imperialism

The rising tensions in the Persian Gulf in the past weeks can be easily attributed to a sharp crisis of overproduction in the international oil market, ongoing since 2014. One relevant theater for understanding recent developments therefore lies in the largely under-reported and often overlooked Libyan Civil War, and in particular in its wide-ranging implications for OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries).

On the morning of June 13, two oil tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman. One was the Front Altair, owned by the Norwegian company Frontline, but flying the flag of the Marshall Islands. It was carrying a cargo of ethanol from Qatar to Taiwan. The second was the Kokuka Courageous of the Japanese company, Kokuka Sangyo, flying the Panamanian flag which was carrying methanol from Saudi Arabia to Singapore.

The latest news coming from Venezuela tells us that in Caracas and elsewhere, the demonstrations for, and against, the Maduro government are carrying on. The army, which largely supports the elected President, is dealing brutally with demonstrators and the death toll on the streets has reached several dozen.

Twenty years ago, from 24 March to 10 June 1999, United States and other NATO airplanes conducted bombing raids over what was left of Yugoslavia. Ever since the late 1980s, as capitalism’s world economic crisis sharpened and the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia went down with the USSR, rival war lords had been whipping up ethnic and religious divisions in order to carve out new state territories for themselves.