The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 18th August 2023
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 18th August 2023
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Fierce fighting continues as the Ukrainian summer offensive peters out in waves of futile attacks along the southern front. Russian forces advance in the northern Donbas, forcing the Ukrainians to order the evacuation of nearly 12,000 civilians in 37 towns and villages in the Kharkov region. In the air Russian missiles struck military targets throughout Ukraine including Kiev and the ‘western capital’ of Lvov. Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow and roads and bridges in Crimea, but most of their flying bombs were downed by the Russian defences.
The Zelensky offensive began in June but the Ukrainians have little to show for it apart from a few villages in the south paid for in horrendous losses in men and material, economic ruin and a crippling blockade.
The Russians are tightening the noose, with re- peated drone and missile attacks on docks and grain silos in the Black Sea port of Odessa and Ukraine’s river ports on the Danube near the border with Romania. The Americans are still refusing to respond seriously to Russian offers to restore the “grain deal” that allowed safe-passage for Ukrainian grain exports in return for similar concessions to Russian commerce that were never honoured. Neutral ships can still sail to Ukraine – but only with the approval of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Last week a Russian patrol vessel, the Vasily Bykov, boarded the Sukri Okan that was bound for a Ukrainian port on the Danube. The Turkish cargo ship, flying the flag of convenience of the Pacific island of Palau, was boarded after the captain had seemingly ignored hails from the Russian ship to stop for an inspection. Russian marines then inspected the vessel to ensure it was not carrying contraband such weapons or other military equipment before allowing the ship to proceed to the Danubian port of Izmail.
The imperialists had placed all their bets on the Zelensky offensive and their “game-changing” new weapons that were supposed to bring the Russians to their knees this summer. Their high hopes have been dashed in the trenches and dug-outs of the Russian front and now more realistic voices are being heard, such as that of NATO Sec- retary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s chief of staff, Stian Jenssen, who said Ukraine could trade land for NATO membership and an end to the fighting during a debate in Norway last week.
“I think that a solution could be for Ukraine to give up territory, and get NATO membership in return,” Jenssen said at the debate, according to Norway’s Verdens Gang (VG) newspaper. This discussion is already underway within NATO, he said, suggesting that it could be a “possible solution” to the conflict.
This “solution” has clearly been going to rounds for some time in the corridors of power in the West. Back in February the Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung daily claimed that CIA Director William Burns had offered Russia a “land for peace” deal in which Moscow would keep “20 per cent of Ukrainian territory”. But the White House, the CIA and the Kremlin all denied that such a proposal had ever been made.
Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council chief Alexei Danilov, a hardline Ukrainian nationalist, stated on Tuesday that Kiev will never negotiate with the Putin government, that none of Ukraine’s Western backers are pushing for peace, and that “Russia must be destroyed like a modern-day Carthage”. But at the end of the day it hardly matters as the Ukrainians must do whatever their masters want – there are plenty willing to take Zelensky’s place if he’s found wanting in Washington.
The real problem is whether this would meet the Kremlin’s demands. Offering the Russians what they’ve already got is hardly generous and one of Russia’s key war-aims, apart from the complete liberation of the Donbas, is to keep Ukraine out of NATO.