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Members of Congress demand White House authorize Ukrainian strikes inside Russia
Andre Damon, WSWS, May 23 2024

On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of members of the House of Representatives called on the White House to formally authorize Ukraine to use US-provided weapons to strike inside Russian territory, a move that Russian officials had previously warned would trigger war between Russia and NATO. Five Democratic members of Congress (Linda Sánchez, Rick Larsen, Brendan Boyle, Jason Crow and André Carson) joined five Republicans (Darin LaHood, Neal Dunn, Brian Fitzpatrick, French Hill and Austin Scott) in demanding the action. The immediate context of the call for expanding US involvement in the war is a series of major setbacks for the Ukrainian armed forces amid a Russian offensive in Kharkiv. According to the BBC, Russian troops simply “walked in” over unguarded Ukrainian defensive lines. Earlier this month, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron told Reuters that British-supplied long-range missiles could be used by Ukraine to strike Russian territory. When asked if the UK was allowing long-range weapons it provided to Ukraine to be used to strike inside Russia, he replied:

That’s a decision for Ukraine, and Ukraine has that right.

In April, the Biden administration confirmed that it had secretly sent Ukraine long-range missiles capable of striking at a distance of over 190 miles. Ukraine used these weapons to carry out a strike on an airbase in Crimea earlier this month. The weapons were also used to attack the Port of Berdiansk on the Sea of Azov. Confirming that the US secretly provided the weapons in March, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said:

They are now in Ukraine and have been in Ukraine for some time.

In May 2022, Biden declared:

We are not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders.

In Sep 2022, Biden declared:

We’re not going to send to Ukraine rocket systems that strike into Russia.

It is becoming clear that, as with previous moves in which the White House crossed the “red lines” it has set for its own involvement in Ukraine, this series of announcements is merely preparation for the official announcement that the US will allow US weapons to be used to strike inside Russia. The trailer for such an announcement came during Blinken’s trip to Ukraine, in which he declared:

We’ve not enabled or encouraged strikes outside of Ukraine, but ultimately, Ukraine has to make decisions for itself about how it’s going to conduct this war.

In an article published Wednesday, David Sanger of the NYT wrote that this statement was part of a “debate” within the White House over removing all restrictions on the use of US-supplied weapons in Ukraine. Strikingly, Sanger, a leading conduit for the US military/intelligence apparatus, framed this “debate” as being over not just arcane rules of engagement but over the merits of whether the Biden administration should “avoid WW3.” The NYT wrote:

Since the first American shipments of sophisticated weapons to Ukraine, Biden has never wavered on one prohibition: Zelensky had to agree to never fire them into Russian territory, insisting that would violate Biden’s mandate to “avoid WW3.” But the consensus around that policy is fraying. Propelled by the State Dept, there is now a vigorous debate inside the administration over relaxing the ban to allow the Ukrainians to hit missile and artillery launch sites just over the border in Russia, targets that Zelensky says have enabled Moscow’s recent territorial gains. The proposal, pressed by Blinken after a sobering visit to Kyiv last week, is still in the formative stages, and it is not clear how many of his colleagues among Biden’s inner circle have signed on. It has not yet been formally presented to the president, who has traditionally been the most cautious, officials said.

The broader context of the “debate” over Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia is far-reaching plans for the deployment of NATO troops directly inside Ukraine. Last week, US Joint Chiefs chair Gen CQ Brown told the NYT that the NATO military alliance will “eventually” send significant numbers of active-duty NATO troops to Ukraine, which the newspaper said meant the deployment was “inevitable.” The NYT article by Sanger gives more details on these plans:

The US is now considering training Ukrainian troops inside the country, rather than sending them to a training ground in Germany. That would require putting US military personnel in Ukraine, something else that Biden has prohibited until now. It raises the question of how the US would respond if the trainers, who would likely be based near the western city of Lviv, came under attack.

In response to Cameron’s declarations that Ukraine is free to use NATO weapons to attack Russia, combined with calls by Macron that NATO should consider deploying its own troops to Ukraine, Putin announced earlier this month that Russia would carry out a series of nuclear training exercises near its border with Ukraine. While both the US and Russia have used nuclear exercises as threats, typically these threats are veiled, and the exercises are framed as long-planned events and not short-term responses to actions taken by the other side. Announcing these drills, the Kremlin stated:

In response to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials, beginning May 21, Southern Military District troops are practicing combat training tasks of obtaining special ammunition for the Iskander operational-tactical missile system, equipping launch vehicles with them, and covertly advancing to the designated position area in preparation for missile launches. The troops involved in the exercise practice equipping aviation weapons with special warheads, including the Kinzhal aeroballistic hypersonic missiles, and flying into designated patrol areas.

In framing the “debate” about whether to allow Ukraine to use NATO weapons to strike inside Russia, Sanger explained that at least some within the administration believe the action could trigger a nuclear war. Sanger wrote:

In an interview with the NYT this week, Zelensky dismissed fears of escalation, saying Putin had already escalated the war. And he thought it unlikely that Putin would ever make good on his threat to unleash a nuclear weapon. Biden and some of his aides are clearly not convinced. Over the past year, they have said they believe there is some red line out there that would unleash a more severe reaction from Putin. They just don’t know exactly where that is, or what the reaction might be.

In other words, the White House, unbeknownst to the American population, is preparing a course of action with the most staggering and far-reaching consequences imaginable.

German Foreign Minister Baerbock’s war visit to Kiev
Johannes Stern, WSWS, May 23 2024

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kiev Tuesday for an unannounced visit. At the same time, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) paid a visit to the German Air Force fighter jets stationed in Latvia. He traveled on Wednesday to Lithuania, where the Bundeswehr is planning the permanent stationing of 5k combat troops. The trips underlined two things in particular: NATO continues to escalate the war against Russia despite the growing danger of a nuclear exchange; and German imperialism, which waged two wars of mass murder against Russia in the 20th century and pursued the goal of subjugating Ukraine, is once again at the forefront. In a statement shortly after her arrival, Baerbock referred to the drastic military situation for Ukraine at the front. She warned:

The situation has once again dramatically worsened, with the massive Russian airstrikes on civilian infrastructure and with the brutal Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region.

Her only response was to assert that Berlin and NATO would have to massively expand their support for the war. Among other things, the foreign minister promised Kiev more support for the defence of its airspace. Baerbock said:

In order to protect Ukraine from the rain of Russian missiles and drones, it urgently needs more air defences. We have launched a global initiative for increased air defence. This has now brought in almost €1b, but we are working hard to make this even more. We have not left one stone unturned and have led the way with an additional Patriot unit. We must join forces now so that Ukraine can survive, so that Ukrainians can continue to live independently in the future, and so that Putin’s troops are not soon standing on our own borders.

This mendacious and absurd propaganda serves to escalate the NATO war offensive against Russia in Ukraine and prepare for direct intervention by the military alliance. At the beginning of May, Macron told The Economist that he would send French troops to Ukraine in the event of a collapse of the Ukrainian front lines. Since then, there have been reports that British and French troops are already in Ukraine. At the end of last week, US Joint Chiefs chair Gen CQ Brown told the NYT that NATO troops would eventually be sent to Ukraine. The plans pursued by Baerbock and Pistorius for the expansion of air defences are aimed at preparing for direct NATO intervention in the conflict. In a cross-party initiative, representatives of the CDU, the FDP and the Greens have repeatedly campaigned in recent days for the use of NATO soldiers for air defence purposes in Ukraine. The plans call for NATO troops to shoot down missiles over Ukraine from Ukraine’s borders with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. For example, FDP member Marcus Faber, who is considered a candidate to succeed Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann at the head of the German parliament’s Defence Committee, stated:

The airspace over the Ukrainian border regions could in principle be protected by air defence systems on NATO territory. Provided that the necessary ammunition was secured for the long term, I believe that this is possible.

Baerbock’s party colleagues from the Greens are particularly aggressive. The deputy leader of the parliamentary group, Agnieszka Brugger, argued:

I am in favour of deploying air defence systems on the borders of the neighbouring states in such a way that the western parts of Ukraine can be protected.

And the chairman of the European Committee and notorious warmonger Anton Hofreiter stated:

Air defence over Ukraine from Poland and Romania should not be ruled out in the long term.

Apparently, these very plans were discussed in Kiev. At a joint press conference with Baerbock, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated provocatively:

The partners of Ukraine should consider the possibility of repelling Russian missiles from their territory. There is no legal or moral reason and no security argument that stands in the way of our partners launching missiles over Ukraine from their territory.

In fact, the Zelensky regime in Ukraine and its NATO supporters risk a nuclear confrontation with their constant escalation of the war. In his speech on the 79th anniversary of the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany on May 9, Putin stated:

We will do everything to avoid a global conflict, but at the same time we will not let anyone threaten us. Our strategic forces are always on combat alert.

Despite warnings from Moscow, the imperialist powers intend to escalate the war. Baerbock boasted in Kiev:

Germany is Ukraine’s second-largest supporter after the US, partly because it is our best self-protection. We have provided €34b in aid since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression not only for Ukraine, but also for our European peace order. And we know more is needed here too.

Who does Baerbock, who as German foreign minister has been fomenting the war against Russia for more than two years and supports Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians in the Middle East, think she is kidding? In the war in Ukraine, it is not Moscow that is the main aggressor, but the imperialist powers. With the systematic military encirclement of Russia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, NATO provoked the reactionary intervention of the Putin regime in the first place. It is now continuing to escalate the conflict in order to enforce its predatory interests. The imperialist powers are not concerned with “self-protection” or “peace” in Ukraine. Rather, they aim to establish an outright war regime, which, in addition to controlling Ukraine, pursues the goals of reducing all of Russia to the status of a semi-colony and establishing their dominance over the resource-rich and geostrategically crucial Eurasian landmass.

At the same time, German imperialism, which sought in WW1 & WW2 to annex Ukraine, is aggressively leading the way. A so-called Ukraine Recovery Conference will take place in Berlin on Jun 11-12. According to the key points in a paper from the German government, in addition to strengthening German industry in Ukraine, it should also focus on the “greater integration of Ukraine into the (raw materials) trade of the EU within the framework of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act.” In addition to the central areas of the Ukrainian economy, the paper mentions energy and agriculture. Among other things, Germany wants to seize the enormous deposits of iron, titanium and lithium, some of which lie in the Russian-controlled Donbass. The reactionary character of the war is particularly evident in the nature of the Zelensky regime itself. Ukraine is a police state and the population is under martial law. There have been no elections. Zelensky, whose term formally ended the day before Baerbock’s visit on May 20, rules as de facto dictator. It is a far-right regime that is taking brutal action against the growing opposition among Ukrainian workers and youth to the war.

On Apr 25, the socialist opponent of the war and leader of the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists, Bogdan Syrotiuk, was arrested in his hometown of Perwomaisk in southern Ukraine. He is charged with high treason, although his only offence is that he fights for the unity of the Ukrainian, Russian and international working class against the capitalist policy of war. The WSWS is calling on all its readers to sign the petition for Bogdan’s release at wsws.org/freebogdan. The political show trial against him must be stopped! At the same time, the escalation of the war by NATO must be stopped before it leads to an all-out war of the imperialist powers against Russia and to a nuclear catastrophe. This requires the building of a socialist movement of the international working class against fascism and war. This is exactly what the SEP’s current video for its European election campaign focuses on. Spread the word and register here to discuss these key policy issues and tasks with us on May 23 at 7 pm CET.

NATO war on Russia in Ukraine drove attempted murder of Slovakia’s Fico
Alex Lantier, WSWS, May 23 2024

The May 15 shooting of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was a politically-driven assassination, bound up with NATO’s war on Russia in neighboring Ukraine. Slovak authorities’ investigations show that Jaraj Cintula, whom Fico’s guards apprehended during the shooting, was hostile to Fico’s criticisms of NATO escalation against Russia, and that Cintula potentially had help from foreign intelligence agencies. Fico’s SMED-Social Democracy party and of the pro-NATO opposition Progressive Slovakia party are both appealing for calm, warning of “civil war.” But the entire course of Eastern European politics since the Stalinist regimes’ restoration of capitalism in 1989 has clearly led to disaster. Powerful forces in the NATO alliance that Slovakia joined in 2004 welcome Fico’s shooting as they aim to crush popular opposition to total war with Russia in Slovakia and across Europe. Indeed, the question is posed: Did the forces that assisted Fico’s shooting include the CIA and intelligence services of other major NATO imperialist countries driving the war with Russia? This flows from remarks this week by Slovak Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok and Slovak Information Service (SIS) officials. Estok said, according to Al Jazeera:

Cintula’s entire Facebook history was deleted while he was being held incommunicado by Slovak police. However, it was not deleted by him and apparently not by his wife either. Based on this operational information, we are therefore also working with the possibility that a group of people is behind the assault. We know Cintula was angered by the government’s Ukraine policy.

Initial reports in international media that Cintula was a leftist have also been discredited. A writer who launched violent nationalist diatribes against the Roma ethnicity, he reportedly sympathized with Progressive Slovakia, although that party has stressed he was not a member. That party is associated with support for NATO in the Ukraine war against Russia. These events are closely followed by Eastern European officials who also made limited calls for peace in Ukraine and now must wonder if they are next after Fico. On Monday, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said:

Every day that this war continues is disastrous for Ukraine, Russia and all of us. The attempted assassination of a European prime minister by a radicalised fanatic, because of his support for peace, is indicative of this ingrained intolerance of dissent and hatred. Many politicians, parties and media have contributed to this with their portrayal of every different voice as pro-Russian, which is extremely unfair and leads to all these negative consequences.

Pavol Gaspar, deputy director of Slovakia’s SIS domestic intelligence agency, raised the possibility of state involvement in the shooting of Fico:

It cannot be ruled out that we are a breeding ground for the activities of intelligence services from abroad.

Gaspar did not say which foreign spy agencies might have supported murdering Fico. However, the Kremlin, which loudly denounced Fico’s shooting, had no interest in murdering one of its few allies in the European ruling elite. Suspicion therefore falls on NATO imperialist countries, where the layers of the bourgeoisie are making clear their support for Fico’s assassination. In an article headlned “Mini-me assassination attempt will leave greatly worried Putin thinking twice,” Britain’s pro-Labour Daily Star cited think-tank official Anthony Glees, who gloated:

The attempted assassination of Fico will have greatly worried Putin. Fico was a Putin mini-me, which is why the would-be assassin wanted to have a go at him. Putin, as we saw from his recent recoronation, loves to be surrounded by adoring acolytes and chums. He may now have to think twice about that.

Glees also lamented that it would be hard to murder Putin as he visited China:

Alas, the chances of anyone getting him in China’s highly-developed secret police state are exceedingly slim.

After Fico’s shooting, Sky News denounced Fico as “controversial,” “foul-mouthed” and “sympathetic to Putin.” It then attacked Fico’s coalition government of ex-Stalinist social-democratic and neo-fascist parties:

All three coalition parties are either leftist or nationalist and, having previously expressed anti-American views, he has spoken about what he called Western influence in Ukraine’s war which only led to Slavic nations killing each other. His popularity has been based on promises to protect the living standards of those left behind in a country where conditions for many are only slowly catching up with western Europe and where many hold relatively fond memories of a communist-era past.

Opposition to social austerity and war in Slovakia is only part of the explosive social anger and opposition to military escalation against Russia among workers across Europe. Polls have found that 68% of Frenchmen, 80% of Germans and 90% of Poles oppose sending troops to Ukraine to fight Russia. This opposition is mounting amid student protests around the world against the NATO powers’ complicity in the Israeli genocide against Gaza. There is no way out under capitalism of the mortal crisis in Slovakia over the attempted murder of Fico and ruling elites’ fear of “civil war.” The only progressive way forward is the unification of the European and international working class in a movement against imperialist war and for socialism. The political basis of such a movement is a Trotskyist perspective of an international proletarian revolution against both imperialism and Stalinism’s restoration of capitalism.

Opposition to the attempted assassination of Fico and to NATO war with Russia in Ukraine does not imply any support either to the capitalist Putin regime’s reactionary invasion of Ukraine, or to Fico’s regime. Indeed, despite his token criticisms of war on Russia and appeals for peace, Fico has not sought to veto plans for NATO expansion or war with Russia during the Ukraine war. He served in the final analysis as a custodian of the interests of the imperialist financial and industrial conglomerates that dominate Slovak capitalism. Workers and youth must reject the appeals of Fico’s party and its rivals in the Slovak ruling elite for social peace and calm. The working class must be alerted to and unified in struggle against the danger of catastrophic escalation of the NATO-Russia war and oppose the reactionary ruling elites in the NATO countries that are waging it. Slovak media references to an explosive political crisis make clear the potential to build such a movement.

Indeed, a few weeks before the shooting of Fico, the Ukrainian regime arrested comrade Bogdan Syrotiuk, a leader of the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists (YBGL), which is active across the former Soviet Union in sympathy with the International Committee of the Fourth International. It presented against comrade Bogdan charges, made on the basis of absurd political fabrications, that he was a tool of the Russian state. In reality, the YGBL advance a Trotskyist perspective for the unification of workers in Russia, Ukraine and internationally against capitalism and war. The explosive political crisis emerging from the attempted assassination of Fico reveals an objectively revolutionary crisis emerging across Europe. The Slovak regime fears an explosion of opposition above all on its left, against imperialist war, just as the Ukrainian regime fears an explosion of mass, left-wing opposition among workers to being dragooned to death on the front lines of war with Russia. It is urgent that comrade Bogdan be freed and an international socialist movement built against imperialism and capitalism in the Soviet, Eastern European and international working class.

Failed pro-imperialist coup targets Democratic Republic of Congo
Kumaran Ira, WSWS, May 23 2024

Early Sunday morning, several dozen heavily armed men attacked the Palace of the Nation, a presidential palace and home of the Minister of the Economy in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Men in fatigues opened fire, killing two of Economy Minister Vital Kamerhe’s 15 guards. The attack lasted about three hours before it was crushed. The spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo said the “attempted coup d’état,” involving “foreigners and Congolese,” was foiled. It was “nipped in the bud by the defence and security forces,” General Sylvain Ekenge said in a short message on national television. He said several Americans, including “two whites” and a Congolese “naturalized British” citizen, were involved. The leader of the attempted coup was identified as Christian Malanga, a Congolese naturalized American. Malanga and three other men were killed after resisting arrest, and some 50 people, including three US citizens, were arrested, according to a Congolese army spokesman. The arrested US citizens include Malanga’s 21-year-old son Marcel Malanga and Benjamin Zalman-Polun, a 36-year-old former cannabis dealer from Maryland.

The coup took place as Washington and its NATO allies wage a bitter struggle for influence in Africa with China and Russia, amid the NATO-Russia war in Ukraine. The NATO imperialist powers are dissatisfied with the current DRC regime’s development of economic ties with Beijing and Moscow. The coup leaders made clear their support for the bloody imperialist-backed dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled the DRC under the name Zaire from 1965 to 1997. In a livestream posted on Facebook during Sunday’s attack, Malanga threatened DRC President Félix Tshisekedi, shouting: “Felix, get out!” Surrounded by several dozen men dressed in fatigues, with some wearing red berets, Malanga claimed to have taken power and waved the flag of Zaire, saying in Lingala:

The time has come! Long live Zaire! Long live Mobutu’s children!

As his troops occupied the president’s offices, Malanga told the camera in Lingala:

We cannot drag on with Tshisekedi and Kamerhe, they have done too many stupid things in this country.

Malanga, a US resident, reportedly had served in the DRC and US armies and was a well-known figure in the Congolese diaspora. He ran in the 2011 legislative elections and was arrested and detained for several weeks under former President Joseph Kabila. Upon his release, he went to the US and two years later founded the United Congolese Party. Al Jazeera reported:

Over the years, Malanga campaigned for religious freedom in Africa and led anticorruption training initiatives for young Africans in Europe.

US State Dept spox Matthew Miller said he was aware of reports that two other US citizens are in custody after the failed coup. He refused to confirm whether US officials had contacted the Congolese government to be granted consular access to them. On Twitter, US Ambassador to the DRC Lucy Tamlyn said:

I’m shocked by these reports. We will cooperate with the DRC authorities to the fullest extent as they investigate these criminal acts and hold accountable any US citizen involved in criminal acts.

In Paris, Le Monde tried to downplay the coup, claiming it was “far from being the most significant event.” However, about Malanga, it admitted:

He had hoped since 2015 to topple the Congolese regime, first of Joseph Kabila and then of Félix Tshisekedi. This man’s profile and the unfolding of the attack nonetheless raised questions, according to several observers contacted by Le Monde, about possible help the coup plotters could have had and what the real objectives were of what is officially being treated as a coup d’état.

Whatever precise relations they had with the NATO imperialist powers, the coup plotters clearly decided to act amid the escalating global conflict of the NATO powers with Russia and China. As NATO wages war against Russia in Ukraine and backs the far-right Israeli regime of Benjamin Netanyahu in waging genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza, conflict between the imperialist powers and Russia and China is intensifying in Africa. The French war in Mali and the Sahel since 2013 has led to several military coups and, amid mass protests against the French army presence, demands by the military regimes in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger that France leave their territory. These regimes have then sought military collaboration with Russian instead of French troops.

In Congo, the imperialist powers are waging a bitter struggle for influence against Russia and China. There is deep anger among mining companies from the NATO countries at Tshisekedi’s “contract of the century” deal with Chinese mining companies. In exchange for purchasing the output of several key Congolese mines, Beijing agreed to invest $3b in mine infrastructure and $6b in infrastructure across the rest of the DRC. The DRC has massive, strategic mineral resources including uranium, copper, gold, tin, cobalt, diamonds, manganese and zinc, with a value estimated in the tens of trillions of dollars. It is by far the world’s largest producer of cobalt, accounting for roughly 70% of global production. Cobalt is a key component in batteries for electric cars and mobile phones. The DRC is also the world’s third-largest copper producer.

Although Washington is distancing itself from the failed coup, the NATO imperialist powers are notorious for their clandestine military operations in Africa. In the DRC, US and Belgian imperialism conspired with forces of the Congolese bourgeoisie to assassinate Patrice Lumumba, the leader of the anti-colonial struggle in the Congo and its first democratically-elected prime minister. Lumumba was murdered in 1961. The Mobutu dictatorship that emerged after his assassination had close ties to the imperialist powers, in particular to France. The US-backed takeover of neighboring Rwanda by President Paul Kagame’s forces in 1994-1995 against the French-backed Hutu government, during the Rwandan genocide, ultimately brought down Mobutu’s regime. After Kagame had consolidated his regime, Rwandan-backed forces attacked westwards into the eastern Congo. The DRC was ravaged by war from 1996 to 2008. It is estimated to have cost an estimated 5.6 million lives.

The eastern Congo is still to this day in a state of civil war, which has deepened since a rebellion, the Mar 23 Movement (M23), went on the offensive again two and a half years ago, backed by Rwanda. There are frequent clashes between Congolese security forces and armed groups, especially the M23 and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). In the recent period, these clashes have dramatically increased, provoking a humanitarian crisis. In Oct 2023, the UN announced that the number of internally displaced people in DRC had reached a record 6.9 million. Tshisekedi, who has been in power since 2019, was reelected with 73% of the vote in Dec 2023. The failed coup hit the DRC as he intensifies ties with Russia and China. He recently said Eastern influence is outshining Western influence in Africa, rating Russia and China over Western countries in transparency and ease of doing business. He said that his country has the right to deepen its ties with Russia:

In France, Israel was condemned for some actions in Gaza. Does this prevent France from maintaining its relations with Israel? Why do they want to judge us when it comes to Africans? One should not judge us. We have the right to the friends we want, and we are friends to all those who want to be our friends. Russians want friendship with Africa and DR Congo, so why should we refuse?

Whatever precise assistance they received from the NATO powers, it was amid NATO’s growing global conflict with Russia that the coup plotters in Kinshasa launched their failed bid to reimpose a regime in Congo harking back to Mobutu’s bloody, pro-imperialist regime.