In recent weeks, the possibility of a European-wide and even global war has once again emerged as an imminent danger. French President Francois Hollande has warned of the risk of "total war" in Europe. The leading German magazine Der Speigel published an article earlier this month under the headline, "The Nuclear specter returns." Former Soviet Union President Michael Gorbachev has spoken of the possibility of "World War III."

The population of the world is being thrust to the brink of a global catastrophe over the crisis in Ukraine, which has pitched a right-wing, pro-NATO regime in Kiev against Russia-backed separatists in the east. The Obama Administration is currently considering providing military arms to the Ukrainian government, which would be seen as a military provocation directed against Russia. Whatever the immediate outcome of negotiations between the different sides, Eastern Europe is a geopolitical powder keg.

What has brought the world again to the brink of world conflagration, this time with nuclear weapons? The basic cause of world war lies in the imperialist system, and responsibility for the current crisis lies squarely with the major capitalist powers, above all the United States.

This meeting will discuss the historical background of the crisis in Ukraine and the underlying strategic, political and economic imperatives that lie behind the reemergence of the specter of world war.