Geopolitical Outlook

“It is characteristic of capitalism in general that the ownership of capital is separated from the application of capital to production, that money capital is separated from industrial or productive capital, and that the rentier who lives entirely on income obtained from money capital, is separated from the entrepreneur and from all who are directly concerned in the management of capital. Imperialism, or the domination of finance capital, is that highest stage of capitalism in which this separation reaches vast proportions. The supremacy of finance capital over all other forms of capital means the predominance of the rentier and of the financial oligarchy; it means that a small number of financially “powerful” states stand out among all the rest. The extent to which this process is going on may be judged from the statistics on emissions, i.e., the issue of all kinds of securities.”  —V.I. Lenin, 1916 (from Ch. III "Finance Capital and the Financial Oligarchy")  A glob...

Along with Nicaragua, the DPRK, and Jamahiriya Libya, one of the most unfairly maligned countries within Western 'left' circles in recent memory is Syria. Ranging from those who hail the U.S.-backed, foreign  jihadist terrorists as "moderate rebels"  -- to those celebrating the equally-reactionary and -sectarian YPG militias (also backed by the U.S.) in balkanizing and ethnically cleansing northeastern Syria in the hopes that they will fulfill the Anarchist wet dream of "beautiful utopian goals of democratic confederalism" -- it seems that Syria has indeed become a blank canvas upon which the Western left can project their fantasies. It is the new " Terra Nullius ," as author Maximilian Forte ( Slouching Towards Sirte: NATO's War on Libya and Africa ) describes. While sections of the Western left continue to make themselves useful idiots for U.S. imperialism, the legitimate Syrian government and the Syrian people inside of Syria are not ...

The Mosquito people -- who are utilized as proxy forces (a.k.a. Contras) by the United States in its destabilization and imperial subjugation efforts against Nicaragua and its Sandinista government -- only make up 4% of the population. As for the general population: almost the entire Nicaraguan [non-Mosquito] population is Indigenous, including Daniel Ortega himself and many of the Sandinista government officials -- who were dark-skinned and also had the popular support of the vast majority of Nicaraguans. This is quite the contrary to the lies and falsehoods put forth by Russell Means and Ward Churchill, who were rightly criticized by many AIM activists for their support of the Contras. Means and Churchill, both high-profile figures in the West and who were especially popular within Anarchist circles, as well as with the anti-Communist and anti-Soviet "left", called the Sandinistas "white supremacists" and dishonestly said that they stood against the Sandinista...

[Note: this is an excerpt taken from a section in an article I am currently in the process of writing and plan on getting published.] In the early 1900’s, Vladimir Lenin realized that capitalism had entered into its globalist phase and that the age of imperialism had begun; this means that capitalism must expand beyond national borders, and that there is an internal logic to Empire-building and imperialist wars of aggression. He theorized that imperialism -- a result of capital accumulation -- and the cycle of World Wars were the products of competing national capitals between the advanced nations. As he wrote in Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, World War I was about the competition between major imperialist powers -- such as the competing capitals of Great Britain and Germany -- over the control of and the split of plunder from colonies. And so, finance capital was the driving force behind the exploitation and colonization of the oppressed nations; these antagonisms...

Stephen Gowans is an independent writer and political analyst from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada whose main focus is on U.S. foreign policy. He is the author of the widely acclaimed book,  Washington’s Long War on Syria  (2017). His latest book is titled,  Patriots, Traitors, and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom  (2018). He also has a blog called  What’s Left  which can be found at gowans.wordpress.com. On June 15th, 2018, I had the privilege of speaking with him over the phone where we discussed imperialism and U.S. foreign policy, covering topics such as: Syria, North Korea, and the anti-war movement. Here is that interview. Janelle Velina:   A common theme that readers will find in both your books,  Washington’s Long War on Syria  and  Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom , is that you are using the past to shed light on the present — as you mentioned at the book launch for the ...