THE past week has witnessed the massive escalation by US imperialism and its faithful allies in the UK and Europe towards an all-out war with Russia.
Last weekend US president Joe Biden, through a series of press releases, announced that he had given permission for the Ukrainian regime to launch long-range American ATACMS missiles at targets within Russian territory.
It didn’t take long for the fascist supported regime of Volodymyr Zelensky to grab this opportunity to spark a world war when the Ukrainians launched the first strike on Russia last Tuesday.
This marked the direct intervention of US military personnel, required to operate the missiles, in what has so far been a proxy war waged by the Ukrainian regime on behalf of NATO and western imperialism.
Biden’s drive to escalate the conflict into an all-out war before he is out of office in January next year was enthusiastically endorsed and supported by Labour prime minister Keir Starmer.
Following the lead of Biden, Starmer’s government gave its permission for Zelensky to use British supplied Storm Shadow missiles against targets inside Russia.
On Wednesday it was reported by the BBC that Storm Shadow missiles had been fired, something Starmer refused to confirm for ‘operational reasons’, while Labour defence secretary John Healey told Parliament: ‘Ukraine’s action on the battlefield speaks for itself.’
In fact, the actions of the Biden and Starmer governments speak for themselves to the working class of America, Britain and Europe, and the clear message is that they are driving for a world war right now.
The urgency behind these preparations is widely believed to be the uncertainty surrounding the plans by Donald Trump for when he becomes US president on January 20, 2025.
Trump has pledged as a priority, ending the war being waged by Ukraine and which, as is rapidly becoming apparent, is being lost despite all the weapons and billions spent on keeping it going.
Biden is now attempting to create the ‘facts on the ground’ that would make this impossible. This is the driving force propelling the escalation to a world war that would engulf Europe and with the very real prospect of spreading rapidly throughout the world.
It is clear that the NATO imperialist war machine has been preparing for a war to try to inflict a massive military defeat on Russia even before the latest approval of missile attacks on Russian soil.
This month, thousands of NATO troops are taking part in its largest ever artillery exercises in Finland’s Arctic region just 70 miles from the Russian border.
This is part of NATO’s largest artillery exercise (dubbed Dynamic Front 25) ever held in Europe, and it will include a total of around 5,000 soldiers from the US, UK, Sweden, France and other NATO countries.
Driving this rapid escalation towards a world war – a war that holds the real prospect of becoming a nuclear Armageddon – is the economic collapse of the world capitalist system.
In its desperation to regain control of the lands denied to capitalist exploitation by the Russian and Chinese revolutions, capitalism in its final degenerate imperialist stage is prepared to risk nuclear annihilation for humanity to achieve its aims.
The imperialist nations have failed to weaken Russia through Ukrainian military action and sanctions, and in a final throw of the dice are preparing for a World War that threatens to destroy the planet.
The burning issue today is for the working class to intervene by using its massive strength to put an end to imperialist wars, by putting an end to capitalism .
In the US, UK and Europe, workers must order their trade union leaders to take action, and remove them if they won’t, to stop a new major imperialist war by organising immediate mass political and general strikes to bring down their capitalist governments and bring in Workers Governments and socialism.
Capitalism in its final imperialist stage cannot advance humanity, but it can certainly destroy it, in the never ending quest for profit and world domination.
The immediate task today is the building of sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International in every country to advance humanity by consigning capitalism to the dustbin of history through the victory of the World Socialist Revolution!
