Thirty years of war: The historical background to the US-NATO conflict with Russia - from the WORLD SOCIALIST WEB SITE today

 Thirty years of war: The historical background to the US-NATO conflict with Russia

The escalating conflict between US-NATO and Russia over Ukraine can only be understood in its broader historical context. The World Socialist Web Site presents below a timeline of some of the most important events that have brought humanity to the brink of World War III. It includes links to critical articles and statements produced by the International Committee of the Fourth International over the past 30 years.

The timeline begins with the first US invasion of Iraq in 1991, which was launched as the Stalinist bureaucracy had begun the process that would culminate in the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December of the same year.

Far from opening up a new period of “peace and prosperity,” the end of the USSR marked the beginning of a new stage in the crisis of world capitalism and a period of endless war. The invasion of Iraq was followed by NATO’s intervention in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Also in the 1990s, NATO initiated a process of expanding to Russia’s borders, systematically encircling and destabilizing the country.