May
22, 2023
On
Friday, against the backdrop of the debacle for the Ukrainian army in Bakhmut,
US President Joe Biden announced that the US has authorized members of the NATO
alliance to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
In
a cruel mockery of the victims of America’s war crime in Hiroshima, the leaders
of the world’s imperialist powers grinned and grimaced as they announced a
reckless escalation of a war that, just last year, Biden said threatened the
world with nuclear “Armageddon.”
The
deployment of the F-16 and other fighter jets will create an unacceptable and
untenable situation for Russia. F-16s have a range of more than 500 miles and
are capable of deploying missiles with a range of over 1,200, placing Moscow
and St. Petersburg within striking distance of the Ukrainian military.
Most
significantly, F-16s can carry tactical nuclear weapons. This sets up an
incredibly dangerous situation. With F-16s flying eastward, the Russian
government will not know where they are going or what they are carrying. Russia
will be compelled to escalate in return, setting the stage for an even more
aggressive response by the NATO powers.
The
Biden administration has rejected out of hand any ceasefire or attempt at a
peaceful settlement of the war—including one proposed by China. Rather, the
White House, in line with plans worked out months and years in advance, is
determined to press for the military defeat of Russia.
According
to official narrative, the decision to send F-16s was only made this week, with
a “reluctant” Biden finally “convinced” to take the action. The Washington Post
wrote, for example, “For more than a year, getting F-16s into the skies above
Ukraine for use against Russia has been Kyiv’s holy grail… Suddenly, President
Biden has said yes.
“The
turnaround, according to US, European and Ukrainian officials, is the result of
steady pressure from allies, Congress and Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky, who just completed visits to European capitals.”
This
is a lie, aiming to obscure the actual decision-making process in Washington.
While the Biden administration is operating with a systematic plan to escalate
the war, all of its actions are presented as semi-spontaneous, reactive
responses to external “pressure.”
In fact,
the US has been making active preparations to send F-16 jets to Ukraine for
nearly a year. In July 2022, the World Socialist Web Site reported that White
House spokesperson John Kirby confirmed that the Pentagon is discussing
“providing fighter aircraft to the Ukrainians,” and Air Force Gen. Charles Q.
Brown Jr. asserted that “discussions are ongoing” to send US-NATO fighters to
Ukraine.
Three
months ago, following Biden’s announcement that the US would send Abrams battle
tanks against Russia, the WSWS wrote that “despite Biden’s categorical
declaration that the United States will not send F-16 fighters to Ukraine, the
decision to do so has already been made. Nothing remains but the working out of
the political details within NATO and the launching of the media propaganda
campaign of lies to sell the decision to a skeptical public.”
And
that is precisely the process that has culminated over the past week.
The
charade in the media is aimed at obscuring the basic fact that, in each of his
promises not to escalate the war, the president was deliberately lying to the
public.
In
January 2023, Biden was asked, “Will the United States provide F-16s to
Ukraine?” to which he replied, “No.”
In
March 2022, Biden asserted, “The idea that we’re going to send in offensive
equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots
and American crews, just understand—and don’t kid yourself, no matter what you
all say—that’s called World War Three.”
One
year later, at least 100 American active-duty troops are in Ukraine, alongside
dozens of US tanks and hundreds of armored vehicles, and US fighter jets are on
the way.
Every
government in the NATO alliance knows that by providing nuclear-capable jets to
Ukraine—weapons that put Russia’s major cities in range of strikes—they risk
the deaths of millions of their own citizens in a nuclear war with Russia.
The
fateful decision to send the jets would have been made months in advance,
requiring the approval of the most powerful members of the NATO alliance. In
March, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz flew to Washington on short notice and met
with Biden alone, before flying directly back to Germany, with neither the
American or German public being told what they discussed.
It
is in such meetings that decisions are made. They are then announced to the
public at a convenient time, as a fait accompli, with the appropriate
packaging.
But
this raises an ominous question. If the decision to send F-16s to Ukraine was
taken months ago, it was taken at a time when the US-NATO proxy forces in
Ukraine were performing far better than they are now.
But
on Saturday, Russian forces reported that they captured the entire strategic
city of Bakhmut, under conditions in which a vaunted Ukrainian
counter-offensive has failed to materialize.
How
will the United States respond to this latest debacle? How much further can
Washington escalate? Can anyone doubt that, having sent Ukraine advanced
fighter jets, demands will emerge in the press for Biden to send “defensive”
nuclear weapons to Ukraine, or even for NATO troops, whether in the skies or on
the ground, to become directly involved in the fighting.
It
is such discussions, in fact, that were held behind closed doors at the G7
meeting. The summit over the weekend served two purposes: First, to bring into
line any dissidents in the cabal of imperialist conspirators, and second, to
discuss the overriding question: What next?
As
the WSWS warned on the occasion of the first anniversary of the war, “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.”
There
are no lengths to which the US and NATO powers will not go to ensure its
victory in this war. This government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has
shown that it considers the lives of American citizens to be as valueless as
the tens or hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians that have been killed in its
war. American imperialism is preparing a new bloodbath that will make Iraq and
Afghanistan pale in comparison.
The
working class must respond to the escalation of war through the escalation of
the class struggle. Throughout the world, workers are entering into struggle
against governments that are declaring that workers’ living standards must be
slashed to pay for rearmament. These struggles must be unified on the basis of
the perspective of international socialism, taking up as a central demand the
struggle to end the war in Ukraine.
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