Ford's Detente by Ernest Mandel

: that the Pentagon's response could be jomous, Ford has dropped the word Stente"” from hia vocabulary. The formutof the cold war are reappearing. After ing dismissed as secretary of defense, hlesinger is seeing his line applied.

nerican military i has been »pped up considerably. Trade negotiaina with the Soviet Union have fallen E Does all this represent the end of itente? Is it the beginning of a turn in In the wake of the massive antiwar ovement, the final phase of the Indochia war, the fall of Nixon, and the fallout ver Watergate, American imperialism wind itself temporarily paralyzed. The omestic situation in the United States for 12 moment no longer permitted Washing3 n to intervene abroad on a massive scale, ith its own troops, to fulfill its role as dhe rorld cop of imperialism. This explains its nability to aid adequately its allies and gents in Angola, as well as ite astonishng failure to take action in face of Cuba's uid to the Angolan revolution.

The Soviet bureaucracy measured the legree of risk and found it to be within acceptable limita, It gave Fidel the green ight, an action for which there atill remains a considerable risk of a localized response by imperialism. The international bourgeoisie was deeply shaken. What is taking place now is the search for a countermove. It is being carried out on three fronts.

The first is the fresh increase in military spending. This came at a favorable moment for bolstering the “recovery” of the American economy, which risked being stifled by a lack of productive investment. The American electoral campaign and Ford's efforts to outhid®his “opponents,” both the Republican Reagan and the Democrat Jackson, have helped create a propitious climate for increased arms singer and Vorster im West Genmany on 23-24 June. As Kissinger explained before the summit in a press conference on 17 June: "The question | want to explore is whether South Africa is prepared to separate its own future from Rhodesia and Namibia."

South Africa, with its control of all Rhodesia’s supply routes (both road and rail) since Mozambique’s decision to impose sanctions last March, would be in a powerful position to force the Smith regime into acquiescence with the US plan.

This is why (despite ntual denouwniations of apartheid for public con‘umption) the westem powers have ‘ontinued to collaborate with the Pretoria mgime. France, Britain, the Jnited States, haly and other NATO ‘ountries have armed the racist menme — in Britain's case despite a upposed arms ‘ban' — and maintain‘d trading relations with South Africa.

On 9 August, for example, South \irita’s Finance Minister, Senator Jwen Horwood, announced that the nternational Monetary Fund had arrNext comes the question of putting first things first, which does not mean (or does fot Only mean) Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Africa, but above all capitalist southern Europe. The warnings by General Haig and Kissinger against allowing Communist ministers into governments of the Atlantic all-ance are aimed at increasing support to tne capitalists who are hesitant to play this ultimate political card. They are designed also to deepen the climate of hysterical anticommunism whipped up in face of the revolutionary upswing in Portugal. They help pave the way, in capitalist Europe as well, for an increase in military spending.

The confidential report by the Belgian General Close, indicating that troops of the Warsaw Pact could reach the Rhine in forty-eight hours, thus neutralizing NATO's nuclear arsenal, serves the same purpose.

For the moment, the Giscard regime has lined up with Kissinger. In the longer run, however, the West European imperialists will count increasingly on an “independent” nuclear striking force. This will aleo be uwed to justify, in passing, generalization of the concept of the professional anged stand-by credit of over $150 million for the racist regime. On 6 August, officials of a French consortium (which includes Framatome, Alsthom, Spie-Batignolles and Franiateg)

signed a contract with the South African Electricity Supply. Commission (ESCOM) to build two 920 megawalt nuclear reactors in South Africa — a decision which many observes fear could assist Pretoria’ well-known drive to develop a nuclear weapons indsutry, These cases of assistance to South Africa — both made since the wave of black uprisings began in June — illustrate the NATO powers’ determination to bolster the racist regime.

The same interests have prompted.

the imperialists to seek a shift to more indirect, neo-colonial fonms of mule in Zimbabwe and Namibia, where “the burgeoning liberation struggles threaten — from the impenalist point -of view — to spark still greater unrest among the black masses in the The Vorster regime has now, declared its backin southern Europe.

The third front is the effort to strengthen order until it regains its capacity to intervene in the political arena (in the military arena its capacity in no way suffered). The coup in Argentina came at a favorable moment, creating in the southern cone of Latin America a military bloc under Washington's tutelage that can dominate the south Atlantic.

None of this should be taken as indicating that peaceful coexistence is going to be abolished. This is hardly the case, for the simple reason that far from thwarting capitalism, peaceful coexistence serves its fundamental interests. In face of the rise of revolution, the international capitalist class has more to gain than ever in taking advantage of the Stalinist parties’ willingness to serve as a restraining force and to conduct a policy of class collaboration. The imperialists are divided in their assessment of the Stalinists’ effectiveness in this role, and in their willingness to pay (or to refuse to pay) a given price in exchange for the role. But the role itself is doing the imperialists no harm—quite the contrary.

So, what ia taking place is not a return to the cold war. It is a range of measures aimed at enabling imperialism to break loose from the temporary political paralysis into which it was plunged by the heroiam of the Indochinese masses and the power of the antiwar sentiment in the United States. Washington's No. 1 objective is to condition public opinion in the imperialist countries, particularly in the United States itself.

Will the effort succeed? The answer does not depend solely on the ploys and financial resources of the peddlers of myths on both sides of the Atlantic. It depends also and above all on the outcome of the class struggles that are little by little radicalizing Japan and North America itaelf. oO policy, though it is still unclear what Practical measures Pretoria will be willing to take to bring the Smith government to heel.

But the Smith reginie has so far been unwilling to sacrifice the privileges of the Rhodesia settlérs to protect the wider interests of the imperialist powers in South Africa, Speaking on BBC Radio 4 on 15 August, lan Smith declared that he was willing to negotiate with Afncan nationalists — but if they are simply going to repeat the cry of “One Man, One Vote” and “lgmediate Majority Rule", then there.is not much point in going. to the conference table.’

Commenting on Smtih’s mmarks, the Tory shadow Foreign Minister, Reginald Maudling said (reflecting the fears of the big impenalist monopolies ): ‘I fear that things are bound to get worse, the war will escalate and ‘the whole of southem Africa may soon be engulfed in it." He could be right!

----- pull-quotes -----

the stand-i ‘ins that can temporarily Serve a8 a substitute for the imperialist guardian of