The left should back Ukraine's fight

Since sustained, massive Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure began on 10 October Russia has launched 600 missiles, killing 77 people.

On 23 November 12 million people were left to sit in freezing homes, without electricity, following the latest Russian barrage. Three days later 6 million were still without power. These attacks intend to undermine Ukrainians’ will to fight the Russian occupation, and to undermine normal economic and social life in free Ukraine.

Targeting civilian power and water supplies is a war crime. During the course of the whole war, after the full-scale invasion of 24 February, Russia has fired over 4,000 missiles at Ukraine, many at civilian targets.

And in response to this wave of terror attacks on Ukraine, Socialist Worker (SW) leader Alex Callinicos opposes the West supplying advanced missile defence systems which would help Ukraine protect its citizens from Russian war crimes. Callinicos writes that the provision of Western anti-missile defence systems to protect Kyiv from attack is wrong because this would only provoke Russia to bomb more.

Easy to write from a comfortable chair in north London. Turn up the heating, Mr Callinicos.

That argument, if continued logically, would have prevented the left backing most anti-colonial struggles. It would give a free-hand to imperialist-colonial bullies.

Should the Vietnamese have refused Russian and Chinese weapons in the hope that would stop the US escalating the war? The US did escalate! And then, eventually — and indeed with great human cost — lost, and was forced out.

While noting that Putin has no interest in negotiations, SW also concludes articles on Ukraine with: “Russian forces out of Ukraine, No NATO arms supplies [to Ukraine].” What a ridiculous contradiction! How will an unwilling Russia under President Vladimir Putin get out of Ukraine without Ukraine forcing it out? And how could that happen without using the weapons which are being provided by NATO states? (Not “NATO weapons”: “NATO” is not providing weapons.)

Ukraine is a historically oppressed nation fighting for its right not to be trampled on by Russian imperialism, and has the right to take weapons from whomever will give them.

The US does not give all the weapons Ukraine demands. Far from it. The various Western powers have refused to give attack aircraft, helicopters, advanced tanks, and long range missile systems. France and Germany have been particularly reluctant donors.

The US and its allies are backing Ukraine not because they want war with Russia, but because Russia forced the war on them, and they see limited aid to Ukraine as their best option to contain what they see as an unfortunate and alarming situation.

SW’s picture of the Ukraine war is a fiction, with reality mangled to fit a pre-existing ideological framework. Rather than rip up their worldview they bash reality to fit their prejudices. SW understands the war to be a proxy war between the US and Russia. Except that there is no symmetry here. The US is not fighting, and Russia is brutally occupying parts of Ukraine with the intention of ripping up the Ukrainian state.

The practical effect of the SW agitation is for a Ukrainian surrender to Russian imperialist aggression. And that is a disgrace. Victory to Ukraine!