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The new Russian imperialismAnonyme, Domingo, Octubre 28, 2007 - 16:04 We are reproducing below an article on Russian imperialism by our comrades of the Communist Worker’ Organisation. The CWO (British) is an affiliate of the International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party (IBRP). Some internationalist communists, Montréal ICM
After the Soviet Union The Revival of Russian Imperialism But what has most clearly marked his Presidency is the revival of Russian imperialism. It did not look as though this would happen in his early days. The US process of eating away at the former Soviet Empire seemed to be carrying on. 2000 saw the victory of the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine and the Rose revolution in Georgia, both inspired by Western intelligence agencies. Since then the two of them — under Yushenko (Ukraine) and Saakashvili (Georgia) — who have strong links to US “free market�? organisations, have taken their countries into the Western orbit. However, Putin has from the very beginning sought to re-establish the power of the former Tsarist and Stalinist empires. This was made clear when he provoked a new war in Chechenia (by first getting the secret service to plant bombs killing workers in Moscow flats which were unconvincingly blamed on Chechen “terrorists�?) and then virtually destroying Grozny. And after 9/11, when Western leaders began to attack human rights abuses in Chechenia, Putin responded that these were a necessary part of the war of the “war on terror�? against Islamic extremism. Nor did he take the West’s offensive in the Ukraine lying down and, using the weapon of gas delivery, he has mounted a counter-offensive by cutting off Ukrainian gas supplies until the payment was raised to world market levels (and not delivered at the old subsidised Soviet rate). Gas then became the chosen battleground of Russian imperialism everywhere. The Power of Gas In 2001 Putin appointed his close ally Alexei Miller, Chief Executive of Gazprom. This was the start of another Gazprom policy of harassing Western companies to change the agreements it had previously entered into at a time when Russia was in desperate need of capital. Shell was told that its pollution record was too bad to maintain its operations on Sakhalin. This seems a bit of a joke given the track record of the Russian state but eventually Shell capitulated and gave Gazprom a greater share of the operation in return for retaining its licence to operate. The same happened at Kovykta with BP and its subsidiary TNK. BP was allowed to carry on operating after selling Gazprom $3 billions worth of future supplies for around $700-900 million (see Financial Times, 23-4th June 2007). It was just one more step in the Kremlin’s takeover of the energy sector. And, with this new source of power, the Kremlin has sought to demonstrate its political power. In serious terms it has already begun the imperialist fight back by shifting some of its dollar holdings into euros last December, which immediately led to a further fall in the dollar. More significantly, it sent out a signal to other energy suppliers (such as the OPEC members) who also followed suit. As we have explained many times, this is a direct blow to the US since it is dependent on the holdings of dollars abroad in order for the money it prints to finance its twin deficits to avoid at the very least massive inflationary repercussions in the US. A Dangerous Game A similar situation has arisen over Kosovo where Russian opposition in support of their Slav Orthodox allies in Serbia has so far blocked the UN intention of declaring Kosovo independent. Putin has made it quite clear that it will do everything in its power to support Serbia and destabilise Kosovo, if this goes ahead without some deal with the Kosovo Serb minority. Putin has already made it clear that the new Russian imperialism is a dangerous enemy. He has suspended gas supplies and launched an “electronic blitzkrieg�? against Estonia after a monument to the Soviet dead of World War Two was removed in Tallinn on the orders of the Estonian Parliament. In this, and in so many other gestures, Putin is playing the nationalist card in order to ensure both a parliamentary victory for his supporters in the December Duma (parliament) elections and for his chosen successor in next year’s Presidential elections. Putin has a loyal following amongst youth through the quasi-fascist Nashi movement, and there is no doubt that his defence of the USSR’s record in the Second World War has increased his popularity. His re-installation of the old Stalinist anthem as the Russian national anthem is all part of the same ideological process. Soviet imperialism is to be admired because it made Russia respected. Now Putin aims to restore that position. The one certainty is that under a decaying capitalism system further imperialist rivalry and conflict are inevitable. Revolutionary Perspective 43 |
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