The causes and significance of the fighters are often unclear at first. They are hidden by propaganda. However, sooner or later, however, the real and deeper driving force, and the true meaning of the conflict, is revealed.
As for the conflict in Ukraine, the nature of the war is revealed to a considerable degree. Ukraine is just the initial physical battlefield that is, at its core, a war between NATO and Russia.
The fact that Ukraine is not a member of NATO is essentially a fiction, and has been for several years. Ukraine, already heavily armed and with weapons flowing, is at the forefront of a war aimed at regime change in Moscow and NATO’s complete subordination to Russia.
Developments in recent days make this clear. These characteristics include:
First, the massive economic sanctions imposed by the United States and European powers aimed to cripple the entire Russian economy. Over the past 24 hours, significant Russian banks have been cut off from the SWIFT international payment system, while the assets of the Russian central bank have been effectively frozen.
Actions against the Russian central bank will have a very devastating and immediate impact on the entire Russian economy. A senior Biden administration official said Monday that the move would block access to “hundreds of billions of dollars” of bank assets. “The ruble is in free fall,” he floated, “and soon one will see inflation soar, and economic activity shrinking.” He described the sanctions as “our commitment to providing extraordinary power” to Russia.
One calculation of the imperialist powers is that the destruction of the Russian economy and its currency, the ruble, will deepen divisions within the Russian oligarchy and fuel economic discontent, thereby creating the conditions for regime change and even the dissolution of the state. New York Time Michael S. Bernstam, a researcher at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, quotes: “As long as people believe in currency, the country exists. Otherwise, the smoke will rise.”
Second, NATO countries supply advanced weapons systems directly to Ukraine. The United States has sent $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine over the past year, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday committed a new $350 million package. Washington is arming Ukraine directly with Stinger surface-to-air missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles. Ukrainian forces were already using advanced “shoot-and-forget” Javelin technology against Russian tanks, which were delivered to them by the United States in January, prior to the invasion.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Sunday that an additional $110 billion in funds would be provided to the German military, nearly double the annual defense budget, and that Germany would also provide direct military assistance to Ukraine. The machine of German imperialism, mobilized against the Soviet Union during World War II, is once again moving towards Russia across the fields of Ukraine.
The European Union (EU) is now also funding for the first time the procurement and supply of weapons to Ukraine.
Third, private combat troops are being sent from NATO countries to Ukraine, with government support. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj announced on Sunday that Ukraine would form an international legion for the country’s war against Russia, in which he said: “Anyone who wants to join the defense of Ukraine, Europe and the world, can come and fight side by side with Ukraine against war criminals.” Russia.”
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Sunday she “absolutely” supports British nationals traveling to Ukraine to serve there as fighters.
This network of mercenary deployments has been around since 2014. They have brought far-right elements into Ukraine and back to their homeland, where they are sometimes found guilty of terrorism based on white chauvinism and supremacist fanaticism. In Ukraine, the troops have cooperated with the Azov Battalion and the Georgian National Legion. The network is now receiving open assistance from British and American authorities. More than 60 such people, most of them retired from special forces, have traveled from Britain and at least six from the United States in the past week.
Fourth, US and European officials are increasingly reporting war-like statements that they are planning direct war with Russia. The Biden administration’s announcement last week of the deportation of another 7,000 US troops to Eastern Europe brought the total US deployments on the continent to more than 100,000.
Defense Department spokesman John Kirby was asked on Monday whether additional troops would be included in NATO’s “rapid reaction force”, which was activated last Friday, and replied: “If it is activated, we will be sure we are up and running.”
NATO and Ukraine are also considering whether to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, where US military forces would directly attack Russian aircraft. “We need the West to impose a no-fly zone over most of Ukraine,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Members of the US Congress, including Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, as well as British politicians, have demanded that the United States and NATO impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Fifth, it is a coordinated and violent anti-Russian campaign in the media. From social media to social media, the firefight of war propaganda is simply incredible. CNN presents a scathing report on alleged Russian atrocities, and New York Time dedicates most of its pages to printing. NBC correspondent Richard Engel posed on Twitter on Monday the question of whether the United States and NATO should destroy a Russian convoy marching outside Kyiv, even if it meant “direct engagement with Russia”.
Academics, both impressionable and dishonest, flooded Twitter with bitter hatred for Putin and Russia, while ignoring the fact that Ukraine’s military is full of far-right extremist and fascist forces.
The unbroken media salvo aims to create a climate of hatred directed at Russia and Russia. Allegations that the United States is not targeting Russians are refuted by the campaign to prevent Russian musicians and athletes from performing and competing at international events. This was combined with demands that Russian goods be removed from store shelves.
The main aim of this propaganda attack is to distract the population from the social crisis, soaring prices, and dizzying death toll from the pandemic, in an attempt to direct the anger of the masses behind the impetus of imperialist war.
Neither of these changed in any way World Socialist Website‘S opposition to the Russian government’s invasion of Ukraine. The Putin regime, representing the interests of Russia’s oligarchic factions, responded to the disastrous consequences of the dissolution of the Soviet Union by promoting Russian reactionary nationalism, combining threats and challenging duels with nuclear weapons with desperate attempts to forge a good, deal with American and European imperialism.
The invasion of Ukraine only divided the working classes of Russia and Ukraine, while at the same time creating confusion and popular disorientation in the imperialist countries, which the United States and NATO used to advance their war plans.
The longstanding goal of American and European imperialism to dismantle Russia intersects with what is now the main driving force behind the war fever: the enormous social and economic crisis in Washington and other capitals.
The escalation of this war threatens humanity with disaster. In such conditions, it is necessary not to be driven by emotions, and carried away by the propaganda of the capitalist government and the mass media, but to consistently analyze what is happening and on that basis develop an independent orientation for the working class. .
There must be a new mass anti-war movement, based on the international working class. However, this opposition must be developed as a conscious political movement for socialism. This meant the formation of the Fourth International Committee of the International (ICFI) and its affiliated Socialist Equality Party, in all countries.
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