US president Barak Obama has issued his sternest warning yet to the Tory government of the dangers of Britain leaving the European Union.
In an interview with the BBC, Obama started by stroking the inflated egos of the British bourgeoisie with sanctimonious words about the special relationship that both Tory and Labour politicians are always claiming exists between British and US imperialism.
Obama said that Britain was America’s ‘best and most important partner’, praising its willingness to go beyond ‘immediate self-interests to make this a more orderly, safer world’. He immediately followed this with the stark warning that being America’s best friend in all the world was entirely dependent on it remaining in the EU.
The EU has, according to Obama, ‘made the world safer and more prosperous’, and Britain’s membership was crucial for America’s ‘transatlantic union’ with Britain and the rest of Europe. He said that the EU ‘is part of the cornerstone of institutions built after World War Two that has made the world safer and more prosperous’, adding: ‘We want to make sure that the United Kingdom continues to have that influence.’
Obama then went on to heap praise on Cameron and the Tory government, calling Cameron an ‘outstanding partner’ and hailing the government’s pledge contained in the last budget to spend 2% of the country’s GDP on NATO for the next five years, at a time when spending on benefits, wages and the entire welfare state is being cut to the death.
Obama said: ‘We don’t have a more important partner than Great Britain. For him (Cameron) to make that commitment when he has a budget agenda that is confined, a budget envelope that is confined, is significant.’
It is certainly significant for the millions of low paid workers, the unemployed, parents of young children and young people who will have their pay and benefits cut and the NHS starved of funds, in order to help pay for the massive expenditure on the imperialist war machine that is NATO. Behind Obama’s insistence that Britain remains within the capitalist EU, is the unmistakable threat that should it leave as a result of the referendum, then its usefulness to US imperialism will be at an end.
Britain outside the EU would be of no use to the American capitalist class, the only relationship it wants is that of master and vassal, as typified by Tony Blair who, as prime minister, pledged to George Bush that he would join in the murderous invasion and occupation of Iraq regardless of the wishes of parliament or the British people.
As for the EU making the world more prosperous and safe, try telling that to the people of Greece whose lives have been smashed to pieces in order to save the Euro and the banks, and who are now expected to live under the dictatorship of the Troika once again. In the Ukraine, the EU acted in concert with US imperialism to overthrow a democratically elected government using the fascist thugs of the Right Sector who they financed and supported – these same fascists groups are now threatening a murderous civil war against the regime the EU and US installed – that is the safety that Obama wants.
The safety he demands, is the safety for US imperialism to rape and exploit every nation in the world through wars and ‘trade agreements’ like the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that gives US multi-national companies unlimited control over the economies and politics of Europe.
In this period of the historic crisis of world capitalism US imperialism has no friends, only rivals to be used as long as they acquiesce to its demands, and then be crushed when they are no longer of use.
That was the future Obama was spelling out.
For the working class there is no future under capitalism, either in or out of the EU – the only future lies in the victory of the socialist revolution and the establishment of the united socialist states of Europe as part of the world socialist revolution.
