Up
to 30 million people in 600
cities worldwide marched in opposition to U.S. war against Iraq
last weekend, six million in Europe, most of them in nations ruled
by governments that support Washington. Two million Spaniards -
five percent of the citizenry - took to the streets, the equivalent
of 15 million Americans in loud and public defiance of their government's
policies.
The
United States stands isolated and alone on the globe, a truth that
American corporate media exert Herculean efforts to obscure. Everywhere,
and according to every poll, the overwhelming preponderance of the
people of the world say No to George Bush's War. The next word on
six billion lips is, Why? Why is Washington intent on shredding
an international order that has served the United States so well
for more than half a century? What compels Bush to risk the wrath
of a billion Muslims, shred strategic alliances with Europe, and
so terrify the human species in general that cohabitation on the
same planet with the United States becomes dreadful to contemplate.
Could easy American access to oil be worth such a horrific price?
The
answer is: No. But keeping oil priced exclusively in dollars
is more than enough cause for war against the planet. As Dr. Sonja
Ebron writes in this issue's lead
commentary, "An OPEC switch from the dollar to the euro
would bring a quick and devastating dollar and Wall Street crash
that would make 1929 look like a $50 casino bet."
America's
coercive power in the world is based as much on the dollar's status
as the global reserve currency as on U.S. military muscle.
Everyone needs oil, and to pay for it, they must have dollars. To
secure dollars, they must sell their goods to the U.S., under terms
acceptable to the people who rule America. The dollar is way overpriced,
but it's the only world currency. Under the current dollars-only
arrangement, U.S. money is in effect backed by the oil reserves
of every other nation.
The
real "weapon of mass destruction" threatening American
domination of the globe is the euro, the shared currency of 12 European
nations centered on Germany and France. The economies and populations
of the euro countries are as large as that of the United States,
and more tightly bound to the Middle East.
Last
summer, an OPEC executive confirmed what the elites of the world
already suspect. "It is quite possible that as the bilateral
trade increases between the Middle East and the European Union,
it could be feasible to price oil in euros considering Europe is
the main economic partner of that region," said petroleum market
analyst Javad Yarjani, addressing a gathering of the European Union,
in Spain.
However,
crisis is the great accelerator of history. A leap to the euro is
just as likely as a gradual transition to multiple reserve currencies.
The Bush men refuse to accept either scenario.
The
euro-threat is the clear and looming danger propelling the Bush
pirates to war at this time - the answer to the global question,
Why Now? Switching oil price denomination from dollars to euros
is a political decision that can be taken by oil producers
at any time, in answer to any dispute with the United States, or
simply in their own national interest. The men who handle Bush are
determined to eliminate the possibility of OPEC action, by physically
seizing a substantial portion of the oil fields. Saddam Hussein
presents the pretext. This moment will not be allowed to pass.
Iraq
switched to euro payments for its oil several years ago, declaring
the dollar "enemy currency," Dr. Ebron reports. "Iraq's
move to the euro - and Iran's expected move - are placing tremendous
pressure on OPEC countries and other oil producers to drop our dollar
as the main transaction currency for oil."
North
Korea, the third point in the "axis of evil," has also
been attempting to trade in euros.
Many
aspects of the current crisis become clearer through an understanding
of the oil-currency question. The lion is roaring. He is also terribly
afraid.
Who
Owns The Streets? THEY DO!
"Democracy
is a beautiful thing," said George Bush, wearing one of his
dwindling number of faces as he fielded questions about the massive
protests in New York and San Francisco. "People are allowed
to express their opinion, and I welcome people's right to say what
they believe."
Bush
apparently didn't relay these sentiments to Attorney General Ashcroft,
whose Justice Department filed a federal
court brief backing New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's order,
barring nearly half a million protestors from marching to the United
Nations building. The attempt to contain the crowd in one location
resulted in many tens of thousands of demonstrators being locked
out of the rally, spawning a number of unintended marches
on the periphery.
Among
the multitude of wanderers was writer/activist Adam Engel, who witnessed
police physically abuse a couple attempting to enter the rally area
pushing their baby in a carriage. Hundreds of onlookers booed, but
failed to intervene. Engel wrote about the incident in Monday's
Counterpunch:
Never
again will I nod my head in assent when someone brings up that
old, "how can only three guards with machine guns hold back
three thousand prisoners in Auschwitz?" Same way five or
six cops with Glock 9mms on each street kept away thousands of
protesters in NYC, Saturday, February 15, 2003.
"I
don't blame people for wanting to walk their own streets,"
a man said.
"It's
just one long line," a cop answered.
"To
where?" I asked.
The
cop, smirking, shrugged.
Every
street from 42nd to 72nd connecting Third to First was closed
by 5 or 6 cops with guns. "We own the streets," all
the nice people cried. No you don't, THEY do, I said, to myself.
If you owned the streets, you'd be on them.
Yes
to affirmative action
We
seem to be living in an age of superlatives. For every moral deficit
inflicted by Bush, an opposite and positive social outpouring appears.
A record-setting number of friend-of-the-court briefs were filed
with the U.S. Supreme Court, on Tuesday, in defense of the University
of Michigan's affirmative action plan. The Los
Angeles Times reported: "At least 63 corporations, more
than 100 universities, retired military leaders, labor unions, civil
rights and religious groups and nearly 14,000 law students signed
briefs that endorsed the continued use of race-based affirmative
action."
The
extraordinarily broad and deep institutional response demonstrates
that, while the raw racist appeal of the White Man's Party continues
to mobilize huge numbers of white voters, American elites recognize
that social stability depends upon maintaining at least a modicum
of Black upward mobility.
The
U.S. military, having acclimated to integration at least a decade
before most of corporate America, finds itself at odds with Commander-in-Chief
Bush. "We have an enormously compelling interest in admitting
a reasonably diverse class," said retired West Point superintendent
Lt. Gen. Daniel Christman. "I've been in an Army that was de
facto segregated. In Vietnam, we had a very high percentage of minority
troops and a very small number of minority officers. And huge problems
ensued. The academy is far, far better today for having a reasonably
diverse student body."
The
High Court hears arguments on the case in April, and will rule in
late June.
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