Vol.64/No.6 February 14, 2000
Letters
On scandal in Germany
On a recent National Public Radio broadcast, prominent German journalist Joseph Joffe compared the current scandal surrounding former Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Germany to Nixon's Watergate. I think this is an accurate comparison, though not for the reasons Joffe intended. Just as Watergate had very little to do with an office break-in and much to do with the political tensions flowing from the defeat of U.S. imperialism in Vietnam, so too the current crisis in Germany has little to do with financial payoffs of top capitalist politicians, although this is the form it takes.Underlying this form, however, are the growing tensions and frustrations in the German ruling class flowing from two important failures.
First is the fact that Germany and the other imperialist powers lost the Cold War. For Germany specifically, this has meant a decade of being reunited with the eastern portion of Germany, which remains to this day a workers state. Even in the context of the longest economic upturn in recent capitalist history, German capital has made little progress in transforming social and property relations in the east. "Privatizing" eastern industry has consisted primarily of (1) shutting down large portions of it, combined with massive unemployment and make-work payments of various types, and (2) giving away (with massive additional subsidies) to private capitalists those industrial sectors (primarily steel, chemicals, and shipbuilding) where working-class resistance initially blocked option 1.
The second, and growing, crisis looming for the German imperialism is its deepening weakness in the context of growing trade tensions as against its main rival—the U.S. capitalist class. The relative military weakness of the various European powers—starkly highlighted in last year's attack on Yugoslavia—points to the continuing inability of German capital to defend and advance its interests through the necessary means of military power.
There is more involved, however, in the very real crisis engulfing the German Christian Democratic Union than the problems of German capital alone. This is evidenced by the crisis across Europe of the conservative parties—in Italy, Britain, France, and now Germany. It appears to me that the Socialist/Social Democratic/Labor parties in these countries have moved far enough to the right that they now occupy much of the political space formerly taken by the conservatives—who are now floundering for a separate voice.
Robert Dees
Palo Alto, CA
Nuclear rogue
As you point out in your editorial "Washington: the nuclear rogue," whether the U.S. government successfully tests its antimissile missile next time or not, they'll "continue to pour resources into achieving their target of a first-strike nuclear capacity."And in case this particular "Ground-Based Interceptor" doesn't pan out, the government is pursuing another method of "shielding" U.S. imperialism— an airborne laser system.
The Boeing Company— "lead system integrator" for the antimissile missile— is developing a high-energy laser mounted on a modified 747 freighter capable, according to press reports, of aiming, firing, and striking a missile within 5 seconds of being detected. Boeing will collect $113 million to produce the first airborne laser airplane.
Seven Boeing 747's will be built to carry these high-energy weapons, with the first plane to be delivered for operation testing in 2002. The first "lethal demonstration" is scheduled to take place in 2003.
Boeing manager Brad Gorsuch, who is overseeing the project in Wichita, explained how beneficial the program is—to the owners of Boeing: "You get a commercial sale, and the 747 is a big sale. We ultimately get to maintain the aircraft, plus we get to modify it in Wichita. And we get mission support for 20 years." Nothing like a hefty profit to sweeten the pot for the war industries!
Scott Breen
Seattle, Washington
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