The New Worker Editorial: United States Versus the World
The New Worker, Britain
SINCE HIS inauguration just a week ago Trump has been very busy. He has started to unravel Obamacare — the private insurance-based universal healthcare system introduced by Obama. He has withdrawn funding from all environmental issues and given the go-ahead for the oil pipeline at Standing Rock. Trump has withdrawn all funding for refuges for women fleeing domestic violence; he has also spoken about attacking Venezuela, Cuba and another attack on Iraq, and he has set in motion the preparations to build his promised wall between the US and Mexico.
But he has also withdrawn the Unites States from the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TTP). No doubt the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will follow — though that is already almost dead after Brexit and the withdrawal from the European Union.
He is dismantling the major financial tools through which US finance imperialism has been trying to control all trade and finance throughout the globe and to isolate its perceived economic rivals and opponents in Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa.
It is part of Trump’s “America First” policy — seeing these partnerships and agreements as tying the hands of the US and restricting its freedom, whereas in reality these deals were devised to lay open the whole globe to unfettered exploitation by the big banks and trans-national companies based in the US. It would appear that in his arrogance and ignorance he believes he can get better deals for the US by negotiating personally with each country in the world.
The magnates of Wall Street have been dealt a blow more damaging to their interests than any socialist government or movement could have hoped to achieve in the current circumstances and they must be wondering what they must do to get rid of Trump. But he has had the sense to protect himself from assassination by appointing extreme right-wing Catholic Mike Pence as his Vice President — if Trump dies he will be immediately replaced by someone even worse. Nevertheless they will be seeking a way.
Meanwhile peasants, low-paid workers and the governments of small independent nations around the world are feeling an unexpected relief.
Trump has said he is also considering withdrawing from NATO — the armed auxiliaries of US imperialism. Without the US it will probably collapse.
This does not necessarily mean that Trump’s rule will be peaceful — it just means that the US will no longer be able to use other countries’ troops to conquer the world on its behalf. It seems in military affairs, as in business, Trump believes that the US will be better off conducting its new wars all by itself. That will be logistically difficult if he intends to invade Cuba, Venezuela, Iraq, Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and China simultaneously — especially since the people of the US are vehemently opposed to the return of conscription since their fiasco in Vietnam.
Trump has certainly turned the US in on itself and a new civil war is looming ever more likely. Already New York and California are promising their citizens that they will not obey Trump’s worst dictates. Standing Rock could become a pivotal point.
The bizarre and contradictory behaviour of the President of the formerly most powerful country in the world has led the Chinese government to believe that US hegemony is in its final stages and suffering from dementia, and to politely suggest that it might be a good idea to save the planet if the People’s Republic were to take over the role of world leader.
SINCE HIS inauguration just a week ago Trump has been very busy. He has started to unravel Obamacare — the private insurance-based universal healthcare system introduced by Obama. He has withdrawn funding from all environmental issues and given the go-ahead for the oil pipeline at Standing Rock. Trump has withdrawn all funding for refuges for women fleeing domestic violence; he has also spoken about attacking Venezuela, Cuba and another attack on Iraq, and he has set in motion the preparations to build his promised wall between the US and Mexico.
But he has also withdrawn the Unites States from the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TTP). No doubt the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will follow — though that is already almost dead after Brexit and the withdrawal from the European Union.
He is dismantling the major financial tools through which US finance imperialism has been trying to control all trade and finance throughout the globe and to isolate its perceived economic rivals and opponents in Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa.
It is part of Trump’s “America First” policy — seeing these partnerships and agreements as tying the hands of the US and restricting its freedom, whereas in reality these deals were devised to lay open the whole globe to unfettered exploitation by the big banks and trans-national companies based in the US. It would appear that in his arrogance and ignorance he believes he can get better deals for the US by negotiating personally with each country in the world.
The magnates of Wall Street have been dealt a blow more damaging to their interests than any socialist government or movement could have hoped to achieve in the current circumstances and they must be wondering what they must do to get rid of Trump. But he has had the sense to protect himself from assassination by appointing extreme right-wing Catholic Mike Pence as his Vice President — if Trump dies he will be immediately replaced by someone even worse. Nevertheless they will be seeking a way.
Meanwhile peasants, low-paid workers and the governments of small independent nations around the world are feeling an unexpected relief.
Trump has said he is also considering withdrawing from NATO — the armed auxiliaries of US imperialism. Without the US it will probably collapse.
This does not necessarily mean that Trump’s rule will be peaceful — it just means that the US will no longer be able to use other countries’ troops to conquer the world on its behalf. It seems in military affairs, as in business, Trump believes that the US will be better off conducting its new wars all by itself. That will be logistically difficult if he intends to invade Cuba, Venezuela, Iraq, Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and China simultaneously — especially since the people of the US are vehemently opposed to the return of conscription since their fiasco in Vietnam.
Trump has certainly turned the US in on itself and a new civil war is looming ever more likely. Already New York and California are promising their citizens that they will not obey Trump’s worst dictates. Standing Rock could become a pivotal point.
The bizarre and contradictory behaviour of the President of the formerly most powerful country in the world has led the Chinese government to believe that US hegemony is in its final stages and suffering from dementia, and to politely suggest that it might be a good idea to save the planet if the People’s Republic were to take over the role of world leader.
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