A defeat for U.S./NATO imperialism
By Greg Butterfield
On Soviet Red Army Day February 23 (now renamed “Defenders of the Fatherland Day” by Russia), the independent people’s republics of Novorossiya celebrated an historic victory of the anti-fascist people’s militias over U.S.-backed Ukrainian military forces in the Debaltsevo region, on the shared border of Donetsk and Lugansk.
Thousands poured into Donetsk city’s central square under the statue of Soviet leader V.I. Lenin to mark their second decisive military victory over Ukraine’s vastly larger, better-equipped forces in less than a year.
At the same time, Donetsk Prime Minister Zakharchenko cautioned that the Kiev junta of oligarchs, neoliberal politicians and fascists was martialling for a new attack, perhaps as soon as late March. (RIA, Feb. 23)
Democrats and Republicans in Washington continue pushing to send $3.5 million in heavy weaponry to continue Kiev’s bloody war. According to the United Nations, 5,700 people have died since Ukraine’s so-called Anti-Terrorist Operation begain last April. German intelligence sources estimate the true number of deaths at up to 50,000.
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| Red Army Day celebration in Donetsk, Feb. 23, 2015. |
How did the victory come about?
As a new ceasefire agreement was being negotiated by Kiev, Moscow, Paris and Berlin in mid-February, Novorossiyan forces successfully encircled several thousand Ukrainian troops using a World War II-era Soviet military maneuver called a cauldron. The “lid” of the cauldron – preventing the free movement of Kiev’s troops and supplies – was slammed shut in the area of Debaltsevo.
After the second Minsk ceasefire was inked, Donetsk Prime Minister Zakharchenko reported that it would not affect the milita’s efforts in the cauldron.
This marked a sea change from last September, when Novorossiyan forces were pulled back from the gates of Ukrainian-occupied Mariupol when the first Minsk ceasefire took effect, reportedly at the Russian government’s insistence.
After days of intense fighting, the Ghost Brigade commanded by Alexey Mozgovoy and other Novorossiyan forces swept into Debaltsevo and surrounding villages, freeing residents held as virutal hostages in their basements for weeks by the occupiers.
A key role in the operation was played by international communist volunteers of the Ghost Brigade’s Unit 404, commanded by Piotr Biriukov.
Hundreds of Ukrainian troops surrendered. Thousands more were allowed to leave – but only after abandoning their weapons and equipment. “All kinds of armored vehicles, artillery and other armaments will now serve the cause of Donbass milita,” noted Rusvesna.su.
Novorossiyan forces are still clearing out pockets of resistance from hardcore fascist elements of the National Guard and volunteer battalions. They are also tallying up an enormous amount of arms and war material that has fallen into their hands, much of it originating from the United States and other NATO powers.
U.S. continues war push
Exactly one year after the fascist-dominated “EuroMaidan” coup in Kiev overthrew Ukraine’s elected government, Novorossiyan forces have not only dealt a huge military defeat to the junta headed by Ukraine President Peter Poroshenko, but a huge political defeat to NATO and Wall Street as well.
“Fall of Debaltsevo sends shockwaves through region,” read a CNN.com headline. And indeed, the reverberations were felt almost immediately.
While Russian news reports showed Ghost Brigade Unit 404 raising the Soviet red flag over Debaltsevo, some 100,000 people marched in Moscow February 21 to protest the anniversary of the Ukrainian coup. Thousands, hundereds, and dozens marched in cities around the world, from Brussels to New York.
After such a crushing defeat, one might expect cooler heads to prevail in Washington. Would the Obama administration and Republican Congressional leaders reconsider their belligerent course toward increasing arms shipments to Ukraine and threatening Russia, which played a key role in securing the Feb. 15 ceasefire?
No. Instead, Secretary of State John Kerry threatened Russia with more sanctions, repeating Kiev’s well-tread lies of “Russian occupation” in Donbass. “Kerry said that the international community will discuss new sanctions against Russia for her capture of the territories of Ukraine and that Moscow is behaving ‘absolutely shamelessly and cynically’.”(Golos-Ameriki.ru)
Senator John McCain, who in December 2013 appeared at a EuroMaidan rally in Kiev with neo-Nazis, rejected the ceasefire deal out of hand.
And just as before, Ukrainian forces continue to violate the ceasefire with daily terror-attacks on civilian targets in Donbass.
“The fire is not as loud and frequent as in January and early February, but a total silence is out of the question,” a Donetsk resident told Sputnik News February 22.
Poroshenko announced the formation of a 4,500-strong Ukraine-Polish-Latvian military division – a possible prelude to NATO intervention by these U.S. client regimes. (RT.com, Feb. 20)
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| Massive antifascist march in Moscow on anniversary of Ukraine coup, Feb. 21, 2015. |
What next for Donbass?
Poroshenko has also called for Western peacekeepers to be stationed in the conflict zone.
Poroshenko’s own future is now in doubt. Many are asking if he will be pushed out by oligarchs further to the right and their neo-Nazi agents like Dmitry Yarosh, head of the infamous Right Sector, who declared that his fascist gang would keep fighting despite the ceasefire.
The role of communists and radical anti-fascists like Mozgovoi in the Debaltsevo victory should give a welcome boost to the left pole in Novorossiya as the people’s republics prepare to mark the 70th anniversary of the Soviet victory over German fascism on May 9, 1945.
At the same time, Ukraine’s renewed offensive in January, and its defeat, is a setback to those who thought an accomodation with the junta was possible or even desirable.
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| Ghost Brigade raises the red flag in liberated Debaltsevo region. |
For more than two decades, U.S. strategy has been to work toward the break-up of Russia to make it easier to control and exploit. This has continued under both Democrats and Republicans, conservative and “liberal” administrations. It is not going away.
Washington is determined to place NATO bases on Russia’s Western border to apply added pressure for a Moscow Maidan, taking advantage of the economic crisis in Russia caused by world capitalist overproduction of oil.
Today Novorossiya is the front line of armed resistance to austerity, fascism and NATO expansion. The people’s republics need international solidarity to guarantee that their great victory turns into a powerful movement to push back U.S.-NATO expansion throughout the region.
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