p Since the turn of the century the US imperialists have been using their "dollar diplomacy" to implement their economic and political schemes on the world scene. This specific brand of diplomacy boils down to an extensive use by the
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137 Table 19 years 1964 1965 1067 1968 1969 1970 1971* 1972* 4,131 1 ,564 220 15 5,005 1,592 232 27 5,307 1,673 184 44 4,575 1,890 146 36 4,083 2,095 117 36 3,565 1,756 103 3,185 1,577 97 2,958 1,575 62 5,930 6,856 7,208 6,647 6,331 5,424 4,859 4,595
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US monopolies of financial levers to attain their expansionist goals. In Latin America the dollar diplomacy went hand in hand with the notorious Monroe Doctrine, in the Far East and Asia it complemented the "open doors" policy, while in Canada it took the form of massive export of capital aimed at exploiting Canada’s fabulous natural wealth and subordinating her economy to the US interests.

p After the First World War, when the USA became the financial centre of the capitalist world, its ruling circles stepped up their policy of dollar diplomacy. No longer satisfied with their operations in the peripheral areas of the capitalist world, until then the principal object of the expansionist drive of the young but rapidly developing US capital, they proceeded to use this diplomacy on a global scale.

p The dollar diplomacy assumed an especially wide scope following the Second World War when the United States, having become the economic, financial and political centre of the capitalist world, sought to dictate its will to the world. Taking advantage of the post-war economic dislocation and instability in the West European countries the US imperialists began to interfere directly in their internal affairs under the guise of aid and strengthening the defences of the "free world" against the "communist menace”.

p In the post-war period, the US imperialists implemented several foreign aid plans, including the Marshall Plan, "technical aid" under Point 4 of the Truman Doctrine, and the Military Assistance Programme (approved by the US Congress in 1949). In 1952 the different programmes of economic, technical and military aid were brought together and all foreign aid began to be governed by the Mutual Security Act which was later replaced by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

p The US renders foreign countries varied “assistance”, including military, economic and technical. All foreign aid programmes serve the strategic, military, political and economic interests of US imperialism. The bulk of this “aid” goes to finance, directly or otherwise, the military and military-economic measures carried out by countries which follow in the wake of US foreign policy.

p By its military foreign assistance programme the USA directly contributes to the military development of its allies by supplying military equipment (often obsolete), and extending them help in training their military personnel and in military construction, and by financing military purchases by its allies in the United States and other allied countries. US military assistance enabled many of the US allies to reequip their armies almost completely with American-made weapons and materiel.

p The USA trains foreign military personnel on a wide scale. For instance, in 1961 over 5,300 foreign military trainees attended Army courses in the United States and another 3,375 received training in US Army centres overseas under the military foreign assistance programme.  [138•1  In addition, US military instructors train a large number of foreign servicemen in their own countries. Other forms of US military aid to its allies include joint development and production of military equipment, construction of a variety of military facilities and installations, etc.

p US foreign aid is used not only for direct but.also for indirect military financing, since the US Government provides it on terms that compel the recipient countries to maintain 139 large armed forces and spend for military purposes considerable sums out of their own funds. Between July 1945 and June 30, 1971 the USA gave foreign countries a total of 150,000 million dollars’ worth of assistance, of which military aid accounted for 42,000 million dollars and economic and other assistance, for 108,000 million.

p The last ten years have seen drastic changes in the geography of US foreign aid. In the early post-war years most of it went to Western Europe, later to the developing countries of Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. At present, about 80 per cent of all US economic aid goes to only twenty countries, and military assistance to just a few. The West European states, with the exception of Spain, do not receive US economic aid at all and only some of them get small military aid diminishing in size and share. Between 1945 and 1957, the share of Western Europe in the total US military aid was 56.4 per cent; in 1959/60, 34.6 per cent; in 1963/64 a mere 19.1 per cent.  [139•1  The US ruling circles consider that the West European countries have regained their economic strength to be able to finance their military activity out of their own funds. Accordingly the USA has withheld its subsidies and supplies under its military aid programme, now limited to fulfilling its commitments to NATO and to training its military personnel.

p In 1966/67 military aid to South Vietnam was transferred from the military foreign assistance programme into the Defence Department budget. In 1967/68, the same was done with regard to military aid to Thailand. Military foreign assistance for 1971/72 was officially slated to total 1,025 million dollars, i.e., 294 million more than in 1969/70, but, adding military aid to South Vietnam, the figure must be much more. The latest tendency towards increasing US foreign aid is linked with the Nixon Doctrine, one of whose main objectives is to make the US partners receiving American aid increase their military expenditures and get them to act in the interests of the US imperialists.

p The survey carried out by the US Congress revealed that the actual volume of foreign military “aid” is several times 140 larger than officially stated by the government. According to Congressional data, for example, the actual sum of this aid was about 4,000 million dollars in fiscal 1971 and along with arms sales, about 7,000 million dollars.

p By extending “assistance” and playing on the common class interests of the capitalists in all countries and their fear of the growing world socialist system, the US ruling circles have succeeded in knocking together several aggressive military blocs and concluded many bilateral military-political agreements spearheaded against the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. The USA has obtained from its allies permission to set up its military bases and station its forces in their territories, and is pressuring them to maintain large armies, rearm themselves intensively and follow in the wake of the US imperialist policy.

p By providing assistance, the United States secures new market outlets for American goods, new sources of raw materials and spheres of lucrative investment for US business interests. What is more, about 80 per cent of US foreign aid funds is spent within the United States anyway, which creates additional business opportunities for US monopolies. In this fashion, foreign aid provided at the expense of the American taxpayer secures for US corporations new sources of profit.

p Part of US foreign aid takes the form of loans. According to Dr. D. A. Fitzgerald, former Deputy Director of the International Co-operation Administration, 24.5 per cent of the assistance provided between July 1, 1945 and June 30, 1963 was in the form of loans  [140•1  whose share in recent years has increased to over 60 per cent.

p All this goes to show that US foreign aid is a highly profitable business for the USA and a great danger to its recipients.

p US government publications claim that foreign aid is of crucial importance for the security of the USA and the "free world”, furthering US national interests. The New York Times wrote that this aid goes primarily to countries bordering the socialist states and offering over 2 million men under 141 arms prepared for an emergency. Without this aid US military spending would have to be much greater to secure an equivalent contribution to the “defence” of the "free world”. The upkeep of a comparable number of American soldiers would cost the USA ten times more than its current military foreign aid,  [141•1  the newspaper said. The USA annually spends an average of over 5,000 dollars per serviceman, while Asian countries spend only 200-750 dollars. In 1963/64 the United States gave a total of 822,800,000 dollars’ worth of military aid to the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, South Vietnam and the Taiwan regime which had altogether 1,923,400 officers and men in active service. According to American estimates it would have taken 7,583,500,000 dollars to keep an equal US troop strength there.

The US ruling quarters regard foreign aid as a lucrative and effective investment in their ambitious military, economic and political programmes. The US Administration is taking steps to secure more privileged terms for its foreign aid to make it more effective as a tool of US interests, particularly in the military field.