1. Ukraine is not a struggle between “‘autocracy’ and democracy,” but a conflict zone of imperialist rivalry between U.S. and Western imperialism and Russian imperialism. The Ukrainian people and Ukrainian army are cannon fodder in this war—being used cold-bloodedly to advance U.S. imperialist interests in contention with their Russian rivals.
2. The U.S. and its NATO allies right now are preparing and developing the ability to escalate this war massively, as they send in more, and deadlier, armaments to Ukraine. Russia is also escalating its preparations for a more extensive and decisive war.
3. As Bob Avakian has pointed out, both the U.S./NATO side and the equally imperialist Russian side are deeply committed to “winning” this war; the logic of their mounting aggression has already included threats to use nuclear weapons. These nukes remain “locked and loaded” as the imperialists on both sides dig in and prepare further escalations.
4. The entire dynamic of this war must be radically changed in the interests of humanity, not rival and contending imperialists.
These points underscore a fundamental truth Bob Avakian expressed in an interview on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show: “We can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to dominate the world and to determine the destiny of humanity. They need to be overthrown as quickly as possible.”
Donetsk, Ukraine, November 19, 2021, three months before Russia invaded Ukraine: U.S. embassy delegation led by Army military attaché reviews map with Ukrainian officers who are conducting military operations against pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. Photo: AP