The ACP condemns the attack by the forces of the Russian Federation on Ukraine. The world stands shocked at this reckless act on the part of the Putin government and the loss of life and suffering among the peoples exposed to the conflict. This is not a battle between the progressive forces present in the region versus reactionary ones. Both sides represent the anti-people interests of rival imperialist powers determined to control resources and gain geo-political advantage.
Ukraine is a sovereign country that can choose to trade and ally itself with whomever it chooses. In this case, the servants of capital in parliament have chosen to side with the most aggressive and powerful imperialist bloc. Of course, the Russian Federation has legitimate fears that this will lead to the hosting of rival military forces and nuclear weapons on its border in preparation for a war for influence and resources. However, the decision to launch a “pre-emptive war” to head off this eventuality is hostile to the interests of the peoples living on the territory of Ukraine and beyond. It is ordinary workers and other exploited people who will suffer and the action cannot be justified.
The government of Ukraine is not a progressive or peace-loving one. It has stripped workers of their rights, including the right to form a Communist Party. It honours Nazi collaborators and besmirches the memory of the millions who died fighting fascism and defending socialism. But Putin’s government, the successor of the clearly traitorous Yeltsin one, is not a progressive force, either. Putin has cemented the power of the oligarchs (local monopoly capitalists) and continued the theft of the peoples’ collective property. It has pursued the most outrageous reactionary social agenda and cozied up to the most reactionary forces of the Orthodox Church.
It has been claimed by the pro-US media that Putin is nostalgic for the days of the Soviet Union and is seeking to reconstruct the USSR. This is a ridiculous claim. He was an opportunist who served without principle as a KGB officer and subsequently changed allegiances to the capitalist ruling class with consummate ease and great energy. There is nothing popular about the “peoples’ republics” established with Putin’s support in the majority Russian speaking regions of Ukraine.
The people of the world are right to condemn this resort to military aggression, but the US government and its servants in capitalist countries around the world have no right to self righteous condemnation. The examples are many but it’s enough to recall the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The government of Saddam Hussein was not to the liking of those powers but it was by their own definitions the recognised government of a sovereign country. The bogus excuse for the invasion that cost over a million lives was the alleged existence of “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq. No such weapons existed but the destruction and resource stripping continued. For the US and puppets like the Australian government to talk about the rights of sovereign countries is sick and dishonest. People must not be fooled by this cynical manipulation.
Workers the world over must work to stop “their” governments fomenting and waging war on their working class brothers and sisters. They must recognise their class interests, including that of a future of peace and mutually beneficial relations and not be drawn into the war hysteria being generated. Australian workers must struggle for the country to be removed from the US alliance as part of their struggle for a socialist society.
The easy answer is the enforcement of the Minsk protocols but Ukraine (and the US) won’t have that.
I think this is bigger than the Donbas thought. This is about NATO/American encroachment and Russia taking a stand. This whole thing has been caused by the US turning it’s allies in Europe and Ukraine against peace time and time again, presumably with the promise that Russia was just bluffing or that the US would intervene to defend. Well Russia wasn’t bluffing, and it turns out the West has nothing to respond with but headlines. Now Nordstream 2 is ruined, they’re talking about cutting one of the largest economies in the world out of the market, and Zelensky and Ukraine are fucked. Unless the US intervenes, Russia has shown what NATO and cooperation with Americans is actually worth - nothing.
All of the world is looking at America and realizing it will not protect them. America’s adversaries are realizing that they can beat Goliath. The US is a decrepit failing empire surviving on promises it cannot keep and Russia is demonstrating it before our very eyes.
Russia has shown what NATO and cooperation with Americans is actually worth - nothing.
just blanket disagree with this. can’t see how having a non NATO state be invaded in this way does anything but strengthen NATO. there’s no chance under heaven that Russia would have made a direct attack on a NATO member.
to whatever degree people thought that NATO was a bit of a relic its become incredibly current, I know people are always looking for little glimpses of the fall of American hegemony but this has done nothing for it at all.
Being a MEMBER of NATO still has benefits. But all this batting of eyelashes shit just puts a target on your back and they’ve shown they won’t come to help you when the shit hits the fan.
The thing with Donbas is that at this point they are puppets. All of the non Russian nationalist factions have been expelled or killed by Russian forces. The leaders of the 2 biggest groups have Russian special forces connections and also doing over border attacks.
Not mentioning Donbas is actually a very smart move in this. Just like them leaving out the Nazi connections in Russia. It focusses on the known facts.
Except it’s not a viable comparison. Unless Hamas was founded by an Iranian special forces member with connections to special forces and actively was trying to incorporate Palestine into Iran via peovoctuon and murdering and destabilizing all other groups.
Putin had 7 years to do anything to protect Donbass it’s not a coincidence things escalated there now. Same goes for Ukraine all are at fault.
your right it’s all shit but Donbass is the most shit crazy part of this. And leftists siding with Russia instead of doing what the ACP response is/revolutionaey defeatism is crazy.
But this invites the question of whether such hesitation would also give time for US/NATO-led operations to establish a formidable counter-attack against Russian forces, ending with even more unnecessary deaths.
surely the answer to this is no? why would a NATO response to a limited war be stronger than the response to what seems like a full invasion? both sides know that everything is fucked if NATO troops and Russia come to blows
I’m with you. The Ukrainian government was shelling Donbas literally right before Russia committed. If we imagine for a moment that the UN was an actual global peacekeeping organization and went in to protect civilians, they would be doing pretty much what Russia is doing only with blue helmets.
But the UN isn’t a global peacekeeping organization, and neither is the Russian military. There is no response possible within the dysfunctional, competitive and hyper capitalist global system except somebody invading and pushing their self interest alongside whatever amount of “peacekeeping” they take upon their own shoulders. And in this case, Russia blinked first, because Ukraine is right on their doorstep and they want it to be stable so that they can trade with Europe through it.
If we imagine for a moment that the UN was an actual global peacekeeping organization and went in to protect civilians, they would be doing pretty much what Russia is doing only with blue helmets.
that’s a fucking mad statement my dude. in what world would it be a good idea for peacekeeping forces to launch a full invasion of a country that has experienced regional, sporadic and fairly low level shelling? that’s happening all over the world all the time.
If you were to take the shelling serious, and issue the Ukrainian government an ultimatum like “stop killing civilians or we’ll stop you”, and they continued the shelling - the only way to stop them would be with military force.
but nobody who condemns Russian invasion of Ukraine seems to offer an alternative solution to how the security of the Donbass regions could have been secured. […] The situation is far more complicated than a simple condemnation
This is true. All we can say is that security won’t be coming from military units under the command of the bourgeois dictatorship. We can all say what we hope for, but that is not the same as offering a solution. This is exactly the question that should be driven at.
I think the fog of war needs to clear a bit before more concise plans can be reasonably laid out in detail though.
It doesn’t help that china, the only nominally socialist country that has influence, is uninterested in offering alternative solutions. I understand why they stand with Russia, but it’s gonna require a lot of work for any alternatives to be taken seriously by anyone without that powerful support
