One of the main Xmas messages is that of peace. Yet this year we are marking a dramatic escalation in war and military spending. The war in Ukraine has been raging since Putin’s invasion in February. In the middle of freezing winter, many Ukrainians are suffering without heating or water, as attacks on the infrastructure from Russian forces continue. Many thousands of troops on both sides have died in the past 10 months. Refugees have been displaced across the country and worldwide. The war is bogged down in the winter months. The danger is that it will contiue as a destructive and long war of attrition and that the main victims will be the ordinary people of Ukraine.
This makes peace all the more necessary. Calls for a ceasefire, withdrawal of Russian troops and peace talks are the only solution to this war which does not involve further misery and the prospect of escalation, the use of nuclear weapons and the involvement of further countries. This outcome was blocked by our own government in April, when Boris Johnson went to Kyiv to urge Volodymir Zelensky to keep fighting in order to weaken Russia. Britain has been one of the most keen to send arms and weaponry to Ukraine, despite the dangers of escalation that this presents. British special forces are active in Ukraine and Ukrainian troops are regularly trained by the British army.
There have been record increases in arms sales worldwide. Sales by the 100 largest arms producing companies were at $592 billion in 2021. The war in Yemen is still bringing devastation to the country and the aggression by Saudi Arabia and the UAE are aided and backed to the hilt by the British government.
Our government’s response is to argue that if we want peace then we need more weaponry and more war. The opposite is true. An end to the wars in Ukraine, Yemen and in the many other conflicts throughout the world requires us to oppose our government’s policy.