The following theses were approved at the World Congress of the International Marxist Tendency, held between 29 July and 3 August 2014, in Greece. Despite the time that has elapsed, we believe that the core points of this analysis remain completely valid: its assessment of the situation in Ukraine; of the civil war in Donbas; of the character of the government that emerged from the Maidan events; the role of Russia and NATO, etc. The points explained within these theses are key to understanding the crisis that is currently unfolding.

In a cynical attempt to distract from his crises back home, Boris Johnson is whipping up hysteria around the ‘threat’ of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Socialists must expose these lies – and the imperialist interests that hide behind them.

In the current crisis over Ukraine, Canada has not played its usual role as the mild-mannered younger brother of U.S. imperialism. As a recent op-ed in the Toronto Starpointed out, Canada has been “playing the cowboy” and being “unusually hawkish”. Far from unusual, this is entirely consistent with Canada’s typical approach to Ukraine. Posing as a benevolent protector to cover its own imperialist maneuvers, Canada’s denunciations of “Russian aggression” ring with hypocrisy.

Over the past few months, the world’s media has been full of talk of a new war in Europe. According to US intelligence services, Russia has moved over 100,000 troops to its border with Ukraine. It is also carrying out a joint military exercise with Belarus. The US and NATO have held a series of talks with Russia, although none have yet resolved the situation.