Venezuela, Ukraine, and North Korea: Targets of Failing American Imperialism

In every part of the globe, the world’s sovereign nations are feeling the wrath of a US imperialist system in decline.  US imperialism is losing its grip as the most dominant capitalist economy on the planet.  To reconcile its humiliation and maintain its waning economic dominance, US imperialism has resorted to building a vast military empire abroad to submerge independent states under its thumb.  From 1945 and through the GW Bush era’s call for a “New American Century”, the overthrow of democratically elected governments and overt acts of war either had to gain popular consensus in the US first or be done covertly by the CIA. Now, with the global capitalist economy in permanent crisis, the US and its allies are sponsoring so called “protest movements” and “opposition” groups to wage wars most Americans no longer support.
 Nowhere is this clearer than in Venezuela, North Korea, and Ukraine. As in Libya and Syria, Venezuela and Ukraine are struggling to defeat Washington-backed “opposition” groups looking to install US-friendly regimes. Venezuela’s democratically elected government was never forgiven for betraying the wishes of the neo-colonial oligarchy and completely reforming its electoral and economic basis to align with the interests of Venezuela’s poor majority.  The Bolivarian government has made important gains in the areas of poverty reduction, healthcare, literacy, and education.  But the corporate media and US political leaders are having us believe that “anti-government” protesters funded at 5 million per year by the US government itself somehow represent the interests of the Venezuelan majority.  Undoubtedly, the Venezuelan oligarchy and their sugar-daddys in Washington are bitter that their representatives lost over 70 percent of municipalities in the local elections and failed to become the ruling party in what Jimmy Carter called the most democratic Presidential election process in the world in 2012.

 In Ukraine, a fascist “protest” movement has been growing with armed support from NATO and the US.  These “protesters”, armed with heavy artillery and shwastika banners, are demanding the Ukrainian government open up relations with the EU and allow their economy to become a nest for finance capital. The Ukrainian government has defied the wishes of fascists and their Western allies by swearing allegiance to Russia. The US-NATO-EU alliance sees Ukraine as a possible NATO military base and an economic asset to mend the austerity and crisis ridden European capitalist order. Only a coup at this point can achieve these ends. The replacement of President Yanukovych with a EU friendly government would exacerbate economic woes and set back the hopes of Russia and its allies for a multi-polar economic and military global order.

 At the level of soft power, a new report emerged from the UN that used interview data from exiles residing in the West and South Korea. The report concluded that the leader of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un, should be referred to the International Criminal Court for “crimes against humanity.”  Hypocrisy stains this report from top to bottom. The US never ended its war against Korea, only signing an armistice in 1953 that kept the country divided between socialist DPRK and the neo-Colony South Korea.  The US has never been referred to any international body for its war crimes let alone for its horrific bombing campaign that left Korea in ruins and forced thousands into death or homelessness. Nor will the UN report admit that US-imposed sanctions on the DPRK beginning after the fall of the Soviet Union is a blatant act of war. The US, not the DPRK, uses “food as a weapon” on the people of North Korea by blocking its ability to receive needed resources abroad to increase its foodstuffs.  Lastly, The UN remains silent on the crimes of the South Korean government, which presides over masses of impoverished people and imprisons dissidents of its fascist regime. The UN and its ruler, the US, never criticize South Korea’s military operations, which violate of North Korea’s sovereignty. Indeed, the UN report was conducted for the sole purpose of justifying further US intervention against North Korea in pursuit of geopolitical dominance.

The reality is that the US imperialist system is in such a terrible economic state that it must rely on waging war in every corner of the globe to maintain its relevancy.  No longer is US imperialism able to conduct widespread bombing campaigns or overthrow democratically elected governments through the CIA with impunity.  In order to bypass Russia and China in the United Nations, US imperialism must resort to mass manipulation through the corporate media and a network of intelligence agencies, private military contractors, and allied nations in imperial organizations like NATO to train and fund so called “protest movements” and “opposition” groups.   Venezuela, Ukraine, and North Korea have fallen victim to media deception and mercenary terrorism sponsored by the Wall Street ruled US-Western alliance.  Anti-imperialists in the United States need to defend these countries right to sovereignty and organize resistance to US imperialism at home.  Furthermore, anti-imperialists residing in the US must explain to the people the connection between US imperialism abroad and the increased austerity, poverty, racism, and massive prison and police state at home.

Danny Haiphong is an activist and case manager in the Greater Boston area.