On 24 February 2026 NATO’s proxy war against Russia in Ukraine entered its fifth year. Whilst US imperialism is turning its military focus elsewhere – the Middle East and Latin America – Europe’s major imperialist powers are ramping up aggression against Russia. In Britain, the imperialist Labour government is spearheading the military and political preparations for the coming confrontations.
On 15 February the heads of the British and German Armed Forces took to The Guardian under the headline: ‘As defence chiefs, we must warn you about Russia and say this: rearmament is not warmongering’. The article is full of war propaganda, clamouring for confrontation with Russia, based on the unqualified claim that Russia plans to invade the rest of Europe: ‘Russia’s military posture has shifted decisively westward… Indeed, we know that Moscow’s intentions range wider than the current conflict’. That such chauvinist drivel finds itself welcome in the supposedly left-wing publication is testament to The Guardian’s nakedly pro-imperialist stance, honed throughout more than two years of covering for imperialist-backed Zionist genocide, and more recently supporting intensified imperialist aggression against Venezuela, Cuba and Iran.
By manufacturing consent for war with Russia, the military chiefs are preparing the British and German working classes to accept what comes with imperialist rearmament and war: vicious austerity. They demand ‘a whole-of-society approach and an honest, continent-wide conversation with the public that defence cannot be the preserve of uniformed personnel alone. It is a task for each and every one of us.’ Such rhetoric is a rehash of the ‘we’re all in this together’ mantra of the 2010 Conservative government, used to justify austerity and crushing assaults on the working class, implemented by Labour councils.
The British ruling class and its media mouthpieces are exerting increasing pressure on the Labour government to ramp up arms spending, explicitly to prepare for confrontation with Russia. On 25 February Prime Minister Keir Starmer told parliament that ‘defence’ spending, which was at £66bn or 2.3% of GDP in 2024/25, would reach 2.5% of GDP by 2027 and rise to 3% if Labour won the next election. In December 2025 NATO set a target for members to spend 3.5% of GDP on core military spending. On 23 March 2026 Starmer was grilled at a parliamentary committee hearing for refusing to give a timescale for 3% of GDP on arms spending. He was accused of ‘enormous complacency’ by Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin, a quote lapped up by the major corporate media outlets. Jenkin told Starmer: ‘it sounds as though you are at peace while we are actually at war’.
On 20 March The Guardian’s defence and security editor Dan Sabbagh wrote: ‘Is it time for the UK to acknowledge the “rhetoric to reality gap” on its military power?’ His article quotes droves of British military officials complaining about Britain’s lack of war-readiness. Sabbagh disparaged Britain’s supposedly limited participation in the imperialist onslaught on Iran, implying its response was slow and insufficient. He gave Britain’s commitment to place troops in Ukraine following a ceasefire as an example of the ‘rhetoric to reality gap’, stating it could require 5,000 troops, and citing yet another ‘army figure’ who doubted such an operation is realistic given the current size of the British military.
Whilst ‘peace’ negotiations over Ukraine remain at a stalemate, US rapprochement with Russia continues as the Trump administration turns its attention elsewhere, to the growing alarm of European and British imperialists. On 24 February the US warned Ukraine not to strike targets in Russia that could harm US economic interests. On 6 March the US allowed India to begin purchasing Russian oil, having previously imposed 50% tariffs to force it not to, before on 13 March temporarily pausing its global sanctions on Russian oil. This is also to limit soaring oil prices caused by the attack on Iran.
The Labour government sees closer collaboration between British and European imperialism as a means for partially overcoming Britain’s military impotence – expressed by the joint Guardian article by the British and German military chiefs. However, this approach is attracting the ire of the Trump administration, which has repeatedly made clear its belligerence towards the EU, a major economic competitor. This underpins Trump’s recent attacks on Starmer over Britain’s participation in the onslaught on Iran. On 26 March the US ambassador to Britain described Labour’s deepening ties with the EU as ‘a problem’, saying: ‘I know the EU is important to the UK, and you’ve got to do what’s best for you. But that will not be favourably received in Washington’.
The British ruling class wants a government that is prepared to defend British imperialism’s vast overseas assets militarily. Labour continues to keenly demonstrate its willingness to do so, but its rearming efforts are stunted by the depth of the crisis. Further reaction, chauvinism and assaults on the working class will follow. Communists and anti-imperialists must build resistance.
