If, in the West, the social movement unanimously denounced the invasion of Iraq
by the United States twenty years ago, we felt it was more timid about theinvasion of Ukraine by Russia. The two situations are, however, largelyanalogous. ---- In March 2003, the United States invaded Iraq with crudepretexts, under worldwide opprobrium. In February 2022, by invading Ukraine,Russia placed itself in a similar position. These two imperialist wars ofaggression have more similarities than differences, which can also make you thinkabout the political possibilities opened up by the current situation.SimilaritiesThe disproportion of forces.A nuclear superpower, at the cutting edge of military technology, invades amiddle-power country.State lies.The invader claims to be threatened by weapons of mass destruction. We rememberthe fabrications of 2003 on Iraqi bacteriological weapons laboratories - relayedat the time by Senator Joe Biden. In 2022, not shrinking from the biggeststrings, the Kremlin similarly accuses kyiv of having cultivated "plague,anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases" in 30 secret laboratories"funded by the United States" [1].The pretext of the bloodthirsty dictator.In 2003, the virtuous alibi was that Iraq had to be rid of Saddam Hussein, whohad massacred tens of thousands of his political opponents, the Shiites and therebellious Kurds. In 2022, Moscow similarly accuses kyiv of a "genocide" inDonbass - which for once is false. The victims of Donbass do not result from anintentional extermination and are evenly distributed among the belligerents [2].The purpose of diet changes.In 2003, George W. Bush claimed to overthrow Saddam Hussein to "offer" Iraqiswhat they could only wish for: a liberal and democratic pro-Western Iraq. It hasin fact caused vast destruction, hundreds of thousands of deaths, a civil war,the collapse of the economy, a boom in jihadism. In 2022, Putin also wants tooverthrow the "neo-Nazi" and "drug addict" Volodymyr Zelensky to return Ukraineto its deep "Russianness", topped by a pro-Moscow authoritarian regime, on themodel of Belarus. It will only result in bloody havoc.triumphalist arrogance.In 2003, the United States was sure to be greeted with flowers. Admittedly, thiswas briefly the case for part of the Iraqi population, before it becamedisillusioned with the consequences of the occupation. In 2022, misinformed Putin- several intelligence officials were subsequently sacked - similarly believed ina triumphant cavalcade of his tanks across Ukraine. Missed. His only supporterswere in Donbass and Crimea... already occupied since 2014. His aggression had theopposite effect, uniting the Ukrainian population against him like never before.Prolonged popular resistance.Just as occupied Iraq saw the birth of a civil resistance, but above all an armedone, the invaded Ukraine is already the theater of a multifaceted resistance.After the peaceful demonstrations in the occupied cities, will come the maquis,favored by the dissemination of light weapons (AK 47, Javelin or Stinger rocketlaunchers, etc.).A domination of the far right in the resistance.In Iraq, the resistance was politically plural, before the Baathist and thenjihadist far right eliminated the leftist elements. A similar risk weighs inUkraine, where nationalist and neo-Nazi groups are powerful. They have alreadyeliminated leftist groups in 2014, during the Maidan uprising, and they will doit again, sure of their impunity. US communicators systematically reduced Iraqiresistance to its far-right component; the Kremlin trolls do the same with theUkrainian resistance. In both cases, however, it must be emphasized that theoccupation has a direct responsibility in the development of this far right...The whole file on UkraineEditorial: Ukraine, mass graveRussia-Ukraine: The murderous logic of the imperialist "blocks"Ukraine's libertarian movement in turmoilAgainst the war: Iraq 2003-Ukraine 2022: from one invasion to anotherNot against the war: campists with their feet in the carpet (of bombs)Immediate withdrawal of the occupying troops!War is irreconcilable with feminist valuesAs a pretext for its military aggression, Moscow invented a "genocide" whichwould be committed by kyiv in Donbass. However, if the war in this region haskilled more than 13,000 people on both sides since 2014, there is no trace of anexterminating enterprise. Here, destruction in the town of Marinka on the frontline, in the Donbass, June 2015.Photo: Vitalii StechyshynDifferencesEnergy desires.In 2003, Washington could hope, by occupying Iraq, to secure control of 10% ofthe world's oil reserves. Conversely, in 2022, this question appears to be verysecondary for Moscow since by annexing Crimea in 2014, the hydrocarbons of theBlack Sea had already, for the most part, come under Russian control. Thepolitical motive for the invasion is paramount.economic sanctions.In 2022, Western countries seek to hinder Russia by attacking its purse. In 2003,no one had attempted anything to hinder the United States, then the sole andhegemonic superpower.The impossible racist otherness.Anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism facilitated the mistreatment of the Iraqi peopleby the US soldiery - remember the torture at Abu Ghraib prison in 2004. But Putinrepeatedly said that Ukrainians and Russians were "brothers", even "the samepeople" that it is much more difficult for the occupying troops to dehumanizetheir adversary, and this undermines their combativeness.political and media treatment.In 2003, the Western left demonstrated massively against the invasion of Iraq. In2022, his protest against the invasion of Ukraine was more timid, as if hamperedby the fear of "playing into NATO's hands". This way of making geopoliticalcalculations prevail over solidarity is calamitous. The lefts of the countries ofthe East, exasperated, call it westplaining. It leads to abandoning toAtlanticist liberals - like BHL or Glucksman - the moral benefit of denouncingthe war and the bombings. As for the mainstream Western media, if they hadrightly highlighted the presence of the extreme right in the Iraqi resistance...they are wrong to minimize its reality in Ukraine.Photo: Oleksandr KlymenkoThe possibilitiesSupport for the progressive component of resistance.In 2003-2005, Alternative Libertaire relayed, in France, the civil resistanceembodied by the Communist Workers' Party of Iraq (councillist), the Organizationfor the Freedom of Women in Iraq (OLFI) and the Union of Unemployed 'Iraq. In2022, there are left and extreme left components in the resistance to the Russianoccupation. It is necessary to identify and support them.The rise of an anti-war movement.The Iraq war had become the ball and chain of US imperialism, with planetaryeconomic repercussions and, in the United States itself, the birth of a strongpacifist movement, whether anti-imperialist or flatly isolationist. The war inUkraine is already Putin's ball and chain. Despite the efforts of the officialmedia to keep the population in the dark about the events, the strength of thepeaceful protest in Russia has surprised. It will soon be enriched by desertersand those groups of "mothers of soldiers" so active against the wars inAfghanistan, then in Chechnya. The anti-war movement exists, we must hope notonly that repression will fail to stifle it, but that it will make the master ofthe Kremlin waver.Guillaume Davranche (UCL Montreuil)https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Contre-la-guerre-Irak-2003-Ukraine-2022-d-une-invasion-a-l-autre_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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