Russian Tensions
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https://en.internationalism.org/content/17227/barbaric-war-intensifies
A barbaric war intensifies
While Russia is continuously pouring carpets of bombs on Ukrainian cities, at the end of the G7 meeting, organised in the bucolic setting of the Bavarian Alps, on 28 June, the representatives of the great “democratic” powers chanted the words of Macron in chorus: “Russia cannot and must not win!”, eager to express their fake indignation about the horror of the fighting, the tens of thousands of deaths and millions of refugees, the systematic destruction of entire cities, the execution of civilians, the irresponsible bombing of nuclear power stations, and the considerable economic consequences for the entire planet. By feigning fear, this band of cynics also sought to conceal the very real responsibility of the West in this massacre, in particular the destabilising action of the United States which, in its attempts to counter the decline of its world leadership, did not hesitate to stir up chaos and barbarism at the gates of the historic centre of capitalism.
The Ukraine trap set by US imperialism for Russian imperialism
Today the US and the other powers in the West present themselves as champions of peace, of democracy, and of poor innocent Ukraine faced with a shameful attack by the Russian ogre. If the horrors committed by Russian imperialism are more difficult to hide, neither the US nor Ukraine can be seen as “white knights”. On the contrary, they have played an active role in the unleashing and perpetuation of the massacre.
The Ukrainian bourgeoisie, corrupt to the bone, had already sabotaged the Minsk agreement of 1914, which implied, among other things a certain autonomy for the Donbass and the protection of the Russian language in Ukraine. Today it is acting in a particularly intransigent ‘fight to the end’ manner in the face of Russia; certain factions even envisage the reconquest of Crimea.
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2022-09-06/the-ukraine-war-is-a-war-against-workers-everywhere
The Ukraine War is a War Against Workers Everywhere
The war in Ukraine has already lasted about six months. Like earlier wars (Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Congo …) it already has the “never-ending” stamp on it. But there the similarity ends. Although the others involved the major imperialist powers (enough to increase the death toll) they were not direct super-power conflicts. But with massive NATO weaponry enabling Ukraine to hold the Russian advance, the war in Ukraine is just that. It is opening the way to an even wider imperialist war involving the two real contenders for global domination, USA and China.
Ukraine has been a zone of rivalry between Russia and the West since the fall of the USSR. Ukraine’s 30 or so rival monopoly capitalists (aka oligarchs) have fought over control of the state. In this fight they sought to get support either from Russia or the West (EU and NATO). This made it a pawn in the imperialist game. It brought its leading capitalists bigger yachts and London mansions, but made its population poorer, or forced workers to leave the country en masse. Today Ukraine is the scene of a more direct conflict between major imperialist powers. It is not a world war, but like many such conflicts in the past (the Balkan Wars 1912-13, the Spanish Civil War 1936-9), it is laying the grounds for one. These earlier wars were accompanied by propaganda preparations, based on patriotism or defence of democracy against fascism.
The War in Ukraine Opens the Way to Global Imperialist Conflict
No-one can fail to be stirred by the current horrors confronting the people of Ukraine, especially its working class. They are now going through the same torment of death and displacement as the victims of imperialist war in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere across the globe in recent years. However the war in Ukraine is different in that it defines more clearly the imperialist interests of the contending powers. It is also a war which will go on for a long time and there will be no negotiated peace. This may be a war on Ukrainian soil but it has enormous implications for the future. It is opening the way for a much more general conflict involving the leading powers on the planet. From the public and informal meetings we have held, and from reading the press of other political organisations, it is clear however, that not everyone sees this war in the same way as we do. Given the gravity of the current situation we feel duty bound to further explain why the Ukraine war has to be seen in the wider context of both inter-imperialist rivalry and a global crisis of the capitalist system.
“…Trumpist Republicans calling out proxy-war with Russia and NATO expansion is a classic example of a broken clock being right twice a day. But what’s driving this Trumpist opposition to proxy-war is an ideology that is incompatible with serious anti-war opposition: isolationism…Far Right politicians call for withdrawing from military alliances and wars that they see as costing the United States more than benefiting.”
It’s hard to take this paragraph seriously. Trump sent hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine and expanded Pentagon spending beyond its already obscene previous heights. He continued every one of his predecessor’s wars and tried to start new ones with Venezuela and Iran while threatening DPRK with a nuclear strike.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/09/15/btuv-s15.html
Former Western prime ministers propose military alliance with Ukraine
On Tuesday, a group of former prime ministers, foreign ministers and other high-level officials from NATO countries published a document effectively proposing a formal alliance between Ukraine and NATO countries that, if adopted, threatens to transform the proxy war in Ukraine into a full-scale conflict between NATO and Russia.
The document, titled the Kyiv Security Compact, was formally presented to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who endorsed it, called for its adoption and published it on the website of the Ukrainian presidency.
High-level former western officials meet to discuss the proposed alliance. (Credit: Office of the President of Ukraine)
The document calls for “the US, UK, Canada, Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Australia, Turkey, and Nordic, Baltic, and Central European countries” to make “legally and politically binding” agreements to ally with Ukraine in its ongoing war against Russia.”That resembles the “Baltic Alliance” the UK made with Sweden and Finland but not as strong because that agreement does commit UK to actual combat
I’m no international lawyer but when read, actual military intervention by Ukraine’s allies is not clearly mentioned
But we do know such agreements leave the protocols deliberately vague on purpose to be interpreted as seen fit and the use of foreign troops may well be intended.
It may help placate Ukraine to a ceasefire but I simply can’t see how this can reassure Russia and help bring it to peace-talks.
“On the front of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, desperate fighting continues,” was how prominent Russian news anchor Dmitry Kiselev started his weekly news show on Sunday. “The past week has probably been one of the worst so far.”
The Russian Ministry of Defense called Russia’s large-scale retreat around Kharkiv a successful regrouping operation.
https://www.dw.com/en/russians-debate-military-future-in-ukraine/a-63131313
Some want full mobilisation
The leader of the Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov, spoke to Russia’s lower house of parliament, saying the special military operation had escalated into a full-scale war.
“War and special operations differ radically,” he said. “A special military operation can just be ended. But you can’t just stop a war, even if you want to. You must go all the way. War only has two outcomes: either victory or defeat.”
Russia expert Mark Galeotti, said, “It would mean that firstly, the war isn’t going to plan.”
“And secondly, it’s going to alarm a lot of people for whom the war is a long way away,” he added. Until now, the war is being fought by professional soldiers, who are largely ethnically non-Russian. A mass mobilization would draw in many more ordinary Russian families.
A flying zone is an act of war against Russia. It is not the case of Iraq
I understand the risks of a no-fly-zone.
Everytime one has been exercised it was an act of war.
Russia is already threatening that supplying Ukraine with longer-ranged rockets would also be viewed an act of war, as a warning to the West.
Via Cde.Stafford’s Grist
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/arts-and-books/z-is-for-zombie-russias-meme-war-against-ukraine
“Historian Kamil Galeev, who has Crimean heritage, argues Putin is fighting a war of acquisition to build a Russian homeland retro-engineered on the dubious basis of the geographical spread of Old Russian and the reach of the Orthodox faith. Galeev, writing on Twitter, sees the Z-War as white supremacist, based on Russia’s idiosyncratic notions of Europe and Christianity. The war looks different through Russian eyes, because Russia has created its own memes about Europe and Christianity, as well as ideas about the subhuman swarms at its borders, to explain the war as a defensive action…Galeev believes Russians have a weaker sense of loyalty than westerners suppose. Patriotism is transactional, and there is no deep sense of traditional values. All that keeps Russia together is fear and favour from the state, and the threat of humiliation from the outside. ”
The Nuremberg Trial established that commercial and trade blockade is an act of war, and the western power for many years have been blocking many countries around the world, the imposition of blockage always fall in the working class, in the case of Russia also affect the workers, as it has been affecting Cuba, Iran, Venezuela and several other countries. The same ones that initiated the Nuremberg trial are the first ones who violated its principles and laws, therefore, their agreements and pacts are not worth the papers
“Historian” Kamil Galeev is a moron. Russia was perfectly happy with the status quo until the US engineered a fascist coup in Ukraine? How does this fact twash with the “historians” fevered imaginings?
“I understand the risks of a no-fly-zone.”
There already is a no-fly zone over Ukraine. It is enforced by Russia in case you hadn’t noticed.
Professor Lyle Goldstein authored a report—titled “Threat Inflation, Russian Military Weakness, and the Resulting Nuclear Paradox: Implications of the War in Ukraine for U.S. Military Spending”—for the Costs of War Project at Brown’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.
Goldstein’s paper explains that “Western strategists have a long tradition of overinflating Russia as a threat.”
The report says, “Russia is a weaker conventional military power than many in the U.S. had imagined; thus, there is no additional cause for intensified fear of a Russian military threat to the U.S. nor for the resultant expansion of the Pentagon budget.”
“Russia doesn’t seem to have a military that is capable of protracted, large-scale offensive action, let alone expeditionary operations, that could threaten U.S. national security,” the paper says, detailing poor performances by Russian aerial, cyber, ground, missile, naval, and space forces against Ukraine this year.
“Russian armies are completely unable to march on Paris or Berlin, let alone Warsaw or Bucharest now or in the foreseeable future. It is plain enough that they could not even conquer Kyiv,”
To end Russia’s war in Ukraine, the paper suggests pursuing “de-escalatory approaches,” including “direct talks, reviving the arms control agenda, and pursuing military confidence-building measures between NATO countries and Russia.”
“The White House and Congress are fueling this war with a steady stream of weapons instead of pushing for talks to end the conflict,” said CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin. “That’s why we, the people, have to rise up with a demand of negotiations, not escalation.”
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