Ukraine

Fourth International — The wars we are facing are linked to the global crisis of capitalism and the resulting headlong rush into conflict between rival imperialist powers.

Claudio Katz talks about the need to avoid looking at imperialism in purely economic terms, the rise of what he terms an “imperial system” and the complexities of anti-imperialism in the 21st century.

The idea of creating an English-language issue of Commons journal has been discussed for a long time, and it became especially acute in connection with the Russian full-scale invasion and the emerging significant interest in Ukraine among foreign audiences.

Chris Slee — Dave Holmes argues “Russia is most decidedly defending itself from an existential threat from the US-NATO bloc” while approvingly quoting Scott Ritter’s assertions that “NATO is a paper tiger”. So which is it?

Karen Yamanaka — Putin has recently taken hostile military actions against neighbouring countries in the Far East and has strengthened military ties with North Korea. China, on the other hand, has watched the recent Russian-North Korean rapprochement with mixed feelings.

Renfrey Clarke — Few questions of international politics have seen the Western left as sharply divided as the war in Ukraine. But there is no good reason why Marxists, with the writings of Vladimir Lenin at their disposal, should lack clarity on how to analyse the war.

Murray Smith — Throughout history, solidarity has helped achieve the only possible acceptable peace — one guaranteeing defeat of the aggressor and the victim to live free of the threat of renewed assault. That must be the goal of the European Left in relation to Ukraine.

Dave Holmes — Ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, NATO has been calling the shots, fighting a proxy war against Russia on Ukrainian territory, using NATO arms, training, intelligence, “volunteers” and advisers, with Ukrainians as expendable cannon fodder on the ground.

Akira Kato discusses rising US-China tensions in the Asia-Pacific, Japan’s attempts to transform itself into a regional military power, the conflicts over Ukraine and Taiwan and building mass anti-war struggles today.

Ammar Ali Jan discusses global politics, growing tensions between the United States and China, the impacts of this on Pakistan and implications for anti-imperialism in the Global South today.

Rafael Bernabe — We reject NATO imperialism, but not to support the expansionism of the Russian Federation headed by Putin. We do not reject one imperialism to support another. We are anti-imperialists, not alter-imperialists.