Letters from Our Readers

Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor

15 Apr 2021

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This week the war in Afghanistan was on your minds. We share your letters for “Biden-Harris Look Ready to Keep U.S. In Afghanistan—Say No!”

In “Biden-Harris Look Ready to Keep U.S. In Afghanistan—Say No!” the Black Alliance for Peace calls for an international day of action against the Biden administration’s decision to keep US troops in Afghanistan past the withdrawal deadline the previous administration had agreed to.

Wallace Nixon writes:

“The president of the United States is not the commander-in-chief of the armed forces! Whether it’s the closing of Guantanamo or the withdrawing of troops from foreign wars the decision is made by the intelligence community and the Pentagon. All the talk about ending these wars is just for public consumption.”

Paul Billings writes:

“Great piece. As BAR readers are no doubt aware, US post-WWII global hegemony has rested on three interacting facets: 1) unrivaled military power, 2) control of world's energy reserves, and 3) maintaining the dollar as the world's reserve currency. All of the pillars supporting US power are now breaking down from decades of neo-liberal economic policies, spending vast sums of public money on the military and war and more recently, attainment of economic/military parity by China and Russia.

“American capitalism confronts the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression- plagued by excess capacity and slack demand, increasing bankruptcies, exploding deficits, stagnant wages and high unemployment, with millions of families facing eviction from their homes, food insecurity, loss of medical insurance and financial ruin. These problems have been compounded by spending astronomical amounts of taxpayer money bailing out Wall St, subsidizing the Pentagon and looming strategic debacles in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen. The Pentagon is incapable of extricating itself from these conflicts as doing so is an admission of failure and by extension military weakness. US economic decline has progressed to the point where the very survival of the American empire is contingent upon continuous debt monetization [i.e., money printing] to prop up Wall St. and insolvent banks, the Pentagon and war. Joe Biden and the ruling elite he represents, which includes corporate media, also known as ‘the ministry of propaganda,’ have no solution to the immense structural economic and social problems confronting American society and view the China- Russia-Iran axis as an unacceptable obstacle to US global hegemony. Unfortunately, it appears the Pentagon is preparing for a direct confrontation with this axis. It is difficult to see this ending well.”

Resisting the “woke” imperialism of this new administration will be a tall order. Only ideological clarity can equip the left with the strength to meet this challenge.

Jahan Choudhry is Comments Editor for Black Agenda Report. He is an organizer with the Saturday Free School based in Philadelphia, PA.

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