At a European summit in Paris last month, French President Macron declared that ground troops from NATO states could be deployed in Ukraine. His statement is symptomatic of the dangerous logic of war into which we have fallen. He is contributing to the self-fulfilling prophecy of militarism that threatens security and stability across the European continent. While no serious support for this irresponsible statement has been forthcoming, such proposals risk fuelling the escalation of violence. It has rightly been observed that sending NATO troops to Ukraine would be a fast track to world war three - likely a nuclear war.
Macron leaves no doubt about his goal. Instead of a negotiated solution that takes into account the root causes of the war, and can lead to a fair and lasting peace, the French president advocates a victory over Russia. "Russia cannot and must not win this war", he says, adding that "everything is possible if it is useful to achieve our objective" - including sending in ground troops. NATO leaders continue to create the illusion that Ukraine can win on the battlefield and that we should give all possible support to continue this terrible war. To this end, they have increasingly pushed the self-declared red lines on the nature of military support and armaments, from 'defensive' to increasingly offensive and powerful weapons. The taboos on providing weapons systems such as tanks, fighter jets and long-range missiles, initially seen as problematic and escalatory, have fallen away one by one. More than two years after the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine, the military strategy - to which all parties involved remain committed - has caused endless bloody trench warfare. Months of stalemate on the front line has claimed many tens of thousands of lives.
The ongoing war rhetoric is intended to spread a culture of fear. People must be convinced that a direct violent confrontation with Russia is imminent, in order to support rising military spending, even at the expense of social spending. The result of this fear-mongering and increased militarisation, is that an expansion of the war – including the increasing risk of nuclear war – becomes more and more likely.
The international network, 'No to War no to Nato', calls on our politicians to end the spiral of violence and militarisation of our society. There is no such thing as military security, only human security. What we need is a peace policy based on diplomacy: negotiations, ceasefire and de-escalation. What we need is social and environmental protection. We call on the people, trade unions and other social and civil society organisations, to take action: to prevent Europe from falling completely into the grip of militarism and the forces of war.
