Time is running out.
Imperialism’s drive to war in Europe has increased the possibility and likelihood of nuclear war. Let there be no confusion: there is no such thing as a limited or tactical nuclear war. Once used, a nuclear war will kill tens of millions of people immediately and hundreds of millions more through the nuclear winter that will follow. Once a nuclear war starts, the only end is annihilation.
NATO – now in every respect US imperialism’s global army – has effectively surrounded Russia by pressuring almost every one of the European states on Russia’s western and southern borders to join NATO or face the consequences in a “with us or against us” war on Russia that threatens Europe and the whole world.
Russia’s response has been to call up 300,000 reserves and to annex the Donbas region and parts of Crimea, which will lead to a longer war, more deaths and destruction, and more opportunity for a nuclear war, by mistake or otherwise. What’s needed more urgently than ever is a ceasefire, withdrawal of all foreign troops and weapons in the region, and genuine negotiations to secure a political solution.
We are on the edge of a precipice and the need for a massive peace movement to prevent nuclear war and to demand a cease-fire and a negotiated political settlement in Ukraine cannot be underestimated. We must act now to rebuild peace sentiment, mass protests and actions for peace and disarmament.
This means giving full attention to exposing Canada’s role as a warmonger and part of NATO’s strategy to isolate and overthrow the governments of both Russia and China as it seeks to take control of the rich resources, markets and global influence of both countries. This drive to war is US imperialism’s effort to restore its hegemony as the dominant imperialist power in the world. It’s the reason US imperialism is becoming ever more aggressive and violent globally, and internally with the rise of far right and fascist movements which continue to gather and organize around Donald Trump and the most reactionary sections of capital, the police and the military. The drive to war also suits the US military industrial complex which makes enormous profits from US wars around the world, whether initiated by the Republicans or the Democrats.
War propaganda floods the airwaves in Canada through the CBC and private corporate media – both Canadian and US – which dominate Canada’s airwaves, print and social media. This is intended to build support, not for peace, but for continuing the war indefinitely.
Further, US pressure and Parliament’s unanimous support for a Canadian foreign policy of war and aggression have facilitated the Liberal government’s commitment to increase spending on NATO and NORAD, to proceed with the purchase of fighter jets and warships, and to send endless amounts of money, troops and weapons to Europe to support the war in Ukraine.
Canada’s support for the war is also connected to the profits to be made by cutting off the supply of Russian oil and gas to Europe and replacing it with lucrative oil and liquid natural gas (LNG) imports and sales from Canada. The gas leaks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 lines were clearly not an accident, but deliberate. To know who caused them is to ask who benefits. The answer is imperialism and the North American oil companies it represents. Those who will lose are the people of Europe who are already the victims of sky-rocketing gas and oil prices caused by the war and by the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines to Europe.
A further recent provocation is the call by the US that Russia be removed from the UN Security Council. This is an obvious attack on Russia, but it is also an assault on the United Nations which the US has long identified as an obstacle to its global ambitions, its aggression and wars. US imperialism’s goal of dominating the world is hampered by the UN, despite its democratic shortcomings and the power wielded over it by the imperialist powers.
The US push for Russia’s removal is in fact a push to militarize international relations, to dissolve the United Nations and render the international community powerless against imperialism and NATO. We stand for strengthening and democratizing the United Nations, and for strengthening its role in support of political solutions, for global peace and disarmament, for climate justice, for global economic and social development, and for the right of nations and states to self-determination and sovereignty.
But the proxy war in Ukraine is not the only war being pursued by US imperialism. US sanctions and military provocations against China, DPRK and Cuba also threaten the sovereignty of these countries, socialism and global peace and security. The same is true of the undeclared economic and political wars against Venezuela, Nicaragua, Iran, Syria and many other countries suffering under US and Canadian sanctions and military provocations.
Pelosi’s confrontational visit to Taiwan in August was partnered with US fighter jets scrambling over the Taiwan Straits, on top of new and false allegations of genocide against China’s Uyghur population and the continuing campaign against Hong Kong and China’s “one country, two systems” policy which both the US and Canada claim to recognize. Canada’s support for these inflammatory US actions was made worse by the unilateral decision to send a delegation of Canadian parliamentarians to Taiwan in support of Taiwanese independence. This is an infringement of China’s sovereignty and a provocation that could lead to a military confrontation, as Pelosi’s visit showed, or to war.
These actions follow on the heels of the AUKUS agreement, involving Australia, the US and the UK, which will result in a nuclear-powered submarine fleet built in and operating out of Australia, whose purpose is to patrol and provoke conflict with China in the South China Sea and possibly with DPRK and Vietnam in southeast Asia.
The crisis of capitalism is deepening, which is why they are trying to save it – once more – with war.
This is indeed a very volatile and dangerous time.
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