There is a “which side are you on” question posed right now in relation to the danger of war in Ukraine. And it is not a matter of choosing between the rulers of the U.S. or the rulers of Russia. It is a matter of standing with the people of the world or standing with one or another of the powers that oppress them. For people in the U.S., that means opposing “our” own rulers.

But not for the “progressive” publisher of The Nation magazine. Writing in the Washington Post, Katrina vanden Heuvel argues, "In the technical argot [informal jargon] of diplomacy, what's going on in the Ukraine crisis is nuts." And that "With the United States desperately needing to focus attention and resources on the challenges posed by the pandemic, debilitating economic inequality, severe racial division, and catastrophic climate change, and as the administration positions itself to take on China, the last thing we need is a war by proxy or, God forbid, directly with the Russians over Ukraine."

Well, just who is the “we” she’s talking about?

Katrina vanden Heuvel is promoting the idea that the interests of the masses of people lie with the interests of those who rule this system of capitalism-imperialism. But why should “we” be advising the rulers of this country which rival to “take on” to maintain a death grip on humanity? First of all, they don’t give a fuck what “we” think, other than to manipulate and contain it. Second, you don’t control any nukes or troops or drones or CIA agents or any of the other terroristic agents of brutal repression that they control to manage and extend their empire. And third, if you have a shred of morality you absolutely should NOT consider yourself part of this empire, or think that your morality should in any way be bound up with their brutal calculations of "national interest.” The rulers of this country have carried out the most horrific and egregious crimes against humanity in history (as documented in the American Crime series at revcom.us). Just take one minute and read Bob Avakian’s “In Light of the Urgency Spoken to in ‘Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating,’ A RENEWED CHALLENGE: SEARCHING FOR AN HONEST LIBERAL OR PROGRESSIVE,” and think about what it means to consider yourself a part of this.

A piece like this from Katrina vanden Heuvel acts as a shill for imperialism. When someone is running a hustle, the shill is the person working with the hustler but pretending to be part of the crowd hanging around, working to draw people into the game. The difference here is that this hustle involves the fate of humanity.