Imperialists renew lease on Indian Ocean bombing base
www.workers.org
An agreement made in October between British imperialism and the island nation of Mauritius over a U.S. military base in the Indian Ocean exposes how the U.S. capitalist class depends on military aggression to maintain a decaying U.S. hegemony worldwide. U.S. imperialist hegemony is reliant o

U.S. [neo]imperialist hegemony is reliant on an intricate global network of military bases, which are jumping-off points for [neo]imperialist wars and occupations, and as logistics hubs for the entire U.S. military supply chain. Their geographic spread allows for rapid deployments worldwide. This base system continues to expand, as evidenced by the current encirclement of China.

A vital base for U.S. geostrategy is Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago. Located in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Diego Garcia has housed

B-1 and B-2 bombers and B-52 Stratofortress bombers, which were used in Iraq and Afghanistan during the U.S. wars of aggression. The island was an early testing ground for drone technology.

On world maps the Chagos Islands are named, “British Indian Ocean Territory” (BIOT), giving no indication that Diego Garcia is a U.S. base. The French first colonized the islands governing them as part of Mauritius in the 18th century, bringing enslaved Africans to the Chagos Islands before ceding them to the British in 1814

Shortly before Mauritian independence in 1968, the British split Chagos from Mauritius to maintain its control over the archipelago under the newly created BIOT. (Al Jazeera, Oct. 3)

  • Comprehensive49@lemmygrad.ml
    4·
    6 days ago

    Funnily enough, the Indian Ocean territory is in charge of the .io top level domain. The continued existence of the TLD is in question, since Mauritius wants the Indian Ocean territory back.