BY LAURA GARZA
While attempting to get through a few days of talks and official dinners looking in control, the chiefs of seven imperialist nations ended up surrounded by conflicts and crises they could not command that highlighted the growing divisions among them. The heads of state of France, Japan, Canada, Britain, Italy, Germany, and the United States, known as the Group of Seven or G-7, gathered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for a summit June 15-17. The war in Bosnia, threatened U.S. government trade sanctions against Japan, the Russian invasion of Chechnya, and Paris's declaration that it would resume nuclear blasts in the South Pacific all revealed the direction of the imperialist nations at the meeting toward further conflicts with each other, not cooperation.

The war in Bosnia imposed itself on the deliberations. Heads of state and foreign ministers were yanked away from their dinner, at the insistence of the French government, to put out a statement and give the okay for the United Nations Security Council to order 12,500 more troops into Bosnia. The plan was carefully hedged to avoid mentioning exactly how the beefed-up rapid reaction force of British, French, and Dutch soldiers would be paid for, though.

As the G-7 met, Bosnian government troops launched a new offensive against the rightist Serb forces led by Radovan Karadzic who have surrounded and shelled the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, since April 1992. For a time, the United Nations brokered an agreement that brought a lull in the shelling and left heavy weapons deposited in sites guarded by UN troops.

The accord fell apart in recent weeks, though. The tanks and weapons, including some belonging to the UN units themselves, have been confiscated by both sides in the battle, leaving the UN troops scurrying to get out of the way. The Serb forces have 80,000 troops spread out along 1,000 miles of front lines, and they are well armed with tanks and heavy artillery. The Bosnian government's forces number 150,000 but are not as well supplied. They attacked at a number of points and took some territory in the first two days, before easing up on the offensive. Sarajevo has come under heavy shelling again.

Bosnia conflict widens
Faced with a widening conflict, the various imperialist governments began scrambling for what to do. Karadzic has been loathe to accede to any agreement that leaves him with less territory than he and his gang think they can take. Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovic, and his sometimes- allies in the Croatian government are also pushing to shift the military situation in a way that would give them an advantage in any negotiations.

Unable to force a settlement, the imperialist governments are also reluctant to do anything that would substantially raise the stakes of their involvement, and they are casting about for some way to halt a deterioration in the situation. At the same time each is trying to look out for its own interests in the region.

The statement released by the G-7 meeting called for all sides to halt the fighting. Jacques Chirac, president of France, warned earlier that an offensive by the Bosnian forces "would be a grave error." Clinton explained the U.S. position was "to discourage all increases in violence, to try to keep the lid on the violence."

The French and British governments, whose troops comprise a major portion of those currently on the ground in Bosnia, pushed to have a rapid reaction force of 12,500 more troops dispatched. The officials claim their presence would allow the UN to carry out its stated purpose- to prevent the shelling of "safe havens" like Sarajevo and guarantee the delivery of supplies and food - though no one quite knows how. The real problem confronted by those directing the force is that there is not much agreement on what to do, or whom to do it to.

The U.S. government pushed for air strikes against the Serbs, but then faced the embarrassment of having to mobilize its mighty military forces to pluck one scared pilot out of the woods after his F-16 was shot down. Washington did not retaliate; it would have risked a confrontation with London and Paris, whose troops were being held hostage. Washington also doesn't want to send its own soldiers in, preferring to try to pressure others into carrying out its wishes.

The evident failure to achieve anything through UN intervention has opened divisions among the U.S. rulers on policy toward Bosnia. Sensing an easy target, critics of Clinton in Congress said they would not go along with Washington financing the additional troops. At the G-7 meeting, Clinton had to ask that the specifics of the financing be set aside. Subsequently he announced that the U.S. government would fund-raise among other nations to help pay for the force.

Washington-Tokyo trade war
The trade dispute between Tokyo and Washington also came up at the summit. Several representatives from the states gathered said that enacting the impending trade sanctions against Japan by the Clinton administration would give them problems. Clinton brushed off the discussion but made it clear he had no intention of backing off.

Aiming to keep the heat on Japan, the White House announced June 19 plans to bar Japanese airlines from some of their cargo routes unless Tokyo agreed to allow Federal Express access to several more routes for its cargo flights. U.S. companies get a sizable chunk of such business in Japan and are pushing for more, citing terms of a treaty signed while Japan was occupied by the U. S. Army after World War II.

In a signal of what they believe is in store for many Third World nations, the thing all the governments present did agree to was a package that would supposedly prevent another financial crisis on the scale of Mexico's devaluation of the peso. The International Monetary Fund will require countries to disclose the state of their finances, a way of pressuring governments to shift policies by denying them access to international financing if the figures don't meet the approval of international bankers and businessmen. The proposal also included doubling the funds available to quickly shore up a currency if a downhill ball gets rolling somewhere that could threaten wider instability in the world market. The U.S. government, in particular, pushed to double the $28 billion General Arrangements to Borrow Fund. "The U.S. is not able to be a lender of last resort in other crises of this kind," Clinton said, referring to billions of dollars Washington put up to stabilize the Mexican peso and thereby protect the U.S. dollar.  
 
 
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