The war, instigated by NATO’s relentless expansion and the global geopolitical and economic interests of US and European imperialism, is escalating toward a Third World War with potentially catastrophic consequences.
In the initial stages of virtually every war, the governments claim to be acting in self-defense and focus attention on the issue of who fired the “first shot.” This is usually followed by relentless atrocity propaganda aimed at demonizing the enemy. However, inevitably, as the casualties pile up and the initial expectations of both sides are frustrated, the deeper causes and driving factors are revealed. This is the case with the war over Ukraine.
As it enters its second year, the conflict has evolved into an open, even if as yet undeclared war of US and European imperialism, with its NATO satellites, against Russia. The lies are being stripped away. The war is not about the defense of Ukraine, let alone the defense of a non-existent Ukrainian “democracy.” It is, rather, an imperialist war, which has as its aim the military defeat of Russia, the removal of its government and the imposition of a puppet regime. This outcome is intended to place Russia’s vast natural resources under the direct control of US and European corporations, establish the domination of US imperialism over the Eurasian landmass and clear the path for war with China.
In pursuit of these aims, the US and NATO are crossing all their previously proclaimed “red lines.” In just the first two months of 2023, the US and European powers have announced the deployment or planned deployment of battle tanks, long-range missiles and fighter jets to Ukraine.
In his trip to Kiev and Warsaw this week, Biden reiterated that the goal of the war is a strategic defeat of Russia. The US government is not interested in negotiating a cease fire and the end of the conflict on terms that concede anything to Russia. The Biden administration has created a situation where there can be no retreat, because to do so would irreparably undermine its prestige and credibility, and lead to the breakup of NATO. Victory in this war has become an existential question for American imperialism.
Despite all the claims of major advances by Ukraine on the battlefield, the population of the vassal state is being bled white. While the US media boasts, without clear evidence, of massive Russian casualties, there is almost total silence on the horrific scale of Ukrainian losses. There are credible reports that place the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed at between 150,000 and 200,000. A generation of Ukrainian youth is being sacrificed by the neo-con warmongers in the Biden administration.
The situation for the Ukrainian masses, who are viewed as expendable, is profoundly tragic. Despite all the claims of major advances by Ukraine on the battlefield, the population of the vassal state is being bled white. While the US media boasts, without clear evidence, of massive Russian casualties, there is almost total silence on the horrific scale of Ukrainian losses. There are credible reports that place the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed at between 150,000 and 200,000. A generation of Ukrainian youth is being sacrificed by the neo-con warmongers in the Biden administration.
And notwithstanding all the propaganda efforts to glorify the Ukrainian regime, the ex-comedian Zelensky is nothing but a front man for the corrupt oligarchs who control the country and the neo-Nazis who are entrenched within the military. Without the massive infusion of money and armaments, the regime would not survive another week.
The incessant calls for the shipment of more advanced weaponry reflect the growing fears that the expected Russian offensive will result in the full-scale collapse of the Ukrainian army and regime. The situation Ukraine confronts is not one that can be resolved merely with tanks and aircraft. The deployment of NATO troops is necessary. The aim of Biden’s visit was to overcome divisions within NATO and to prepare public opinion for this next step.
As always, the actions of imperialism are justified with lies and hypocrisy. In his speech in Warsaw, Biden declared that “at stake in this conflict” is “the freedom of democracies throughout the world.” He delivered this speech before a meeting of the East European members of NATO, all of which are dominated by right-wing and authoritarian governments.
The fact that the Ukrainian regime and its military forces are saturated with neo-fascists is beyond dispute. The history of Ukraine is being rewritten on the basis of a narrative that promotes as a national hero Stepan Bandera, the fascist mass murderer and ally of the Third Reich who led the notorious Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.
The government of Poland, which invited Biden to deliver his address, is controlled by the far-right Law and Justice Party, which has criminalized speech and historical research into Polish anti-Semitism, while transforming Poland into a beachhead for US aggression against Russia. In an interview with Haaretz this week, Polish ex-President Lech Walesa noted that the state of democracy in Poland is so grave that it would require a “revolution in the streets with the use of force… That’s how far the Law and Justice Party has gone in destroying democracy and freedom.”
The Wall Street Journal, the newspaper of the American financial oligarchy, laid out the real issues in an editorial this week (“America’s Choice in Ukraine”). “The fastest route to peace,” the Journal stated, “is defeating Mr. Putin…” Wary of the absence of popular support for the war, the Journal counsels the Biden administration to “speak more directly to the Americans who are increasingly skeptical of the stakes in Ukraine, and ground his case for US support in core national interests, not Wilsonian flights about foreign ‘sovereignty’ and democracy.”
All discussion of the war in the US and European media is based on the propaganda narrative of an “unprovoked war,” unleashed without cause by the evil Vladimir Putin. All that occurred in the years and decades prior to February 24, 2022 is simply ignored. This war, unlike any other, is without historical causation.
In fact, the conflict with Russia is a continuation of an unending series of wars and interventions launched by American imperialism since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Faced with the protracted decline in its global economic position, including growing threats to the position of the dollar as the world reserve currency, and riven by internal crisis, the United States sees in its military power the means of maintaining its global hegemonic position.
The conflict with Russia was set into motion by the decades-long expansion of NATO up to the borders of Russia. In 2014, the US spearheaded a right-wing coup in Ukraine to overturn a pro-Russian government, which initiated the eight-year civil war in the east. In the eight years preceding the Russian invasion, Ukraine was armed to the teeth with tens of billions of dollars in military equipment, turning it into a de facto member of the NATO military alliance.
The governments are indifferent to the impact of their policies on masses of people. During the course of the now three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ruling class has implemented a policy that has led to the deaths of more than 22 million people. The US and NATO powers have responded to the catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria, which has killed as many as 150,000 people, with a collective shrug, as a brief disruption to the task at hand: the escalation of war...
Photo: Ukrainian servicemen of the 3rd Separate Tank Iron Brigade take part in an exercise in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023, the day before the one year mark since the war began © AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda.
Source: World Socialist Web Site.
