Def Min P. Kamenos suggested creating a NATO base in the Aegean-Response of the KKE

Minister of Defense P. Kammenos announced that the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government will propose the creation of a NATO base in the Aegean, a fact that involves the country even further in the dangerous imperialist plans of the wolf pack.

Speaking at an "Economist" conference, P. Kammenos noted that he will submit this proposal during his upcoming visit to the U.S.

Confirming that the elaboration of this proposal is at an advanced stage, he mentioned that there is a Ministry study that takes into account the Suda, Crete base and NATO needs. However, he did not reveal the island on which the proposed base will operate.

The excuse he gave for the creation of this new attack base in the NATO war machine was that with this base the "Alliance" will have direct knowledge of Turkey's behavior. Of course, through the previous years, the elevation of NATO to the status of an arbiter of Greek-Turkish differences not only did not prevent Turkish provocations, but legitimated Ankarra demands, as NATO does not recognize borders in the Aegean.

KKE Portal: On the 40 years since the liberation of Saigon

This year, on April 30, we commemorate the 40th anniversary of the heroic victory of the Vietnamese communists and the people of the country, when American imperialists were forced to evacuate even their Embassy in Saigon, the capital of "South Vietnam", and to withdraw their last troops.

In one of the bloodiest and longest wars, where more than 3 million Vietnamese were killed, while major parts of the country and its infrastructure were destroyed, the forces of the People's Republic of Vietnam, joining forces with the rebels of the revolutionary government in the South, achieved military victory and hence liberated the South and opened the path for the construction of a united country.

This was preceded in September 1945 by the defeat and withdrawal of Japan (which occupied Vietnam) and the declaration of the People's Republic of Vietnam in the North, which was faced with the French colonialists-imperialists' declaration of war and the legendary victory of the Viet Minh in the battle of Dien Bien Phou, under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh and general Võ Nguyên Giáp, in 1954.

For the first time US and Israeli military forces will participate in the exercise of the Greek armed forces “Iniohos 2015”

The SYRIZA-ANEL government, operating in the same framework as the previous ND-PASOK government, is also taking further steps in the connection of the Greek armed forces with those of the USA and Israel.

So from Monday the 20th to Thursday the 30th April, the joint, medium-scale exercise “Iniohos 2015” will be conducted in combination with the Navy’s “Astrapi” exercise. The exercise provides for the conduct of complex aerial missions over the entire Athens FIR, with the participation of a large number of airforce-naval forces, as well as units of the army, while, for the first time, military forces from foreign counties, specifically Israel and the USA, will take part.

Announcement of the KKE on the unacceptable statements made in the USA by P. Kammenos

The Press Office of the Central Committee of the KKE has issued an announcement on the unacceptable and dangerous statements of the Minister of Defense, where it notes the following:

"The Minister of Defense of the SYRIZA-ANEL government, Panos Kammenos, has made a series of unacceptable and dangerous statements during his visit to the USA.

He attempted to present the proposition of sharing of the energy wealth of the Aegean sea and of the country more broadly with the United States as a panacea for the capitalist crisis. However, life has shown that energy issues, in capitalist conditions and in conditions of the intensification of intra-imperialist antagonisms, not only fail to secure prosperity but are in fact a "magnet" for conflicts and bloody contests, the "source" of the dismemberment of states and of other evils.

The government bears grave responsibility. The invitation to the USA to act as a transatlantic arbiter of the energy wealth of the country, and its presentation as a force guaranteeing stability, are a provocation to our people.

Experience has shown that "solutions" of this nature not only undermine sovereign rights but lead our people to new adventures, as has been shown by a series of developments in other countries, who are close allies of the USA in the region, like Georgia and Ukraine. The shared exploitation of resources, to which the Minister of Defense has invited the USA, relates to the "dinner fest" pursued by American energy monopolies along with local businessmen, on the backs of the working class and of other popular strata.

Equally dangerous are the Minister's statements regarding an extension of the united defense doctrine of Greece and Cyprus "with the participation of Israel, in combination with tighter co-operation with the USA." For they involve our country even further within intra-imperialist competition, while peace in the Aegean and the Mediterranean cannot be safeguarded by those responsible for scores of crimes on earth, those who continue to butcher the people of Palestine.

The Minister of Defense has offered once more to have the country support the aggressive plans of NATO and the USA, which are under preparation in the Middle East and Northern Africa with the excuse of "the war against Terror."

The above, as well as the hymns to the USA to which Mr. Kammenos has resorted, and his statement "fear not, Greece is not changing its course", constitute the guarantees offered by the SYRIZA-ANEL government to the USA. These statements come on the heels of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' visit to Moscow. They show the desire of the new government to use risky maneuvers in the geopolitical conflict of capitalist "mega powers", intending to guarantee the greatest possible benefits for the country's bourgeoisie. However, it is well known that "when buffalo fight in the swamp, the frogs pay for the fight." For this reason, the KKE position for disengagement from the imperialist alliances of NATO and the EU, for the unilateral cancellation of debt, for the socialization of economic instruments, of the wealth produced by the workers, under popular power, is necessary and timely. Under this orientation, the mineral wealth of the country, which is in fact the people's property, can be used with the criterion of the people's interest instead of being offered up or sold to monopolies."

902, trans. Lenin Reloaded

Addendum: P. Kammenos' statements to V. Nuland (in Greek)

SYRIZA's "Red Notebook" on Ukraine, 22/2/2014

The "Red Notebook" is a political and economic analysis website maintained by the "Red-Green network" of SYRIZA. Several of its authors also write in the main party newspaper "Avgi", and its theoretical influences include Trotskyism and Althusserianism (particularly via Poulantzas, probably the most central figure in the political orientation of this group). Some of the top SYRIZA cadre members it features are economists Euclid Tsakalotos (Deputy Min. of Int. Fin. Relations) Yannis Dragasakis (gov. Deputy leader) and John Milios, and intellectuals including Costas Douzinas and Aristeidis Baltas (Min. Ed.). The article that follows was published on the 22nd of February, after the first phase of the Maidan coup. The translation is mine.

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On the Ukraine Uprising

Simonida Argyrakou

The Left must understand the needs of poor strata and support their demands. On the other hand, it must also stand against imperialism -- both EU-USA and Russian imperialism.

Contemporary history involves several examples of social uprisings in which, whereas the causes of the problems are clearly of a class nature, their failure to express themselves in Left terms --whether because of the inability of people to complete their demands beyond the political change in personnel or because of the exploitation of popular rage by nationalists-- make some segments of the Left see the whole enterprise negatively.

On the Saudi Arabian imperialist attack against Yemen

Yemen: Saudi Arabian Attack with U.S. support

902 (KKE Portal)

26/03/2015 

Trans.: Lenin Reloaded

In an effort to roll back the reputedly rising influence of Iran in the territory of North and Central Yemen, which was in the last six months under the control of Shi'ite Houthi civil guards, the Saudi Arabian airforce and the airforces of ten countries from the broader Middle East, having received the blessings and support of the U.S. President, Barack Obama, have begun murderous imperialist attacks on Wednesday night. Their excuse is "saving" the pro-American Yemen President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

The first bombs fell in an inhabited area of the capital, Sana'a, causing tens of casualties amidst non-combatants (among them, children); this, at least, is the information conveyed by the TV network Al Masirah of Yemen, controlled by Shi'ites, and by the Iranian satellite network Press TV. The Al Masirah network also encouraged medical personnel to urgently visit the capital's hospitals in order to aid the injured.

KKE: The US-NATO stance on Ukraine is provocative; Greek government shares responsibility

KKE: The US-NATO stance is provocative; The Greek government stance on the Ukraine crisis aims to blind the people to the facts

The Department of International Relations of the Central Committee of the KKE has issued an announcement on the Ukraine crisis, which states:

«The US-NATO stance is provocative; the Greek government stance on the Ukraine crisis aims to blind the people to the facts

In the last few days, and despite the Minsk Treaty, the US and NATO have continued their intervention in the Ukrainian crisis, threatening the peoples of the region with a further ignition of conflict and bloodshed. More specifically:

- Three hundred US military personnel have arrived at the Lviv base in the Ukraine and have started the training of local troops. Hence, the US is making its military presence in the Ukraine, for which it has already approved 19 million dollars, more intense.

The Europarliament Team of KKE on the US Senate Report on CIA Use of Torture

"The commonly approved text [of the Social Democrats, the Liberals, the Greens and GUE/NGL] attempts to obscure, behind the condemnation of horrific torture of 'suspects for terrorist acts' by the CIA, the responsibility of the US government and of the governments of the state members of the EU which cooperated with the US secret services, for acts of kidnapping, illegal detention, and the turning over of persons to the CIA. The text attributes torture and crimes to allegedly 'arbitrary' acts of the CIA and of the secret services of EU member states, thus obscuring the obvious fact that these were committed under government directives, by state apparatuses of the bourgeois state, which is deeply hostile to the people and which acts to protect the power of the ruling class.

It is characteristic of the obfuscation of the source of all the crimes of the secret services of the US and EU member states, of bourgeois power and its governments, that the text suggests torture didn't lead to information extraction; that it was, then, ... ineffective! Torture, kidnapping and murder by the secret services of the US, the EU and its member states, are constituent elements of bourgeois power and its state. The peoples can block and fully eliminate such elements only if, through their struggle, they directly confront monopolies, their unions, bourgeois power; only if they socialize the wealth which they produce and which belongs to them, emancipated from the EU and from imperialist bondage."

902

Translated by Lenin Reloaded

On the EU's Provocative Answer to KKE regarding Ban on CP Of Ukraine, 17/9/2014

The EU’s provocative answer to the KKE regarding the attempt to outlaw the CP of Ukraine

17/9/2014

The response of the High Representative of Foreign Policy of the EU to the question of the EU parliamentary group of the KKE in relation to the attempts to ban the CP of Ukraine was provocative. The EU parliamentary group of the KKE made the following reference in its press statement:

“The EU’s full support for the reactionary Ukrainian government and its aim to outlaw the CP of Ukraine and to escalate its persecutions against communists has been confirmed by the High Representative of the EU’s Foreign Policy C. Aston, with her answer to the Question of the EU parliamentary group of the KKE, which denounced the government’s persecution of the CP of Ukraine.

The statement of the MEP of the KKE, Kostas Papadakis, on the trial to outlaw the CP of Ukraine

The trial regarding the outlawing of the CP of Ukraine began on Wednesday (4/2) in Kiev. The accusers of the CP of Ukraine in the trial are the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Ministry of the Interior and the National Information Agency. They accuse the CP of Ukraine of “divisive propaganda”. Similar acts of persecution against its cadres and members are underway all over the country with baseless and untenable accusations, which are refuted and exposed by the party’s cadres. A representative of the KKE, Kostas Papadakis, member of the CC and MEP, attended the trial at the invitation of the CP of Ukraine. 

At the press conference organized by the CP of Ukraine for the Ukrainian mass media, K. Papadakis noted the following: 

 “Today’s trial, which will continue, is just a part of a barrage of persecutions that is underway at the expense of the CP of Ukraine, and also against its individual members and cadres. The persecution and machinations to outlaw the communists and their activity are unacceptable and reprehensible. They attack the people themselves and their rights. The communists of Ukraine made a great contribution to the struggle of the Ukrainian people, to all their achievements, both during the Great Anti-fascist Victory of the Peoples and also during the years of socialist construction, as well as today. 

Empty Blustering

The bargaining between the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government and the staff of the EU officially began on 30/1, when J. Dijsselbloem, the Eurogroup President, visited Athens. 

In his meeting with the Prime Minister, A. Tsipras, and the Finance Minsiter, G. Varoufakis, the new government's dedication to the competitiveness of capital, balanced budgets, primary surpluses and restructuring was confirmed. 

At the same time, the more general antagonisms of capital manifested themselves more intensely. The formulation of J. Dijsselbloem was characteristic: in response to the position regarding an "international conference" about the Greek state debt, he stated that the "conference has a name, it is the Eurogroup". In other words, he stated that whatever decisions are taken will be taken at the level of the EU without interventions from other sides, such as the IMF, for example. 

M. Papadopoulos-Negotiations at the Enemy Camp, Part I

M. Papadopoulos*

Negotiations at the enemy camp 
Rizospastis [The Radical]: Organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece,
1 February 2015

"Substantial negotiations." This will be the slogan of the post-election trade in hope in the coming months. Both the coalition government of SYRIZA - ANEL and the major bourgeois media are promoting the meeting of the Minister of Finance Yannis Varoufakis with the President of Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, as the starting point of a marathon of negotiations that may lead to better days in Greece and in the EU at large. 

The ideological climate which promotes reduced expectations and demands, one which unfortunately prevails today among the wage earners, is exploited to reinforce the illusion that a "tough", "decisive" negotiation might lead to a shift of the bourgeois administration of the economy in the people's interest. There is an attempt to establish the idea that the large losses in the family income of the Greek lower classes during the crisis period are final, and that this is no longer the issue anyway; at the same time, what is projected as the only way out for future popular prosperity is the speedy return to higher rates of capitalist growth, to economic recovery and increased profits for monopoly groups. 

To expose the myth of hard bargaining that will allegedly lead to "development for all", wherein both monopolies and wage-earners and the self-employed "win", we must examine that myth's content.