Opposition to US war preparations

Vanguard August 2013  p. 3

Bill F.

Across the Pacific region, there is growing opposition to the build-up of US military bases and war games exercises. National and international connections are coming together to forge a united campaign to roll back the threat of war. 

In Melbourne on 25 July, a public meeting’ organised by the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN), was held at the Victorian Trades Hall, to hear from two international guests active in the struggle against imperialist war.

Bruce Gagnon is co-founder and current co-ordinator of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, and a senior fellow of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute. He is a leading expert on the issue of weapons in space.

His talk featured the US military’s “pivot” to Asia, the militarisation of space and the environmental impact of military expansion.

This expansion of US military forces in the Pacific is designed to consolidate and increase the domination of US corporate interests over the wealth and resources of the Pacific region. 

It is not simply a reaction to China’s growing naval power, but is a proactive, offensive move to control the sea-lanes that China depends on for the resources it needs.

Furthermore, it boosts the profits of the military-industrial complex which feeds on war and the threat of war.

Because the costs of this expansion are so great at a time when the US government has a financial crisis as well as an economic one, the US is pressuring its ‘allies’ to contribute more and more. Hence, the US is establishing more bases and outposts across the Pacific, with much of the infrastructure costs carried by the hosts - Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, etc.

For quick offensive purposes, the US is pre-positioning military supplies and equipment, vehicles, planes and weapons in these so-called ‘lily-pad bases’. The troops can then fly in at short notice, as required.

There is a lot of pressure on these ‘allies’ of the US. The key words used are “inter-operability” and “modernisation”. The US wants its ‘allies’ to become dependent on US technology and their military forces integrated under US command.

US military technology is    increasingly shifting to space warfare, with more than 100 US military satellites spying on the whole world and directing intelligence to submarines, Aegis missile destroyers, planes and troops.

Pine Gap in central Australia is one of the major collection and transmission points for this intelligence - scooping up telephone calls, emails, economic data, as well as monitoring  government and military communications of other countries, including Australia.

Pine Gap has a major role in directing signals for drone attacks and missile interception. The US is geared to a ‘first strike’ capability and its so-called ‘missile defence’ system is really to counter any retaliation.

Victoria-Lola Leon Guerrero is a Chamorro, the people who are indigenous to Guam. She is a writer and award-winning investigative journalist who testified on behalf of her people to the UN Decolonisation Committee in 2006 and currently writes for local and US press and hosts a radio show in Guam.

She detailed the expansion of the US military bases on Guam, which already cover 30% of the island, and its effects on the 160,000 local people on the island.

Adding to the 3000 troops already in Guam, the US intends to transfer a further 8600 with 9000 dependents from Okinawa in Japan.

As a US territory (colony), the local people are not consulted about the takeover of their farmland, the dredging of the coral reefs or access to ancestral sites. With less farmland available, the population is even more dependent on the US for imported food, fuel and other traded goods.

US government officials also determine what infrastructure and services will be provided, and this is minimal.

Nevertheless, there is an active movement among the people for self-determination and political independence. This movement has delayed the time-tabled expansion of the bases, but it is still on the Pentagon’s agenda.

The local people are very mindful of the fact that Guam would be a prime target in any outbreak of war between the US and China. The same is true for the people of Okinawa in Japan and Jeju Island in Sth. Korea, where there are fierce battles against US military bases and virtual occupation.

The information provided by the two speakers accurately described the true nature of imperialism, even though that particular word was not mentioned.