EDITORIAL
The U.S. Government Expands the War in Ukraine

Jun 3, 2024

The U.S. government has taken another step to escalate the war in Ukraine. Joe Biden, the political spokesperson for the U.S. ruling class, announced that the Ukrainian military can now fire U.S-supplied missiles, rockets and artillery across the border into Russia. This was a “red line” that they said they would not cross, and now they have crossed it. They had previously crossed other “red lines” in approving Ukrainian attacks inside Russia and using cluster bombs.

Perhaps the U.S. government decided to escalate this war in Ukraine again because Russia has been gaining ground on the battlefield. Whatever the reason, the direction of this war has been dictated by the U.S. government from the very start. The U.S. military trained and built up the Ukrainian military forces before this war even started. The U.S., along with NATO allies, have supplied most of the weapons Ukraine has used during the war. They provide the spy intelligence and help plan Ukrainian military operations.

The U.S. has extended this war for almost two and a half years as the number of casualties on both sides keeps mounting. An estimated half million Ukrainian and Russian soldiers have been killed, wounded and maimed, while civilians in both countries continue to die.

U.S. threats against Russia led to this war in the first place. Ever since the Russian workers’ revolution of 1917, the U.S. capitalist class has seen Russia as a threat to their ability to exploit the resources and production capacity of the world. U.S. aggression intensified after World War II, as the U.S. and their NATO allies surrounded Russia with troops, military bases and nuclear weapons.

After the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, U.S. and European capitalists pushed to gain a foothold in the former Soviet territories. For two decades they pushed to take valued territory, like Ukraine, out of the Russian orbit and economy. In 2014, they finally succeeded. This led to a power struggle over who would dominate in Ukraine. Putin, brutal dictator, finally responded by ordering the invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. And the U.S. government was ready to respond and engage in this war against Russia, using Ukrainians as their proxies.

The U.S. government may say that they don’t want to engage in an all-out war against Russia. But every time the U.S. government crosses another “red line” and pushes Russia a little bit more, they are increasing the chances of retaliation by Russia and increasing the threat of a bigger war, even the use of nuclear weapons.

The war in Ukraine is not the only war going on. There are regional wars in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, where the major powers, especially the U.S., are also involved, directly or indirectly.

Regional wars involving the major powers and the increasing competition between the major capitalist powers is exactly what led to World War II. Every step of escalation by the U.S. government today is a step that could spread war, even ignite a third world war.

Working people here are already paying the price for the current wars that the U.S. is supporting. We are already paying the price for the huge escalation of the U.S. military budget. The money that should be used for schools and health care and good wages is instead being taken away and funneled to pay for the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and to pay for the future wars that the U.S. government is preparing for.

The price that workers are paying now is nothing compared to the price we will pay as these wars spread. War is a catastrophe for the peoples of the entire world.

The capitalists and their governments may be ready to engage in a world war and send the working people from each country to fight each other. But the workers of the world have no reason and no interest to go to war to kill each other.

Capitalism and the competition between capitalists lead to small wars and world wars. But the working class of the world has the power to get rid of this capitalist system. Workers are the majority of the population and our role in the economy means that we have the power not only to stop this system from running, but also to get rid of a system that thrives on war.