By Daragh Logue
Ukraine is fast learning the lesson espoused by Antony Blinken – If you’re not represented at the dining table of international affairs, you will be on the menu to be carved up. The recent summit in Alaska between Vladimir Putin & Donald Trump highlights this, with no breakthroughs reached in their supposed quest for peace.
What was allegedly discussed is more telling – lucrative oil deals between Russia’s Rosneft and the US’s ExxonMobil, talks on US-Russia cooperation in the Arctic, and further discussions of the post-war division of Ukrainian territory. As per usual, imperialist horse-trading has once again taken precedence over the genuine aspirations for peace of workers across Europe.
Rearmament
We are now well into the fourth year of the war in Ukraine, Europe’s largest conflict since the Second World War. This conflict has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced millions, while arms dealers, energy giants, and war profiteers have continued to enrich themselves beyond imagination.
The re-militarisation of Europe has begun on an unprecedented scale, with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiling an €800 billion fund to purchase arms and fund war industries and infrastructure. German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall’s stock has increased in value by nearly 200% since the start of the year, as Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pledged to increase German defence spending to 5% of GDP – breaking his own debt rules to do so. This will stink to the vast majority of German workers, who were so recently told by Merz that the “current welfare regime in Germany is unsustainable”. Like all of Europe’s jingoist politicians, Merz is pissing in the pockets of workers and trying to convince them that it is raining.
The Trump Effect
With the election of Donald Trump last year, the prospects for a negotiated settlement to the war have been heightened. Trump has displayed far more willingness to have dialogue with Putin, claiming that they have a “very good relationship”. European capitals have clearly been alarmed by this, especially since the disastrous blow-up between Zelensky and Trump in the Oval Office in February, where it seemed as if US backing for Ukraine was at stake and led to the pausing of intelligence sharing between the US and Ukrainian militaries.
This reflects a current split that exists within the ruling classes of the ‘West’ around how to manage the current phase of the war. The EU/NATO stance has been to pursue a confrontational approach; supplying Ukraine with weaponry and materiel, continuing the buildup of military forces in Europe, and maintaining the dominance of American forces in NATO. At the time the invasion began in 2022, US planners remarked that they would never again have the opportunity to degrade Russian military power on such a large scale without directly being involved in the fighting.
Western “donors” of military and economic aid have not left empty handed either; since the invasion began, Britain’s main economic aid project in Ukraine has been the so-called Good Governance Fund, which links economic support from the UK to the continuing privatisation of state-owned capital and land. The UK Foreign Office has been so brash as to remark in a recent report that the invasion should be seen “…not only as a crisis, but also as an opportunity”. As such, their interests have never been in protecting Ukrainian civilians and homes, but to plunder Ukraine for their resources and to “fight the Russians until the last Ukrainian”.
On the other hand, the Trump stance does not favour the interests of Ukrainian workers either. Trump likes to claim that the war would never have started had he been in office – something that seems spurious given that the conflict in the Donbas began in 2014. Now, amidst laughable declarations of his desire to “go to heaven”, Trump is seeking a quick, negotiated settlement to the war.
Despite his saintly aspirations, Trump has not shied away from the fact that he seeks access to mineral rights in Ukraine – his so-called precious “rare earths” – and to use the revenue from these to pay the US back for weapons given under the Biden administration.
Additionally, Trump has demanded that EU rearmament funds are spent on purchasing US weaponry. This is a cynical attempt to shore up the profits of the US arms industry, and to prevent the growth of a domestic arms industry within Europe that may threaten American dominance over the continent. Again, the interests of this section of the western ruling classes lies in the further enrichment of themselves, and the further exploitation of Ukrainian workers.
Against the imperialist carve-up
Amongst various writings, revolutionary leader Lenin writes that imperialist peace conferences are not about the self-determination of peoples, but the redivision of world markets and territories amongst the victors. This is evident at the moment – with the US, Russia, and the EU attempting to secure their own interests in Ukraine as the conflict appears to be drawing to a close. Putin likes to frame the war as a response to NATO expansion, presenting it as a fight against external threats.
In reality, this is a convenient distraction – the real ‘root cause,’ as with all wars under capitalism, is the scramble for markets, resources, and imperialist dominance. Any peace deal, if one is agreed, will only introduce a pause to the conflict, much as the Minsk agreements did in the 2010s. The only way to guarantee peace in Ukraine, and with the rest of the world, is through a genuine, internationalist, working-class anti-war struggle against the forces of capitalism and imperialism.
