July
28, 2023
This
week, Ukraine began a major new phase of its offensive in the US-NATO war
against Russia, resuming armored attacks against well-defended trenches.
The
New York Times reported, based on statements from US officials, that “the main
thrust of Ukraine’s nearly two-month-old counteroffensive is now underway.”
Russian
President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, “I can confirm that hostilities have
intensified in a significant way,” saying a “large number” of Ukrainian armored
vehicles were used, incurring “heavy losses.”
Following
a bloody debacle in the first phase of the offensive, which had forced a
temporary pause of Ukrainian attacks, Ukrainian conscripts are once again being
thrust into well-defended front lines, dying by the thousands in minefields and
trenches.
Ukraine
has suffered enormous human losses, and the war continues only because it is
being massively armed by NATO. Whatever meager gains Ukraine is making in
isolated areas of the vast front have required a reckless expenditure of lives.
Ukrainians are dying for no other purpose than to advance the interests of the
imperialist powers.
The
latest escalation follows the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, where NATO
members pledged to deploy tens of thousands of troops to Russia’s western
borders and to massively increase military spending to finance the conflict
with Russia and China.
With
the war going badly and public opposition in Ukraine growing, Ukrainian
President Zelensky was given his marching orders at the summit: The offensive
must continue, no matter the cost in human lives.
For
months, the US media had promoted the “spring offensive” as a decisive turning
point in the war that would deliver a shattering defeat for Russian forces.
But
the debacle has been so enormous that even the US media has been forced, after
weeks of silence, to acknowledge it as a disaster.
Last
week, the Wall Street Journal reported, “When Ukraine launched its big
counteroffensive this spring, Western military officials knew Kyiv didn’t have
all the training or weapons… that it needed to dislodge Russian forces. But
they hoped Ukrainian courage and resourcefulness would carry the day.
“They
haven’t. Deep and deadly minefields, extensive fortifications and Russian air
power have combined to largely block significant advances by Ukrainian troops.”
The
New York Times was even more direct in an article that was first buried, then
heavily redacted. It reported on a Ukrainian unit with a “200 percent” casualty
rate, meaning that all of its members were killed or injured, then replaced
with recruits, all of whom were also killed or injured.
It
described young soldiers killed en masse, with “replacements often being older
recruits who were forced into action.”
In
Ukraine, much of the entire able-bodied population is under arms, compelled to
fight by a draconian regime of conscription.
The
war is being directed by the US and NATO powers, and the bloodletting must
continue. The Economist wrote on Thursday (“The Ukrainian army commits new
forces in a big southward push”), “Some American and European military
officials argue that Ukrainian commanders have in fact been too slow to strike
with their new brigades, a mistake that they think Ukraine committed last year
in Kherson...”
It
quoted US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley as stating, “The various
wargames that were done ahead of time have predicted certain levels of
advance,” but that “has slowed down.”
Pressed
by the imperialist powers, Ukrainian generals have decided to “throw in fresh
legs,” a euphemism the Economist uses to describe Ukrainian soldiers, young and
old, being sent to their deaths.
As
the war progresses, the pretense that the US is fighting in the name of
“democracy” is falling away.
On
Thursday, US President Joe Biden met in the White House Italian Prime Minister
Giorgia Meloni. Biden declared, “Italy and the United States are also standing
strong with Ukraine, and I compliment you on your very strong support in
defending against Russian atrocities, and that’s what they are.”
Meloni
is an open admirer of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. She
notoriously declared, “I think Mussolini was a good politician,” adding,
“Everything he did, he did for Italy.”
In
a speech following the end of this month’s NATO summit, Biden declared, “Our
commitment to Ukraine will not weaken. We will stand for liberty and freedom
today, tomorrow, and for as long as it takes.” “Liberty” through an alliance
with fascists, in Ukraine as well as in Italy, and “freedom” through mass
slaughter.
This
commitment to endless war entails endless escalation. On Thursday, Reuters
reported that US M1 Abrams main battle tanks would begin arriving in Ukraine in
August and September, to be followed by F-16 fighter jets by the end of this
year.
This
is the outcome of a series of escalatory measures by the United States
throughout the past year. The year began with the announcement that the US
would send Bradley armored fighting vehicles to Ukraine, followed soon after by
the sending of main battle tanks. In May, the White House announced it would
send F-16 fighters, followed by cluster munitions.
According
to leaked Pentagon documents made public earlier this year, there are hundreds
of US and NATO active duty military and intelligence personnel on the ground,
accompanied by what are likely hundreds, or possibly thousands, of “volunteers”
from NATO countries.
On
Wednesday, the Biden administration ordered the US government to begin handing
over documents to the International Criminal Court to facilitate the
prosecution of Putin.
This
move follows extensive internal debate over whether this action would open up
the United States, which has killed millions of people in criminal wars of
aggression, to prosecution by the court, whose jurisdiction it does not
recognize.
The
White House has decided, however, to move ahead with the prosecution, with the
aim of upping the ante in the military conflict. A military defeat for Russia
would mean, in other words, the prosecution of Putin at the hands of the
American victors.
The
goal of this action is to preclude any negotiated settlement, which the United
States has opposed from the beginning. The US is determined to inflict a
strategic defeat on Russia as a precursor to moves to dominate and subjugate
China.
Whatever
the outcome of the latest offensive, it will be a catastrophe for the people of
Ukraine, Russia and the world. If the offensive continues as a bloody debacle,
it will mean the deaths of countless thousands of Ukrainian conscripts sent
against the front as cannon fodder. If Ukraine succeeds in breaking the Russian
front line and driving through to cut off the Crimean Peninsula, it could
generate enormous political pressure on the Russian government to escalate
through the use of nuclear weapons.
This
war, which has already killed hundreds of thousands of people, must be stopped!
The escalation of the war corresponds with the eruption of a global strike
wave, including dock workers in Canada, US actors and screenwriters, and
looming battles at UPS, Yellow Freight and the North American auto industry.
It
is necessary to combine the growing struggle by workers in defense of their
social rights with the fight against war and militarism.
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