State Department to Sanction China and Russia for Human Trafficking

Here we go again. The US State Dept. is ramping up the anti-China and anti-Russia propaganda mills. Now they're charging that both China and Russia are among the worst offending countries on human trafficking, a designation that will lead to sanctions against both countries. Give me a break. This is a purely political canard. Who defines what constitutes human trafficking and who determines what various countries, including the USA, are doing to combat it? If anything the US should rank at the top of the list what with our millions of undocumented immigrants, and the sex trafficking evidenced by all the massage parlors employing foreign sex slaves, and pimps with young, under-age run away girls, plying their trade in our inner cities and suburbs. Just watch cable TV to see nearly daily exposes of our illicit sex trade. What about the 2 million plus incarcerated in our jails, warehoused by the prison-industrial complex, getting paid pennies per hour for their labor? What about all the indentured nannies and migrant workers in the good ole USA, getting paid a pittance and often living in conditions not much better than slavery? Are we going to impose sanctions on ourselves?

The Daily Beast reports that “Secretary of State John Kerry, who made the final determination, wrote in the introduction to the report. "Human trafficking undermines the rule of law and creates instability. It tears apart families and communities. It damages the environment and corrupts the global supply chains and labor markets that keep the world’s economies thriving ... We also have a moral obligation to meet this challenge head-on." Yes we do Mr. Kerry and we should meet the challenge head-on right here at home before we start accusing others for transgressions we engage in. Kerry went on to state, “Ending modern slavery must remain a foreign-policy priority. Fighting this crime wherever it exists is in our national interest," Yes, Mr. Kerry ending modern slaving must be a priority, a domestic priority. What about our trafficking in “illegal immigrants?” We make a big stink about our opposition to illegal immigration, but everyone knows that our government and the business interests that back it has turned a blind eye to illegal immigration for decades. Our government has in fact been aiding and abetting illegal immigration, allowing the trafficking of millions of impoverished immigrants across our borders, as it serves the interests of American business for a low-wage subservient work force that is not subject to labor protections and can be used to depress wages across the board. This has frequently led to the death of immigrants on the scorching hot no man's land along our southern border with Mexico. So if we are talking about human trafficking let's get serious and start by giving immigrants legal status so they're not subject to labor exploitation and summary deportation. Let's raise the minimum wage so that millions of low-wage workers are not forced to live in subjugation to their corporate bosses. How about ending the war on drugs, which disenfranchises and sends millions of young men of color to jail for their attempts to self-treat their PTSD brought on by the institutional racism they encounter when growing up? How about giving amnesty and jobs to the millions who have been incarcerated as a result and now are denied employment opportunities or the right to vote? China and Russia certainly have problems of human trafficking within their borders and I'm sure they are making attempts to address the issue. To posit China's one-child birth policy and migrant labor issues as contributing to human trafficking within its borders is disingenuous at best. The report reeks of Cold War politics and the continued effort to demonize both China and Russia as their global roles become more decisive in the US contention for hegemony in the Pacific Basin and the Middle East.