Washington, representing the dominant imperialist ruling class on the face of the earth, is in sharp competition--with the German and French imperialist powers especially--over access to markets and sources of raw materials around the world. In the imperialist system, who is on top, who is second, and who is third, fourth, and down the line, translates into hundreds of billions in profits gained or lost for the respective superwealthy ruling classes.

Washington uses its economic might and overwhelming military supremacy, including plans to set up an antiballistic nuclear missile weapons system, to maintain top-dog status. This competition and conflict between the imperialists has marked world history since the late 1800s, including two world wars and countless military, economic, and political battles.

With the German and French governments spearheading the attempt to forge a European Union and a common currency as a counterweight to U.S. imperialism in the world, the conflict has sharpened. Tensions continue on a weekly if not daily basis over:

• the place of NATO and a new European rapid-reaction military force;
• setting up a nuclear antiballistic missile weapons system;
• export and import quotas and other trade flare-ups;
• treaties and pacts such as the fake Kyoto climate control accords and germ warfare inspections;
• how to respond to the war in Yugoslavia that continues to sound on the European continent;
• what steps to take to try to bring capitalism back to Eastern Europe and the republics of the former Soviet Union;
• U.S. sanctions against Libya and Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;
• access and control of Mideast and Caspian-region oil and gas; and many other disputes.

One of Washington's advantages is that the European imperialist powers, despite their "union," remain separate nation-states with their own ruling classes that have conflicting interests. The U.S. imperialists seek support for their policies from each government as they can, and take advantage of the conflicts among the various ruling classes to advance their position as a leading European power.

With Russia greatly weakened and China unable to position itself as a strategic world military threat for some time, these conflicts between the imperialist powers now tend to be more out in the open and sharper. Whether it's a dispute between the rulers of Greece and Turkey over the continued occupation and division of Cyprus, or import duties Washington imposes on steel, the flare-ups have a potentially greater dynamic than before.

No one is in control of the pressure that erupts in these conflicts. Unilateral acts are taken in reaction to the perceived national interests of powerful capitalist classes that come into conflict with the national interests of competing capitalist classes. No one plans these clashes, and no one can ultimately prevent them.

At the same time that Washington exerts its dominance as the leading European military power, the U.S. rulers are putting pressure on the European imperialists to play a bigger role in providing funds in the form of aid, loans, and investments in an effort to open up the workers states in Russia and eastern Europe to greater capitalist investment and exploitation.

When the capitalist rulers seek to line us up behind "our" nation in these disputes, workers and farmers need to respond that the only "we" in the world is the working people of the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas. We have nothing in common with "them," the capitalist rulers who are the enemy of humanity both at home and abroad. Such a stance is a precondition to defending ourselves from the brutality and assaults the imperialist powers will more and more bring upon humanity as they try to salvage their outmoded and crisis-ridden system.  
 
 
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