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<h1 class="reader-title">Ukraine — The Black Alliance for Peace</h1>
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<div class="reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">February 26, 2021<br>
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<h2> <strong>A Brief Guide on the Situation in Ukraine</strong></h2>
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<p>Within large sectors of the U.S. left, including many
elements of the Black left, there is widespread
confusion related to the Ukraine “crisis.” Years of
anti-Russia propaganda from the U.S. and its NATO
allies, and the tendency to abstract the current
Ukrainian situation from its historical and
geo-strategic context, have created a climate of
confusion. This climate has played into the hands of
state propagandists and Democratic Party activists eager
to use the Ukraine situation to deflect attention from
Biden’s disastrous domestic agenda. </p>
<p>The situation with Ukraine did not just fall out of the
sky in 2021. It has a long history.</p>
<p>Here are some points to frame how we should engage this
issue:</p>
<ol data-rte-list="default">
<li>
<p><strong>Ukraine is a manufactured crisis</strong>.
That is, the stand-off between the U.S./ NATO forces
and the Russian Federation with the Ukrainians,
including the Ukrainians in the Eastern portion of
Ukraine (that the media refers to as “pro-Russia
separatists”), did not evolve organically but was
the result of conscious decisions on the part of the
Biden Administration. Less than two months after
taking office there were indications that the Biden
Administration was signaling to the Ukrainian
government that it would support efforts to
reincorporate the eastern region (Donbas) by force.
This is why we reject any obscurantist references to
the “both sides are to blame” position that we see
in various statements from peace and anti-war
groups. To be clear: this is not a “pro-Russia”
position, but an objective assessment of the
dynamics of the situation. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>The U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination</strong>.
We see NATO as a criminal military structure whose
only purpose is providing the military/material
basis for the maintenance and extension of the
U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination (white power). As a
structure of white colonial power, NATO was
essential in supporting colonial powers in Africa,
including the Portuguese in their military struggles
to maintain their colonial holdings in Africa during
the initial wave of anti-colonial struggles on the
continent. The Obama/Biden administration also used
NATO for their attack on Libya in 2011, resulting in
the destruction of the most prosperous and
revolutionary state on the continent. All peace
loving people should call for the dismantling of
NATO. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Ukraine and U.S. Doctrine of “Full Spectrum
Dominance.” While the focus on Ukraine is of
utmost importance, we must also recognize the
bipartisan commitment to the U.S. national
security strategy of “Full Spectrum Dominance” and
its utilization of a “military-first” strategy to
achieve continued U.S. global dominance.</strong>
For <a
href="https://blackallianceforpeace.com/africomwatchbulletin/2022/2/1/africom-watch-bulletin-37"><span>example,</span></a>
troops trained by the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM)
have been involved in nine coups d’etat in the
thirteen years that AFRICOM has operated on the
continent. Therefore, unlike a number of peace and
anti-war groups that abstract Ukraine from that
context, we argue that the coup in Ukraine and the
attempt to create the conditions for the expansion
of NATO into Ukraine must be seen as just one aspect
of U.S. imperialist strategy. It is the concrete,
material interests of imperialism that drives U.S.
policies and is, therefore, why it must be defined
as such and vigorously opposed by all
anti-imperialists. </p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>For African peoples, the U.S./EU/NATO Axis of
Domination represents the greatest threat to peace,
human rights, and social justice on the planet today. It
is absurd for any African to embrace the agenda of
empire by giving credence or legitimacy to the crude
mobilization of public opinion for conflict on behalf of
NATO and the white supremacist, colonial/capitalist
project. </p>
<ol data-rte-list="default">
<li>
<p><strong>Ukraine reflects the continuous right-wing
nature of European and European American politics.
</strong>In a 2018 article in <em>The Nation</em>,
Stephen Cohen<a
href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/americas-collusion-with-neo-nazis/">
<span>detailed</span></a> the social and political
impacts of the 2014 right-wing coup in Ukraine: </p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>…storm troop-like assaults on gays, Jews, elderly
ethnic Russians, and other “impure” citizens are
widespread throughout Kiev-ruled Ukraine, along with
torchlight marches reminiscent of those that eventually
inflamed Germany in the late 1920s and 1930s. And that
the police and official legal authorities do virtually
nothing to prevent these neofascist acts or to prosecute
them. On the contrary, Kiev has officially encouraged
them by systematically rehabilitating and even
memorializing Ukrainian collaborators with Nazi German
extermination pogroms and their leaders during World War
II, renaming streets in their honor, building monuments
to them, rewriting history to glorify them, and more. </p>
<p>This is the nature of the government in Ukraine that
the Biden Administration along with the corporate press,
deranged Black people, and a confused left are
supporting. </p>
<p>Below is an alternative set of facts and analyses
related to the Ukraine crisis, a “crisis” deliberately
generated to divert attention away from the Biden’s
administration inability to provide capitalist
stability. </p>
<p><strong>The unfolding of events in Ukraine that are
relevant for Africans</strong></p>
<ol data-rte-list="default">
<li>
<p><strong>The full responsibility for the dangerous
crisis unfolding in Ukraine has its genesis in the
illegal policies of the U.S./EU/NATO “Axis of
Domination</strong>” beginning in 2014. As the
Black Alliance for Peace<a
href="https://blackallianceforpeace.com/bapstatements/2022/1/12/bapcondemsukrainedomination">
<span>reported</span></a>, it was clear even from
statements attributed to Obama officials that,
“During the latter part of 2013 until February 2014,
the Obama/Biden administration gave material support
and encouragement to anti-democratic right-wing
elements in Ukraine to execute ‘regime change.’”
Therefore, the U.S. was deeply implicated in the<a
href="https://www.blackagendareport.com/ukraine-and-us-war-propaganda">
<span>coup of February 2014</span></a> that
overthrew the democratically elected president of
Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The coup government was infected with Ukrainian
ultra-nationalists and with political ties to
literal fascists such as the “Right Sector” and the<a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/azov-far-right-fighters-ukraine-neo-nazis">
<span>Azov battalions</span></a>. The coup plunged
Ukraine into crisis because substantial sectors of
Ukrainian society did not support it, especially
sections of predominantly Russian speaking Ukrainian
citizens in the Eastern portions of the nation.
Those Ukrainian citizens rejected the legitimacy of
the coup government and began to voice support for
independence from the neo-Nazi government that took
power. The response from the illegal coup regime
was to label its own citizens “terrorists” and
attack the Eastern portions of the country
militarily. In other words, they attacked their own
citizens – a crime that the Obama administration
pretended was the excuse for U.S. subversion in
Syria. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The Azov Battalion played a major combat role in
the attacks by the coup government against Ukrainian
citizens who opposed the coup. The Azov Battalion is
avowedly “partially” pro-Nazi, as evidenced by its
regalia, slogans, and programmatic statements, and
as<a
href="http://thehill.com/opinion/international/359609-the-reality-of-neo-nazis-in-the-ukraine-is-far-from-kremlin-propaganda">
<span>well-documented</span></a> as such by
several international monitoring organizations. The
Azov Battalion was incorporated into the National
Guards of Ukraine, the armed forces of the Ukrainian
state, and today is reported to be being trained by
U.S. Special Forces.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>After suffering military defeats at the hands of
the peoples in Eastern Ukraine that had subsequently
declared themselves independent of the coup
government, an agreement between Donbas and the coup
government was arrived at that became known as the
Minsk II agreement. Terms of the agreement included
a commitment to a ceasefire along with relative
autonomy for Donbas (Eastern Ukraine). The agreement
avoided all-out war and provided a degree of
“stability” until the Biden administration came back
to power. </p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Back in power, Biden and the Democrats who have now
reclaimed the mantle of the party of war, began to
encourage Ukraine authorities to ignore the Minsk II
agreement and to forcefully retake control of Donbas.
Even more dangerously, the U.S. and some European powers
began to indicate that Ukraine might be invited to
become a member of NATO. If Ukraine becomes a member of
NATO, this could allow a nuclear armed NATO to be
positioned right on the borders of Russia. Russia is
rightly concerned about this security risk at its
border. </p>
<p><strong>The Black Radical Position on the Situation in
Ukraine </strong></p>
<p><strong>NATO is an illegitimate aggressive structure in
the service of Western imperialism and does not
deserve any support from African/Black and colonized
people.</strong> Moreover, all social forces committed
to peace should demand that NATO be dismantled. The
Ukrainian crisis is yet another example of the
delusional policies being pursued by U.S. rulers unable
to accept the changed circumstances in the world today
that limit their ability to impose their interests on
peoples and nations without consequences. </p>
<p>As an African people involved in an existential battle
in the U.S. against rightist forces, from the
Trump/Republican supporters to the warmongering
neoliberal Democrats, with both committed to global
“Full Spectrum Dominance” (white power), it would be an
affront to our history and people to enter this struggle
on the side of empire and NATO. </p>
<p><strong>BAP Demands</strong>:</p>
<p>1. All parties to the conflict adhere to the provisions
reflected in the Minsk agreement</p>
<p>2. Instead of the arbitrary and illegal activities of
the United States and NATO, the Ukrainian situation
should be moved to the United Nations Security Council,
the only body by international law tasked with the
responsibility to address international threats to
peace.</p>
<p>3. That NATO, a structure for advancing the interests
of white supremacy and the U.S. empire be dismantled.</p>
<p>4. The U.S. government renounce its commitment to the
doctrine of global “Full Spectrum Dominance.”</p>
<p><strong>Select Resources from BAP and BAP members:</strong></p>
<p><strong>BAP Press Release</strong>: <a
href="https://blackallianceforpeace.com/bapstatements/2022/1/12/bapcondemsukrainedomination">Black
Alliance For Peace took a strong stance on the
escalating situation in Ukraine</a>. “Black Alliance
for Peace Condemns the Policies of the U.S./EU/NATO Axis
of Domination in Ukraine”</p>
<p><strong>Ajamu Baraka</strong>, <a
href="https://www.blackagendareport.com/ukraine-what-does-it-have-do-black-folks">Ukraine:
What Does it Have to Do with Black Folks? </a></p>
<p><strong>BAP Press Release: </strong><a
href="https://blackallianceforpeace.com/bapstatements/ukrainebidenswar">Ukraine:
Biden Administration’s “Wag the Dog” Diversionary
War?:<strong> </strong></a></p>
<p><strong>Interview Ajamu Baraka on Ukraine: </strong><a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YciCv7JECCk">Unmasking
Imperialism</a> Hosted by Ramiro Sebastián Fúnez. </p>
<p><strong>Margaret Kimberley: </strong><a
href="https://www.blackagendareport.com/ukraine-and-us-war-propaganda">Ukraine
and War Propaganda</a></p>
<p><strong>Ajamu Baraka</strong>, National Organizer of
the Black Alliance for Peace joined “By Any Means
Necessary” to <a
href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iySotDUHzdFmyq6Q3Qscz0_ps4tPuhEI/view?usp=sharing">discuss
the ongoing issues in Ukraine</a> and its meaning for
Black people in the US.</p>
<p><strong>Salifu Mack, Erica Caines, </strong><a
href="https://www.blackagendareport.com/biden-harris-and-never-ending-commitment-war-and-terror">Biden-Harris
and the Never-Ending Commitment to War and Terror:<strong>
</strong></a></p>
<p><strong>Charisse Burden-Stelly, “</strong><a
href="https://www.blackagendareport.com/against-triple-evils-biden-administrations-affront-dr-kings-legacy">Against
the Triple Evils: The Biden’s Administrations Affront
to Dr. King’s Legacy</a></p>
<p><strong>Pre-2021:</strong></p>
<p><strong>Margaret Kimberley</strong>: <a
href="https://www.blackagendareport.com/freedom-rider-russia-wins">Russia
Wins </a></p>
<p><strong>Glen Ford</strong>: <a
href="https://www.blackagendareport.com/content/hillary-and-other-assorted-barbarians-russia%E2%80%99s-gate%C2%A0">Hillary
and Other Assorted Barbarians at Russia’s Gate</a></p>
<p><strong>Ajamu Baraka</strong>: <a
href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/08/17/the-story-of-charlottesville-was-written-in-blood-in-the-ukraine/">The
Story of Charlottesville Was Written in Blood in The
Ukraine</a></p>
<p><strong>Interview:</strong> <strong>Ajamu and Phil
Wilatyo </strong>- <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/drjillstein/videos/ajamu-baraka-and-phil-wilayto-a-voice-from-the-margins-gre/1626283007411883/">A
Voice From The Margins - US Foreign Policy in Ukraine
and Eastern Europe</a> </p>
<p><strong>Additional Information:</strong> </p>
<p>Estonia and Latvia are <a
href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/this-is-how-much-nato-countries-spend-on-defense/">NATO
member states</a>; they are both on Russia’s border.
Estonia would be the closest to Saint Petersburg. <a
href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/St+Petersburg,+Russia/@60.5749206,28.3356389,5.94z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x4696378cc74a65ed:0x6dc7673fab848eff!8m2!3d59.9310584!4d30.3609096">See
the map here</a> and look at number 24, that is
Estonia and the little inlet just north > that is
where Saint Petersburg is.<br>
</p>
<p><strong>NATO and Africa: </strong></p>
<p>In his 1966 book <span>Challenge of the Congo</span><em>,
</em>Kwame Nkrumah writes: <em>“</em>Foreign powers
already have military bases in various, strategically
important parts of our continent. There are in Africa at
present, seventeen air bases owned and operated by
individual members of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO). There are nine naval bases
encircling the continent from the north coast of Africa
right round the south coast to the east. There are
foreign military missions, for example in Kenya,
Morocco, Liberia, Libya, South Africa, Senegal and Ivory
Coast. Furthermore, they possess three rocket sites, and
an atomic testing range in North Africa. There are mines
being exploited for the production of raw materials for
the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Some of these mines
are situated in the Congo, Angola, South Africa,
Mozambique and Rhodesia. In the context of of the
imperialist plan to prevent Africa from achieving
complete political and economic independence and an
All-African Union Government, these foreign military
bases present a serious threat to the African
revolutionary struggle.” (p. xi)</p>
<p>Walter Rodney was even more explicit on how NATO moved
into Africa as part of the efforts to shift colonial
power from the traditional European powers to the new
colonial hegemon - the United States of America. </p>
<p>Rodney accurately describes the early foundation of
colonial Africa’s relationship with NATO which continues
today when he said in <span><em>How Europe
Underdeveloped Africa</em></span><em>: </em>“Adding
to the regular bases in long established colonies, the
imperialist powers were able to set up military
installations in African territories which fell into
their hands during the war. In this context, the USA was
particularly important, because it was already the
principal buttress of the capitalist defense system in
the form of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO). Thus, after helping to recapture North Africa
from the fascist, the United States was able to build
major air-force bases in Morocco, and Libya. In Italian
Eritrea, the Americans stepped in with modern radar
stations; and Ethiopia conceded military bases.” (p.
198)</p>
<p><strong>NATO & AFRICOM</strong></p>
<p>AFRICOM is actually a direct product of NATO via EUCOM
(US European command) because EUCOM is a component part
of NATO and EUCOM originally included responsibility for
42 African states. In 2003 NATO started expanding; four
years later the EUCOM commander proposed the creation of
AFRICOM in 2007.<a
href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/how-the-us-can-build-on-its-success-with-africom/">
<span>James L. Jones Jr. explains</span></a> how he
came to make the <a
href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/how-the-us-can-build-on-its-success-with-africom/">proposal
for AFRICOM from his position as commander of EUCOM</a>
as well as commander of operational forces of NATO here.</p>
<p>As previously mentioned regarding NATO’s relationship
with OAU states, the <a
href="https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/159844/fp_22.pdf">policy
of NATO</a> “partnering” with African states to
achieve its goals has continued with the establishment
of the AU. The AU has partnered with <a
href="https://www.africom.mil/pressrelease/33002/africom-commander-talks-security-partnerships">NATO/AFRICOM
missions regarding “anti-piracy,”</a> military
training, operational support, etc. in Somalia, and
spearheaded missions in Sudan & Gulf of Guinea.</p>
<p>The US/NATO role in the destruction of Libya in 2011 is
important to highlight because it offers some important
lessons. First, US imperialism and its western lackies
do not accept any country that decides to be an
independent force outside of its sphere of influence.
Secondly, it also demonstrates how NATO can work hand in
hand with other US/western dominated world structures
like the UN.<a
href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2011/sc10200.doc.htm#Resolution">
<span>In 2011 the UN (resolution 1973)</span></a> gave
political authorization for a “no Fly zone” and blockade
of Libya to reportedly “protect” the citizens which
ultimately resulted the destruction of the country. It
shows that although <a
href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2011/sc10200.doc.htm#Resolution">US-led
NATO </a>often uses the UN for political cover, it
has no problem<a
href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43302692"> <span>illegally</span></a>
overstepping its UN mandate to commit its crimes against
humanity and achieve its regime change goals. Even a few
countries that abstained from the UN vote like China
said they did so not to offend the reactionary Arab
league AND the African Union which approved of the
resolution. This shows cooperation between NATO, UN the
AU, and the Arab League.</p>
<p>The book <span>The Illegal War on Libya</span> edited
by Cynthia McKinney, includes the chapter titled “NATO’s
Libya War, A Nuremberg Level Crime” in which Stephen
Ledman writes: “The US-led NATO war on Libya will be
remembered as one of history’s greatest crimes,
violating the letter and spirit of international law and
America’s Constitution. The Nuremberg Tribunal’s Chief
Justice Robert Jackson (a supreme court justice) called
Nazi war crimes ‘the supreme international crime against
peace.’ Here are his November 21, 1945 opening remarks:</p>
<p>The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have
been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating,
that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored,
because it cannot survive their being repeated.”
Jackson called aggressive war “the greatest menace of
our times.” International law defines crimes against
peace as “planning, preparation, initiation, or waging
of wars of aggression, or a war in violation of
international treaties, agreements or assurances, or
participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the
accomplishment of any of the foregoing.</p>
<p><strong>All</strong> US post-WWII wars fall under this
definition. Since then, America has waged direct and
proxy premeditated, aggressive wars worldwide. It has
killed millions in East and Central Asia, North and
other parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, as
well as in Central and South America.” (p. 79)</p>
<p>Some quotations from Horace Campbell’s book <span>Global
NATO and the Catastrophic Failure in Libya: Lessons
for Africa in the Forging of African Unity</span> are
instructive for understanding the expansion of NATO, its
aggression toward Russia, and its role in Africa
generally, and Libya particularly:</p>
<p>“The NATO operation [in Libya] exposed the reality that
in the current depression there will be massive use of
force by Western corporations to remain competitive.
These corporate entities have decided to go beyond
structural adjustment ‘reforms’ and have taken a
military stand in Africa. There were also commentators
who perceived the Libyan intervention as a proxy war
with China. War and revolution in North Africa have
opened a new period in the history of Africa.” (p. 30)</p>
<p>“Russia opposed the expansion of NATO, claiming that
this was a military alliance to encircle Russia by
extending its membership to include former members of
the Warsaw Pact… NATO expanded under President Clinton
to protect ‘globalized’ capital, and it was in this
period of expansion that NATO jumped from twelve members
to sixteen, then to nineteen, then to twenty-six by 2004
and to twenty-eight members by 2009. Despite vocal
opposition from Russia, the discussion of expanding NATO
now proceeded to the idea of Global NATO…” (p. 40)</p>
<p>“Africa remained outside the orbit of this globalized
NATO because memories of the anti-apartheid struggles
were too fresh in Africa, especially southern Africa.
Soon after the end of apartheid, the government of the
United States proposed an African Crisis Response
initiative. Nelson Mandela was among the first to
vigorously oppose this planned military force in Africa.
For the next eight years, U.S. diplomatic efforts were
geared toward ensnaring individual states into a
military network dominated by the United States. Hiding
behind the guise of humanitarian relief, in 2004 the
United States announced the formation of the African
Contingency Operations Training and Assistance program.
The ostensive purpose of ACOTA was to train military
trainers and equip African national militaries to
conduct peace support operations. Less than four years
later, the United States launched a new initiative, the
U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). This new military force
for Africa was rejected by even the most servile allies
of the United States. There was only one country that,
in public, promised basing privileges for AFRICOM. This
was Liberia.” (pp. 40-41)</p>
<p>“Africans could see through the duplicity of the
humanitarian imperialism of NATO in the genocide in
Rwanda and the NATO operations in the Balkans. In 1994,
the United States took the lead in opposing the United
Nations intervention to stop the genocide in Rwanda. In
1999, NATO bombed Kosovo for over seventy-nine days as
it gave itself a new mission to expand U.S. military
power right up to Moscow’s doorstep.” (p. 43)</p>
<p><strong>NATO continues its training of African forces</strong></p>
<p>The July 2018 NATO Summit has solidified the
geopolitical climate for a NATO-led training mission to
the DRC, aimed at the ‘protection of civilians’ through
the development of the DRC security forces. See article<strong>
</strong><a
href="https://globalsecurityreview.com/crisis-drc-congo-new-role-nato-southern-hub/"><strong>“</strong>Crisis
In The Congo: A New Role For NATO’s Southern Hub</a> </p>
<p>This is related to the <a
href="https://thegrayzone.com/2021/11/30/africom-corporations-dr-congo-climate-china/">current
role of AFRICOM in the DRC</a> today. See article,
”Backed by AFRICOM, corporations plunder DR Congo for
“climate-friendly” materials and blame China”</p>
<p><strong>Further reading:</strong></p>
<ul data-rte-list="default">
<li>
<p><a
href="https://brill.com/view/journals/ajls/7/1/article-p123_6.xml?language=en">The
African Union’s Response to the Libyan Crisis: A
Plea for Objectivity</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a
href="https://blackagendareport.com/content/un-nato-war-crimes-libya-sparks-anger-and-continuing-resistance">UN
Nato War Crimes Libya Sparks Anger and Continuing
Resistance</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a
href="https://www.transcend.org/tms/2022/01/the-illegality-of-nato-2/">The
Illegality of Nato</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a
href="https://www.nato.int/nato_static/assets/pdf/pdf_2011_03/20110927_110311-UNSCR-1973.pdf">U.N.
Resolution - Libyan Crisis</a> </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Hartung, William D., <span>Prophets of War
Lockheed Martin and the making of the
Military-Industrial Complex</span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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