It’s all getting a bit 1914 out there, isn’t it? Truth, objectivity and rationality have been rudely shoved aside by a combination of the inevitable fog of war and worse than that, a simplistic desire to take sides with Ukraine. A desire that’s prompting people who should know better to call for more direct forms of intervention from NATO. They do this without realising that a) it would mean direct confrontation between Russia and NATO and b) such a conflict has the potential to swiftly escalate out of control. A conflict between two protagonists who both have access to an extensive arsenal of nuclear weapons that’s escalating out of control will end badly for all of us. If the conflict goes nuclear, we all lose.

It’s not just us saying this. Below, we present two pieces by writers who have taken a few steps back from the war rhetoric and can see the dangerous situation we’re being dragged into:

Being This Close To Nuclear War Should Change How We See Things – Caitlin Johnstone | March 24, 2022

It’s so surreal how we’re closer to nuclear war than we’ve been since the Cuban Missile Crisis, and it’s only continuing to escalate, and yet hardly anyone seems to notice and almost everyone is just going about their lives thinking their usual thoughts and having their usual conversations.

Vladimir Putin has put Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert and has issued threats of nuclear retaliation should western powers try to intervene in Russian military operations in Ukraine. The Biden administration’s first Nuclear Posture Review will be out soon and will likely mirror the changes in Russia’s nuclear posture in some ways. The probability is skyrocketing of a mass extinction event which could easily block out the sun for years and starve everyone to death who isn’t lucky enough to be killed quickly in the initial inferno.

On the Edge of a Nuclear Abyss – Edward Curtin | OffGuardian | March 13, 2022

It no longer sounds hyperbolic to me that madmen in the declining US Empire might resort, like rats in a sinking ship, to first-strike use of nuclear weapons, which is official US policy.

My stomach is churning at the thought, despite what most experts say: that the chances of a nuclear war are slight. And despite what others say about the Ukraine war: that it is an intentional diversion from the Covid propaganda and the Great Reset (although I agree it achieves that goal).

My gut tells me no; it is very real, sui generis, and very, very dangerous now.

This was the motivation for us producing the above meme and also, this accompanying printable A4 poster which can be downloaded from here.

The aim is to shock people into realising the dire consequences of NATO getting directly involved in a war which could well go nuclear. Another aim is to sort out those who are genuinely anti-war from those who pretend to be but in reality, have allowed themselves to fall prey to the barrage of pro-intervention rhetoric we’re being subjected to. Once that sorting process is underway, we then know who we can work with. There is a basis for an anti-war movement out there but it means bringing together a number of currents that, to put it mildly, have not always seen eye to eye with each other! However, given what’s at stake, hopefully people will see past the differences and unite for what literally, will be the fight of and for our lives.

As we made very clear towards the end of this piece – A headlong rush to a major war? 5.3.22 – any direct NATO involvement with Russian forces in the conflict would push us towards WW3 and the distinct possibility of nuclear war. As is made abundantly clear in the two readings featured above, there are no winners in a nuclear war. After seeing images of the thousands upon thousands of people who marched through central London on Saturday 26.3, some of who were making explicit demands for NATO to enforce a ‘no fly’ zone over Ukraine, we feel that we have no option but to resort to shock tactics. A few posters have been printed for local use and a fair number of stickers have been ordered. We’re ready to do our bit to try and get people to see how we’re being pushed towards an escalation of the conflict.

With what reportedly is going on in Ukraine, are we being selfish in being concerned (that’s putting it mildly!) about getting annihilated in an all out nuclear war? The simple answer is no. Should this conflict escalate and go nuclear, there won’t be much left of humanity and a lot of other life on the planet. Pointing out the dangers of the path we’re getting railroaded down makes us the adults in the room. Let’s just hope our numbers grow enough to halt the slide towards Armageddon…