The July bombings in London have brought the war in Iraq to the streets of Britain. They represent a moment in the savage struggle to control the oil resources of the Middle East. On the one hand the US demands that it controls these resources, on the other the local factions of the Arab capitalist class are demanding they control them and mounting their campaign of resistance. The savage and barbarous nature of the bombings, with their indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, has produced a sense of repulsion in Britain. However, these atrocities are a pale shadow of the crimes being carried out in Iraq. We do not say this to excuse the bombings in any way as the article in this edition makes clear. The killings by the US bourgeoisie and their UK accomplices are, however, simply on a different scale of magnitude. US imperialism has made it clear that it will not balk at any crime to get its hands on the oil resources of this region. It stands as a ferocious predator carrying our invasions and occupations to achieve its goals. Those who resist are drowned in an orgy of blood and death. The norms of war are ignored, those who fall into its hands are tortured in the most depraved and brutal way and civilians are murdered on such a scale that they do not even count the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dead. The US considers itself and its soldiers above all reach of international law. However, despite the inequality of the opposing forces, both sides pursue their goals in ways that can only be described as barbaric. Despite the smokescreens of democracy and freedom on the one side, and Islam and nationalism on the other, this struggle is one between two factions of the capitalist class and cannot in any way benefit the working class. The savagery of the struggle is an expression of problems within capitalist society at a deeper level. Ultimately it is the depth of capitalism's economic crisis which is behind this savagery.

US crisis

In previous decades, the US has been able to use its economic strength to achieve its goals. This economic strength has, however, suffered a relative decline as the economic crisis has progressed. US industry has become less competitive than its European and Japanese rivals and is now less competitive that that of China. The US economy has gone from a balance trade surplus, which existed throughout the period following the Second World War to the late '80's, to a deficit. It is now running massive budget and payments deficits and has become the largest debtor on the planet. It is expected that this year it will be paying out more in interests in its debts than it receives from its foreign investments. As its industrial strength has declined, it has tried to compensate by means of its financial institutions and by use of the dollar's position as the currency of world commodity trade. This has allowed it to drain value from the whole world into the US. However, the relative weakening has produced an increase in the use of its military to achieve economic advantages which it is now no longer able to secure economically, and to the disadvantage of its rivals. The securing of oil resources in the Middle East is part of this. The US now has its military forces based in more countries than were occupied by the Roman legions in the time of the Emperor Hadrian. While US rivals are fully aware of what is being done, they are too weak to oppose it directly, though they try to frustrate US schemes indirectly. It is now 60 years since the end of the Second World War and amidst all the celebrations and hymns of nationalism the sombre and appalling reality of the crimes committed cannot be hidden. The articles on Hiroshima, and History and Empire in this edition illustrate these and their motives. The events in Iraq and London show that the violence which is inherent in capitalist society is far from being a thing of the past. It is ever with us and likely to break out with renewed savagery worldwide. The present period is one in which the alliances for the next round of world war are being formed, and already the outlines of new blocs are becoming apparent.

Recent developments over Iran illustrate the way other powers, notably the Europeans are trying to frustrate the plans of the US. Iran was a key US ally until the overthrow of the Shah in 1979 and the rise of the theocratic state. The US has desperately tried to remove this regime ever since. Its efforts have proceeded from encouraging Iraq to invade, thereby starting a war which lasted eight years and killed at least two million people, to economic sanctions which it has tried to get Europe, Japan and China to enforce. The US interest in Iran is, of course, because of its 90bn barrel reserve of oil and its strategic position between the Arabian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. The US now occupies Iran and Afghanistan, countries on either side of Iran, and had found a pretext to attack in Iran's nuclear power programme. US plans were, however, frustrated by the Europeans who not only have large oil interests in the country, but also depend on its supplies. The Europeans started talks to resolve the issue peacefully forcing the US to hold back its plans of attack. A fresh crisis has now arisen with Iran rejecting the EU offer and restarting the processing of uranium. Once again the US has condemned Iran and threatened military action. Already Germany has warned the US against the use of force.

The US pretext for attacking Iran is even more flimsy than that for attacking Iraq. This, however, is not the issue which concerns us here. What concerns us is the predatory nature of the US's actions and the inexorable opposition to them, all of which find their roots in differing economic interests. These developments are heading in the direction of wider and more general conflicts between the major powers.

Class struggle

As we argued above, the motor of these developments is the economic crisis and because of the inherent contradictions in the capitalist system this crisis will intensify. This will in turn intensify the drift towards war. The only way this can be prevented is by overthrowing the capitalist system of production. Every other remedy is simply illusion. The article in this edition on the campaign "Make Poverty History" explains why this is so. The social force able to overthrow the capitalist system is the working class. It is for this reason that the only bright spot in an otherwise sombre panorama has been the strike by airport workers at Heathrow. This strike is discussed in an article below. The struggle of the working class fighting for its own interests remains the starting point for a wider struggle for a better world.