18-03-2024: French President Emmanuel “Napoleon” Macron floated the previously unthinkable towards the end of February, by openly discussing the idea of sending NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) troops into Ukraine to fight Russia. However, even NATO allies of France such as the United States of America (US), Germany, Britain, Italy, Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic all swiftly distanced themselves from this idea.[1] If NATO troops do officially enter Ukraine, a direct confrontation with Russia becomes inevitable. Yet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz inadvertently and publicly revealed that, in fact, NATO troops are already in Ukraine. Speaking on his current reluctance to send longer range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine (with a 500 klm range that can reach Moscow), Scholz blurted out that Britain and France already have troops on the ground in Ukraine, which have the task of target control for Britain’s Storm Shadow and France’s Scalp cruise missiles.[2] In addition, in January Russia denounced France for having mercenaries in Ukraine on the French payroll, when they claimed to have struck a building in Kharkiv which killed around 60 “foreign fighters”.[3]

“Mandatory Russophobia”

The crazed thought balloon from Macron of officially sending NATO troops to Ukraine is a reflection of Western imperialism’s current dilemma. With the Nazified remaining Ukrainian state losing a war it could never win, NATO and the EU (European Union) states must either decide to end the war by walking away – or significantly escalate it by intervening itself. The anti-Russia propaganda barrage from the West is taking the form of a kind of “mandatory Russophobia”. The EU’s most recent round of sanctions target anyone connected in any way to Russia’s defence and security sector, including companies and people from Russia, India, Iran, China and Syria. 27 new entities have been added to a list of more than 600 already banned or sanctioned.[4] The cumulative effect of at least two decades of relentless hostility and demonisation of a major world power and almost all of its people will lead to a catastrophic war unless another path can be brought about by extraordinary means.

Donald Trump, who has a good chance of being elected to the White House in the US in November has promised to end the war in Ukraine “in 24 hours” by cutting Kiev off from US aid.[5] Of course, working people cannot rely on Trump or the Western political establishment in general, given its role in creating the problems in the first place. Yet even these creaking institutions are now acknowledging that the West cannot out-produce Russia in the form of military materiel. CNN, of all outlets, has reported that Russia is producing three times more artillery shells than the US and the EU combined.[6] One reason for this is not difficult to ascertain. The US and the EU run their defence industries on a for profit basis only, with weapons manufacturers producing only for million-dollar contracts. The Russian Federation, on the other hand, inherited its state-owned defence industry from the former Soviet Union. While it was privatised during the disastrous 1990s, for the last 20 years it has been firmly in state hands, despite the overall Russian economy running on a capitalist basis.

No to World War III

Workers have the power to stop the relentless Western imperialist drive to World War III, but it requires consistently anti-imperialist political leadership. It is far from helpful to plaintively complain about the role of imperialism in one arena (Israel/Palestine), while aiding its aims in others (Ukraine, Taiwan). In effect, all of these conflicts are only different fronts of the same war. The Middle East, Ukraine and the South China Sea are all connected proxy wars waged primarily by US imperialism and its allies, which have the ultimate aim of regime change in Iran, Russia and China. Yet they are also aimed at the BRICS bloc, which is currently an alliance of 10 nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ethiopia and Iran – with a reported 30 nations willing to join as soon as possible. The BRICS bloc is a genuine non-imperialist alliance which is able to offer both first world and third world nations an alternative path of development to centuries of Western colonialist plunder. Underpinned by the gargantuan manufacturing power of the socialistic People’s Republic of China (PRC), the West is thus aiming to kneecap BRICS before it really starts.

Unfortunately, in the West so-called left parties have led many mobilisations for Palestine with politics that absolves imperialism and its aims. While many who have marched genuinely want an end to Israel’s war on Gaza, the leadership has excused the terrorism of Hamas while justifying more violence. At the same time, they do not at all oppose regime change in Iran, nor in Russia, nor in China – albeit with some misgivings. At a time when one is desperately needed, “Stand with Palestine” in effect alibis imperialism, and is not an anti-war movement per se. For example, it could be an anti-imperialist anti-war movement IF it called for an end to weapons shipments to Israel and Ukraine and Taiwan. Then it would be clear – the world needs to stop Western imperialism across the entire global front of its assaults. It should also demand that NATO get out of Ukraine and stand for the defeat of NATO armed Nazi battalions. Without offering political support to the Russian government, it should stand for the military victory of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. Millions in the Global South, especially in Africa, instinctively sense that a Russian military victory in Ukraine will deal a severe blow to NATO and to Western colonialism itself, which many of them have endured for centuries.

In addition, the misleaders of “Stand with Palestine” in the West also stood with world imperialism when it imposed severe repression with the threadbare excuse of people’s health during “Covid”. At this time, they assisted Western governments with the suppression of elementary democratic rights, and now wonder why some of their protests are not allowed. What is more, this so-called left does not link imperialism’s wars abroad to the war at home – the drastic assault on living standards, with the cost of living being deliberately escalated. Poverty, insecurity and a housing crisis are but three results – but the faux left instead take only “moral” stands. ENOUGH! What is required is a genuine left, which can link the imperialist wars abroad to the day-to-day struggle at home against a collapsing capitalism which cannot compete with a rising East. The struggle against war at home and abroad is at the same time the struggle for socialism. Genuine Marxist vanguard parties need to be forged to help lead working people to the future they deserve. NATO: GET OUT OF UKRAINE!

Workers League

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

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[1] www.reuters.com/world/europe/macrons-ukraine-troop-talk-shakes-up-nato-allies-2024-02-27/ (13-03-2024)

[2] www.globalresearch.ca/desperation-looms-over-nato-war-ukraine/5851811 (13-03-2024)

[3] https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/01/24/russian-lawmakers-adopt-resolution-slamming-french-mercenaries-in-ukraine_6461367_4.html (13-03-2024)

[4] http://www.journal-neo.su/2024/03/10/war-after-war-after-war-and-the-sanctioning-of-ww3/ (13-03-2024)

[5] www.rt.com/news/594072-orban-trump-ukraine-plan/ (13-03-2024)

[6] www.edition.cnn.com/2024/03/10/politics/russia-artillery-shell-production-us-europe-ukraine/index.html (13-03-2024)

Image: The French Napoleonic poodle stands little to no chance against the Russian bear.