AT A summit last Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned his American counterpart Joe Biden that US support for Taiwanese independence is ‘playing with fire … and those who play with fire will get burned.’
In fact, the economic crisis of capitalism is forcing US and UK imperialism, with its plans for nuclear submarine fleets in the Pacific, to prepare for war with China.
All Biden could say was: ‘We need to establish common-sense guardrails to be clear and honest where we disagree, and work together where our interests intersect.’
Meanwhile, the United States and the European Union have vowed to slap on fresh sanctions against Belarus over the migrant crisis on the Belarusian border with Poland, and British PM Boris Johnson has been spelling it out that the EU must choose between ‘mainlining Russian gas and defending peace in the Ukraine’.
‘Defending peace in the Ukraine’ is shorthand for US and UK military intervention. Russia is understandably taking measures to defend itself.
In fact, the US has just condemned Russia for conducting a ‘dangerous and irresponsible’ missile test that it claims endangered the crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The test blew up one of Russia’s own satellites, proving in practice just what the imperialist powers are risking with their military and naval manoeuvres in the Ukraine.
As US State Department spokesman, Ned Price, said at a briefing yesterday: ‘Earlier today, the Russian Federation recklessly conducted a destructive satellite test of a direct ascent anti-satellite missile against one of its own satellites.’
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says he plans to deploy Russian nuclear-capable Iskander missile systems in the south and west of his country, amid the growing claims of Russian intervention.
Ukraine, meanwhile, announced drills and the deployment of 8,500 additional troops and police officers to its long northern border with Belarus and is to step up naval base construction in the Sea of Asov.
The fact is that just over a year ago, a serious effort was made to remove Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko via an internal coup. This failed, and now the US and the UK are planning new interventions driven by the economic crisis of the capitalist system.
The only way out of this crisis for the US and UK bosses is to successfully confront Russia and China as well as pauperising their own working classes at home.
The US is encouraging the Ukraine, with its naval manoeuvres in the Black Sea, to take military action against Russia.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Saturday that the country would speed up the construction of a naval base at the port city of Berdyansk on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov to prevent what Kiev claims is a gradual attempt by Moscow to take control of the strategic sea.
This is to make up for losing its military bases on the Crimean Peninsula, which rejoined Russia following a 2014 referendum. Russia categorically rejects the possibility of any attack by it, and accuses Washington of aggressive moves and increasing activity in the Black Sea, where Ukraine and the US are holding permanent military manoeuvres.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the recent US military actions in the Black Sea are ‘aggressive’, and ‘pose a threat to regional and strategic stability’.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claimed on Saturday that there are nearly 100,000 Russian soldiers near Ukraine’s border. He added that Western countries had shared information with Kiev about active Russian troop movements close to the Ukrainian border.
Meanwhile, Russian president Putin warned in an interview on Saturday: ‘The United States and its allies in NATO are carrying out unplanned exercises in the Black Sea. Not only is a rather powerful naval group involved in these exercises, but also aviation, including strategic aviation. This is a serious challenge for us.’
The essence of the situation is that the crisis of the capitalist system is forcing the US-UK to carry out imperialist wars.
In fact, the working classes of the UK, the EU and the US do not want a war provoked with Russia. They want a class war to smash capitalism and imperialism to go forward to worldwide socialism!
