Jik an Bout editorial: World War III Has Already Begun! Parts 1 and 2

This is a two part article published in issues #216 and 217 of Jik an Bout ( jikanbouttv.com and www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063478720844 ?), paper of the CNCP, the National Council of Popular Committees, of Martinique.  Slightly edited.  Part one was  posted here earlier, at:  durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/03/jik-bout-editorial-world-war-iii-has.html

World War III Has Already Begun!

Part 1

Many commentators are beginning to ask the question: "Will the downward spiral that has been set in motion in Ukraine lead to a third world war?" This is a way of suggesting that it would depend only on this conflict and its outcome. It is true that the confrontation that has already begun between NATO and Russia on Ukrainian territory has paved the way for a major and generalized military conflict. But it was already being prepared on many other fronts, with Ukraine only being a pawn on the chessboard^*1.

The Western imperialists, whose hegemony is being shaken by the rise of their rivals, confronted with the revival of the peoples' struggle against oppression, against ultra-liberalism and for true sovereignty, are already largely engaged in coordinated military operations on all continents. The real world war they are waging by fascistizing societies and suppressing popular movements continues to intensify. So, we can state that the Third World War has already begun and it heralds a historic shift of unimaginable significance!

[Two photos, riot police in armor and a column of tanks in a desert]

 

Clearly, we are heading for a major historic shift. No one can foresee the consequences of this third world war, especially if nuclear weapons were to be used, but what is indisputable is that in the end the cycle of domination of the Western imperialists will come to an end and a new world order will be imposed.

Wars between empires, nations or communities are always linked to struggles for economic power, even when they are hidden behind ideological pretexts or the promotion of the role of "great figures". Today, the foundations of Western hegemony are structurally undermined. They can no longer unilaterally impose their control over the sources of supply of raw materials or markets. Despite the power of their media empires, they cannot stem the flow of alternative and revolutionary ideas. Moreover, because they are fully aware that their empire is faltering, they are mobilizing their forces on all fronts and preparing scrupulously for the decisive confrontation.

Thus, the rival powers are preparing for the decisive confrontation and it is inevitable!

The acceleration of the arms race and the multiplication of military maneuvers are clear proof of this. The attached table shows the countries with the highest military expenditures. It will be seen that everywhere they are increasing and that the United States remains the most dangerous power.

The maneuvers involving the armies of the opposing camps are repeated, year after year, in the various geo-strategic zones. Two instructive examples: At the end of January, the 31 member countries of the Euro-Atlantic Alliance and Sweden launched the largest military exercise since the Cold War. Planned over several years, Steadfast Defender 24 will mobilize 90,000 soldiers throughout the European continent. The technical resources set in motion are enormous. Meanwhile, in March, China, Iran and Russia began a joint naval exercise in the Gulf of Oman, near the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

The positioning of the armed forces leaves no doubt as to the objectives of each party. (For example: the encirclement of China and Russia on one side, the encirclement of Taiwan and regular maneuvers in the South China Sea on the other).

Who, with a serious knowledge of human history, could believe that all this serves only to "impress the enemy" or to amuse the gallery?

The countries with the greatest military expenditures

Total military expenditures by country, in billions of Euros

[A graph showing expenditures in 2020 and 2022 and the increase during that period, with the USA first followed by China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Germany, and France, from Statista, in French.   Estimated for Russia and Saudi Arabia.  Converted to Euros for the percent increase?]  

Moreover, the globalized conflict is already underway in two theatres of operation

1 – In the heart of Europe: We have already explained in our previous articles that the Ukrainian people have been taken hostage by NATO whose objective is to rely on their country in order to start the war against Russia. It is clear that this is already a global conflict. This is confirmed by the financial support and the supply of armaments that the entire Western camp is massively granting to Ukraine. These include heavy weaponry such as armored vehicles, guns, missiles, and air defense systems. The main contributors are the United States (49%), Poland (22%) and Germany (9%). In the early days of the war, NATO member countries claimed to be following a "red line" of not supplying long-range aircraft and missiles. Now they admit they want to cross all the lines "so that Russia will lose the war." Today, foreign companies are starting to manufacture munitions locally and Macron is considering sending troops to the battlefields!

As far as financial aid to Ukraine is concerned, the contribution of the USA is 7.6 billion euros (more than all the countries of the European Union combined, whose cumulative contribution is 6.9 billion euros).*²

Beyond "aid", NATO's active participation in the war is manifested by the sending of "volunteers", the training of Ukrainian fighters and the total mobilization of its intelligence services to guide the Ukrainian army on the ground.

If this is not a global war, what is?

NATO military bases already established against Russia

[A map showing NATO bases west and south of Russia in Eurasia; shows bases in Norway, Spain, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Central Asia, and even one in Southeast Asia, around Thailand, among others.]

2) In the heart of the Middle East : As is the case with the conflict in Ukraine, the Western media is broadcasting a narrative aimed at masking the globalized nature of the war in the Middle East. No! This is absolutely not a matter of a country's revenge for terrorists who have committed an abominable massacre. This is the application of a strategy that has been devised for nearly a century by Western imperialists^*3 .

It is undeniable that Israel, the United States, the European Union and their allies are acting in concert in the region to defend their common hegemony. The wars waged by the Western coalitions against Iraq, Libya, Syria, the Zionist state's attacks on Lebanon, Syria and Iran, the genocide of the Palestinian people are all part of the same strategy.

The proof of this is that the Israeli army enjoys the unwavering support of the Western camp. The latter, while hypocritically calling for "sparing civilians", supplied "TSAHAL" (sic) with  the shells that the barbarians rained down on schools, hospitals, ambulances, and on the population who had come to receive the meagre food aid that those who commit genocide allowed to pass. The collaboration between the secret services and the intelligence of the coalition is total. In Western countries, the media are mobilized to exclusively spread the propaganda of the occupying army; governments, led by France, ban demonstrations in support of the Palestinian people and criminalize demonstrators. At the UN, the US vetoes any attempt to impose a ceasefire on GAZA.

If this is not a global conflict that is going on in the region, what is?

----------

^*1 This is what the system's media is trying to hide by claiming that the only motivations for Western "support" for Ukraine are, on the one hand, to defend "democracy" there (of which they have proclaimed themselves the exclusive guarantors) and on the other hand, to protect Europe, even the whole world, against those who, according to them, are the incarnation of the devil and hell: Putin and Russia.

^*2 We should not be under any illusions about the Republicans' blocking of aid to Ukraine. What motivates Trump and his followers are, on the one hand, internal electoral considerations and, on the other hand, the desire to push the Europeans to significantly increase their participation in the financing of NATO's "war efforts". At the appropriate time, U.S. leaders of all stripes will have no qualms about financing the war against Russia, China, Iran or North Korea.

^*3 Since its creation in 1948, the State of Israel has been conceived by the Western imperialists as a military bridgehead established in the middle of the Arab world to guarantee their control over the region's energy resources and to block any attempt at the emancipation of the peoples. Thus, for 75 years, successive Israeli leaders have been able to give free rein to their barbaric Zionist policy of colonization, to expel Palestinians en masse from their land, to perpetrate horrific massacres of civilians, to trample on United Nations resolutions, without ever being condemned or subjected to sanctions of any kind. Quite the contrary! They have unfailingly received massive financial support and weapons in abundance to carry out their criminal designs.

Part Two

It would be simplistic to conceive of the world war only as an armed confrontation between great powers that would take place on several continents. What is a war, indeed? It is "a global social fact and not a mere manifestation of human violence: it requires an organization of men, a convergence of their forces, towards a single objective"*¹. This definition, which can be found in "Wikipedia", highlights elements that we consider indisputable and likely to support our analysis. In the first part of this article, we pointed out that "Wars between empires, between nations or between communities are always linked to struggles for economic power, even when they are hidden behind ideological pretexts or the promotion of the role of 'great figures'. Here, our aim is to show that there is currently a planetary conflict on the economic level that opposes two camps with fundamentally contradictory interests: on the one hand, the multinationals that hold the real power in the imperialist countries and, on the other, the dominated workers and peoples of the whole world. So we are in the middle of a world war. The aggressor, quite identifiable and methodically organized, throws all his forces into an offensive whose sole objective is to maintain his hegemony over the world.

[A cartoon about US, UK, and French wars for oil; a photo of a young girl carrying bags in a dump?]

In reality, this world war, which is referred to as the third, began with the colonization of the world by the European imperialist powers. The new fact is that it is taking place in a context in which the globalization of the world economy has reached its peak and in which the adversaries have a diabolical power of destruction. It is proving to be decisive for the future of the planet and humanity.

The battles are fierce on all fronts: economic, political, ideological and, of course, military.

On the economic front: The unipolar domination of the world that the Western imperialists thought they had definitively imposed after the break-up of the Soviet camp is structurally being called into question today. Until then, for example, they relied on the imposing power of their financial institutions to control the global economy; but it is now coming up against the competing dynamics developed by rival powers and the countries of the "Global South". In response, they have unleashed an open war against all those who challenge their hegemony. It is a dirty war that tramples on all the principles of international law and even the foundations of their liberal creed. Thus, in addition to the traditional blockades and embargoes, they have added extraterritorial laws, unilateral sanctions and mafia seizures of property and assets of individuals and States.

On the political level: In all the so-called "democratic" Western countries, everything is done to transfer popular and state sovereignty directly into the hands of multinationals. This has resulted in:

•  the abandonment of the monetary sovereignty of States to the benefit of banks and speculators;
•  the destruction of public services and the undermining of the competences and funding of local authorities, with the aim of leaving the field open to large capitalist groups;
•  the adoption of legislation guaranteeing freedom of action and opacity to multinationals (e.g. law on "trade secrets");
•  the measures taken to establish the control by the big pharmaceutical companies over patients' medical data and the "management" of their health (the WHO is being instrumentalized for this purpose);
•  the sharing of the prerogative of censorship of social networks by governments and the multinationals ruling the NCICs [=?].

All these maneuvers are aimed at strengthening the dictatorship of the multinationals!

At the same time, the governments of the Western imperialist countries are laying the foundations for a generalized fascisation of societies:

•  More and more laws are being passed to limit the individual and collective freedoms of "citizens"*². Repression and censorship are increasingly being imposed on all dissenting voices.
•  Police and judicial violence is unleashed against popular demonstrations (when they are not banned)*³.
•  Media empires and pollsters are mobilized to propagate reactionary ideas and promote the rise of the far right to power*⁴. As a result, in all Western imperialist countries, there is a spectacular outbreak of the brown plague. Enough to remind us that Adolph Hitler came to power in Germany "democratically" on January 30, 1933.

Ideologically: For as long as wars have existed, propaganda and disinformation have played a decisive role. Today, the power of their media empires and the control they exert over new technologies are no longer enough for Western imperialist countries and multinationals to manipulate and condition opinion as they please. Their rivals now have equally capable technologies. Their entire narrative clashes with the counter-information (and also the counter-provocations) circulating on social networks*⁵

What is certain is that the side that wins the information war will win the decisive victory.

On the military front:

Since the end of the Second World War, the US superpower has structured its domination over the rest of the world. The USA, the undisputed masters of NATO, has 800 declared military bases in 177 countries. They have to their credit some 60 wars and interventions all over the planet. Virtually all the dictators who have plagued the Americas were trained in the infamous Panama School. The CIA, on the other hand, has been involved in the majority of coups that have taken place over the past 70 years; it organizes subversion in all countries opposed to U.S. interests, not hesitating to arm terrorists and other gangs that attack civilians almost exclusively. This war, which is also dirty, is being waged without interruption.

On the other hand, the rival powers have embarked on an arms race, are creating military alliances that are carrying out joint maneuvers and, as is the case in Ukraine, we firmly believe, are preparing for direct confrontation with NATO.

It is undeniable that this is an all-out and global war that is already taking place on all the fronts mentioned above. Unless one is blind, ignorant or profoundly disingenuous in bad faith, no one can ignore the fact that the intervention of the Western imperialists and the multinationals, which are responsible for it, is coordinated and planned within the framework of organizations of which they firmly hold control. The General Staff, which organizes "the convergence of their forces towards a single objective", exercises its power through major international institutions. We are talking about the UN Security Council, the International Criminal Court (ICC), the WTO (World Trade Organization), the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank. Policies are harmonized and directives are given in the context of meetings such as the "DAVOS FORUM" but also by shadowy agencies (Trilateral, P2 Lodge, Bloomberg Group, etc.).

The "sole objective" of the General Staff that rules the imperialist countries and the multinationals is to keep the dominated countries and their peoples under implacable domination, in order to be able to exploit and plunder them without limit and in order to enjoy scandalous super-profits and privileges... "Whatever it takes!" Millions of human beings are suffering and dying because of the barbaric ultra-liberal policies imposed on them. The "whatever it takes" is the increase in inequality, exploding poverty, hunger and social distress in the world. It is also the threat of destroying the planet itself.

[Inside a graphic of a balance: 305 Mds de personnnes les plus pauvres de la planete = 85 personnnes les plus riches du monde / on the bottom, hard to read: soit 486 $ asterisk, Patrimoine moyen, par personnne and soit 20Mds $ asterisk par personnne]

In all wars, it is always the civilian population that pays the highest price. But in the one we are experiencing today, the direct and collateral victims of the atomic bombs of ultra-liberalism number in the billions: they are the victims of the sabotage of public health services, pension systems and any other social protection. These are victims of the violence created by the massive spread of a bestialized culture, by the destruction of social relations and by the psychological distress that results from it. These are victims of disasters caused by climate change directly due to productivism and the search for insane profits. Undoubtedly, the practice of planned obsolescence, the irresponsible use of pesticides, all ecocides committed with full knowledge of the facts, the refusal of States to take the measures needed to combat climate change are worth considering war crimes and crimes against humanity.

[A cartoon of riot police behind a menacing construction-type machine with a surveillance camera, labelled Capital, facing a crowd with flags and farm tools, not guns?]  

The direct and collateral victims of imperialism, multinationals and ultra-liberalism:

•  1.1 billion out of 6.1 billion people live in acute multidimensional poverty in 110 countries.
•  5 million children worldwide lost their lives before their fifth birthday in 2021. For 5–24-year-olds, this figure rises to 2.1 million.
•  Nearly 700,000 people die by suicide each year worldwide, and for every suicide, there are likely 20 suicide attempts.
•  More than 296 million people used drugs worldwide in 2021, a 23% increase from the previous decade.
•  More than 400,000 people are murdered each year worldwide (average 1992-2017), about ten times the average number of people killed per year in armed conflict during the same period.
•  In 2022, 32.6 million people were forced to move, 41% greater than the average of the past decade, to escape conflict or natural disasters.
•  According to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), more than one billion people worldwide could be exposed to climate risks, such as the rise of the sea level, floods, droughts and other natural disasters by 2050.

(Source: UN)

In this article, we were asked to show the current events and configurations of the "Third World War", to designate the main enemy and to update its strategy. We will conclude by repeating that, while there is reason to be worried about a confrontation between rival powers, the world war, the most fundamental, which remains in the background, is the one that opposes the Western imperialists and their multinationals to the workers and all peoples.

In a future article, we will talk about the other side concerned by this war: that of the Peoples, ours. We shall see that they, too, must intensify the struggles they are already waging and prepare for the decisive confrontation!

*¹ Cf. Wikipedia / Edward Luttwak, The Paradoxes of Strategy, Odile Jacob.

*² Fallacious pretexts follow one another: it would be a question of fighting terrorism, against the spread of COVID, against the enemies of Secularism, etc.! The government even intends to criminalize the expression of criticism of Big Pharma's "scientific" claims!

*³ As proof, the treatment reserved, in the so-called "Homeland of Human Rights", to the Yellow Vests, to the defenders of the ZAD, to environmental activists, to those who denounce racism and the abuses of the police or the genocide of Palestinians by the Israeli occupation army.

*⁴ This is quite evident in the treatment of the issue of immigration in Western countries and in the spread of Islamophobia.

*⁵ Yesterday, the demonization campaigns carried out by the Western imperialists allowed them to militarily attack countries and assassinate their leaders with broad public support (Romania, Serbia, Iraq, Libya, etc.). Today, they find it much harder to hide the real reasons why they are preparing to attack Russia and China.