Not one penny, not one person for Macron and Biden’s wars

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Lutte Ouvrière workplace newsletter
March 4, 2024

Not one penny, not one person for Macron and Biden’s wars

March 4, 2024

At the start of the war, Macron set himself apart by saying “Russia must not be humiliated”, now he has surprised everyone by saying “sending troops to Ukraine hasn’t been ruled out.”

All the Western leaders immediately repudiated this bellicose statement and Macron backpedaled: he was talking about troops for logistic support, not fighting troops…

Macron may be specializing in buffoonery but the situation should be taken seriously. Sending in fighting troops is of course an option for NATO’s general staff. It might not yet be a reality but it is being studied and prepared, and the U.S. will decide.

War is here, it’s really happening! Contrary to official denials, the U.S., backed by France and the other European states, is waging war on Russia. The roles have been distributed: Ukraine is providing the canon-fodder and the Western imperialist powers are providing the weapons.

Having explained that they would only send so-called defense weapons so that they could not be considered “co-belligerents”, they are now sending tanks, long-distance missiles and F16 fighter planes.

Arms manufacturers in France are stepping up their production to supply the Ukrainian front with shells, armored vehicles, Caesar guns, etc. After being accused of not doing enough by the German chancellor, who has committed his country to 17 billion euros, Macron has now promised 3 billion additional euros in military aid to Ukraine.

As for Western military personnel, they’ve been on Ukrainian soil for some time! The existence of 12 secret CIA bases, active since 2014 on the Russian border, has just been revealed. And it’s an open secret that NATO military instructors, including French ones, are busy there, delivering military equipment and training Ukrainian soldiers.

Obviously, the Western leaders are already waging this war and are dragging us deeper into it every day. If the U.S. took the decision, all their allies, France included, would send troops. And, in that case, the government would be fine with setting up general mobilization, in the same way as in Ukraine.

We’re told: “Putin the dictator must be stopped from invading Europe”, “We need to follow the example of the Ukrainians and their families and be ready to make sacrifices.” And following Macron’s request, the French education system and the army will reinforce the patriotic spirit of French youth through civic education and universal national service (SNU).

When this sort of brainwashing is going on, we should remember what Anatole France said in the aftermath of World War One: “you think you’re dying for your country, you’re dying for industrialists.”

Every war that our government calls a just war is a cover for power struggles over the distribution of wealth. Ukraine may well be a prey for Putin and Russian oligarchs but it’s also one for its own oligarchs and, above all, for the Western capitalists who, since the downfall of the Soviet Union, have been investing their capital there in order to exploit the land and the workforce.

The stream of billions that imperialist powers are pouring into this war is good news for arms dealers, including for French ones like Dassault, Safran, Thales, Nexter, etc. But it’s also an investment that will be very lucrative tomorrow for multinationals like Nestlé, Bayer, Vinci, etc.

Putin is a dictator crushing his own people under an iron heel. But Western powers are not as innocent as they make themselves out to be. What is happening in Gaza today, where, for the last five months, they have allowed their Israeli ally to massacre and starve the Palestinians, is yet another demonstration of this.

Biden and Macron talk about peoples’ rights when it suits them! When they need to team up with the worst regimes, as they do today with Saudi Arabia and Israel, and turn a blind eye on their abuse of others and set peoples against one another, they don’t think twice about it.

We must not let them involve us in a third world war! No person should die in a capitalist war.

Down with our leaders who uphold this barbaric order and foment wars! Not a penny more for arms dealers! What we need are hospital beds, housing, trains and schools!

Nathalie Arthaud