A-Infos (en) UK, ACG: Drums beating louder, sabres rattling for war (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The military, the media and politicians are gearing up for a Third World 
War with warmongering talk. We had British Defence Secretary Grant 
Shapps telling us that Britain was "moving from a post-war to pre-war 
world." ---- Two top Estonian defence officials took advantage of a 
meeting with counterparts from Latvia and Lithuania and a visit from US 
Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin to argue for preparedness for war with 
Russia. The head of the Norwegian army, General Eirik Kristoffersen also 
added his two bits, saying that a Russian attack would come within three 
years and that Norwegians should be ready for war and should stockpile 
essentials. Earlier, a scare story in the German newspaper Bild declared 
that Russia was planning for an offensive against the Baltic countries. 
This was based on a possible scenario as envisaged by German army 
generals, which draws a picture of all-out war  between Russia and NATO 
by 2025.

His counterpart in Sweden, Commander-in-Chief Mikael Bydén also 
emphasised war preparedness, as did the head of NATO, Admiral Rob Bauer, 
at a summit meeting.

The British media avidly took this up. The Daily Telegraph screamed that 
"Britain must prepare for war. America won't save us this time." The Sun 
also babbled about "wars in Russia, China, Iran and North Korea in five 
years," whilst the Daily Mail envisaged war with Russia in the next 20 
years and that Britons should prepare for cataclysmic circumstances and 
conscription. The right wing rag The Spectator quoted Shapps and said 
that "the West must stop playing Mr Nice Guy."

The British press media took up the subject of conscription with zeal, 
emboldened by comments by Army chief Sir Patrick Sanders at the 
International Armoured Vehicles conference in Twickenham, that Britain 
must engage with Russia in a future war, that conscription should be 
considered, as well as the raising of a 'citizen army.'  He was backed 
up on this by a so-called 'expert,' Professor Anthony Glees, from the 
University of Buckingham, who said that conscription must be prepared 
for within six years unless Putin is defeated. "I would see a 'limited 
conscription', a call-up of incentivised volunteers, as being very much 
on the cards if Putin is now thrown out of Ukraine. Obviously, if there 
were a wider European or world war conscription would follow at once."

Another military beast, the former NATO commander General Sir Richard 
Shirreff also waded in, talking about a situation where men as old as 60 
would be conscripted, and that this conscription would involve hundreds 
of thousands. Another general, General Sir Nick Parker,  also 
intervened, backing Sanders, as did Professor Michael Clarke of the 
Department of War Studies at King's College. The defence Editor of the 
London Evening Standard, Robert Fox, also wrote about the need for 
part-time or full-time national service.

The discredited Boris Johnson took advantage of the situation to write 
in a newspaper column that he would "jolly well" join the British Army 
"to fight the Russian threat"(unlikely). Johnson, an enthusiastic backer 
of the Zelenskyy regime, supported the call to use conscription to train 
and equip a "citizen army".

Despite this barrage from assorted generals, academics, politicians and 
press hacks, a recent survey indicated that only one in ten  would be 
willing to join up, with more than 50% not supporting a return of 
conscription.

Against this militaristic hype, action and agitation against the arms 
trade, against conscription and the armed forces themselves needs to be 
stepped up. The orchestrated campaign by the USA and its allies and the 
military chiefs throughout Europe, are meant to distract us from the 
dire economic situation, to reinforce the idea of nationhood, to bolster 
the profits of the arms traders.

 We are no friends of the Putin regime, but neither are we lovers of 
NATO. The Ukraine war has been used to legitimise NATO. In this some 
anarchists, both here and abroad, have assisted in this coming about by 
blatantly ignoring the belligerent character of NATO. This support for 
NATO as a benign force amongst socialists, leftists and even anarchists, 
all helps to adds to the positive public image of NATO, boosting its 
confidence in preparing for war.

Neither Moscow nor NATO

No War But The Class War

No to Militarism and Conscription

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2024/01/28/drums-beating-louder-sabres-rattling-for-war/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe https://ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en