The war on our doorstep

When you live somewhere in the centre of Holland you will have heard them in the last few months. The warplanes high in the skies. You can’t see them, although with clear weather you see the white stripes. But you hear them all day and most of the night. By the sound of it they are American planes. In the past there were exercises, which lasted a few days. Then it was over. But the current bout of flying has been going on for months now, and it happens every day. We must conclude that something special is going on.

When we look at the situation in the world we can conclude that there are two issues which may explain the enormous amount of jet fuel which is being burned every day. First of all there is the civil war in Syria. But it seems unlikely that so much practice time is needed for the situation there. The West has already made it clear that it does not want to intervene directly in Syria, even though they hate the regime in Damascus. This statement does not mean they are sitting quietly observing the outcome. It is clear that they are supporting the rebels with weapons and other stuff. But until now they have not set up a no fly zone like they did in Libya.

By the way, the word no fly zone is not as innocently as it may seem. You would expect that it is no more than a few patrols to check that the nation involved does not put planes into the air. In fact a no fly zone means that the West, mostly the Americans, can bomb and shoot anything that moves, including civilians. But at this point we have not yet moved into that phase, and the reason seems to be that the Americans are going for the big prize; Iran.

Chances are that all the flying, which is shaking European skies, are the preparations for a wide scale attack on Iran. The first target would be the nuclear capability, but it is well known that Washington is also looking for a regime change. Such an attack would not only hit the nuclear industry in Iran, but also many civilians. Many people in the world are against such an attack, but that has not stopped the American imperialists before. Even in Israel, which wants an attack because it fears the Iranian bomb; many people have used Facebook to let the Iranian people know that they are against the bombing. But again, this and similar actions have not stopped the imperialists.

It seems that we are witnessing the preparations for a war no one wants, and the world fears. Because the consequences could be very wide ranging. Also here in Europe. We are certainly no friend of the mad clerics and green fascists which form the government in Teheran, but our point of view is that people’s must liberate themselves from dictatorial and fascist regimes. That goes for Iran as well as Syria. It is up to the people, not to the West or anybody else. The thinking in Washington seems to be that it can let Syria burn itself out. When Iran falls, it will drag Syria along. What all this means for the ordinary men, women and children in the street does not concern the generals. They don’t have to pick up the pieces of so many shattered lives.

We don’t want to see western interference anywhere in the Middle East or the rest of the world, for that matter. The influence of the imperialists is already far too great as it is. We don’t want to see a further increase. We are backing everyone who is trying to liberate himself. But this must be done from within, not from outside.

But when you open your window in the morning, or close it at night you can hear the planes and their message is clear; capitalism is war and conflict. Nothing more and nothing less.