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<TH VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="CENTER" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"><B> Year 2003 No. 68, July
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<P ALIGN="LEFT"><A NAME="Index"></A></P>
<H1 ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Reckless Nuclear Pollution by British
Government</FONT></H1>
<DIV>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><B><FONT SIZE="+1"><I>Workers' Daily Internet Edition</I>:
Article Index : </FONT></B> </P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><B>Reckless Nuclear Pollution by British Government</B><BR>
<A HREF="#lead"><B>Sellafield Radioactive Pollution 100 Times Higher than
Thought</B></A><BR>
<A HREF="#pressure"><B>Britain Pressured over Radioactive
Discharges</B></A><BR>
<A HREF="#how"><B>How Britain Reneged on Sellafield Discharge
Pledge</B></A><BR>
<A HREF="#irish"><B>Irish Government Anger over Suspension of Sellafield Court
Case</B></A></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><A HREF="#korea"><B>Statement of Solidarity with Democratic
People&#146;s Republic of Korea</B></A></P>
<P ALIGN="LEFT"><A HREF="#brazil"><B>Intervention of the Communist Party of
Brazil (PCdoB) in the Meeting of the Communists and Workers Parties</B></A></P>
</DIV>
<P ALIGN="CENTER"><B>Daily On Line Newspaper of the <BR>
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<HR>
<P><!--Insert Book Mark Ctrl G--><A NAME="lead"></A></P>
<H2 ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT COLOR="#FF0000">Reckless Nuclear Pollution by British
Government</FONT></H2>
<DIV ALIGN="JUSTIFY">
<!--Article-->
<H2 ALIGN="CENTER">Sellafield Radioactive Pollution 100 Times Higher than
Thought</H2>
<P><B>The pollution of the Solway Firth by plutonium from the Sellafield
nuclear complex is 100 times higher than previously thought &#150; and it could
be moving northwards, it was reported on June 29 in an article by Michael
Russell in the Scottish <I>Sunday Herald</I>.</B></P>
<P> A new study, to be published by University College Dublin, will reveal
levels of plutonium in the sediment under the sea far in excess of those
highlighted by the government's green watchdog, the Scottish Environment
Protection Agency (Sepa).</P>
<P> The researchers also discovered that, instead of staying trapped in the
sediment, the plutonium was breaking loose and being carried north by currents.
&quot;What we found was in keeping with a high level of remobilisation,&quot;
the study's main author, Julie Lucey, told the <I>Sunday Herald</I>.</P>
<P> Plutonium is one of the most toxic metals known, and even the tiniest
amounts inside the body can increase the risk of cancer. Julie Lucey said that,
along with another toxic radioactive isotope, americium-241, it can be kicked
up by storms, trawlers and even minute changes in the acidity of seawater.</P>
<P> This challenges the official view, long held by Sellafield's state-owned
operators, British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), that heavy particles of plutonium sink
to the bottom of the Irish Sea and are not disturbed. It means that the quarter
of a tonne of plutonium dumped in the sea by Sellafield over the past 50 years
will carry on contaminating the Scottish coast for many years to come.</P>
<P> The study was commissioned by the Scottish and Northern Ireland Forum for
Environmental Research, of which Sepa and the Scottish Executive are members.
It was supervised by former NATO consultant, Professor Peter Mitchell, and is
due to be published within weeks.</P>
<P> Julie Lucey and her team collected samples of sediment on a research cruise
around the firths of Solway and Esk last summer. When analysed, they turned out
to be contaminated by up to 15,000 becquerels of radioactivity per kilogram
from plutonium and americium-241. This compares with levels of plutonium
recorded by Sepa in 2001 as part of the annual Radioactivity in Food and the
Environment report showing levels of only 100-150 becquerels per kilogram in
the Solway Firth.</P>
<P> Nuclear engineering consultant, John Large, who was in charge of hazard
assessment during the recovery of Russia's Kursk nuclear submarine, said the
study's findings were &quot;staggering&quot;. He dismissed Sepa's assertion
that radiation levels are higher deeper in the sediment. &quot;Sampling from
the surface is dodgy because there are always day-to-day changes due to tidal
currents,&quot; he said. &quot;This study suggests that plutonium is much more
mobile that hitherto thought. It is an enormous finding and would suggest that
the previous assessment carried out by the Department for the Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs is totally wrong.&quot; John Large also urged Sepa to extend
its monitoring programme to more northerly waters to determine how far the
pollution had spread. Julie Lucey, from University College, said it was
&quot;very likely&quot; that similar findings would emerge if samples were
taken in the Minch, between the Isle of Lewis and the mainland.</P>
<P> The University College study is entitled <I>Solid speciation and
remobilisation of caesium, americium and plutonium in the northern Irish Sea
and south west coast of Scotland</I>. Levels of caesium, and radioactive
technetium-99, were lower than expected. But technetium-99, a by-product of
reprocessing spent nuclear fuel at Sellafield, is known to reach its highest
levels in bladderwrack seaweed and lobsters, neither of which were sampled.
Recently technetium-99 was also discovered at low levels in farmed Scottish
salmon on sale in supermarkets.</P>
</DIV>
<P><A HREF="#Index"><B>Article Index</B></A></P>
<BR>
<BR>
<P><!--Insert Book Mark Ctrl G--><A NAME="pressure"></A></P>
<H2 ALIGN="CENTER">Britain Pressured over Radioactive Discharges</H2>
<DIV ALIGN="JUSTIFY">
<!--Article-->
<P>Despite opposition by the British government to head off criticism at an
OSPAR meeting in Bremen, Germany, on June 26, Britain was forced to accept the
concerns of member states over radioactive discharges from the nuclear
reprocessing plant at Sellafield. The dispute at OSPAR resulted from
Britain&#146;s failure to meet its commitments over the past five years to
reduce radioactive discharges. The OSPAR Convention (Convention for the
Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic) deals with
marine pollution of the North East Atlantic and North Sea. Member states are:
Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom
and the European Commission.</P>
<P> Five years ago in Portugal OSPAR Ministers agreed to &quot;work towards
achieving further substantial reductions of discharges, by the year 2000&quot;
and to &quot;progressive and substantial reductions in radioactive discharges
to achieve by the year 2020 close to zero concentrations in the marine
environment above historic levels&quot;. The discharges from Sellafield have
increased since 1998 and are set to double in the coming years.</P>
<P> The discharge of the radioactive waste technetium-99 (Tc-99) was, in
particular, the subject of intense negotiation at the meeting. In the last
week, after six months of prevarication, British Environment Minister Margaret
Beckett was pressured into writing to the state-owned company BNFL to ask them
for a nine-month moratorium on Tc-99 discharges. It is expected that research
and development will take place over these months to see if technology is
feasible to stop the discharges by March 2004.</P>
<P> &quot;This decision may come back to haunt the UK&quot;, said Greenpeace's
Simon Reddy at OSPAR. &quot;The UK Government will be dreading March 2004. They
either have to ensure the technology is in place or announce a resumption of
the radioactive technetium discharges.&quot;</P>
<P> Britain only moved on this issue because a coalition of countries (Norway,
Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, The Netherlands and Sweden) refused to allow Britain
to go unchallenged. &quot;The lack of progress in reducing discharges, due to
the intransigence of the UK and, to a lesser extent, France, meant that this
OSPAR meeting was not able to celebrate significant reduction in radioactive
discharges to European waters,&quot; Reddy concluded.</P>
<P> At a meeting last month between the then environment minister, Michael
Meacher, and his Norwegian counterpart, Borge Brende, the Norwegians had been
told that discharges would not be halted. The new proposal reflects mounting
embarrassment about Britain's isolation over Sellafield. The Irish government
is already suing Britain over the plant's radioactive discharges. Norway and
Ireland point out that the radioactivity accumulates in fish and lobster,
threatening their fishing industries and the health of consumers. They are
worried about the environmental consequences of the BNFL's plans to release
2000 cubic metres of Tc-99 into the sea between now and 2007. But the
Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs warned that BNFL and
Nirex, the government's radioactive waste disposal agency, still had to find a
way to solidify the waste for long term storage. Greenpeace and the Nuclear
Free Local Authorities group denounced the offer because Britain would continue
pumping other radioactive wastes &#150; breaching a promise in 1998 to stop
doing so. &quot;This is a cynical attempt by the UK to distract attention from
their failure to do anything for the last five years on overall discharges of
radioactivity. In fact, it's going up,&quot; said Pete Roche, a Greenpeace
spokesman.</P>
</DIV>
<P><A HREF="#Index"><B> Article Index</B></A></P>
<BR>
<BR>
<P><!--Insert Book Mark Ctrl G--><A NAME="how"></A></P>
<H2 ALIGN="CENTER">How Britain Reneged on Sellafield Discharge Pledge</H2>
<DIV ALIGN="JUSTIFY">
<!--Article-->
<P>Pete Roche, anti-nuclear campaigner with Greenpeace UK, writes in the
<I>Irish Times</I> on May 19, that in 1998, when Joe Jacob, then Minister of
State at the Department of Public Enterprise, attended the last ministerial
meeting of the OSPAR Convention in Sintra, Portugal, radioactive pollution of
the north-east Atlantic was high on the agenda.</P>
<P> Britain&#146;s Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant was seen as the main
culprit. The outcome of the meeting was hailed a success, and Britain&#146;s
Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, famously declared: &quot;I was ashamed of
Britain's record in the past but now we have shed the tag of the Dirty Man of
Europe and have joined the family of nations.&quot;</P>
<P> However, Britain is in danger of acquiring the tag &quot;Dishonest Man of
Europe&quot;, writes Pete Roche, because of its attempts to claim progress when
it has done nothing in five years to deal with the problem.</P>
<P> At Sintra, Britain committed itself to &quot;progressive and substantial
reductions of discharges, emissions and losses of radioactive substances&quot;.
It was supposed to work towards further substantial reductions by the year
2000, and ultimately &quot;close to zero&quot; concentrations in the marine
environment by 2020. Progress was to be reviewed after five years.</P>
<P> However, there is no progress to review, according to Pete Roche. In five
years OSPAR has:</P>
<P>Failed to agree a &quot;baseline&quot; from which to measure whether
reductions in radioactive discharges have actually taken place;<BR>
Failed to come up with a definition of exactly what &quot;close to zero&quot;
means; failed to review the national plans on discharges presented by each
member-state, which are supposed to be the core of the programme to meet the
objectives;<BR>
Simply deleted the commitment to work towards substantial reductions or
eliminations of discharges by 2000.</P>
<P> And all the time, discharges from Sellafield have been going up and are set
to increase further over the next few years &#150; 1998, 95.67 TBq; 1999,
123.12 TBq; 2000, 84.28 TBq; 2001, 136.61 TBq; 2002, 146.26 TBq.</P>
<P> Under the UK Strategy for Radioactive Discharges 2001-2020, discharges are
likely to increase considerably over the next few years.</P>
<P> Britain and France (the only member-states with nuclear waste reprocessing
plants) have actively been obstructing OSPAR's progress on radioactive
discharges to ensure business as usual for nuclear reprocessing.</P>
<P> It has been clear from the outset from Britain&#146;s national plan that
the large increases planned in throughput for Sellafield's reprocessing plants
will cause radioactive discharges to go up.</P>
<P> Discharge of Tc-99 will remain higher than in 1998 until it falls in 2006.
Even then, overall discharge levels could remain higher than 1998 levels until
2014. The UK Strategy also allows Sellafield's newest reprocessing plant,
THORP, to remain open until 2024, which means that Britain cannot possibly
achieve &quot;close to zero&quot; concentrations in the environment by 2020,
Pete Roche concludes.</P>
</DIV>
<P><A HREF="#Index"><B> Article Index</B></A></P>
<BR>
<BR>
<P><!--Insert Book Mark Ctrl G--><A NAME="irish"></A></P>
<H2 ALIGN="CENTER">Irish Government Anger over Suspension of Sellafield Court
Case</H2>
<DIV ALIGN="JUSTIFY">
<!--Article-->
<P>A UN tribunal in The Hague has cut short a legal challenge by the Irish
government to shut down Sellafield. This followed a major legal dispute over
jurisdiction. The tribunal adjourned proceedings in early June until the end of
the year to see if the European Court of Justice is instead the proper court to
hear the action. The unexpected move followed four days of opening submissions
by the Irish side, led by Attorney-General Rory Bray, who outlined fears over
the radioactive discharges into the Irish Sea, lack of any proper environmental
assessment of Sellafield's MOX plant, and terrorist attacks on shipments. The
Irish Environment Minister Martin Cullen expressed disappointment at the
decision on June 15, and said that he would continue to press for an end to
&quot;outrageous&quot; radioactive pollution of the marine environment from
Sellafield discharges, irrespective of the final outcome of court challenges.
In his decision to suspend the case until December, the UN tribunal's president
said there was &quot;a serious difficulty&quot; about the extent to which the
points of law at issue fell within EU competence.</P>
<P> Just three days before Britain was due to open its case, the Permanent
Court of Arbitration suspended hearings to await clarification from the EU on
who had jurisdiction. The EU has been opposed to Ireland's legal action at UN
tribunal level, believing it should adjudicate on the dispute. The sudden move
followed appeals by the British government&#146;s legal team to have the case
thrown out on the grounds that the tribunal had no jurisdiction, and it was
exclusively a matter for the EU. But the Irish team won an adjournment.
According to the <I>Irish Independent</I>, the Irish Environment Minister
launched a blistering attack on the British for allowing Sellafield pollution
to continue to contaminate Ireland's marine environment, and warned that the
Irish government would step up its fight, irrespective of the case's outcome.
Martin Cullen declared: &quot;There is no moral, environmental or economic
justification for discharges into the Irish Sea.&quot;</P>
<P> He said that he would be meeting the Norwegian government at its invitation
and that he planned to raise the Sellafield pollution at every possible forum.
Defending the separate decision to vote against the EU's environmental
liability directive, Martin Cullen said that while many of its measures were
very worthwhile, it excluded nuclear discharges to the sea.</P>
</DIV>
<P><A HREF="#Index"><B> Article Index</B></A></P>
<BR>
<BR>
<P><!--Insert Book Mark Ctrl G--><A NAME="korea"></A></P>
<H2 ALIGN="CENTER">Statement of Solidarity with Democratic People&#146;s
Republic of Korea</H2>
<DIV ALIGN="JUSTIFY">
<!--Article-->
<P>The following participants at this meeting of Communist and Workers Parties
in Athens June 2003 express their solidarity with the government, party, people
of the Democratic People s Republic of Korea, which are faced with imperialist
threats and aggressiveness.</P>
<P> Tension is rising on the Korean peninsular creating an imminent danger to
peace in the region. This is due to the aggressive designs and provocative
actions of US imperialism that has divided the country since 1945.</P>
<P> We condemn imperialism s recent actions intended to sabotage the dialogue
and reunification process between the DPRK and the south Korean authorities.
</P>
<P> We note with growing concern the threats of US imperialism against other
countries, which are deepening imperialism&#146;s new world order.</P>
<P> We reaffirm our commitment to fight alongside the global peace movement
against all imperialist aggression and in support of independence, sovereignty
and the right of any state to defend its way of life and social system.</P>
<P> Athens, 20th June 2003</P>
<P> The Parties:</P>
<P> Communist Party of Albania, Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism,
Communist Party of Armenia, Communist Party of Australia, Democratic
Progressive Tribune Bahrein, Workers Party of Belgium, Communist Party of
Brazil, Communist Party of Britain, New Communist Party of Britain, Bulgarian
Communist Party &#171;Georgi Dimitrov&#187;, Communist Party of Canada,
Colombian Communist Party, Communist Party of Cuba, Communist Party of Bohemia
Moravia, Communist Party in Denmark, Communist Party of Denmark, Communist
Party of Egypt, Communist Party of Greece, Hungarian Workers Party, Communist
Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Tudeh Party of Iran,
Communist Party of Israel, Workers Party of Korea, Socialist Party of Latvia,
Lebanese Communist Party, Popular Socialist Party of Mexico, Party of the
Communists of Mexico, New Communist Party of the Netherlands, Communist Party
of Norway, Romanian Communist Party, Union of Communist Parties-CPSU, Communist
Party of Russian Federation, Communist Workers Party of Russia - Party of
Communists of Russia (RKRP-RPC), Communist Party of Slovakia, Communist Party
of Peoples of Spain, Sudanese Communist Party, Communist Party of Sweden,
Syrian Communist Party, Syrian Communist Party, Communist Party of Turkey,
Communist Party of Ukraine, Union of Communists of Ukraine, Communist Party,
USA, Communist Party of Vietnam, New Communist Party of Yugoslavia</P>
</DIV>
<P><A HREF="#Index"><B> Article Index</B></A></P>
<BR>
<BR>
<P><!--Insert Book Mark Ctrl G--><A NAME="brazil"></A></P>
<H2 ALIGN="CENTER">Intervention of the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) in the
Meeting of the Communists and Workers Parties</H2>
<DIV ALIGN="JUSTIFY">
<!--Article-->
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Athens, June 19-20, 2003</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Jos&eacute; Reinaldo Carvalho</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Vice-president, responsible for International Relations</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"></P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Dear Comrades,</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The Communist Party of Brazil greets all the present
delegations and especially the Central Committee of the Communist Party of
Greece for holding this seminar, an event of high political and ideological
meaning with an outstanding influence on the articulation of communist and
labour parties all over the world, on the co-ordination of their actions, on
stimulating its strengthening and promoting unity. Events like this have
historical repercussions. They are part of a prolonged process of recovery that
the communist and labour movement is presently undergoing after the defeat
resulting from the downfall of socialism in the majority of countries where it
was being developed. Thanks to the initiative of the KKE, our parties have the
opportunity to carry out a fruitful exchange of ideas that will support
concrete action. The Communist Party of Brazil values highly such meetings and
reaps important benefits from them. From the reflections developed here, we
extract important inspiring political indications of movements along with the
masses and broad political sectors with which it is indispensable to work
&#150; in a united-front perspective &#150; for the cause that unites the
peoples in the present sombre period humankind is going through: peace.
Therefore, it seems adequate to persist in what we were doing much before we
took other steps. Our preoccupation in the present stage of building our
movement and our unity has more to do with delivering results than with the
form of organisation. Rigidity, precipitation and artificialism may lead us to
political isolation and, instead of furthering unity and strengthening
communist and labour parties, it could curb advances. The Seminar of Communist
and Labour Parties that is held every year in Athens under the auspices of the
Greek comrades, with a character of consultation, without rigid or hierarchical
levels, seems to be the most adequate form to further the efforts for
strengthening the political and ideological unity and for promoting the
activity of international solidarity among our Parties. </P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The subject we approach here could not be more opportune:
the struggle for peace.</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The great global-scale mass demonstrations for peace and
against the imperialist war and the broad movement condemning the US attack on
Iraq is one of the greatest events of our time. Its true meaning will be
understood with historical time and its results will be felt in many other
political and social struggles. We have the clear impression that the movement
for peace tends to acquire permanence and will be at the core of the political
actions carried out by the communist and labour movement for a long time. In
our reflections and analyses, February 15 and March 15 of the present year will
always be an important reference. In that moment the peoples wrote an
unprecedented page of contemporary history. They were the protagonists of a
transcendental episode, they inaugurated a new moment in the anti-imperialist
fight, they set the milestone of a new movement, they unleashed a force that
was up till then refrained and latent, with an internationalist character that
is consistent with proletarian internationalism. The joint and simultaneous
action of broad popular masses under the flag of peace is a sign of a new time,
a kind of internationalism of the peoples, of the forces fighting barbarism,
with a flexible form and revolutionary &#150; although imprecise &#150;
meaning. We think that this is an objective progressive trend as the oppression
resulting from capitalist globalisation is generalised and war of aggression is
the only way imperialism can find to face its crisis. </P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The mobilisation of the masses against the imperialist war
is an important factor in the presently evolving political scene and it has a
strategic meaning. It contributes decisively to isolate the US imperialism and
stimulates the creation of poles of contestation regarding the US hegemony. The
fact that millions took the streets to wave the flag of peace has influenced
several governments that opposed war and also the contestation that took place
within the United Nations.</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We are witnessing a great phenomenon &#150; waving a flag of
struggle that is both broad and radical, the political movement of the masses
is once again playing a leading role in our time. It turns the struggle for
peace into a revolutionary flag to be waved, a flag able to gather broad
sectors around it, able to unleash refrained energies, to mobilise broad
popular contingents, to define fields. </P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The struggle for peace signals for the creation of a broad
international front against imperialism. Should it be conducted well, that
struggle may take proportions never witnessed in any other historical period.
It is a movement that involves not only the political and social organisations
of revolutionary character, but also a broad range of sectors with diversified
origins, constitutions and orientations. Exclusivism, hegemonism and
preconceived points of view will have a harmful effect on the movement and will
only contribute to divide and isolate it. In that sense, the World Social Forum
is the convergence point for movements of diverse orientations and opens the
way for the mobilisation of broad masses. Despite the hegemony of
social-democratic sectors and other points of view that are different from and
even antagonistic to the ones the communists have, the WSF presently furthers
the struggle for peace and contributes objectively to the formation of the
anti-imperialist front.</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In the struggle for peace, one cannot underestimate the
importance of the political and diplomatic position of democratic and
progressive governments that, in their own constitutions, represent broad
coalitions of political forces. In that sense, the position of the Brazilian
government under President Luiz In&aacute;cio Lula da Silva&#146;s
administration is noteworthy. Even facing a very hard economic situation under
the conditions and constraints imposed by international financial
organisations, it has been able to maintain a foreign policy aimed at defending
national sovereignty and the integration of Latin America, at the same time
making clear and dignified statements against the imperialist war. The correct
consideration of those new possibilities is essential to mobilise the masses,
to strengthen and amplify the unity of popular forces, an effort that must be
made in all countries while taking into account national peculiarities.</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Moreover, it is important in building the front against the
belligerent threats of the imperialist North American superpower and in
exploring judiciously the contradictions among the imperialist forces &#150;
evidently without fostering illusions of alliances made with an imperialist
force in order to fight another one. The important thing is to have discernment
to distinguish the main target in the fight.</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">With that same sense of broadness and taking into
consideration the concrete conditions of the struggle, we think that the fight
for peace is closely knitted to the defence of international legality, of the
self-determination of the peoples, of the juridical order, of the collective
system of security and of multilateralism in the political order, which is the
contrary to hegemonism. Despite all its limitations, it is important to fight
for strengthening the UN as a field for the exercise of multilateralism. </P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That understanding of the need and broadness of the movement
for peace derives from the characterisation we make of this grave moment and of
the very serious threats looming over humankind. </P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We are facing the most brutal imperialist offensive against
sovereign peoples and nations. The danger of a new totalitarianism, a new kind
of fascism, looms over the world. Convinced of its predestinations, including
by divine design, the leading core of US imperialism has designed a strategy of
imperial rule that may have devastating effects to humankind.</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The United States makes its moves in the international scene
while prioritising its interests, what imposes all sorts of restrictions to the
sovereignty of other countries and collides with the national interests of all
nations that fight for room for self-determination or aspire to become regional
or global powers. Based on the sensation of superpower and on its undisputed
military superiority, including nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass
destruction, the United States develops its new strategy of national security,
the so-called Bush Doctrine that is supported by three pillars: to combat the
terrorism and national states that grant shelter to terrorists and/or develop
weapons of mass destruction, considered &quot;outlaw states&quot; &#150; the
unrestricted action in the name of the essential interests of the North
American superpower and use of military force.</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">That obstinacy in prioritising the US interests and the
repetition of the slogan &quot;America in the first place&quot; took the White
House not only to an unprecedented militarisation and to the fulfilment of
belligerent actions, such as in the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq, but also to
the practice of an aggressive and voracious foreign policy that can be called
unilateral only for diplomatic reasons. Convinced that the &quot;infinite war
against terrorism&quot; by means of successive &quot;preventive&quot; wars
against &quot;outlaw states&quot; is the only means of granting the US
interests, the Bush administration keeps on maintaining the world under threat,
even after the war against Iraq. Alternatively, new targets are being
mentioned: Syria, Iran, North Korea and Cuba. Those strategic objectives are
corresponded by a foreign policy that ignores the norms of international law,
the self-determination of the peoples, the collective security system and also
belittles multilateral organisations. The US wars have ruined the multilateral
system, aggravating the world&#146;s instability, creating a chaotic and
threatening situation to peace and the security of all sovereign peoples and
nations. </P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">On the other hand, the evolving political scenario reveals
the unprecedented international isolation of the United States and the open
contestation of its policy. The loneliness with which Washington declared and
waged war against Iraq, its blow against the UN and the disdain shown to the
position of countries such as Germany, France, Russia and China reveal the
intrinsic fragility of the political position of the United States. That is one
of many signs that &#150; paradoxically, in a moment when it shows the greatest
power &#150; the political leadership of the United States is declining and
that its imperial rule is being supported more and more exclusively by its
military supremacy. Paradoxically, the United States revels its vulnerabilities
while is leaving the war as winner </P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">As a result, a new geopolitical scene emerges with
consequences to United Nations&#146; diplomacy and multilateral system, which
may be marked by important realignments. Strictly, the struggle for a new
international order is mandatory. After being considered irrelevant and
irresponsible by the United States and having its fundamental documents turned
into empty words, the UN will never be the same again. And after violating the
international norms, making use of brute force despite the general disapproval,
the US leadership will no longer be carried out with the same tranquillity as
before. The isolation of the United States will correspond to the growing
aggressiveness of its imperialism and the world will undergo a period of severe
turbulence and disquiet. </P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Middle East and Central Asia, the stages to the last US
military actions, are regions where sovereign countries are turned into
protectorates by means of military occupation in the name of imperialist
interests of controlling the oil fields and ruling regions of strategic
importance to the exercise of international power and are still at the
epicentre of those turbulences &#150; and all signs indicate that they will
remain in that situation for a long time. </P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The US occupation in Iraq is not being easy. The fear in the
eyes of the soldiers, the massacres and atrocities they are committing are
showing that probably the cost of old Mesopotamia transformation into a US
military protectorate will be very much expensive. It was relatively easy to
unseat Saddam Hussein and militarily occupy the country. Practically, there was
no resistance by the regular Iraqi army. But the facts are showing that the US
occupation is not going to be easy as we can tell by the irregular
demonstrations of resistance and the high number of violent incidents. Up till
now, the United States was not able to convince the Iraqi people of the
&quot;freeing&quot; character of its occupation action.</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In the same region, the instability in the relation with
Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran and especially the insurmountable difficulties to
&quot;draw the map&quot; and follow a &quot;path&quot; that leads to peace for
Israelis and Palestinians reveal the permanence of explosive factors. The
perspective is not one of mitigation, but one of aggravating problems.</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In Latin America, a different process of political and
social struggle resulting in the strengthening of the struggle against North
American imperialism is taking place. Despite the difficulties implied in
political transitions aimed at consolidating new democratic forces in the
government in countries such as Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador, there has been a
doubtless advance in the continent&#146;s progressive forces. They are living a
new political situation. The next stage will be characterised by the US
offensive to impose the FTAA and the resistance of the countries and peoples to
that neo-colonialist action.</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The contradictions among imperialist forces and the unstable
political situation are also related to the international crisis of capitalism.
All main countries are showing decreased economic activity without perspectives
of growth. All forecasts of international organisations point to stagnations
and, in some cases, to recession. War did not stimulate economic activity. Much
to the contrary. The estimated growth of the US economy was of 2.2% to the
present year, but the first quarter resulted in only 1.6%. Starting from the
United States, the world&#146;s largest economy and the core of international
life, a crisis of vast proportions is being irradiated. There is a perspective
of world stagnation, of decreasing demand and of decreasing growth rates in the
world&#146;s most important economies. Also in the case of dependent and
averagely industrialised countries such as Argentina, Mexico and Brazil, to
mention only the paradigmatic cases, the perspective is one of bankruptcy
resulting form the application of neo-liberal policies.</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The US economic decline is a historical process that started
three decades ago. That decline determines its political, diplomatic and
military actions. It is the background to the present international political
crisis, to the trend towards militarisation, to the contradictions among
imperialist forces. The world&#146;s largest economy is also the country with
the largest foreign debt, 7 trillion dollars (more than 60% its GDP), and with
a record current account deficit of about 500 billion dollars and a similar
deficit in its trade balance. </P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">A new geopolitical scene that may be characterised by new
realignments emerges from such a situation of belligerent threats and economic
crisis. There is an urgent need for a new international order, since new poles
are being formed in a long-term geopolitical dispute.</P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The disagreement between, on the one hand, Germany and
France, and, on the other hand, the United States regarding the latter&#146;s
aggression to Iraq will repeat in other episodes and will be present in new
international crises. Great imperialist interests are at stake in the relations
among those powers, interests that are often confronted and that eliminate the
illusions regarding the existence of a power in the globalised world that is
able to clear the contradictions and conflicts between imperialist forces. </P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In such a complex background of international conflicts, one
cannot lose sight of the strategic role of socialist China, which economically
and militarily strengthened national power will may show its influence on the
events as a progressive factor, favouring the peoples. </P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In the evolution of the international situation and in the
trend of strengthen of continental and half-continental countries, as Brazil,
Russia, India (despite the administrations of the latter two) as the
possibilities which are being opened to new partners and alliances are new
phenomena to be take in account and analysed with a deep sense of observation,
that may act as countertendencies to the hegemonic US unilateralism. </P>
<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The present international situation is complex to the
peoples of the world and especially to communist parties. There are no
readymade or paved paths to follow. Instead, what we have ahead are
impenetrable rocky crossroads. We think that the great task is to resist and
find the most adequate ways in each country to an accumulation of forces by
means of taking safe steps that allow us to reach victories in the struggle for
democracy, peace, national independence and social progress, having always
presented the perspective of socialism.</P>
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