By
Patrick O’Connor
Statements
issued by White House and NATO officials over the weekend on the Ukrainian
crisis, including allegations that Russia is poised to invade several of its
neighbours, point to advanced preparations by US imperialism for a heightened
military build-up across Eastern Europe.
US
President Barack Obama today begins a four-day trip to Europe, beginning in The
Hague, Holland. On the sidelines of a pre-scheduled Nuclear Security Summit
there, Obama has convened a meeting on Ukraine involving the leaders of
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan—the G8 minus Russia.
After
working with Germany to orchestrate a regime-change operation in Ukraine,
Washington’s aim is to diplomatically isolate Vladimir Putin’s administration
and consider further damaging economic sanctions against Russia, while also
developing trade and energy mechanisms that bring Ukraine and other Eastern
European states under the strategic control of the US and EU. On Wednesday,
Obama will meet in Brussels with European Union officials and NATO Secretary
General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
NATO’s
Supreme Allied Commander, US Air Force General Philip Breedlove, yesterday
issued a bellicose denunciation of Russia. He accused the Putin administration
of building up its military forces on Russia’s western borders and of preparing
to intervene into Transnistria, a part of the former Soviet republic of Moldova
that has a significant ethnic Russian population and which attempted to become
independent following the disintegration of the USSR. Breedlove also raised the
spectre of Russian troops invading the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania.
“The
[Russian] force that is at the Ukrainian border now to the east is very, very
sizeable and very, very ready,” Breedlove declared at an event held by the
German Marshall Fund think-tank. “There is absolutely sufficient force postured
on the eastern border of Ukraine to run to Transnistria if the decision was
made to do that, and that is very worrisome.”
After
referring to the Russian annexation of Crimea, the NATO commander asked: “How
do we change our deployment? How do we change our readiness? How do we change
our force structure such that we can be ready in the future? We need to think
about our allies, the positioning of our forces in the alliance and our
readiness of our forces in the alliance, such that we can be there to defend
against them if required, especially in the Baltics and other places.”
Breedlove
added that Russia was now acting as “an adversary” of NATO—underscoring the
active preparations of the US and its European allies to launch a war against
Russia.
Obama’s
deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken, speaking on CNN yesterday,
backed Breedlove’s statements, declaring that it was “deeply concerning to see
the Russian troop build-up on the border.” Blinken added that “it’s possible that
they’re preparing to move in [to Ukraine].”
Polish
Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak declared on Saturday that Washington “must
increase its [military] presence in Europe, also in Poland.” During US Vice
President Joe Biden’s visit to the country last week, Siemoniak explained,
“There was a clear expectation from our side, and also from all NATO allies
[in] Eastern Europe, that we expect a larger military presence of the US and
that this eastern flank of NATO must be strengthened.”
Siemoniak
added that it was “natural”, given developments in Ukraine, to discuss the
prospect of a permanent, major US base in Poland.
These
statements, which follow the US deployment of twelve F16 fighter jets and 300
troops to Poland earlier this month, underscore the brazen hypocrisy of the
White House and its allies. Washington is now drumming up a war scare over
alleged Russian troop movements within the country’s own borders, while at the
same time the US armed forces are being deployed in a provocative effort to
cordon off Russia from its neighbours.
The
installed regime in Kiev is also ratcheting up the rhetoric. Foreign Minister
Andrii Deshchytsia yesterday appeared on US television and stated that the
prospect of military conflict with Russia was “very high” and “growing.” He
added: “We are ready to respond… It’s very difficult to keep people restrained,
and they are patriots of their homeland ... [It] would be difficult for them
just simply sit or stay and look at Russia invading their country.”
Deshchytsia’s
reference to “patriots of their homeland” is an allusion to the extreme
right-wing and nationalist forces that formed the base of the
Washington-European operation in Ukraine, have been brought into top government
posts and are being integrated into the armed forces.
Defence
Minister Igor Tenyukh, one of several senior government figures who are members
of the fascistic Svoboda party, yesterday bemoaned the failure of Ukrainian
forces in Crimea to attack Russian troops. Over the weekend, Russian forces
secured control of the Belbek air base, one of the few remaining bases in
Crimea still occupied by Ukrainian troops.
Speaking
to journalists in Kiev, Tenyukh declared that “our commanders had the
authorisation to use force.” However, he complained: “Unfortunately, the commanders
made decisions on the spot. They chose not to use their weapons in order to
avoid bloodshed.”
Having
installed a regime in Ukraine that includes forces intent on triggering a war
between the US and Russia, the White House is now preparing to build up its
military capacities. Republican congressman Mike Rogers, chair of the House of
Representatives intelligence committee, yesterday told NBC’s “Meet the Press”
that Obama’s rhetoric did not “match the reality on the ground.” He demanded
military aid that the Ukrainian government “can use to really protect and
defend themselves.”
Obama’s
deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken responded by declaring that the
prospect of directly arming Ukraine was currently being reviewed.
This article first appeared on World Socialist
Web Site (WSWS) on 24 March 2014, and was republished with permission.
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