With the fall of the Soviet Union and its allied states, the US was left as the sole superpower in the world. Immediately thereafter, George Bush senior seized upon the opportunity to send a message to those nations still presenting an independent, anti-imperialist posture within the world, by launching its war on Iraq, which continues unabated to the present day.

Having succeeded in largely neutralising the greatest threat to its Zionist ally in the Middle East and finding a means to establish US military bases on the Arabian penninsula, as well as leaving PKK positions within Iraq open to attack by its Turkish allies, the war with Iraq also sent a message designed to hold other countries, such as North Korea, Libya, and Cuba in check.

Now, George W. Bush has launched the next offensive against the imperialist's remaining enemies, the various armed guerilla movements and terrorist organisations around the globe. Having been provided with justification to go after targets unlikely to draw tremendous sympathy within the broader anti-imperialist community -- the reactionary Islamic fundamentalists now under attack in Afghanistan -- the American President is moving swiftly to expand this action to neutralise others prepared to challenge imperialism.

If is notable, for example, that when the British and US authorities moved to freeze the assets of over 30 of the world's "terrorist organisations", the list incuded the Real Irish Republican Army, the Basque ETA, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the International Sikh Youth Federation, Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mujahedin-e Khalq Organisation, National Liberation Army, Palestinian Liberation Front, PFLP General Command, Revolutionary Nuclei, Revolutionary Organisation 17 November, Revolutionary People's Liberation Army/Front, Shining Path and most notably the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. None of these organisations are fundamentalist Islamicists. In fact, the PFLP is notable as secularists within the Arab world as are several other of the Palestinian groups named. None are likely to have any ties whatsoever to bin Laden's organisation, yet they have been singled out for inclusion in the first wave of a campaign to cut off funding to all armed enemies of imperialism.

The RUC accusing the Irish National Liberation Army of a murder, using a weapon known to be in the hands of the CIRA and after the INLA has been on cease-fire for over three years, may well be an attempt to extend this net even further, to impede financial support to the Irish Republican Socialist Movement as well.

If the present US/British military campaign is allowed to go forward unchecked and the associated assault on civil liberties continues to meet with no serious opposition, the imperialists will have succeeded in making it difficult for anyone to challenge their monopoly over the use of armed force around the globe.

All anti-imperialists must recognise the serious threat being aimed at the heart of the organisations throughout the world prepared to direct armed resistance against the imperialist nations and their assets. Beyond that, we must collectively struggle to thwart the imperialists' attempts to remove the last enemy capable of inflicting armed attack against them, or those engaged in non-military resistance today, will find themselves subjected to similar tactics down the road.

The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America calls upon all anti-imperialists to recognise the campaign now having been launched and take all actions within their power to combat it, before it becomes too late.