Chechnea etc...

It is clear that the Chechen war is absorbing substantial military 
resources. Yet the
central government in Russia does not appear to be making the necessary 
progress for a
swift victory. Clearly there are significant potential dangers for the 
Russian state under
this scenario. Should the war continue to soak military resources the 
opportunity may open
up for other regional powers to strike out against the Russian state in a 
struggle for
independence. Should several such nationalist wars break out the Russian 
state would be
sorely tried to vanquish them. Under such circumstances it is quite 
conceivable that the
Russian state and economy could disintegrate.

Given a war on several fronts from nationalist movements the opportunities 
for Washington
and even other large powers to exploit the situation would present itself. 
This helps
explain why the Russian government has been putting greater emphasis on its 
nuclear
arsenal. The weaker the conventional military becomes and the state the 
more the nuclear
blackmail will be used as a defensive threat against potential incursion by 
imperialist
powers.
======
The NHS
Tony Blair's reluctance to raise taxes to pay for an improved health system 
despite much
popular support for such a move is an indication of the right wing 
character of the
leadership of the British Labour Party.

Blair does want to raise taxes for such a matter because he sees a rise in 
taxes as
deduction of surplus value from the total surplus value produced by 
industrial capital.
Such a reduction tends to reduce the rate of the accumulation of capital. 
He sees then
that even a modest increase in taxes hinders the success of capitalism in 
maximising
profit.

On the other hand a rise in taxes can mean an increase in wages 
corresponding to the tax
increase. This again does not help capital accumulation.

He may be afraid too that if taxes are increased under in this context 
further tax
increases may be imposed under generally similar circumstances and that 
before long tax
rises may have gotten, in a sense, out of hand. This may have been what 
happened to
Thatcher. This can be of no use to the accumulation of capital. Such a 
development might
lead to the abandonment, in some measure, of  New Labour by the bourgeoisie 
and large
sections of the middle class --this may have been what happened to Thatcher.

Warm regards
George Pennefather

Be free to check out our Communist Think-Tank web site at
http://homepage.eircom.net/~beprepared/