at an entry point of Islamabad to welcome a convoy of supporters arriving from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on November 25 night.
Ali described the chaos of that night as security vehicles sped through a crowd of protesters. “They hit several people, including my brother,” he said.
He claimed hospital authorities delayed releasing Ilyas’s body and tried to coerce him into absolving law enforcement of blame. “I refused to give such a statement, so they made me wait over 12 hours before handing over the body,” he said.
But he said, despite losing his brother or spending time in jail himself, his support for the PTI and its leader Khan remained undiminished.
“Look, my father died in ethnic violence in Karachi in 1987. Now my brother got killed while his wife is six months pregnant,” Ali said. “But these setbacks will not change my support for PTI or Khan. We are ideological supporters, and we will give our life for Khan.”
World Socialist Web Site – December 4, 2024
The significance of Trump’s war to maintain dollar supremacy
The threat by incoming US president Donald Trump to impose a 100 percent tariff on the BRICS group of countries, if there are attempts to set up an alternative to the US dollar as the global currency, is a significant expression of the crisis of US imperialism which is setting it on the road to a third world war.
The threat, which was made by Trump in a post to his social media site on Saturday, has been under consideration for some time among his entourage, which regards any move away from the dollar and the undermining of dollar supremacy as an existential threat to the hegemony of the US.
This issue was underscored on several occasions by Trump during the election campaign, including in a speech to the Economic Club of New York, when he said that losing dollar supremacy would be the equivalent to losing a war.
This is not overblown rhetoric but the expression by Trump of real economic relations and contradictions which are daily at work beneath the appearance of a “booming” US economy.
The so-called boom, which does not refer to the ever-worsening social conditions of the working population but, instead, the vast accumulation of profit by the financial oligarchs, has been made possible in major part by the escalation of debt to stratospheric heights.
The US national debt is now rapidly approaching $36 trillion at a rate which has been characterised by all its official institutions, including the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board, as “unsustainable” and where one dollar in seven of the annual federal budget is needed just to pay the interest bill.
Such metrics if applied to any other state would lead to its designation as bankrupt. But the US enjoys a unique position within world capitalism because the dollar is the global currency and therefore its debt is financed by the inflow of capital into dollar assets from the rest of the world.
This means that ever increasing US spending, above all on the military to finance its expanding war front, is financed by the accumulation of debt, financed by others.
But if dollar supremacy is in any way significantly questioned or if confidence is undermined, even well before there is any prospect of an alternate currency, then the inflated debt structure is threatened with a crash.
These economic facts are kept well away from the sight of the American public and the eyes of the world. But they are well known in ruling economic, political and media circles.
In March 2023, in comment piece for the Washington Post, prominent CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria wrote that US politicians had become used to spending seemingly without any concerns over debt, to the extent that public debt had risen fivefold in the past 20 years, while in the same period the Fed’s balance sheet had increased twelve-fold.
“All of this only works because of the dollar’s unique status. If that wanes, America will face a reckoning like none before,” he wrote.
In September of this year, Mitch Daniels, a prominent figure in the Republican party going back to the Reagan era, wrote a comment piece in which he said a conference should be convened to “prepare a plan for the collapse of the US public debt market and the dollar’s world reserve status.”
He foreshadowed that if such a conference took place, tens of millions of Americans would find that “trust funds are not trustworthy” and safety-net benefits they had been receiving were about to be reduced, perhaps drastically. That would create an “enraged public” and “violent reactions” requiring the imposition of “martial law.”
Trump’s threats and his underscoring of the crucial importance of dollar supremacy—which must be defended at all costs—arise out of this deepening crisis of the US imperial state.
If one takes the threat against BRICS, which initially comprised Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa, but which now includes Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Ethiopia, it is directed against a grouping which comprises 45 percent of the world’s population and 35 percent of global GDP.
The search for alternatives to payments in dollars began in earnest following the freezing of Russian assets at the start of the Ukraine war and its exclusion from the SWIFT international payments system. It was recognised that what was done to Russia could be done to any other country which crossed the path of the US.
Confidence in the dollar has been eroded by recurring US financial crises—no one know when the next one will occur, but if one studies the financial stability reports of major central banks, they are all expecting it—and this has been reflected in the rising price of gold, much of it the result of purchases by central banks.
The threat against BRICS is only one part of a much broader economic war, which is being conducted by the bankrupt US state supported by all sections of the political establishment, to maintain its global dominance. The first Trump administration launched a tariff war against the world’s second largest economy, China. But in doing so he was simply building on the foundations laid by the Obama administration with its anti-China “pivot to Asia,” launched in 2011.
The Obama administration had concluded, at least by 2014 if not before, that the “free trade” agenda which it had previously sponsored was working against the interests of the US and aiding the economic rise of China, which had to be crushed.
Consequently, the Biden administration not only maintained virtually all the Trump tariffs but also deepened the assault with an ever-widening list of bans on the export of high-tech products, particularly advanced computer chips, aimed at suppressing China’s technological development, which the US regards as an existential threat. The latest in such measures, the third round under Biden, was announced on Sunday.
China is by no means the only target in the Make America Great Again project of Trump. The rest of the world is regarded as the enemy, as seen by the threat to impose a tariff of 10-20 percent on all imports, which will hit hard all the supposed allies of the US in Europe, now in crisis because of the deepening slump in the European economy.
In developing its response to the unleashing of economic and military warfare, the international working class must draw and act on the lessons of history.
After the catastrophe of World War I, arising in the most fundamental sense from the contradiction between the global economy and the nation-state system, which each of the imperialist powers sought to resolve by establishing itself as the world power, there was at least a limited attempt to restore economic order.
German imperialism and the rising imperialist power in the East, Japan, sought to accommodate themselves to an international economic order increasingly dominated by rising US imperialism.
But that prospect collapsed with the Wall Street crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, exacerbated by US tariffs. Faced with the disintegration of world market—in many senses it had all but disappeared—each of the imperialist powers turned to war. Germany looked to the conquest of Russia, Japan to the conquest of China, and the US sought to reinforce its position by crushing the pretensions of its rivals. World War 2 was the outcome.
Today, the world is in the foothills of a new world war fuelled by the same underlying contradictions. But now, it could be said, they are on steroids compared to earlier times because of the ever-greater complexity and integration of the world economy.
In a historic crisis the ruling classes align themselves more openly with their most basic and fundamental interests. The democratic pretensions adopted in earlier times are scrapped, the masks they donned to try to fool the populace are ripped off, and their essence is nakedly revealed in the form of fascism, genocide, war and dictatorship against the working class.
The working class too must align itself with its fundamental interests. Above all, it must do so consciously in the fight for the program of world socialist revolution. This is not some far off or distant perspective. It is the only practical and viable program of the day and must become the central strategy guiding all the struggles now erupting.
World Socialist Web Site – December 4, 2024
South Korean president attempts to impose martial law
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday launched what was tantamount to a military coup. On national television at about 10.25 p.m., he announced a martial law decree, banning strikes, protests and all political activity and imposing blanket censorship. After facing immediate protests and opposition in the National Assembly, Yoon announced around 4:30 a.m. today that he would lift martial law and that troops dispatched to enforce the decree had been withdrawn.
Yoon justified his sweeping anti-democratic measures in the name of eradicating “pro-North Korean forces” and protecting “the constitutional order of freedom.” He declared that “we will protect and rebuild a liberal Republic of Korea, which is falling into the abyss of national ruin,” and accused the opposition Democratic Party (DP) of including “anti-state forces who are the main culprits of national ruin and who have committed heinous acts up until now.”
The immediate cause of Yoon’s move to impose military dictatorship is the political standoff between Yoon as president and the National Assembly, which, since the general election in April, is controlled by the DP and allies that hold 170 seats in the 300-seat body. Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP), which holds just 108 seats, nevertheless has ruling party status.
Political warfare has come to a head over the Democrats’ efforts to stall and cut back Yoon’s proposed budget. Yoon also denounced the opposition for carrying out impeachment proceedings against numerous figures in his government, including recently the head of the state audit agency and the chief prosecutor in Seoul.
Kim Yong-hyun, who was appointed defence minister on September 2, reportedly proposed martial law to Yoon. Kim has previously held high positions within the military, rising to the rank of three-star general in the army before retiring in 2017. He is close to Yoon, serving as an advisor in the past on military issues.
Under martial law, all political activities would be illegal, including the operation of the National Assembly, any work by political parties, and demonstrations. Strikes and other forms of workers’ protests would also be illegal. The media would be under the control of the martial law government.
Following Yoon’s declaration last night, thousands of protesters quickly gathered outside the National Assembly, many demanding Yoon’s arrest. Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) leader Yang Gyeong-su announced, “Starting with the KCTU central executive committee press conference at 8 a.m. on the 4th, we will go on an indefinite general strike until the Yoon Seok-yeol administration resigns.”
Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung called on parliamentarians to meet and vote to end martial law. The head of Yoon’s own party, Han Dong-hoon, publicly declared that the martial law decree was “wrong.” Under South Korea’s constitution, a majority vote in the National Assembly requires the president to lift martial law.
Parliamentary aides blockaded doors as military personnel smashed windows to gain entry to the National Assembly in an attempt to arrest Lee, Han, and National Assembly Speaker U Won-sik. If that had been successful, the situation today would be very different.
At 1:00 a.m., 190 lawmakers were present and unanimously voted to lift Yoon’s martial law, including 172 opposition legislators and 18 PPP members. Speaker U Won-sik declared martial law “null and void” and called on soldiers and police to leave the building. He declared shortly after that no military personnel remained in the building.
Yoon and the military were silent for more than three hours before announcing that martial law would be lifted and that troops had been withdrawn. The Democrats have now announced that if Yoon does not voluntarily resign, they will pursue his impeachment.
The political crisis that led to Yoon’s declaration of martial law is far from over. Dictatorship, which has a long history in South Korea, continues to loom large. The lengthy delay in responding to the parliamentary vote was not out of any consideration of constitutional niceties, but fears in ruling circles that Yoon’s precipitous actions would trigger an outpouring of popular opposition, particularly from the working class.
Workers and youth cannot rely on the Democrats and their trade union allies to prevent another coup attempt. The opposition party and the KCTU have demonstrated time and again that their overriding concern is not the social and democratic rights of working people, but the defence of South Korean capitalism. In power, the Democrats, no less than their rightwing rivals, have made deep inroads into the social position of the working class, aided and abetted by the KCTU, which has confined and sabotaged strikes and protests.
The resort to martial law was not simply the product of the individual psyche of the president, but stems from the crisis of South Korean and global capitalism. Around the world, rapidly deteriorating living standards, the staggering growth of social inequality and the plunge towards world war are fuelling strikes, mass protests and a political radicalization among workers and young people. Increasingly, in country after country, the ruling class is dispensing with the trappings of democracy and adopting extreme anti-democratic measures. The very advanced character of the crisis is expressed most clearly in the United States—the centre of world imperialism—where the fascist Donald Trump is about to be installed in power.
South Korea, the world’s 13th largest economy, is no exception. Indeed, there is a distinct echo of Trump’s lashing out at “the enemy within” in Yoon’s anti-communist diatribe used to justify his declaration of martial law. Real wages are falling as prices increase, making it harder and harder for workers to make ends meet and leading to acute social tensions. Yoon has backed and militarily aided the US-NATO war in Ukraine against Russia and is integrating South Korea into the accelerating US-led preparations for war against China.
As a result, Yoon is widely despised. His approval rating has fallen as low as 17 percent. One poll last month found that 58.3 percent of respondents wanted Yoon out of office. On November 30, approximately 100,000 demonstrators marched in Seoul to demand his resignation. The Democrats, the KCTU and various civic groups in the DP’s orbit all participated.
Since coming to office in May 2022, Yoon has regularly denounced his political opponents in vitriolic, anti-communist terms, accusing them of sympathizing or even taking orders from North Korea. During a major strike of truck drivers at the end of 2022, Yoon denounced the protracted stoppage for better wages and working conditions as “similar to the North Korean nuclear threat.”
This week, several unions affiliated with the KCTU planned to strike or hold protests, including of rail and subway workers. The unions involved represent approximately 70,000 workers. Workers belonging to the KCTU-affiliated Korean Railway Workers’ Union were set to strike on December 5, while Seoul subway workers were planning to walk off the job the following day. Non-regular education workers were also planning to stop work on December 6. Truck drivers belonging to Cargo Truckers Solidarity held a two-day strike on December 2-3. Workers at the National Pension Service and the Korea Gas Corporation also planned to strike this week.
In addition, auto parts workers at Hyundai Transys from the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) held a one month-long strike beginning in October. The KMWU, one of the most influential unions in the KCTU, came under huge pressure from big business and Yoon’s government after the strike led to the shutdown of lines at Hyundai Motors.
The South Korean ruling class is no stranger to trampling on the democratic rights of the working class. Martial law was last declared in 1979 following the assassination of military dictator Park Chung-hee. It was expanded the following year when Chun Doo-hwan carried out his own coup. The military subsequently conducted mass repression against protesters, most infamously in the city of Gwangju, where upwards of 2,000 people were massacred.
The declaration of martial law demonstrates that despite the so-called democratization that took place following mass protests in the 1980s and early 1990s, the South Korean state still rests on the anti-communist, dictatorial foundations established by US imperialism after World War II through its puppet Syngman Rhee regime, later strengthened under Park.
Yoon’s attempted coup is a serious warning to the South Korean and international working class. In the midst of worsening crises, autocratic methods of rule are the order of the day for the ruling classes around the world. The defence of democratic rights is completely bound up with the independent mobilization of the working class on a socialist perspective to put an end to the outmoded capitalist system that is the root cause of war, austerity and dictatorship.
