4. A new “Cold War”?

War in the Middle East and Central Asia was always connected with imperialist strategic considerations for control of the gigantic oil and gas resources, pipelines and distribution network, and together with it, for control of the vast former Soviet space, Russia and China in the process of capitalist restoration. So, the setbacks that imperialism has suffered in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Lebanon, the emergence of Islamic Iran as an unavoidable power broker in these wars as well as its rise into the position of a regional hegemonic power, the revival of Russia's role and the restoration of its State apparatus under Putin have as a result the mounting of new rivalries and tensions between Russia and America leading some commentators to talk about a "new Cold War".

This superficial characterization ignores the historical nature of the Cold War systemic antagonism between imperialism and the Soviet Union in the particular international relationship of class forces after the end of World War II as well as the depth of the disintegration and fall of Stalinism. Putin's Bonapartism represents not a return to Soviet times and a rebirth of the Soviet Union; it is not a coming back to a distorted form of transition to Socialism but another road to Capitalism and of integration to the world market, following the impasse and collapse of the first stage of capitalist restoration under Yeltsin's "shock therapy" during Russia's default in August 1998. Putin's regime was obliged to partially re-nationalize the strategic sectors of the economy, particularly the energy sector, and revitalize some industries; it benefited enormously from the astronomic rise of the oil prices in the 2000-2006 period to create a Stabilization Fund to pay back the external debt of the country, pay the arrears for pensions and accumulate provisions for future financial shocks. The enormous growth of the State under the supervision of the former KGB, now FSB, is the product of the external pressures of international financial capital and the internal pressures from the disintegration of social economic life. But semi-state-ization of strategic sectors of the economy combined with blows to some oligarchs does not mean a return to the pre-1991 Soviet period, even if Soviet Stalinist forms of rule, including the all powerful secret services, are used for other purposes: to stabilize the economy and make it work on capitalist lines. No significant part of the Stabilization Fund was used to renew either the infrastructure or social services for the people; the main concern was to pay the world bankers and co-operate with the demanding global financial capitalist environment. To combine an economy of extraction of oil and raw materials with a strong link with international finance capital is not a road to Socialism, not even to national sovereignty as Putin pretends. Inequalities between the regions have grown and only the elite, particularly in the Central Region of the Federation around Moscow, has benefited from the economic recovery. Putin's authoritarian regime remains the enemy of the people to be fought and defeated by the masses. But this fight has nothing in common with the goals and conspiracies of the oligarchs or of the pro-capitalist liberals around Kasparov, Yavlinsky et al. The dividing line is not between pro-Putin and anti-Putin camps but the class line for or against capitalist restoration. The salvation of the workers' and popular masses from the devastation of capitalist restoration and from the transformation of the country into a semi-colony, source of raw materials for the West and subservient to international finance capital is in the road of organization and mobilization of the working class, the youth and all the oppressed to defeat the restorationist forces by revolutionary means on the basis of a genuine socialist program and an internationalist perspective. The future of Russia and all the former Soviet bloc countries (including China) will be settled in struggle in the international arena.

It is true that imperialism, particularly US imperialism is warring on the course of Russia, strengthened under Putin and with a re-affirmed role in world politics, in the Middle East, Europe, the Balkans; above all it is warring for the uncertainties of Russia's re-absorption into the world capitalist market. Imperialism is the enemy not of Putin but of the Russian people. This is the real target of the new ballistic missile system that the United States imperialism wants to install in Europe, in the Czech Republic and Poland. The aim is not to prevent an Iranian missile attack on London, New York or Washington but the re-colonization of the former Soviet space and world hegemony. The workers' and anti-war movements in Europe and internationally have to fight back against the installation of the new ballistic missile system, for the dismantlement of NATO and of all its military bases and facilities that threaten humanity once again with the specter of a nuclear holocaust.