The Axis of Resistance is winning the economic war, meaning it will triumph like Russia & China have

Above: Axis of Resistance supporters in Khiam, Lebanon celebrating the recent ceasefire, which signaled weakness for “Israel” even though it soon broke the deal.

While evaluating how successful the Axis of Resistance has been in fighting the imperial enemy, we must account for the economic aspect of this conflict. The region’s anti-imperialist forces have brought an energy crisis upon “Israel,” weakened its capital, expanded the global boycott of the Zionist state, and created a population drain within the Zionist-controlled territories. It’s only when we look at these things the Axis has done to weaken the “Israeli” Nazi entity’s market vitality that we can see how strong the anti-imperialist side has become. This isn’t because the resistors have been failing in the military realm; Hamas, the Houthis, and Hezbollah have all been highly effective at battling the empire through arms. And the states within the Axis have also been making great military gains; the pro-Assad Syrian forces are making the terrorists retreat, something which Iran and Iraq have helped make possible.

There have also been military setbacks; since Raisi was assassinated in May, Iran’s resistance efforts have largely been held back by the country’s U.S.-friendly political faction. And this has led to tactical defeats, including the death of Nasrallah. These realities can’t be ignored; but it wouldn’t be accurate to say that the resistance is losing, both because of its many ongoing military gains and because it’s crippled the Zionist entity’s economy.

The economics of warfare are often overlooked by commentators, leading to skewed perceptions of conflicts. The imperialist media has avoided talking about Russia’s success in economically defeating the United States, which is definitive and took place years ago. Almost all we’ve heard about Ukraine is the kinetic part of the war, with the reporting on this being distorted to make Kiev look far stronger than it actually is. Not only has Russia had many more military wins than we’ve been told, but it’s also triumphed on the economic front, which is at least as important as the military front.

The main reason Washington instigated this conflict was because it wanted to destroy Russia’s economy, leading to Russia’s collapse and leaving China without a crucial strategic partner. Because the sanctions have failed to stop Russia’s economy from growing, and this economic warfare has backfired upon the imperialist countries, Russia truly won this war years ago.

Ukraine never had a chance of winning in the military realm, but the main part of Washington’s plan depended on there being a larger-scale economic defeat for Russia; the war itself has only been a means for trying to wear Russia down, and Washington views Ukraine as nothing more than a disposable tool. The hegemon has managed to drag the war on for years, but because it’s been able to neither overwhelm Russia with arms nor sabotage its internal civic balance, this conflict has been a net loss for the imperialists.

That’s why at this point, I’d be surprised if Washington starts a proxy war with China: Russia’s victory has proven that a Taiwan conflict would be nothing but disastrous for imperial interests. China has already won its own economic war with the hegemon; it’s gained the partnership of massive parts of the Global South, which overall loves its Belt and Road Initiative projects, and Russia’s Ukraine action has catalyzed a great expansion for BRICS. China and its partner the DPRK are formidable opponents for the empire just in terms of arms; but when you also consider how successful Eurasia has become in economically fighting the empire, it becomes truly clear how doomed the imperial system is.

These things don’t negate the reality that Iran is being undermined by internal liberal actors, and that this has given the enemy more opportunities for violence. But these things do refute the doomerist perspectives on the anti-imperialist struggle. They show how significant it is that the Axis of Resistance has created an economic crisis for “Israel.” When you make your adversary unable to function on a social and market level, this greatly impacts the strategic situation. The imperialists understand this quite well; they use sanctions as a standard part of their warfare. The Zionist entity also knows this; its original plan for getting rid of Hamas was to economically strangulate Gaza, and thereby make Gaza’s people rise up. But the empire and its settler proxy have failed to unseat any Resistance Axis leaderships; they’ve all held on, even as the imperial forces have used genocidal methods. Now they’re turning the enemy’s economic sabotage methods against it, to the effect that “Israel” is inexorably headed for its demise.

That Palestine will be fully liberated is no longer in any question. The big questions that remain are whether Iran will throw off the influence of its pro-appeasement national bourgeoisie; and whether the anti-imperialist forces will defeat Turkey’s neo-Ottoman U.S. proxy regime. However seriously we must take the threats posed by Iran and Turkey’s pro-imperialist elements, there is hope for victory in both areas.

A decade ago, Russia was in a situation comparable to the one Iran is now. The U.S. had just overthrown the government of its neighbor and historic sibling country; now, Ukraine’s Nazi coup regime was shelling the Donbass people as punishment for asserting their self-determination. But Putin and his government would refuse to embark upon a denazification project until eight years later, after Kiev had already created mass graves. The anti-imperialist faction within Russia ultimately won, though.

Will Iran’s internal struggle exactly resemble the one Russia has undergone? I don’t believe so, because Iran’s U.S.-friendly president Pezeshkian has acted with a kind of cowardice that we’ve never seen from Putin. He blocked Khamenei from retaliating for Haniyeh’s assassination, he only allowed a response after Nasrallah died because of his treachery, and now he’s not letting Iran retaliate after “Israel” crossed clear red lines last month. Part of Putin’s reasoning for delaying the Ukraine operation was that he needed to prepare Russia’s economy for war beforehand; and of course he ought to have carried out these preparations from the start, but he’s shown willingness to enact the economic reforms necessary for fighting the imperialists. Pezeshkian and his camp can only be expected to resist any attempts at such reforms, and to keep pushing for further neoliberalization. If these actors got their way, Iran would act like Jordan: engaging in big talk about Palestine, while fully complying with the empire.

Turkey’s path towards kicking out its pro-imperialist elements is the same as Iran’s: a mass struggle against those who seek to assist the hegemon’s genocidal goals. And such a counter-force will have an opportunity to appear as the economic pressures continue building up. The more severe capitalism’s contradictions become, the more the masses will be incentivized to act, whether in Turkey, Iran, or any other country where neoliberalism has taken hold. Shifting away from neoliberalism was the only way modern Russia could prevent a social revolution; any government that refuses to go in this direction will increasingly provoke the wrath of its own people.

There are plenty of leftists and “communists” who seek to guide this popular outrage in a direction that helps imperialism; many Turkish “Marxists” oppose the anti-imperialist bloc, and many Iranian “Marxists” prioritize the revolutionary state’s overthrow. Though distorters of Marxism exist essentially everywhere, they won’t sabotage the struggle if a genuine workers movement gets built; if the interests of the proletariat, rather than the sensibilities of the intellectual class, define the struggle’s direction. As someone who lives in the United States, it’s obviously not my role to fulfill this task in any other country than my own. But as I work to build such a movement in the empire’s core, I seek to do whatever possible to aid those who are doing this abroad. It’s a crucial part of our duty to support the Axis of Resistance, which needs as many real allies as it can get.

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