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The Militant (logo)
Vol. 80/No. 13 April 4, 2016
(front page)
Imperialists use Belgium terror attack to target workers’ rights
BY MAGGIE TROWE
From Washington to capitals across Europe, imperialist governments are
using the murderous attacks carried out by Islamic State terrorists in
Brussels March 22 to step up police deployments and target workers’ rights.
The reactionary jihadist group is acting from weakness, having lost
ground in Syria and Iraq.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for bombings at the airport and a
subway station in Brussels that killed more than 30 civilians. The
suicide attacks took place four days after the capture there of Salah
Abdeslam, believed to be the sole survivor of the Islamic
State-organized group of 10 who carried out terrorist attacks in Paris
Nov. 13 that killed 130 people.
The Belgian government imposed a lockdown in Brussels after the bombings
and shut down public transportation. Authorities closed the border
between France and Belgium, and heavily armed cops and troops are
patrolling airports and city centers from London to Amsterdam and Rome.
National Guard troops and local “anti-terrorism” cops were immediately
deployed at New York transit stations and airports, including with
sniffer dogs checking out commuters.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve declared the latest attack a
reminder of “the high threat level we face,” justifying stepped-up
police measures. In recent weeks trade unionists, immigrants and others
have protested the French government’s “state of emergency” — declared
in November and extended to May 26 — restricting the right to
demonstrate and allowing cops to carry out house searches and arrests
without a warrant.
Capitalist politicians who seek to scapegoat Muslims and immigrants have
seized the opportunity to increase their calls for closing borders and
turning away refugees across Europe, as well as in the United States.
More than 44,000 refugees are already trapped in crisis-wracked Greece
because neighboring Albania, Bulgaria and Macedonia have sealed the
borders.
EU-Turkey immigrant agreement
The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan just completed
an agreement with European Union officials for Ankara to receive
migrants turned back when they try to land on the Greek islands. In
return, the EU promised Turkey $6.7 billion in aid and renewed
consideration of its application for EU membership.
Another suicide bomber affiliated with Islamic State set off an
explosion in Istanbul, Turkey, March 19 that killed three Israelis and
an Iranian.
The monstrous attacks on civilians by Islamic State and the jihadists’
conduct in areas they control in Syria and Iraq, including beheading
prisoners and making sex slaves of captured Yazidi women, are abhorrent
to working people. This makes it easier for Washington and other
capitalist rulers to justify their actions in the Mideast.
Washington’s increased collaboration with the governments of Russia and
Iran to try to stabilize the Mideast in the interests of U.S.
imperialism has resulted in a reduction of hostilities in parts of
war-torn Syria, the expansion of areas controlled by the repressive
regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, gains by Kurds in
consolidating territory in northern Syria and a stepped-up military
effort to retake cities and territories controlled by Islamic State.
Washington is turning increased attention and resources to what the
Pentagon calls “the second phase in Iraq and Syria to degrade and
ultimately defeat” Islamic State — the fight to retake Mosul, a large
city in northern Iraq held by the brutal Islamists. The day after a U.S.
Marine was killed fighting Islamic State 45 miles southeast of Mosul,
the Pentagon assigned a detachment of Marines to join forces on the
ground from the Kurdish Regional Government there and troops sent by
Baghdad.
After carrying out a partial drawdown of Russia’s military presence in
Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin said March 17 that Moscow would
maintain air power to back up Assad and would continue to train and
financially support Syrian troops.
Russian bombing of Syrian opposition strongholds is down from 60-80
sorties a day to 20-30, Putin said. Moscow is aiding Damascus in efforts
to reclaim Palmyra and Raqqa, Syria, from Islamic State, causing heavy
civilian casualties, according to the anti-IS group Raqqa Is Being
Slaughtered Silently.
New alliances across Mideast
Meanwhile, the governments of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Israel — longtime
allies of Washington who see the U.S. partnership with Moscow and Tehran
as a threat — are seeking to form new blocs to defend their national
capitalist interests.
Relations between Ankara and Moscow have been tense since Turkish forces
shot down a Russian fighter jet that briefly entered Turkish airspace in
November. In retaliation, Putin limited Russian travel to Turkey and the
purchase of Turkish fruits and vegetables.
Ankara is strengthening ties with the Ukrainian government. It recently
extended a low-interest $50 million loan to Kiev and conducted joint
naval exercises in the Black Sea.
The Israeli government is increasing trade with Turkey and looking
toward relations with the Saudi government as “an ally rather than an
enemy,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN Jan. 22,
pointing to a shared interest in opposing greater Iranian control in the
region.
When a truce and transition is reached in Syria, “it is critical from
the Israeli standpoint that Syria does not emerge as an Iranian
satellite,” Dore Gold, Israeli foreign ministry director general, told
the Wall Street Journal.
Related articles:
Thousands in London: 'Stop Turkey's war on Kurds!'
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