On the eve of destruction?

The ramping up of the fear factor of the Russian Bear continues apace. Sweden is about to start stockpiling food, Finland declares that a war with Russia will happen and Danes are rushing to stock up their larders. As this Blog asks over and over again, why is the majority working class in various states allowing itself to be be pushed into a war, and a possible nuclear one at that, that no sane person would want? The enthusiasm on the part of the ruling elites is based upon the continuing profits to be made by a small minority and the totally mistaken idea that a war against Russia is a winnable one. Would China sit back and remain on the fence? China is itself firmly in the sights of the ‘Western Bloc’ of capitalist states. The ‘Western Bloc’ in this this case meaning the USA which will have no qualms about bullying its various vassels to join them in such an enterprise.

The situation is already a serious one and once the propaganda machines go into full force and begin to play the ‘nationalist’ card then the level of escalation will move toward an even more threatening stage of danger to us all.

As Shelley wrote, ‘We are many, they are few.’ Does the world have to move to the precipice of Armageddon before it wakes up and says we have had enough, we are no longer prepared to let a greedy, grasping, covetous, avaricious social system, capitalism, endanger the many for the sake of the few?

‘Sweden has announced that it will begin stockpiling food and agricultural supplies for the first time since the Cold War, citing what officials describe as a growing threat from Russia. Moscow has rejected these claims, insisting that it poses no danger to any NATO or EU countries.

The Swedish Board of Agriculture stated that it will create emergency reserves of grain and other key supplies to ensure that citizens have access to sufficient food “in the event of a serious crisis and, in the extreme, war.” The government has allocated around $57 million in its 2026 budget to fund the program.

The first storage facilities will be established in the north of the country due to its “strategic military importance” and low level of self-sufficiency in grain, according to Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin, who said “there is no time to lose.”

The new stockpiles will be built up over the period of 2026-2028. The Board of Agriculture said the goal is to guarantee food supplies equivalent to 3,000 calories per person per day during a state of heightened alert.

Lawmakers in neighbouring Finland, meanwhile, have said they will conduct underground training exercises next month to practice working in wartime conditions, similarly citing a supposed threat from Russia.

Moscow has repeatedly denounced what it calls anti-Russian hysteria and fearmongering pushed by Western European leaders, stressing that it has no reason or intention to take hostile actions against any EU or NATO countries. Russian officials have dismissed the claims as nonsense meant to justify inflated military budgets and the bloc’s ongoing militarisation.’

‘Western European countries must be ready to fight Russia if they offer security guarantees to Kiev as part of a potential settlement of the Ukraine conflict, Finnish President Alexander Stubb has said.

In an interview with The Guardian Stubb stressed that if the West decides to provide any assurances to Kiev, they should stick to the notion that “security guarantees in essence are a deterrent.”

Asked if the guarantees would mean that European countries are saying they would be ready to engage militarily with Russia in case of an attack on Ukraine, the president replied: “That is the idea of security guarantees by definition,” adding that they would be meaningless without real force behind them.

He added that Russia should not have any say in the matter. “So for me it’s not an issue [whether] Russia will agree [to guarantees being given to Ukraine] or not. Of course they won’t, but that’s not the point,” he added.’

‘The public anxiety in Denmark over the drone incursions shows how the zone of concern over Russia is steadily growing and how a conflict that once felt far away all of a sudden can feel close.

“We’ve seen a crazy increase in sales,” said Valdemar Badsted, a salesperson at Wolf Tactical, a military surplus shop in Copenhagen. “People are getting worried about war.”

Danes are rushing to buy emergency rations and equipment such as camping sets. At Wolf Tactical, sales of freeze-dried camping food have shot up by 400 percent, its owner said. Danish news outlets have reported that at other stores, there’s been a run on emergency rations, emergency radios, rice and canned mackerel, too.’