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The US arming of Ukraine and the danger of World War III
Lantier, Alex
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/02/03/pers-f03.htmlDate Written: 2015-02-03 Publisher: International Committee of the Fourth International Year Published: 2015 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX17219 The Obama administration wants to arm the right-wing regime in Ukraine with billions of dollars in advanced weaponry, which may spark a direct conflict between the US and Russia, two nuclear-armed powers, and ignite a Third World War. Abstract: - Excerpt: As always, the war plans of the US and its imperialist allies are couched in the language of defense—in this case, of "resisting Russian aggression." In fact, the escalating conflict over Ukraine is the product of a campaign by the US, Germany and the European Union to seize Kiev and turn Ukraine into a military outpost of the NATO alliance, pointed at the heart of European Russia. A year ago this month, a putsch led by the fascistic Right Sector militia and backed by Washington and Berlin ousted pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. He was replaced by an unstable, unpopular coalition of right-wing parties that made no secret of their violent hostility to Russia. The actions of the new government, including the mass killing of pro-Russian protesters, as in the May 2014 Odessa massacre, provoked armed resistance in areas of eastern Ukraine with large ethnic Russian populations. The regime responded with bloody offensives by fascist militias against cities such as Donetsk, Luhansk, Mariupol and Slavyansk. Thousands died last year in attacks carried out in coordination with the CIA, whose director John Brennan visited Ukraine undercover. Lacking any social base outside of a narrow layer of oligarchs and fascist thugs, the Kiev regime has failed to defeat the eastern Ukraine separatists, whom Moscow has armed and supported. Washington is responding by preparing an even greater bloodbath against the population of eastern Ukraine, directly posing the risk of full-scale war with Russia. ... The ultimate aim of the US and its allies is to reduce Russia to an impoverished and semi-colonial status. Such a strategy, historically associated with Carter administration National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, is again being openly promoted. Subject Headings |