On Saturday, February 26, the World Socialist Web Site hosted an international online webinar to oppose the US-NATO drive to war against Russia over Ukraine.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine must be opposed by all socialists and class conscious workers. However, this action cannot be understood outside of three decades of unending war spearheaded by American imperialism and the relentless expansion of the NATO military alliance into Eastern Europe.

The Biden administration, by refusing to discuss Russia’s objections to Ukraine’s integration into NATO, used Ukraine as bait. It incited the invasion, which will now be used as a pretext for escalating confrontation with Russia.

There is an enormous danger that the conflict in Ukraine will develop into a world war involving the US and Russia, the two most heavily armed nuclear powers in the world. There is a madness in this policy, but it is a madness with objective causes. The drive to war is fueled by a toxic mixture of imperialist geopolitics and insoluble internal crises, enormously exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this webinar, an international panel of leading members of the International Committee of the Fourth International and WSWS writers reviews the causes and consequences of the US-NATO war drive and presents the political basis for a fight against war.