We can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to continue to dominate the world and determine the destiny of humanity.  And it is a scientific fact that humanity does not have to live this way.

—Bob Avakian 

Humanity is confronted with a tremendously dangerous situation. Over the past year, the rivalry between the nuclear-armed imperialist powers—the U.S., Russia and China—has immeasurably intensified. The U.S. and Russia are waging a dangerous and horribly brutal “proxy war” in Ukraine; the U.S. and China contend over control of East Asia; and Russia and China, along with the reactionary Islamic regime in Iran, are increasingly coming together as a bloc opposing the U.S. In the midst of all this, the U.S. has armed and unleashed Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people.

On top of all that, reactionary regional powers and local forces make moves of their own. America is neck-deep in all of this. They talk about “peace” and “order” but in fact they are putting the entire world at risk to defend what they consider to be strategic interests of their empire.

U.S. Launches Sixth Attack in Eight Days Against Yemen

Last Friday, the U.S. launched a barrage of missiles at Yemen—the sixth U.S. attack in eight days. These missiles come in response to attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, launched by the Houthis, a reactionary Islamic organization controlling most of Yemen, which is backed in turn by Iran. The Houthis aim for these attacks to put pressure on the U.S. and Israel to end their genocidal war against the Palestinian people. But the U.S. is determined to protect Israel’s flank, so America in turn has attacked the Houthis. 

So far, the Houthis have responded to each U.S. bombardment with further attacks on shipping.

This continued defiance makes the U.S. look weak—a dangerous thing for imperialist gangsters. So the U.S. is looking for some way to achieve “victory.” What that would mean is unclear, but some kind of attack on Iran—which supports the Houthis—aimed at forcing it to “rein in” its ally, is an option being considered. This might have the desired effect, but might end up leading to an open war with Iran… which has ties to Russia and China.

Israeli Attacks on Iranian Forces and Allies Escalate Chances for a Region-Wide War

The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) is a thoroughly reactionary, anti-woman, repressive theocratic regime. In 2022, literally millions of Iranians took to the streets to demand the end of the regime.  

At the same time, it is a major regional power seeking greater influence in the U.S.-dominated Middle East. The Iranians have developed an alliance with Hamas (the group controlling Gaza), Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis to pursue that aim; and they have at the same time developed closer ties with U.S. imperialist rivals, Russia and China. 

All this makes Iran a major problem and obstacle for U.S. domination. Thus far, Iran has stayed out of direct involvement in the war, but has supported its allies in attacking Israel in different ways. Meanwhile, over the past few weeks, there has been a wave of attacks in Iran itself, or against Iranian military leaders in Iraq and Syria. While not all of these are coming from the U.S./Israel, many are, and these attacks are greatly—and perhaps intentionally—escalating the chances of Iran being drawn into the war directly.

This is the basic context for a series of Iranian rocket attacks last week. Missiles hit what Iran says were Israeli operatives in the Kurdish region of Iraq. They also hit a militia tied to ISIS in Syria and militants in the Baluchi area of Pakistan. (Pakistan, a nuclear-armed power in South Asia, launched a retaliatory attack on Iran’s Baluchi region.)

In part, these targets reflected Iran hitting back at forces that had attacked it. But many analysts believe that Iran was mainly “sending a message” to Israel and the U.S., warning that if they attacked Iran they would regret it. Driving this home, the IRI put up posters in Tehran (Iran’s capital) in Persian and Hebrew reading: “Prepare your coffins.” And Iran’s Minister of Defense declared “We are a missile power in the world.”

Then on January 20, Israel launched a missile attack on Damascus (capital of Syria) killing five Iranian military advisors to Syria, including three generals, and an Israeli attack on Lebanon killed a member of Hezbollah. After that, pro-Iranian forces in Iraq attacked the U.S. Central Command in Iraq,¹ injuring a number of U.S. troops.

Summing up these developments, on January 20, Reuters wrote that “Missile attacks in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen on Saturday threw into sharp focus the increasing risk of the war in Gaza triggering a wider regional conflict pitting Iran and its allies against Israel and the United States.”

Korean Peninsula: Provocative Moves by U.S. Bring Danger of Nuclear War

Korea was historically one country and Koreans are one people. It was divided after World War 2, with the North occupied by the Soviet Union (then a socialist country) and the South occupied by U.S. imperialism. In 1950-52, the U.S. and its puppet fascist dictatorship in the South fought a war with the North that resulted in near-total destruction of the north and millions of deaths. Korea has been divided ever since. No peace treaty was ever signed, so technically they are still at war.²  (See “American Crime Case #93: U.S. Invasion of Korea—1950.”)

For 75 years relations between the North (backed to some degree by Russia and China) and the South (backed by the U.S.), have been marked by threats and bluster on both sides. The U.S. and its allies have imposed harsh sanctions on North Korea since 1950, including at times barring import of oil, the export of coal (a major part of North Korea's economy) and blocking even humanitarian aid like syringes and wheelchairs! Experts estimated that in 2018 alone, this led to over 4,000 deaths. Partly in response to this, North Korea developed nuclear weapons and the capability of launching them into South Korea and Japan, and possibly parts of the U.S.

Nonetheless, for decades the North’s official policy was to seek peaceful reunification with their “brothers and sisters,” as well as “normalization” of relations with the U.S., and there were periods of closer relations with the South. 

Now this tense “status quo” is rapidly disintegrating. For months, the U.S. and South Korea have been provoking the North with blatant war preparations—new mutual defense treaties, united war exercises that rehearse invasions, etc. (see box above on “U.S. and South Korean War Provocations Against North Korea That the ‘Free Press’ Didn’t Tell You About”). In response, the North has now publicly abandoned the goals of “peaceful reunification” of north and south, and “normalization” of relations with the U.S. It now describes the South as “a foreign country” and “a hostile state,” and says a major war is likely. (North Korean statements generally predict that this war would be started by the South, but U.S. press accounts generally leave that out and make it sound like the North is openly planning to launch a war.) This is all portrayed in the media as some sudden and possibly lunatic shift by North Korea—while whitewashing the provocations by the U.S. and South Korea.

The South is backed by the U.S.’s gigantic nuclear arsenal. The North also has perhaps 50 nuclear weapons and missiles that could reach Japan, the U.S. base at Guam, and perhaps the U.S. itself. Both countries have powerful militaries—even without nukes, a war between them would likely be devastating to both… and quite possibly draw the U.S., Russia and/or China into the fray.

The Imperialists Are Recklessly Gambling with Humanity’s Future; Will YOU Fight for the Alternative?

Each of these conflicts can spiral into greater horrors—horrors which could end in the destruction of humanity itself!!! This whole dynamic is intolerable—and it is unnecessary. The revcoms are working every day to get in position to lead millions to fight—and win—a real revolution. We aim to overthrow this system of capitalism-imperialism and to bring in a whole new way to live and a fundamentally different system, based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, authored by Bob Avakian. This new socialist government will “not develop or use nuclear weapons and will take concrete steps and wage determined struggle to abolish nuclear weapons everywhere, with the ultimate goal of finally abolishing wars among human beings, with the abolition of the capitalist-imperialist system, and all systems and relations of exploitation and oppression, which are the basis for wars.” (From “We Need and We Demand: A Whole New Way to Live, A Fundamentally Different System”)

As the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian has put it:

Especially at a time like this—a time when big things are up in the world, affecting the whole future of humanity...when those big-time exploiters and oppressors who rule over us in this country are bitterly divided among themselves and increasingly unable to hold things together as a “unified” ruling class...when there is not just an urgent need but a real possibility to seize on this situation to overthrow them altogether—if you are NOT getting with the revcoms (revolutionary communists) who are working every day for this revolution, if you are not part of working to bring about this revolution, then what the hell are you doing?!