USA / Donald Trump government: Priority in serving the general interests of the capital

Article published on 'Rizospastis' Sunday Edition, 15 January 2017 / Translation: In Defense of Communism.

The priorities of the government of the newly-elected U.S. President, Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20th, do not differ from those of the outgoing President Barack Obama because- despite the existing differences in their declarations- their common denominator is to safeguard the general interests of the bourgeoisie. That doesn't negate a multilevel intra-bourgeois confrontation for the way through which this will be achieved more effectively, especially in a period when the inter-imperialist antagonism is exacerbated, with an estimated relative loss of U.S. leadership in the international capitalist economy and given the difficulties for a more impetuous capitalist recovery. More specifically Trump promotes a different mix of management with stronger elements of protectionism, an issue which however creates difficulties in international trade, which in turn displeases other parts of the (U.S) capital. 

Obama's Legacy of War and Imperialist Crimes

When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, he had been presented by various media as a "peace pigeon", as a man whose "humanitarian spirit" would- supposedly- give an end to the bloody imperialist wars waged by the Bush administration. However, the presidency of Barack Obama proved, once more, the undoubted fact that the U.S. foreign policy isn't based on persons, but on the interests of the plutocracy, the monopoly interests of the United States. 

In his farewell speech in Chicago yesterday, President Obama praised the "values" of the United States which, as he said, "become more powerful when democracy works" and "when ordinary people participate in this". During his presidency, Barack Obama proved what kind of "values" he represents- these "values" are very well known to the people in the Middle East, in northern Africa and Ukraine where his government was involved.

A brief account of- Nobel Prize winner-Obama's foreign policy record is the following:

OBAMA IN GREECE: Intensification of antipeople measures, deeper Greek involvement in NATO-EU imperialist plans

CONCLUSIONS OF A VISIT.

Comment on U.S. President Barack Obama's visit in Greece.

The bourgeois Greek media already celebrate the visit of Barack Obama in Greece, dedicating hymns to how- supposedly- valuable (for Greece) this visit was. The reality is different. The visit of Obama in Greece, during his last foreign trip as U.S. president, has two major conclusions: The first has to do about the continuation of the antipeople, antiworkers measures which the Greek government will continue imposing and the second is connected to Greece's deeper involvement in the dangerous US-NATO-EU warmongering plans in Eastern Mediterranean.

Massive rally against Obama's visit in Athens - People say a thunderous "NO" to US-NATO imperialist murderers

Under the slogans "Neither land nor water to the murderers of the people", "Get NATO out of the Aegean" and “The imperialists re-divide the world, they draw the borders with the blood of the peoples” thousands of people, workers, young men and women, participated in a massive rally in central Athens against the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama. The protesters condemn Obama's visit and the Greek government's participation in the Euroatlantic imperialist plans. 

Despotic and despicable decision by the SYRIZA government forbids demonstrations during Obama visit in Athens!

With a despicable decision which reminds authoritarian establishments, the Greek Police have banned demonstrations in Athens on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of security preparations for a visit to the Greek capital by outgoing US President Barack Obama. 

The despotic decision by the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government was slammed by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) which issued the following statement / Source: 902.gr, Translation: In Defense of Communism.

"With a despicable and despotic decision by the Police, the SYRIZA-ANEL government essentialy forbids any demonstration against the visit of the U.S. President Barack Obama, thus following the policy of the previous New Democracy-PASOK governments which SYRIZA, being in the opposition then, was denouncing.

"Neither land nor water to the murderers of the people"- Statement by the KKE about President Obama's visit in Greece

Regarding the upcoming visit of the U.S. President Barack Obama in Greece on Tuesday 15 November, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece issued the following statement.

Source: 902.gr, 

Translation: In Defense of Communism.

"Neither land nor water to the murderers of the people".

The KKE calls the working people, the youth, all Greek people to give a militant "welcome" to the outgoing President of the USA, Barack Obama, who visits our country in a period when the offensive plans of NATO-US-EU are intensified, with Greece's active participation and with huge dangers for the Greek and other people of the region. They (the people) must participate massively to the demonstrations organised by the EEDYE*, PAME and the other bodies of the popular-labour movement, of the youth.

OBAMA NOT WELCOME IN GREECE- Demonstration against the visit of US President to take place in Athens on November 15th

Peace, Workers, Students, Women's Associations and Unions against the visit of the U.S. President Barack Obama in Greece. 

Info from 'Rizospastis', 6/11/2016.

OBAMA IS NOT WELCOME - NO PARTICIPATIΟN OF GREECE IN THE IMPERIALIST PLANS AND WARS.

With the slogan "Obama is not welcome in Greece- No participation of Greece in the imperialist plans and wars" numerous unions and associations of the labour-peoples' movement in Greece call for a massive demonstration on Tuesday 15th November in Omonia square, Athens. Among the participants are the Greek Committtee for International Detente and Peace (EEDYE), workers' unions, associations of self-employed and women, students unions and others.

US President Obama to visit Greece: When SYRIZA's social democracy "worships" the Imperialists

The President of the United States of America Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Athens in mid November, according to a statement issued by the White House.

President Obama will meet with the President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on 15 November, with the refugee crisis and economic reforms being at the top of the agenda. This will be the fourth official visit of a US President to Greece. The first American President to visit was Dwight Eisenhower in December of 1959, the second George Bush in July of 1991 and the third was Bill Clinton in November of 1999. 

According to the official statement issued by the White House "The President on November 15 will arrive in Greece, where he will see President Pavlopoulos, meet with Prime Minister Tsipras, and reaffirm our support for ongoing efforts to place the Greek economy on a path to sustainability and renewed prosperity. In the birthplace of democracy, the President will also reaffirm the resilience of democratic values, which have done so much to deliver peace and prosperity to Europe and the wider world. Additionally, the President will make clear our appreciation for the remarkable generosity shown by the Greek Government and people to refugees and migrants".

Imperialist Murderers: U.S. and French airstrikes kill over 140 civilians in Manbij, Syria

NOTE: Yesterday, 22 July, at least nine people were killed after gunmen attacked a shopping mall in Munich. It was a horrific action of terrorism, a crime against innocent citizens- our thoughts and solidarity goes to the families of those who lost their lives and to the German people. The Imperialists, too, expressed their sympathy and condolences for the victims of Munich. Among them, the Presidents of the United States and France, Barack Obama and Francois Hollande. Hypocrites! Just a few hours earlier, the governments of US and France had committed a bloody massacre by killing over 140 civilians- among them numerous children- after extensive airstrikes in the town of Manbij in Syria. 

‘Bloody massacres’: Syria appeals to UN after French & US airstrikes ‘kill over 140 civilians’.  Source: Russia Today.

Syria is demanding the UN take action after it says French war planes killed more than 120 civilians during airstrikes on Tuesday near the Turkish-Syrian border. The deaths came just a day after US air assaults killed a further 20 people in Manbij.

It's not just Trump; It's Imperialism, stupid!

Special to the In Defense of Communism.

The enemies of Donald Trump have used numerous words in order to describe the multi-millionaire republican presidential candidate: "Bully", "arrogant", "racist", "misogynist", "intolerant", "narcissist" etc. Maybe Trump is, indeed, all the above. But the major issue isn't Trump's character or the way he presents himself in the media. The primary issue- the one that the working class in the US should be aware of- is the following: How the 'Trump phenomenon' was born and what feeds it? 

On that point it would be useful to clarify that the so-called 'Donald Trump phenomenon', independently of the result in November's presidential election, is not an unprecedented or incomprehensible phenomenon in the world's major imperialist power. The rise of Trump reflects the interests of a significant part of US capital which, especially in times of inter-imperialist contradictions, choose to promote specific personalities for the political leadership.

Fidel Castro on Obama's visit to Cuba: "We don’t need the empire to give us anything"

Fidel Castro: Brother Obama.

March 28, 2016.

Source: Granma.

The kings of Spain brought us the conquistadores and masters, whose footprints remained in the circular land grants assigned to those searching for gold in the sands of rivers, an abusive and shameful form of exploitation, traces of which can be noted from the air in many places around the country.

Tourism today, in large part, consists of viewing the delights of our landscapes and tasting exquisite delicacies from our seas, and is always shared with the private capital of large foreign corporations, whose earnings, if they don’t reach billions of dollars, are not worthy of any attention whatsoever.

Stop Lecturing Cuba and Lift the Blockade

Stop Lecturing Cuba and Lift the Blockade

By Marjorie Cohn.

Republished from mrzine.monthlyreview.org.

Surrounding President Barack Obama's historic visit to Cuba on March 20, there is speculation about whether he can pressure Cuba to improve its human rights.  But a comparison of Cuba's human rights record with that of the United States shows that the US should be taking lessons from Cuba.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights contains two different categories of human rights: civil and political rights on the one hand; and economic, social and cultural rights on the other.