https://themilitant.com/2018/10/06/trump-pushes-us-rulers-interests-vs-rivals-at-un-general-assembly/
Trump pushes US rulers’ interests vs. rivals at UN General Assembly
By Terry Evans
Vol. 82/No. 38
October 15, 2018
President Donald Trump laid out his administration’s plans to defend the
interests worldwide of the U.S. ruling families in his Sept. 25 address
to the United Nations. He presented Washington’s efforts to push back
the Iranian rulers’ political and military expansion in the Middle East
and to battle for markets and influence in competition with the rising
capitalist class in China. His presentation drew the ire of the
“globalist” governments of France and others who seek to constrain
Washington within international bodies, and the derision of like-minded
liberal opponents at home.
Despite being its largest donor, the U.S. rulers have less use for the
U.N. today than when they emerged as the victor from the second
imperialist world war and founded it with their allies. In 1944 the
heads of state of the U.S., U.K. and USSR met, along with the Chiang
Kai-shek government of China, to devise a postwar structure that would
give preponderant influence to Washington and its allies.
Russian revolutionary leader V.I. Lenin described the U.N.’s
predecessor, the League of Nations, as a “den of thieves” to aid the
U.S. rulers and other imperialist powers in their drive for markets and
profits and to defend them from revolutionary challenge by working people.
The U.N. was never “neutral.” It was used by the U.S. rulers for decades
as cover for its predatory wars abroad. With the complicity of Joseph
Stalin, Washington got U.N. backing for its 1950-53 “police action” that
leveled most of Korea, killing hundreds of thousands. But they were
fought to a standstill, in U.S. imperialism’s first military defeat.
The slaughter inflicted on the Iraqi people by Washington and its allies
in 1991 was organized with U.N. backing.
Neither has the U.N. moderated violent clashes between the 193 rival
powers now under its jurisdiction, as its founders claimed it would.
These conflicts and wars are inherent to the imperialist system and
cannot be quelled by so-called “globalist” institutions. Under
capitalist rule there can never be a “united nations.” The weaker
imperialist competitors of Washington hoped the U.N. could be a way to
“regulate” their battles with Washington, but that’s impossible as well.
Washington sees the U.N. — like NATO and a number of other multilateral
alliances and institutions — as less useful in its efforts to reach
agreements and assert its power worldwide. While the U.S. rulers’
strength is declining, it is still the most powerful imperialist power.
Its European rivals are in crisis as their EU is coming apart under the
blows of member capitalist rulers’ clashing needs and interests.
Trump defended his decision to pull out of the U.N.-endorsed 2015 Iran
deal that European capitalist rivals claim to be “international law,”
and reimpose sanctions that will fall hardest on working people. The
capitalist government in Iran has refused talks with Washington, for the
time being. In addition to the squeeze on their economy, Iran’s
capitalist rulers face Israeli attacks against their efforts to
strengthen Hezbollah in Syria; protests by working people in southern
Iraq against the influence there of hated Tehran-backed militias; and
widespread working-class unrest across Iran.
In practice, profit-driven bosses among Washington’s rivals are winding
down their operations in Iran. They fear losing access to the huge U.S.
capitalist market and to a world financial system dominated by the U.S.
rulers.
The U.S. president castigated the capitalist-minded rulers in China, as
part of Washington’s determined efforts to contain their growing
competition. He defended Washington’s recent tariffs on Chinese firms,
saying he was defending “our companies” and “our workers.”
In reality his protection of the bosses always comes at the expense of
workers in both the U.S. and in China. Workers share common interests
that can only be advanced in struggle against the bosses and their
governments, not in collaboration with them. Gains made by U.S. bosses
just make them stronger, more determined to boost profits at the expense
of workers.
Washington steps away from U.N. bodies
Stirring the wrath of his European competitors, and of the liberal press
at home, Trump defended his administration’s decision to withdraw from
the U.N.’s Human Rights Council and reiterated Washington wouldn’t
recognize its International Criminal Court. The administration refuses
to nominate judges to the U.N.-backed World Trade Organization, blocking
it from functioning, including taking up recent U.S. tariffs.
French President Emmanuel Macron drew applause from the U.N.’s General
Assembly when he rebuked Trump’s comments. He claimed the president was
weakening the “international order,” on a course that could lead to
“global war.”
“Do not accept the erosion of multilateralism’” he exhorted. But the
utopian course Macron defends is simply what he sees as the only way to
defend French capitalists’ interests against Washington’s moves today.
The White House’s course is winning ruling-class support, as he uses
Washington’s economic weight and military superiority to force “deals”
on rivals worldwide.
At the same time, the unintended consequences of Washington’s moves in
Korea and elsewhere, seeking to tamp down the threat of military
explosions and advance denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, create
better conditions there, in Japan and Asia, and beyond, for working
people to organize and advance common struggles.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •North Carolina workers confront social disaster
•US, Russian rulers, Tehran and Tel Aviv vie in Mideast
•‘Working class needs to build a labor party’
•Join SWP door-to-door campaign to boost ‘Militant,’ books, party fund!
•Help fight Florida prison officials’ ongoing censorship of ‘Militant’
•Trump pushes US rulers’ interests vs. rivals at UN General Assembly
Feature Articles •Presumption of innocence is crucial right for working
class
Also In This Issue •NY: Cuba president calls for end to US gov’t embargo
•‘Anti-gentrification fight’ is pretext for attack on art, culture that
workers need
•Argentina: ‘Abortion must be legal, in the hospital!’
On the Picket Line •Uber drivers protest low pay, as bosses pit them vs.
taxi drivers
•Tomato cannery strike leaders win jobs back
Books of the Month •How Cuban workers and farmers took power in 1959
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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