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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:24.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Bush Dispatches US military Forces to
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Georgia</st1:place></st1:country-region><br>
</span></font></b><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>By Barry Grey<br>
<br>
14/04/08 "</span></b><a
href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/aug2008/bush-a14.shtml"><b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>WSW</span></b></a><b><span style='font-weight:bold'>"
-- - I</span></b>n a major escalation of the conflict with <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region> over <st1:country-region w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region>,
President George W. Bush on Wednesday announced a “vigorous and
ongoing” deployment of US military forces to its key ally in the <st1:place
w:st="on">Caucasus</st1:place>. Bush appeared in the White House Rose Garden
for the second time in three days, this time flanked by Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and announced the military
buildup, casting it as a humanitarian relief operation.<font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Even
as he spoke of a humanitarian mission, Bush made clear the military dimensions
of the measures he was announcing. He said he was directing Pentagon chief
Gates to lead the mission, which would be “headed by the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
military.” He announced that a C-17 military aircraft was already on its
way to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Georgia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and that “in the days ahead we will use US aircraft, as well as naval
forces, to deliver humanitarian and medical supplies.”</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>This
is a formula for an injection of US military and naval forces into <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Georgia</st1:place></st1:country-region> of
indeterminate scope and duration. It will certainly involve the presence of
hundreds if not thousands of uniformed <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> military personnel on the
ground, and a substantial number of warships in the region. The <st1:country-region
w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> is introducing this military force into a
situation that remains highly unstable and combustible, raising the possibility
of a direct military clash between the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United
States</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Bush
spoke less than a day after <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Georgia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
had agreed provisionally to a cease-fire in their five-day war. The agreement
had been brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, acting on behalf of the
European Union.</span></font><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Even
as Bush spoke, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region> were trading accusations of truce
violations, and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili was objecting to
provisions of the agreement which, he claimed, failed to prevent the
pro-Russian break-away republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from seceding
from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Georgia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In
his remarks, Bush issued an implicit threat against any attempt by <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region> to interfere with <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:State>’s
“humanitarian” operation. “We expect <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> to honor
its commitment,” he said, “to let in all forms of humanitarian
assistance. We expect <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
to ensure that all lines of communications and transport, including seaports,
airports, roads and airspace, remain open for the delivery of humanitarian
assistance and for civilian transit.”</span></font><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
<st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> will pour military
resources into <st1:country-region w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region> to
strengthen its hand against <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>,
and denounce any objections by <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City>
as an attack on humanitarian aid and a violation of the cease-fire agreement.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Within
minutes of Bush’s Rose Garden statement, Saakashvili spelled out its
essential meaning in a televised address from <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Tbilisi</st1:place></st1:City>. “You have heard the statement
by the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> president that the
<st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region> is starting a
military-humanitarian operation in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Georgia</st1:place></st1:country-region>,” he said. “It
means that Georgian ports and airports will be taken under the control of the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> defense
ministry...”</span></font><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>He
went on to call Bush’s “relief” mission a “turning
point,” and characterized its import as “definitely an American
military presence.”</span></font><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:
Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Bush
also announced that Rice would immediately travel to <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region>
to meet with Sarkozy and then go to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Georgia</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Employing the rhetoric of
the Cold War, he said Rice would meet with Saakashvili and “continue our
efforts to rally the free world in defense of a free <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Georgia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.”</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>He
further threatened <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
with diplomatic and political sanctions, suggesting it might be excluded from
the G-8 group of industrialized nations and prevented from joining the World
Trade Organization.</span></font><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:
Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><strong><b><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Hypocrisy</span></font></b></strong><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Bush’s
remarks were drenched with hypocrisy. He reiterated <st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State>’s
support for Georgian control of the disputed territories of South Ossetia and
Abkhazia, invoking once again the “sovereignty and territorial integrity
of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Georgia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.”
Neither he nor any other American spokesperson has explained why <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region>’s use of murderous violence
against South Ossetia in its indiscriminate shelling of the region’s
capital city was a legitimate defense of “territorial integrity,”
while <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Serbia</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
use of force against Kosovan secessionists was a war crime.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
<st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> seized on <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Serbia</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
moves against CIA-backed separatists in Kosovo to carry out a ten-week air war,
under the auspices of NATO, in 1999. While Washington decries Russia’s
“disproportionate” use of force against Georgian troops which
attacked South Ossetia and condemns Moscow for military action beyond the
borders of the breakaway republic, the US and NATO rained bombs and missiles on
virtually all parts of Serbia, demolishing bridges, water pumping stations,
electricity grids, government buildings, housing developments, schools and
hospitals in the capital city of Belgrade. The <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region>
and NATO killed far more civilians in its campaign to crush <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Serbia</st1:country-region>, a traditional ally of <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>, than have been killed by both sides in
the current fighting in the <st1:place w:st="on">Caucasus</st1:place>.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
<st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> has absolutely no
political or moral standing to denounce <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> or anyone else for deploying
military force. <st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State> asserts an
unlimited and unilateral right to mobilize its massive apparatus of military
violence wherever and whenever it wishes, spreading death and destruction from
the Persian Gulf to <st1:place w:st="on">Central Asia</st1:place> and
threatening even more bloody conflagrations.</span></font><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In
the current conflict, the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region>
government and media have cast <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
as the aggressor. There is no progressive content to <st1:City w:st="on">Moscow</st1:City>’s
actions in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Georgia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
They are motivated by the predatory aims of the Russian ruling elite, which is
intent on reasserting Russian control over territories on its border that it
dominated for centuries. However, the eruption of war in the Caucasus is the
outcome of a policy pursued by <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region>
imperialism since the breakup of the Soviet Union whose ultimate aim is the
reduction of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
to a semi-colonial status.</span></font><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>It
is inconceivable that <st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State> was not
intimately involved in the preparations for <st1:country-region w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region>’s
attack on <st1:place w:st="on">South Ossetia</st1:place>. <st1:country-region
w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> military advisers virtually run the military
of what <st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State> considers its key ally in
the Cacausus, a strategically critical bridgehead between the oil-rich <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Caspian</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Basin</st1:PlaceType>
and <st1:place w:st="on">Western Europe</st1:place>.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Just
one month ago Secretary of State Rice visited <st1:City w:st="on">Tbilisi</st1:City>
and reaffirmed <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> support
for <st1:country-region w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region>’s
admission to NATO, a development which <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> considers an intolerable
threat to its security. Rice’s visit was followed by a massive three-week
military training exercise, in which 1,000 US troops participated.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
incendiary measures announced by Bush on Wednesday represent the response of
American imperialism to the major setback it has suffered as a result of <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>’s military intervention in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Georgia</st1:place></st1:country-region>. There
is great concern within the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region>
ruling elite that <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>’s
routing of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region> will
undermine <st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State>’s drive to displace
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region> from <st1:City w:st="on">Moscow</st1:City>’s
former spheres of influence in Eastern Europe and <st1:place w:st="on">Central
Asia</st1:place> and establish American hegemony over the Eurasian land mass.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>US
policy makers worry that the example of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region>
will weaken <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> control over
right-wing client regimes it has established in a whole number of countries
that were either part of the Soviet Union, such as <st1:country-region w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Ukraine</st1:country-region>, or allied to
the <st1:place w:st="on">Soviet Union</st1:place> through the Warsaw Pact.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><strong><b><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>A pattern of
provocation</span></font></b></strong><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:
Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>From
the dissolution of the <st1:country-region w:st="on">USSR</st1:country-region>
in 1991 to the present, the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region>
has carried out a policy of militarily encircling <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>
and surrounding it with hostile states dependent upon and subservient to <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:State>.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>As
the <st1:country-region w:st="on">USSR</st1:country-region> was disintegrating,
the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region> launched
its first war against <st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region>,
a key ally of the Soviet Union in the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place>.
During the 1990s, the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> and
Western Europe sponsored the dismemberment of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Yugoslavia</st1:country-region>
in order to isolate and weaken the Russian ally <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Serbia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In
1998, the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> spearheaded the
incorporation into NATO, the US-dominated military alliance, of a whole number
of newly independent states that had been either part of the Soviet Union or
allied to it through the Warsaw Pact, including <st1:country-region w:st="on">Estonia</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Latvia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Poland</st1:country-region>, the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Czech</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Republic</st1:PlaceType>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Hungary</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bulgaria</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In
1999 the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> launched the air
war against <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Serbia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
At the same time, the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region>
organized the construction of a new pipeline to transport oil from the <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Caspian</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Basin</st1:PlaceType>,
via <st1:City w:st="on">Baku</st1:City>, through <st1:country-region w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region>
to the Mediterranean <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">port</st1:PlaceType>
of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Ceyhan</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>, bypassing
Russian territory.</span></font><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In
2002, the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> set up military
bases in the former Central Asian Soviet republics of <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Uzbekistan</st1:country-region> (since then closed at the insistence
of the Uzbek government) and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kyrgyzstan</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
At the end of 2003, the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region>
engineered the “Rose Revolution” that brought Saakashvili to power
in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Georgia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
In 2004, NATO admitted a new group of states formerly aligned with <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>—<st1:country-region w:st="on">Lithuania</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Romania</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Slovakia</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Slovenia</st1:place></st1:country-region>. One year later <st1:State
w:st="on">Washington</st1:State> orchestrated the “Orange
Revolution” that toppled a pro-Russian government in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ukraine</st1:place></st1:country-region> and
replaced it with a pro-American regime.</span></font><font face=Arial><span
style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
final chapter in this assault on the strategic position of <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region> was the recognition last February of
Kosova’s bid for independence from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Serbia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Until
now, the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has encountered no serious resistance. The events of the past week represent a
major shift. For the first time, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>,
flush with oil money and able to exploit the overextended state of the <st1:country-region
w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> military, with its massive commitments in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>, pushed back.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>This
has evoked an apoplectic response in the American ruling elite, which has no
intention of accepting a diminution of its influence in the regions formerly
dominated by the <st1:place w:st="on">Soviet Union</st1:place>. <st1:country-region
w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> imperialism will react by immensely
escalating its confrontation with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, no matter what the cost.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>There
is also a domestic component to the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region>
escalation of tensions with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
The Bush administration is consciously seeking to create an atmosphere of
international crisis in the run-up to the November presidential election. It
calculates that an election held in an environment of fear and insecurity will
boost the electoral chances of the Republican candidate John McCain.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>McCain
has based his campaign on his military background and his supposed foreign
policy experience. From early on, he has called for a more combative stance
toward <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>, and has
responded to the <st1:country-region w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region>
crisis by demanding <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
ejection from the G-8 and other punitive measures.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>Wall Street Journal </span></i>in an
editorial on Wednesday summed up the demand of sections of the ruling elite and
elements within the Bush administration for a major and permanent shift to
something like a new Cold War against <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>. The newspaper wrote:
“Reshaping US policy toward <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> will take longer than the
months between now and January 20, when a new president takes office. But Mr.
Bush can at least atone for his earlier misjudgments about Mr. Putin and steer
policy in a new direction that his successor would have to deal with.”</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>There
are, in fact, only relatively minor tactical differences between McCain and
Democratic candidate Barack Obama on <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region>
policy toward <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Both continue to demand the admission of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Ukraine</st1:country-region> into NATO, which
would put the US-led military alliance on the very doorstep of <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Had <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region> already been a member of NATO, the
alliance would have been legally bound to intervene militarily in its defense
following <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>’s
incursion into <st1:place w:st="on">South Ossetia</st1:place>.</span></font><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
trajectory of the imperialist drive to carve up the world, spearheaded by <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
imperialism’s mad drive for global hegemony, is ominously clear. The
American ruling elite will drag American workers and all of humanity into a
catastrophe unless it is stopped. The only social force capable of achieving
this is the international working class, united in the struggle to put an end
to capitalism, the source of imperialist war, on the basis of a revolutionary
socialist program.</span></font><font face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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