War and peace - a Ukrainian tragedy

by Alan Stewart

Hubris: The Origins of Russia's War Against Ukraine by Jonathan Haslam, Bloomsbury 

2025. 368 pp RRP: paperback £10.99; hardback £27.99; eBook £8.79.

 

The war in Ukraine started in February 2022 and has been raging for nearly four years.

It is the biggest conflict fought in Europe since World War Two by far. It has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives – both civilians and combatants.

Jonathan Haslam is a widely respected history professor. In his latest, highly acclaimed book he attempts to explain what led to the Russian intervention.

He notes that on 9 February 1990 – at the end of the Cold War –  the US Secretary of State, the emollient James Baker, assured Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO's jurisdiction or forces would "not move one inch eastwards”. Yet in 1999 Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic all joined NATO.  It was the first wave of post-Cold War enlargement. NATO itself called it a "historic moment”. And then in 2004 the "big bang" enlargement brought in seven more countries. This included the Baltic states – the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. All this further deepened Russia's sense that it was gradually being isolated and encircled.

Then in 2008 NATO made known plans to accelerate entry for two other ex-Soviet states, Georgia and Ukraine. Plus there was evidence of US involvement in Ukraine's "Maidan Uprising" which began in November 2013 and which saw the toppling of the pro-Russian president Victor Yanukovych. Allegations persist that it was a CIA engineered coup.

In any case the Kremlin retaliated by annexing the breakaway autonomous Crimean republic that had left Ukraine to join the Russian Federation  and by, as the author says "fomenting a war in the Donbas region of Ukraine".

Which brings us up to the current day. The Russo-Ukrainian war is not exclusively, or even mainly, about Putin's territorial ambitions. Haslam shows that it is much more complicated than this and that the origins lie on the other side of the Atlantic. It is an interesting perspective and a fascinating read.

Love is in the Air

...or so many of us thought back in the 1970s when the forces of liberation were storming through the Global South and massive peace movements could march through the heart of the imperialist world to demand the end of imperialist wars. The words, now largely forgotten outside the ranks of Dundee United fans, were sometimes amended to “peace is in the air” in those halcyon days of the last genuinely Labour government that from time to time would pay lip-service to the cause of peace that commanded significant support amongst the labour movement of the day.
These days Starmer is seldom bothered by such niceties and rarely talks about peace except to justify more arms expenditure or the monstrous expense of our bogus nuclear strike force. Donald Trump is somewhat different. This immensely vain man does little to mask his determination to put the Nobel Peace Prize in his trophy cabinet. Behind his supreme ego lies the equally determined view of prominent circles within the American ruling class that want to “Make America Great Again” – largely at the expense of their own allies – while, at the same time, cut their losses on profitless wars in the Global South 
When the Soviet Union and its European allies went down in 1991 we were told to expect a “peace dividend” in return. The bourgeois gurus on both sides of the Atlantic talked about the “end of history” and predicted that the end of the Cold War would lead to massive cuts in Western defence spending that would usher in a new age of prosperity for everyone in the 21st century. What we actually got was regime-change invasions and a “new world order” of forever wars in the Global South amidst a global capitalist slump with still no signs of recovery on the horizon. And everywhere we look in the capitalist world we see unemployment, homelessness, poverty, drug abuse and crime. The symptoms of industrial decline, inflationary pressures, stock market volatility and economic stagnation. 
Trump’s Ukraine peace plan is a realistic response to the legitimate demands of the Russian Federation and if it ends the conflict in eastern Europe it will bring countless benefits to working people on both sides of the fence.
Sadly the same cannot be said for the Gaza plan, adopted by the UN Security Council last week, that established a ceasefire and laid-out a  vague framework for long-term peace between Israel and Hamas involving international support and a pathway to Palestinian statehood.
Though Trump did, indeed, bring a halt to the Israeli invasion – which is more that can be said for the Biden administration – the fighting still continues, albeit on a much smaller scale in the beleaguered Palestinian enclave. Trump certainly wants to bring the feudal Middle Eastern oil princes and the venal Arab politicians in their pay on board but all the Palestinians get are the usual platitudes which have always come to nothing in the past. 
The proposed “Gaza International Transitional Authority” – headed by The Donald himself –simply aims at replacing the Israelis and the Hamas administration with a government run by American nominees and an occupying army drawn from America’s regional allies while the Palestinians are merely expected to staff the admin sector and the auxiliary police force needed to cover this densely-populated Palestinian strip of land on the Mediterranean coast.
Sure there’s plenty of talk about Arab oil money transforming the post-war Gaza Strip into a millionaires’ playground. But there’s going to be no Arab Monte Carlo as long as millions of Palestinians are forced to live under Zionist bondage. And there’s going to be no peace as longs as the Palestinians are denied their legitimate right to freedom and independence.

Ukraine: A Search for Identity and Freedom

October 1944 - Red Army liberates Kiev

 by John Maryon

Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians are predominantly from the East Slav sub-group of the Slavic people.  Crimean Tatars form an important ethnic group of the population of Crimea.  The fertile lands of mineral rich Ukraine were for centuries shared between the Poles and the Mongols.  By 1500 the Ottoman empire had expanded and taken over South East Ukraine and Crimea.  In 1654, following years of conflict with the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Cossack leader of Ukraine pledged allegiance to the Czardom of Russia in exchange of protection. Russian influence increased and in 1797 Catherine the Great established the port city of Odessa and the region became an important part of the Russian Empire. 
Today most people have heard of the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale, Balaclava and the Charge of the Light Brigade.   It was an imperialist conflict for Middle East influence between Russia and an alliance of France, Britain and Turkey.  Russia lost the war and with it influence in the region and now had only a limited access to the Black Sea. However there were two other significant impacts.  One saw the break up of European alliances and the other was that it forced Russia to become modernised. 
Following the 1917 Great October Revolution in Russia Ukraine became a Soviet Republic, the Ukrainian SSR.  A majority of those in Eastern Ukraine spoke Russian while in the western areas the people spoke Ukrainian.  The  Ukrainian language is very similar to Russian and considered by some to be a dialect. In the Crimea, Tatar and other ethnic languages were secured by decree. A devious  Kruschchev was to later cede Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR. 
To understand the Ukraine of today it is important to consider some developments during the pre World War 2 period. The Congress of Soviets had proclaimed Soviet Power in 1917 and elected Soviets were established in the towns, villages, work places and military units. The new young republic started on the road to building socialism. But the peaceful life was soon to be shattered.  Counter-revolutionary forces led by former Czarist officers and the feudal lords of Central Asia waged a civil war against the Soviet republic. They were to be supported by forces of intervention. British, French, American and Japanese forces in the Far East invaded the Soviet Union. An undeclared war of intervention was underway and Britain occupied Odessa while Germany took control of a large part of western Ukraine. 
The Soviet forces were united and soon built an alliance with workers and peasants and established the Red Army. A war economy was established. The counter-revolutionary military superiority was short lived as conflicting interests emerged. The White Guards, as the alliance of foreign backed fighters was known, depended upon foreign finance and was essentially a mercenary army.  When the money stopped during the major capitalist economic crisis they fell apart. The imperialist powers however continued to occupy western parts of the country.  The imperialist powers used former Soviet territory to establish a cordon sanitaire from which they could carry out attacks on the young republic. 
Collectivisation of agriculture enabled farms to be modernised. The days of the horse-drawn wooden plough were over and Ukraine started to become an important grain growing area.  The process of change was not an easy one. The years 1932-1934 saw the worst drought in living memory.  A typhoid epidemic ravaged the Caucasus.  Many agriculture experts and cadres sent from Moscow were murdered by fascist gangs.  Some kulaks slaughtered all their animals and invading forces burned crops. Many people died of starvation. However by the late 1930s Ukraine had become the bread-basket of the Soviet Union while the industrial regions of Eastern Ukraine became known as the Soviet Ruhr. 
At 0400 on 22 June 1941 Hitler attacked the Soviet Union. Of the 27 million Russians who were killed during the war, five million were from Ukraine plus 1.5 million Jewish people who lived in the region.  Nationalists from the former ruling class in Western Ukraine supported Hitler and the Nazis. The leader of the Halychyn SS Division , Stefan Bandera, was held responsible for many atrocities.  Jews, communists, socialists, the mentally ill and the disabled were slaughtered in the death camps. Under the leadership of Joseph Stalin the Soviet Union fought courageously  and was able to smash the Nazi war machine. The battle of Stalingrad is considered to be the turning  point of the Second World War which ended in victory in 1945, But after the war many Ukrainian Nazis were made welcome in the USA and Britain. 
During the post-war era industry quickly developed and agriculture flourished. Then came the collapse of the Soviet Union. Oligarchs took over in Russia and Ukraine grabbing the wealth that had been created during people's rule with former officials changing sides to get their noses in the trough. Living standards fell and unemployment reappeared after an absence of 50 years. With the fall of the Soviet Union the Russians were promised that NATO would not expand eastwards.  The gullible Russian leadership believed this but the imperialists saw it as an opportunity to expand their malignant influence, gain access to Russia's rich resources and to threaten China. 
The United States is notorious for its never-ending wars and coups for regime change. The long list includes Korea, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Chile.  In February 2014 it was Ukraine's turn. In a coup planned, financed and supported by the USA, the democratically elected government of Yanukovych was overthrown. Opposition parties were banned, politicians arrested and demonstrators murdered in Odessa by being driven into the trade union building which was then set on fire. The new pro-Nato and pro-European Union puppet regime embarked on widespread repressive measures against Russian speakers, including a ban on the Russian language. Strong resistance in Eastern Ukraine led to the establishment of independent states which were recognised by Russia and later along with Crimea voted to join the Russian Federation. Between 2014 and 2022 some 8,000 civilians were killed by shelling from regime held areas.
In 2022 Russia commenced its special military operation to defend those regions under attack, prevent the expansion of Nato eastwards and rid the Ukraine government of supporters of the infamous Nazi collaborator, Stefan Bandera. The civil war became a proxy one as the Americans and their Western allies poured in money and weapons. Negotiations, such as the Minsk agreements to end the conflict have been repeatedly sabotaged by Western leaders. The Western powers are losing their war and Ukraine is tragically being destroyed in scenes similar to those left in Vietnam and Korea. Instead of bringing the tragedy to an end Western leaders, including, Macron of France, Merz of Germany and Starmer of Britain, have become obsessed with keeping the war going. They continue to pour in money to keep the conflict going while their own economies face collapse. 

Between a rock and a hard place

Keir Starmer’s off to Washington next week to win support for a European plan to send 30,000 British and European Union troops to Ukraine as “peacekeepers” if and when a truce is agreed to end the Ukraine war. Though this force would allegedly be there to guarantee Ukraine’s independence its real role would be to preserve the British and European Union’s economic interests in a post-war Ukraine that Donald Trump clearly sees as no more than an American protectorate.
The war-lobby that reflects the most venal and aggressive sections of the British ruling class has gone into top gear with Labour, Tory and Liberal Democrat worthies all urging Starmer to “stand up” to Donald Trump. The Atlanticists who used to hail American presidents as leaders of the “free world” have closed ranks with those who look to an alliance with Franco-German imperialism to bleat on about “betrayal”.
“It's time for Starmer to stand up for Britain and our allies in Europe” says Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey. Former Tory defence secretary Gavin Williamson says that “we cannot let fake news and a false narrative become accepted. That has to be rebuffed at every moment. And if that causes some people offence, well, that's their problem”. And Tony Blair’s former spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, calls Donald Trump a “pathological liar, a narcissist” who is “concerned only about himself, his wealth and his power” in the Independent last week.
None of this is likely to sway those now at the helm of US imperialism. The initiative to start high-level talks between the Russian and American foreign ministers  in Saudi Arabia was not the whim of The Donald or a tiny clique of American oligarchs but a decision that reflects the needs and demands of the wing of the American ruling class that wants to cut its losses in Ukraine to enable them to strengthen their grip over the Middle East in their bid to control the entire global energy market. 
In reality there never was a “free world” and the “special relationship” the British bourgeoisie upheld was largely a figment of their own imagination. They feign suprise at Trump’s moves to build detente with the Russian Federation but the Trump camp made no secret of this in the run-up to the US presidential election last year. The simple fact is that Starmer and the rest of the pack in Europe didn’t think Trump would win. 
As we’ve said before secret diplomacy is rarely the best pathway to peace. But both the Russian and American sides are clearly working towards a win-win agreement over Ukraine. If that ends the war with a peace settlement that recognises the rights of the Crimeans, southern Ukrainians and the people of the Donbas to live in the Russian Federation well and good. It will clearly benefit the Ukrainian and Russian people.

The Nobel road to peace

Though Donald Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on four occasions over the years his supposed efforts to promote peace and resolve global conflicts have, so far, failed to impress the Nobel Peace Committee.
This rubbishy prize, with a few honourable exceptions, has long been the preserve of imperialist politicians and prominent agents of imperialism. The anti-communist Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov won it in 1975. The reactionary Polish union leader Lech Walesa got it for his counter-revolutionary campaign in 1983. Gorbachov was similarly rewarded for his treachery in 1990. And a prominent Chinese anti-communist writer, Liu Xiaobo, got his Nobel for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China”. 
Bizarrely enough the European Union was collectively awarded this glittering prize in 2012 for contributing “to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe”.
Needless to say the Dalai Lama is on the list of winners together with Henry Kissinger, who was jointly given the prize together with the chief north Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho in 1973 for negotiating the Vietnamese peace accord. Comrade Le, the only communist ever to get this accolade, took the principled stand and refused to accept the prize on the grounds that the war in Vietnam was still raging.
But Trump may be lucky this time round. His efforts to end Joe Biden’s proxy war against Russia in Ukraine have soon borne fruit with a positive response from the Kremlin and a summit with Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia in the offing.
The Russians have made it clear that they want international recognition of the autonomous republic of Crimea’s accession to the Russian Federation. They intend, one way or another, to liberate all the territories of the two Donbas people’s republics that have joined the Russian Federation as well as the two former southern Ukrainian provinces that have also been liberated. They want equal rights for all the remaining members of the Russian community in Ukraine and a guarantee of permament Ukrainian neutrality.
The Trump team are talking about a standstill cease-fire but offering the Russians what they’ve already got is not the most generous opening gambit. It’s nevertheless a start. 
However Trump’s people do seem to accept the justice of some of the Russian claims while outlining their own demands for exclusive American exploitation of Ukraine’s priceless rare earths and other mineral deposits after the end of the fighting.
Though only Trump and Putin can set the seal on a deal to end the war most of the hard bargaining will have already been resolved before they meet in the secret talks between their envoys that are already preparing the terms of a settlement. 
Secret diplomacy, that has sadly became the norm since the end of the Cold War, is rarely the best pathway to peace. But both the Russian and American sides are clearly working towards a win-win agreement that ends the war – and that clearly will be in the benefit of the Ukrainian and Russian people. Perhaps Trump will get his Nobel afterall...who knows, maybe Putin too!

Donbas communists: our historic mission

by Boris Litvinov

 Boris Litvinov, is the First Secretary of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) District of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF)

Our troops have advanced some 35 to 40 kilometres from Donetsk, which means the capital of the Donetsk People’s Republic is now beyond the reach of Ukrainian artillery and tanks, Now the administrative border of the Donetsk Republic with the Dnepropetrovsk region is just 10 kilometres away from the front. But there are still many problems due to the supply of Western weapons such as missiles and modern drones. So the attacks on Donetsk are still ongoing with weapons supplied to Ukraine from the United States, Britain, France, Germany and other NATO countries. But whatever weapons are used against us the decisive factor is the fighting soldier – the infantry. 
Of course, many people are now discussing the forms in which negotiations on ending the war will take place, but the question is, who will participate? And what will the negotiations be about?
At the moment, the DPR is not a participant in the negotiation process, as it was in 2014-2020. Today we are a legitimate region of the Russian Federation, according to the Constitution. Any negotiations on war and peace should be conducted by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Government of our common country. But, in our deep conviction, negotiations with Zelensky should not take place. Zelensky's legitimacy as President of Ukraine ended last May, when new elections were due to take place. He, Zelensky, is nothing to us right now. He can't decide anything. In fact, Zelensky is totally dependent on the United States and he is completely unable to make any independent decisions, so negotiations are possible only between the United States and Russia. But Ukraine will not even be the main subject of these negotiations.
Negotiations can be about areas of interest in the world; about global political and economic reconstruction like after the Second World War. And in such a new configuration of the world, Ukraine will become only part of a global issue.
Well, the main issue should concern all possible guarantees for the establishment of peace between states with different ideas about their future. No one should impose their will on others. Every state should develop independently of the wishes of others. And the peoples living in a particular region of the Earth must decide for themselves who to unite with, which state to be a part of, and which peoples to build their future with. We, the residents of Donetsk, Lugansk, and then Zaporizhia and Kherson, made our choice in a referendum – we will build our future with Russia. And this is the will of the overwhelming majority of the population of our republics and regions.
Now we see that Trump has already identified his areas of interest in Canada, Mexico, Greenland and Panama. And Russia also has its own post-Soviet areas of interest.
Russia stopped cooperating under the Warsaw Pact in 1991 in the forlorn hope that NATO would end its hostility to Russia. And one of the fundamental problems for Russia and its allies is that the NATO military bloc is moving step by step closer to Russia's borders. 
Nevertheless the time will come when none of the military blocs will threaten the other and there will be no military bases near the borders of Russia or the historical and traditional territories that were under Russian influence. We think that Trump probably understands this, and that the expansion of NATO to the East was a mistake.
European politicians – Macron, Starmer, Scholz and others think that they have a chance to end Russia, and that they should not miss this chance. In fact, European countries have been trying to do this for several centuries. Over the past 200 years, Russia has defeated Napoleon and the Ottomans; Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Fourteen of the Entente countries including the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Japan who intervened against Soviet Russia in1918 during the civil war that ended in their defeat in 1922. And the Soviet Union defeated the German Nazis and their allies during the Second World War. 
The Western countries tried to unleash a new world war against the USSR in the 60s of the 20th century. And the Cold War, declared by the West against the Soviet Union in 1946, has not stopped to this day, having turned into a hybrid war. 
The Russian people were able to withstand all these difficulties, thinking not so much about their personal well-being, but about preserving their historically formed land, preserving the covenant of their ancestors, strengthening the unity of the Orthodox faith and respect for the faith of the peoples inhabiting Russia, thinking and realizing the dream of humanity about a just society.
The people of Russia demonstrate solidarity in defending their interests, dedication, heroism and confidence in achieving victory over any invaders. It has always been so, and it will be so in the future.  And today, in the struggle for our true sovereignty, in the struggle against neo-fascism, in the new struggle against the West, we see that history repeats itself.
The 19th century Prussian Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, said "Make alliances with anyone, start any wars, but never touch the Russians...the Russians cannot be defeated, we have seen this for hundreds of years. Russians, even if they are dismembered by international treaties, will reconnect with each other as quickly as particles of a cut piece of mercury”. 
We are doing everything necessary to ensure that these warnings reach the minds of those who once again dream of ending Russia.
The Ukrainian state has turned out to be untenable. It can only exist together with Russia, and it has always existed as part of Russia. After the abdication of Czar Nicholas II from the throne in February 1917, the bourgeois rulers in Kiev proclaimed the independence of Ukraine. They held out on bayonets and money from foreign invaders for less than three years. But when they united with Russia and the other Soviet republics into a single socialist state – the USSR, Ukraine turned into a world-class advanced republic with a population of 52 million.
After the temporary cessation of the existence of the USSR, Ukraine again tried to build its independent country – again relying on money, weapons, and an alien Western ideology. And the result: the economy is in decline, the population is impoverished, Ukraine is being robbed by everyone, a war has been waged with its historically fraternal Russian people, and the population has shrunk to less than 30 million. This is the result of independence. Today, wars for the interests of the West are destroying the gene pool of Ukraine. More and more new generations of Ukrainians are being thrown into the fire of war.
We, the residents of Donbas, Zaporizhia, Kherson, and the whole of Russia, understand our historical mission – to live in peace with all peoples, freely manage our own destiny, and build on our land a just society that many peoples of Europe, Asia, America, and the whole Earth have dreamed of for centuries. 
And we, in our desire, will surely come to the victory of reason over the forces of evil. This is what our predecessors did, and we will continue to do so.

No British arms for Ukraine!

by New Worker correspondent

Anti-fascist activists held court in the heart of Birmingham for over an hour and a half last weekend with placards, banners and flags calling for the British government to end weapons supplies to the puppet government in Ukraine and warning of the danger of an all-out NATO-Russia war. They also carried placards pointing out the financial costs to millions of British citizens of the billions of pounds sent to Ukraine, higher energy charges, and the extreme levels of corruption in Ukraine itself.
Theo Russell, secretary of International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS), spoke about Britain's aggressive role in Ukraine: “A top secret British military and intelligence group, Project Alchemy, has been set up with the aim of prolonging the war in Ukraine war at all costs. The Grayzone website has revealed that Britain’s true goal in Ukraine is to cause a “palace coup” – read “regime change” - in Moscow, plans for an underground army to conduct terrorism in Ukraine and Russia, and to “dismantle” independent media outlets reporting the truth about Ukraine.
Many people joined discussions with the protestors and it was clear that they are aware of the higher prices they are paying for everything, the danger of a world war, and the contrast between Western countries condemning Russian military actions in Ukraine while sending more and more bombs and missiles to Israel to kill civilians in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria. This was the first protest held by IUAFS outside London but it certainly won’t be the last!

Lithuanian patriots struggle for peace!

 

by Anthony Lee

Today we can observe very contradictory political processes taking place in Lithuania. Unfortunately Ukrainian flags fly there just like in many other, but not all, European countries. In some places pro-Ukrainian slogans are even heard like "Let's support the Ukrainian military! They will win!“. However, more and more often we can already hear opposite statements: "Russia cannot be defeated. Ukrainian forces are weakening and losing the war." Most Europeans want peace and believe that there is no reason to support or prolong a distant and unwanted war.
As we know, support for the Ukrainians and their armed forces has raised Lithuania's military budget to almost three billion euros. This is a huge amount for Lithuania. And, unfortunately, the fruits of wrong political tactics are bitter – more than 33 per cent of the Lithuanian population lives well below the poverty line. This is the reason why the Lithuanian people stand for an end to the war and demand a more peaceful policy for Lithuania.
On 20 December 2024 a public protest against the warmongers took place in the city of Siauliai in Lithuania. The demonstration was called by the Socialist Popular Front. During the action, several brave Lithuanian anti-fascists stood in the central square, holding posters with very specific slogans: “Sponsorship of Kiev is sponsorship of terrorism directed against Ukrainians”, "Zelensky is eating our money," and other messages reflecting the position of a significant part of Lithuanian citizens.
A participant in the action, anti-fascist Zhilvinas Razmin, said “the ruling parties in the Seimas (Lithuanian parliament) and other places unanimously support the war in Ukraine, they support the Maidan in Georgia, and they exploit us and our people”.
He continues “what is the amount of social pensions these days? Most of us receive only two to three hundred euros. At the same time, they (the government) are increasingly purchasing weapons worth hundreds of millions of euros. We must strive to demand and maintain peace. We should not sit at home. We should not be silent and we must express our position. Do we really want Lithuania to be dragged into war and for our cities to be destroyed? “
In addition Razmin emphasised that “it is necessary to suspend the construction of military bases and military factories, such as the plant of the German concern Rheinmetall and others. Lithuania must be an independent, neutral state”.
A peaceful status can lead to the revival and restoration of Lithuania’s prosperity. War-mongering and inciting Russophobia can only harm Lithuania. Landsbergism (the cult of leader of the pro-NATO counter-revolution that overthrew Soviet power in Lithuania) struck our land, it undermined our roots. People continue to flee to the West (and sometimes to the East), and, in fact, the country is now devastated. And at the same time, the number of soldiers of the occupying German army in our country is sharply increasing. Civil repression is also intensifying: the homes of anti-fascists are being searched, political cases are being brought under the guise of the criminal code and, unfortunately, thousands of Lithuanians are being victimised and forced to flee.
Currently tough measures are being taken against anti-fascist leaders in the city of Siauliai in the north of the country. It was for this reason four more participants who decided to take part in the action were delayed. Their car was stopped by the police. Dmitry Kitov, who was driving the car, and three of his colleagues were forced to spent two hours at a police station. The police deliberately checked their documents for as long as possible and then forced the men to undergo a terrifying search of not only their personal belongings but also their car by a vicious police dog. When they were finally allowed to leave the stated time frame for the protest had long expired.
Many Lithuanians and anti-fascists are against inciting Russophobia in Lithuania including the Lithuanian People’s Party politician Professor Eduardas Vaitkus, publicists Erika Schwentchonene and Henrikas Cherniskas, director Yaras Valukenas and journalists Aurimas Drisius, Laurinas Ragelskis and Birute Dilpshene.
We hope and believe that the time will come when Lithuania will take the path of political and social progress – like Hungary, Slovakia, and Bulgaria – and will strive for peace rather than inciting war!

Trump takes centre stage

Two weeks still to go to Inauguration Day but Donald Trump’s already been grabbing the headlines urging Canadians to join the United States and threatening to take over Greenland and the Panama Canal, which he says is now under Chinese control. While few take his pantomime threats seriously it’s amusing to see venal British and European politicians, so used to licking the boots of Uncle Sam, on the receiving end of American abuse for a change.
They turned a blind eye to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. They egged on the proxy war against Russia and crippling sanctions on China. Now they’re recoiling in horror at The Donald mouthing off against his own allies. Now they know that “Making America Great Again” can only happen at their expense.
The Trump team are already talking about resuming the dialogue with Democratic Korea and floating proposals to end the Ukraine war which go some way to meeting the legitimate demands of the Russian Federation. We can only hope that this will lead to serious negotiations to normalise US relations with the DPR Korea and end the war in eastern Europe. 
Trump says he’ll end the war in Ukraine at a stroke when he’s back at the helm. But we’ve heard it all before over Korea. Though he promised much when he was last in the White House he still remained a prisoner of the most aggressive elements of the American ruling class. What Trump says and what he can or actually does do is another matter altogether. 

Meanwhile...

...Elon Musk, the South African born tech tycoon said to be the richest man in the world, has clearly got some time on his hands. Not content with the prospect of a key role in the new Trump administration, he’s now calling on Nigel Farage to stand down as leader of the Reform Party and scheming to get rid of Keir Starmer before the next general election. 
Musk is often called a “kingmaker” in the bourgeois media of the United States: possibly by some unaware of the tragic fate of the first man to bear that mantle – Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, who was killed in 1471 during the feudal struggle for the throne known as the War of the Roses. 
Musk is much like George Soros, another immensely rich American, who used his money to finance anti-communist movements in eastern Europe in the 1980s and prop up the venal pro-NATO regimes that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union and the European people’s democracies in 1991. Soros, a supporter of the American Democrats, poses as a philanthropist. Musk, who likes to be thought of as a “libertarian”, is a Trump Republican. But their common underlying philosophy is simply that of end days capitalism and inherited wealth.
Now Musk can say and do what he likes in the United States – he became an American citizen in 2002 – but poking his nose into our affairs is totally unacceptable. 

Escalation leads both ways

 In a final act of madness Joe Biden has sanctioned the use of NATO-supplied weapons of mass destruction against the Russians in Ukraine. Shamefully, the Starmer government has followed suit on a blatantly obvious attempt to stymie any efforts by the incoming Trump team to end the conflict. It didn’t take long for Biden’s Ukrainian puppets to do their master’s bidding launching American long-range rockets and British-made Storm Shadow missiles on targets deep inside Russian territory.
These decisions by the US and British governments were made without any debate or decision by the US Congress or the Westminster Parliament. The Stop the War Coalition is calling on Starmer and Biden to stop these provocations immediately and to focus on securing a negotiated end to the war while Jeremy Corbyn wants Starmer to explain to the public whether we are now “at war” with Russia,
Corbyn, who now leads the Independent Alliance in parliament, says Starmer “must tell the British public if this means we are now at war with a nuclear power, what risk this poses to people in Britain, and why this action was taken without any approval from parliament. As we edge closer and closer to catastrophe, we should be doing everything in our power to bring about de-escalation and peace. Instead, our political leaders have added fuel to the fire and gambled with people’s lives for political gain”.
What happens next nobody knows. Biden’s provocation clearly crosses a Russian red line. The Kremlin has, so far, not responded in kind. But Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, warns that use of such Western-made systems in the conflict has drastically changed its nature. “A regional Ukraine conflict instigated by the West has acquired elements of a global one,” he said. Russia’s air defence systems have successfully repelled all the attacks made with these Western long-range missile systems. “The goals that have apparently been set by the enemy have not been achieved,” he said.
Russia reserves the right to strike the military facilities of countries that allow their weapons to be used against Russian territory Putin said. “We will determine the targets during further tests of our newest missile systems based on the threats to the security of the Russian Federation. We believe that we have the right to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities”.
Russia has always favoured a peaceful resolution and the Russian Federation is ready to resolve all contentious issues. “But we are also ready for any development. Do not doubt it, there will always be a response”.
Donald Trump has long said that he’s going to swiftly end the Ukraine war which he rightly sees as a drain on American resources while serving no purpose for the American people. But he put out mixed messages on Ukraine during his campaign for the presidency, rhetorically posing as the peace candidate yet having a friendly meeting with Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky at Trump Tower in September. We’ll soon see one way or the other which way Trump turns – or indeed what other tricks Biden has up his sleeve to wrong-foot the incoming Trump administration.
Escalation works both ways. These long-range British and American missile systems cannot be used without the direct involvement of Western military specialists and there clearly will be long-term repercussions unless there is a speedy return to the negotiating table.

Zelensky's illegitimacy

Zelensky with his master, Joe Biden

by our Ukrainian correspondent Alex Miller

The famous French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau once said that “the Tyrant is one who, against the laws, proclaims himself a ruler acting in accordance with the laws. The Despot is one who places himself above the laws themselves. Thus, a Tyrant may not be a Despot, but a Despot is always Tyrant.”

The President is a person elected by voting, but the absence of an electoral process clearly indicates that we are talking about a Tyrant or Despot.

Many are willing to ignore the fact that Vladimir Zelensky came to power illegally due to gross violations of the Ukrainian constitution. Today, half a decade later, we can say that it was the political “theft of the century” that shocks society.

Nevertheless, taking into account all the illegalities described below, according to the Constitution of Ukraine, if in January 2019 Zelensky was elected president for a term of five years, then in May 2024, this five-year period passed and the presidency expired.

Like a mad joke from one of his sitcoms, Zelensky’s election promise “to free Ukraine from political corruption” was met with laughter by viewers.

At the same time, his personal political corruption began in January 2019, when his party congress falsely announced the nomination of Zelensky as a presidential candidate.

Ukrainian legislation strictly requires registration of the existing 14 regional branches of the party that participate in the nomination of a presidential candidate. However, this law was violated and Zelensky’s candidacy was nominated by only one branch of the party, registered with the Ministry of Justice in city of Kryvyi Rih. From the very beginning, Zelensky’s nomination did not comply with electoral rules.

Instead of a legitimate nomination, the Zelensky party congress turned into a theatrical play by ‘Studio Quarter-95’. For those who may be unaware, “Studio Quarter-95” is a Ukrainian comic group founded by Zelensky and some of his schoolmates in 2013. The group perform stand-up shows to entertain the masses with crude and degenerate humour. Thus, the comedian-turned-politician used vulgar shows and illegal actions to campaign for election instead of regular political rallies. Indeed, much to the dismay of millions of Ukrainians and international observers, he always lied and acted as a political clown, performing as an entertainer in all political debates and interviews.

"The law provides for a strictly regulated procedure for meeting political parties and nominating presidential candidates,” says Verkhovna Rada deputy, lawyer Volodymyr Oliynyk. “The Servant of the People party was registered as a local organisation in Kryvyi Rih, and Zelensky was nominated for president from it, and not from the all-Ukrainian party”.

Thus, the mentioned party congress was nothing more than a crude caricature of nomination – another work of fiction and corrupted political machination.

Zelensky deliberately entered into his lifelong role as a president with the help of media promotion and deep-pocketed criminal oligarchs, but not the law. They also helped to stage-manage the later creation of a political party – the ‘Servant of the People’ - for entry into the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. According to the financial report filed to the Ministry of Justice, the said ruling party rented just four square metres of office space in Kiev. This act legally proves the actual absence of the all-Ukrainian political party at the time of presidential election and its subsequent official registration after the elections.

At the same time, some new foreign actors began working in the shadows, paving the way for Zelensky’s rapid ascendancy in the murky, corrupt world of Ukrainian politics. Minister of Justice Pavel Petrenko and Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov actively worked behind the scenes to cover up the illegitimacy of Zelensky’s registration as a presidential candidate.

According to the testimony of eyewitnesses, Ukrainian deputy, journalist and right-wing politician Igor Moseychuk said “Zelensky paid a bribe of $300,000 to register his candidacy for president”.

“We were astounded by the level of backdoor corruption and public deception that accompanied the sudden rise of Vladimir Zelensky” noted one European-based election observer, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to ongoing investigations. “I think most Ukrainians would demand full accountability if they understood the full scope of the deception that occurred in 2019 and beyond”.

While a resounding defeat for democracy, the pay-for-register candidacy eventually turned out to be a relative success for Zelensky and his inner circle. Official forms were quickly filled out, and a political party without a permanent office, called the “Servant of the People”, was miraculously registered and went to the parliamentary election at the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. In total, according to the election results and if the reported votes are legitimate, Zelensky's party holds 247 seats in Parliament out of 450. A party with more than 226 seats in the Ukrainian parliament can adopt any law except the Constitution of Ukraine.

Later, realising that Zelensky faced criminal charges, he and his team began work to decriminalise responsibility for falsifying documents at the Central Election Commission. They created and passed a special bill. The authors of this bill were deputies from the “Servant of the People”, in particular, Oleksandr Kornienko, who today holds the post of First Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada. They also attempted to hold early new presidential elections around the time hostilities broke out between Ukraine and Russia. When it became clear that any elections could entail huge troubles and loss of power, the Office of the President, in direct violation of the law, cancelled the elections “due to the military situation in the country” preferring to remain in office as long as possible with the iron fist of tyranny. 

On 21st May this year, after the expiration of the five-year constitutional deadline for new presidential elections, Zelensky’s Tyrant colours shone brightly as he formally forfeited the negligent amount of his ill-gotten legitimacy. His term of office has expired. He no longer has the legal authority to represent Ukraine as its top official, he has cancelled all elections and has completely lost his power as head of state. Yet Zelensky continues to flaunt his illegal, arbitrary powers without the consent of the people of Ukraine. On 7th August 2024, he passed and approved another law that allows press gangs to kidnap and send unhappy people to the front line without justice.

The Ukrainian people are gradually beginning to understand that the increasingly unpopular Zelensky clearly lacks the legal power to indiscriminately send people – including the elderly and physically impaired – into war zones or make any other decisions as head of state.

But endemic corruption, of course, dates back to the bloody coup d’etat of 2014, when Ukraine ceased to exist as a rule-of-law state. Then Washington and Brussels sponsored the implementation of neo-Nazis into state. These hardened criminals continued to occupy official positions including in the Ukrainian army. It is these dark, sinister forces under the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Army, Vladimir Zelensky, that people face today in its existential struggle against a ruthless NATO proxy which acts out of the law.

Corruption always brings tyranny and despotism. Today Zelensky holds the office, like the Samosa dynasty that ruled Nicaragua for over forty years, for the benefit of US imperialism. Millions of Ukrainians pay the price with their lives.

Interview with a fugitive Ukrainian soldier

This is an interview with a Ukrainian soldier, called here Alexander, who escaped from a training camp for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Poland and is currently living in hiding in Europe. The interview was conducted by a special correspondent for the New Worker, Vsevolod Razumny, a member of the Red Square-Molotov Club, a Ukrainian anti-fascist campaign group based in the Russian Federation.It contains shocking and horrific revelations about the treatment of Ukrainian conscripts and threats against their families, as well as claims that Poland is playing double game with its erstwhile ally Ukraine and recruiting agents in its armed forces on a large scale.

Please introduce yourself and tell us where you are now?

Alexander: My name is Alexander, I am 24 years old. I escaped from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as you know, and I am in a European country, but I can’t say where exactly.

Your previous interview with Sovranita Popolare is currently circulating on the Internet, in which you told the story of your escape from the Ukrainian army. You spoke of the forced, and in your view illegal, mobilisation in Ukraine. Do you think we will see more escapes like yours? Can your example encourage your compatriots to escape and seek political asylum abroad?

Yes, I think there are more guys who will follow my example.

 What is the name of the base where you served, and how many Ukrainian soldiers are there now?

We were told the base is called the 10th Tank Cavalry, near the small town of Świętoszów, but no one told us the actual name of the base. I don't know the exact number now, but from time to time 80-90 people come there for training. The training is carried out by NATO instructors, mainly Polish, but there are also Norwegians, and I understand that American military personnel also study there on an exchange basis.

In your first interview, you mentioned that Ukrainian conscripts are brought to Poland for training without stamps in their passports. Do you think this is because NATO and the Zelensky fear mass desertions of Ukrainian personnel and are prepared to declare such "escapees" illegals in order to capture and return them to Ukraine?

That’s right, there was no stamp, they just look at the passports and let them through. Firstly, this discourages possible desertions because people are afraid of becoming illegal aliens. They don't know where to run, what to do, or how to find safety. Second, if there is no record they can be immediately deported back to Ukraine and into the military. And by the way, when we crossed into Poland we didn’t go as military personnel in uniform, we were in ordinary tracksuits and they let us through just like that, without any stamp. So even the Polish border guards had no idea who we were or where we were going. 

Could this be evidence of the disdainful attitude of Europeans, in particular Poles, towards forcibly conscripted Ukrainians?

I think everyone knows how the Poles treat Ukrainians, whether you’re a soldier, a civilian or a conscript. They tell you to your face: you are fighting, you are killing the people we would have to kill ourselves anyway – that’s the only reason they are helping to train us, and they don’t bother to hide it. And they make jokes about us: we are beggars, we always need weapons, we always need more help, we can’t do anything without them.

 You have revealed numerous cases of human rights violations at conscript camps in Ukraine, including detention without process in basements, beatings, and threats. We were recently shocked by the story of a fitness trainer from Odessa, Sevastian Gogovich, who was forcibly mobilised by nationalists (fascists), tied to a pole and subjected to an act of sexual violence. Do you know of similar cases in Ukraine?

Yes, I’ve seen many similar stories, they are commonplace, but they don’t get into the media. The easiest place to find them is on TikTok. It’s a sad and tragic story. I don’t know why Ukraine allows such things to happen, but I personally know of cases from my acquaintances and people I met at the training camp. They are common.

It’s sad that this is happening, it’s just awful. How did they make you sign the necessary papers at the training camp? Were you personally beaten?

Not me personally. My story began when I ended up at the conscript camp. After issuing my call-up papers, they seized me at the border and confiscated my phone. After arriving at the camp I was kept in a basement for three days and refused to sign any documents – but they just signed everything for me! There were also people at the camp who couldn’t speak, read or write Ukrainian, who didn’t even have Ukrainian passports, and yet they were in the training camp. And they too had their documents signed for them.

Do the training camp employees forge the signatures of conscripts? 

Oh yes, with no any problem, at least in my case. I didn’t signed anything, but all the documents were signed for me showing that I had ‘volunteered’.

You spoke about the presence of Polish military personnel without insignia or even uniforms at the Polish training camp. Were they employees of the Polish special services?

Yes, I believe so. They didn't introduce themselves in any way, and they were in civilian clothes. 

You mentioned that in addition to the domestic political situation in Ukraine, they were interested in Ukrainian nationalist groups. What questions did they ask about the Ukrainian right-wing radicals?

Yes, they wanted to know all about Ukrainian ‘nationalists’. They started with how many are there, where are they, and what group are they with? Do you have any connections with battalions like the Kraken, Azov and so on. Those who had such connections were questioned for a long time. I have quite a few military friends who have been fighting from the first days of the war in Ukraine, so I was asked lots of questions, such as: did they go to the Maidan Square?* It occurred to me that they might be thinking of organising some kind of revolution in Ukraine using surrogate groups. I don’t think they cared about these groups themselves, but only about of using them for their own ends, I got the impression they were counting on that.

(* A reference to the Euromaidan protests in Kiev’s Maidan Square in 2013-14 leading to the NATO-backed coup and the start of the war in Ukraine. The original mass protests against rampant corruption were taken over by far-right Banderite, pro-Nazi groups like the Azov Brigade).

Do you think the Polish intelligence agencies are infiltrating the Ukrainian ‘nationalists’? Are they worried about Azov, for example, getting out of control and becoming inconvenient and dangerous for Poland and the collective West? Or was it about the Poles’ historical hatred for Ukraine and trying to find their weak points?

I don’t think the Poles are afraid of them, but I’m convinced that they want to use them for some kind of ‘revolution’, and they want their own people in each nationalist group. Plus, this is additional information about what is happening right now in Ukraine. As you can understand, what they tell you in the news media is not the whole story.

Do you think that Polish intelligence is trying to recruit Ukrainian conscripts on a large scale?

Yes – I believe all the conscripts sent to Poland are being ‘spoken to’ in this way. And I believe there are many in the Ukrainian army above us, higher in rank, who were trained there previously, and they too all went through this.

Did the Polish intelligence officers threaten or hint at physical violence against your relatives in Ukraine, using data they had from the forms you completed?

Oh yes, of course! They said openly that they have all your relatives’ details, names, phone numbers, addresses. They even have details of your relatives and friends who live abroad! I don’t know where they got them from, but they have them. So they can influence your mum and dad, for example, if they live in Poland. They can ruin their lives or even deport them back to Ukraine. These details are given to the conscripts without pity – in other words they are used to threaten them.

You said you reported the Polish recruitment efforts to your senior commanders. Why didn’t the Ukrainian officers being trained in Poland try to stop this recruitment?

Yes, they went through all this as well. But because they were higher in rank, in the first batch so to speak, they ended up staying in Poland. It was clear to me that they weren’t interested because they don’t want to lose their cushy positions. Or that they could already be working for the Poles, or simply be afraid of them.

Were there many attempts to escape from the Polish training camp?

When we first arrived, we were split into two groups: half was a repair company, and the other half were training to be tankers. After our first escape, we were forbidden to go into the city at weekends and couldn’t leave the camp area. When we tried to negotiate with the camp commander, he didn’t want to know and wouldn’t talk to anyone. One guy escaped before me, but I heard later that he was found and deported back to Ukraine. 

How do you see your future?

I’d like to settle in a country of my choice and forget all about this war. If I start a family, I want to make sure my children know nothing about war at all.

Thank you for the conversation, Alexander, and good luck in everything.

Thank you too, and all the best!

Stop arming Ukrainian fascists!

In London...

by Theo Russell

Activists protested last week in London, Glasgow and Dublin, calling on Britain and NATO to stop sending weapons to the illegitimate Banderite junta in Kiev. They demanded “No More British Challengers, Storm Shadows and Depleted Uranium for Ukraine!”, “No More British Weapons for Ukrainian Nazis”, and “Zelensky - Your mandate expired on 29th  March 2024 - Step aside and stop blocking peace talks!” 
The protests on 15th August coincided with the Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Kursk province, where the British government has given permission to the Kiev junta to use British weapons on Russian territory, including Challenger 2 tanks which use depleted uranium shells. 
These shells don’t pose an immediate radiation threat, but the particles from their use go into the soil and water table, remaining radioactive for 4.5 billion years. They have led to a surge in cancer cases affecting people of all ages in Serbia and Iraq, and no-one knows how the DU can be removed from the environment.
But the biggest controversy concerns permission for Kiev to use its Storm Shadow missiles for long range strikes into Russia. Less than a week after Labour took power, Keir Starmer suggested that Britain would give Zelensky the green light, but the next day Downing Street changed its mind.

...Glasgow

The problem for the fanatical war lobby at the Daily Telegraph and at the top of the British military is that the Storm Shadow is a joint project and its use requires the permission of France, but also from the Americans as they are the dominant force in NATO’s military support for Ukraine.
The UK has repeatedly pressed Washington for permission for long range strikes, but last week a Pentagon spokesman told a briefing that the USA is concerned about the potential for escalation.
The Kremlin has repeatedly warned that such strikes would lead to NATO bases anywhere in the world becoming targets of the Russians and states and armed groups allied to Russia. 
Such NATO strikes would be incredibly reckless and another step towards a possible all out NATO-Russia conflict – and yet Britain continues to push for them!
Former UK ambassador to Moscow Tony Brenton said on BBC Radio last year that "Britain is the most aggressive of all the NATO members in Ukraine” and has “more special forces in Ukraine than any other NATO country”. 
A senior aide to President Putin, Nikolay Patrushev, says that NATO countries – primarily the USA and the UK – had masterminded the Ukrainian foray in Kursk province, which he said was “planned with the participation of NATO and Western special services".
In that operation a video has emerged of Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk wearing Second World War German helmets sporting the emblem of the Waffen SS and taunting a Russian prisoner.
The International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS) campaign to expose the countless crimes of the Banderite Nazis in Ukraine – NATO’s proxies whose ancestors created their own fascist ideology in the 1930s – is operating in a very difficult and hostile environment in Britain. 
The murders, torture and imprisonment of tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been totally hidden by the British media, which since the NATO coup in 2014 has reported only from one side of the war which started that year.

and Dublin...

But we know from ten years of protests on the streets, and our experience of working class communities, that very many people in Britain don’t believe the daily lies of the Banderite-London-Washington propaganda network, but they do know that Nazis are running wild in Ukraine. 
At every protest we have held the number of people showing support for our demands has been 20 to 30 higher than those who have attacked us.
At our London protest many people showed their support, some (including one who looked like a senior military officer) were very unhappy. The only person to launch an aggressive verbal attack was a Ukrainian Banderite, who is presumably on an extended holiday in Britain. He was met with an equally strong response and didn’t stick around for long.
Despite the difficulties we face we will continue our solidarity with all those resisting the return of Nazism to Ukraine, defending the rights of all of Ukraine’s national communities, and the millions living in exile.
Since 2014 we have warned that what is happening in Ukraine is “a warning to Europe and the world”. After recent events in Britain, it is now clear to everyone that the fascist threat is growing rapidly in the rich and powerful capitalist states on both sides of the Atlantic.

Bye Bye Biden

Joe Biden was clearly looking for a glorious send off at the Democratic Party’s national convention this week – Kissinger-style shuttle diplomacy to end the Gaza war and a Ukrainian push into southern Russia to seize the Kursk nuclear power plant and force Putin to beg for peace. Such is the stuff of dreams.

He shuffled off to his long-overdue retirement without either. Kursk didn’t fall and the Ukrainians are now being pushed back by the Russians and all the American talk of Israel’s acceptance of a  “bridging proposal” to end the genocide in Gaza was, within days, shown to be just...talk. 
One wonders who actually advises the “leader of the free world” these days. The Ukrainian sortie into Kursk province clearly underestimated Russia’s defence capability while Washington’s latest diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, led by the hapless Anthony Blinken, were doomed from the start because they talked of a deal the current Israeli government doesn’t want while asking the Palestinians to lay down their arms while offering next to nothing in return. 
The Americans could, of course, easily end the fighting in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Israel and Ukraine are essentially American protectorates. These puppet regimes cannot survive without American economic and military support. The fanatical Zionists in Tel Aviv and the fascist Ukrainian nationalists in Kiev genuinely hate Arabs and Russians but they get away with it because they are ultimately only doing the bidding of American imperialism. They turn their back on genuine peace proposals that would end the conflicts because that’s what their masters in Washington want. When they are no longer of any further use they’ll be dumped – like the imperialist stooges who ran like hares when the Americans cut their losses in Afghanistan in 2021.

War Crimes UK

There’s no doubt that the Israelis are breaking international law. A UN Commission has found that Israeli forces have committed crimes against humanity, including the killing of defenceless civilians  and the forcible transfer and torture of Palestinian Arabs in the Gaza Strip. The Zionist state remains under investigation for genocide at the International Court of Justice. And last month, the same court ruled that Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestine is unlawful.  
If Israeli leaders are found guilty of war crimes – and the International Criminal Court has already applied for arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu – then British ministers and senior civil servants could be held liable too.  
The Global Justice Now campaign has published legal advice which shows that the UK may be liable for crimes committed by Israel during the onslaught on Gaza and through Israel’s illegal occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. The advice, written by leading barrister Sam Fowles, says that the UK’s trade relations with Israel and provision of intelligence and diplomatic support could also make UK officials liable for Israel’s breaches of international humanitarian law. 
 Last week a British diplomat resigned over the British government’s refusal to ban arms exports to Israel. Mark Smith accused Israel of waging “war crimes in plain sight” against the Palestinians after he resigned from the Foreign Office over British arms sales to the country.
He said he had flagged his concerns about the sales at “every level” of the ministry, up to Foreign Secretary David Lammy, but the response was “not satisfactory”. Smith took the principled stand over Palestine. We must redouble our efforts in support of Palestine. The struggle must continue until Palestine is free!

A dangerous escalation

The Ukrainian raid into southern Russia last week was clearly monitored and probably even directed by the NATO military advisors embedded in the Ukrainian army. The main target was the Kursk nuclear power station that the Ukrainians hoped to seize and then swap for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine that was liberated in 2022. Their secondary objective was to seize Russian land to swap for recent Russian gains in the Kharkov region of northern Ukraine.
Russian resistance has foiled the Ukrainians on both counts. Though the Ukrainians are still entrenched on Russian soil their advance on Kursk has been beaten back while any hopes for peace talks and a negotiated settlement to end the war have now been dashed as the Kremlin vows to fight to drive all the Ukrainians out of their lands and carry on fighting until Kiev accepts Russia’s terms to end the conflict. 
Though no one knows exactly why the lame-duck Biden administration sanctioned this Ukrainian sortie it is clearly linked to the American presidential election. The war lobby, the cross-party clique that represents the most venal and aggressive circles within the American ruling class, are always ready to cuff the Russians while Democrat bagmen may believe that a slap in the face to the Russians will boost Kamala Harris’ chances in November.
Whatever the motive it’s a dangerous gang. This sort of escalation brings NATO one step closer to a direct clash with the Russian army – a clash that could easily turn into a nuclear exchange in the heart of Europe.
The aim of the NATO alliance all along has been to force war on the Russian Federation, and now the whole world can see the terrible price which has been paid for a war which could so easily have been avoided. 
In the past the Russian Federation did everything possible to avoid a full-scale war in Ukraine. The Kremlin spent eight years supporting the Minsk process plan, involving simple autonomy for the then Donetsk and Lugansk Republics, while Ukraine, with NATO’s support, broke ceasefire after ceasefire and thousands of civilians in those republics died in constant Ukrainian attacks. When the Russians intervened to support the anti-fascist resistance and stop the persecution of the Russian-speaking minorities in the Donbas in 2022 they withdrew all their forces around the Ukrainian capital to negotiate a peace deal with the fascist regime only to be double-crossed at the last moment by the NATO powers who told the Zelensky regime to keep on fighting.
Sir Keir Starmer likes to pose as the equal of the Americans in the NATO alliance but in reality Britain is no better than the rest of the Western European pack that have been forced to accept the model of subservience imposed on Japan by US imperialism after its defeat in 1945.
Dependent on American protection to defend their own global interests they destroyed the Yugoslav federation and the Libyan Jamahuriya at Washington’s behest. They fan the flames of war in Ukraine and the Middle East and prolong the unhappy partition of many countries including Cyprus, Ireland, Kashmir and Korea. Fearful of the second coming of Donald Trump and uncertain of the loyalty of the Harris team all they can now do is watch as the drama of the race to the White House plays out.

NATO: Notorious, Aggressive and Threatening

by John Maryon

The American-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, was founded in April 1949.  As an imperialist military alliance it was seen as a clear threat to peace in Europe by the Soviet Union.  In response when West Germany joined a few years later the Warsaw Pact was established, to counter the new threat in May 1955.  Following the collapse of the Soviet Union the Warsaw Pact was dissolved in February 1991. NATO however continued to exist.        
And without the Warsaw Pact to hold it to account NATO soon revealed its true purpose.  In spite of assurances given to the new neo-liberal regime in Moscow it acted quickly with armed aggression against Yugoslavia followed by Afghanistan and Libya.  The alliance was expanded up to Russia's border. Yugoslavia was destroyed by the now familiar tactic of fermenting conflict as an excuse to send in the bombers. The Chinese embassy in Belgrade was deliberately attacked.  NATO attempted to take over Georgia but by this time Russia had woken up and the plot failed. Today the new NATO crime is Project Ukraine. 
NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine, which had been planned in the 1990s and commenced in February 2014, is its latest act of aggression.  Power was seized in a coup by the pro-Western bourgeoisie allied with neo-fascists and criminal elements. Pyotr Simonenko of the Communist Party of Ukraine said "it was through these forces that the USA unleashed a fratricidal civil war against the citizens of Donbas who are upholding their constitutional rights and freedoms".  Opposition parties are banned, their leaders imprisoned and trade unionists have been murdered. 
Project Ukraine has four principal objectives.  Firstly to weaken and destabilise Russia with the aim of regime change.  Secondly to expand NATO up to Russia's border and gain full military control of the Black Sea. Thirdly to steal the minerals and rich fertile soil areas that were once the bread basket of the USSR. Fourthly to dominate the region by expanding the malignant control of the European Union.  Project Ukraine is failing as Russia continues to win the war of attrition. The tragic conflict, like all of NATO S other adventures, has destroyed a country and led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. 
NATO has just held its 75th Anniversary summit in Washington.  Sustained by hate, fear, greed and hysteria the aggressive organisation fans confrontation and sabotages peace.  Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, one of its few Western critics, has said that NATO should focus on peace rather than engage in wars.  Russian commentators have noted that the US and its allies are mobilising maximum resources to preserve their collapsing hegemony.  NATO preaches security, freedom and human rights while causing death and destruction on a large scale. 
The 75th NATO conference was itself a public relations debacle.  President Biden introduced President Zelensky as President Putin.  The Turkish President, Recep Erdogan, made strong criticism of Biden's role in the Gaza conflict and blasted US complicity in war crimes in regard  to the murder of civilians and the targeting of hospitals and Aid centres with US supplied weapons. He called for sanctions against Israel and an immediate halt to the genocide taking place. As expected no peace proposals were adopted at the summit.  The gathering of almost all clowns, lame ducks, failed politicians and neo-con war mongers enabled Europe's most boring and incompetent so-called leaders to bond and agree to promote and finance more wars. 
China, unlike NATO, has put forward it's own peace proposals to end the war in Ukraine.  The 2021 Brussels NATO Summit communique demonstrated its hostility towards the People's Republic by alleging systematic challenges to the “Rules (US Rules) Based International Order”. The policy was taken a step further at the Washington Summit with claims that Beijing is helping Russia with its special military operation in Ukraine. The Chinese foreign ministry has said in response that NATO was smearing China with fabricated disinformation. Under the Belt and Road Initiative China has invested billions of yuan in European infrastructure upgrades. US-led NATO is mulling the seizing of these investments.  If they were foolish enough to take this option no-one would be prepared to invest in Europe and a number of Middle-Eastern countries may then withdraw all their money. 
While ignoring the critical state of their own economies the NATO allies of the US continue to impose sanctions against China and Russia which are backfiring badly.  They have also committed to spending 2.5 per cent of their GDP on the military. Arms suppliers must be rubbing their hands with glee, particularly as no peace initiatives were forthcoming at the meeting.  Germany, the industrial and economic powerhouse of  Western Europe, is on a self imposed road to de-industrialisation and economic collapse by following US diktat. A situation made worse by the terrorist attack on the Nord Stream pipelines which could not have taken place without the knowledge and convenience of NATO. This in my book makes NATO a terrorist organisation which Britain should leave at once. 
New threats against China, if carried out, would turn a crisis into a disaster for much of the European Union.  Sinister moves to expand NATO to the Pacific region have led China and Russia to take steps to deepen their strategic partnership. Claims by the Western media that China is a security threat have no basis in reality.  China, unlike the USA, does not have 800 military bases round the world or killed millions of people in endless wars. China seeks peace and international cooperation. 
The world is changing rapidly. American hegemony is being challenged and new emerging economies are increasingly using non-dollar currency payment exchange.  NATO states remain in denial and are still stuck in a colonial mindset. They are no longer in a position to dominate as in the past.  NATO is, however, still a serious threat to world peace as it's actions continue to create tension and conflict with a constant risk of another world war.  In 2020 Britain contributed £1,000 per person to NATO coffers to promote war. That money is urgently needed to save essential public services and repair a crumbling infrastructure.  Say no to NATO now for a peaceful and prosperous new world for us all to enjoy.