Yesterday’s sanctions by Donald Trump against “Rosneft” and “Lukoil” have nothing in common with peace or with the “values of democracy.” They are only a new chapter in an old conflict — the struggle for the repartition of the world energy markets, where every power speaks of justice but acts in the interests of its own capital. Trump imposes sanctions not for the sake of ending the war, but for the sake of redistributing profit. When he speaks of “pressure on Putin,” he means the strangling of a competitor who refuses to submit to Washington’s oil cartels.

When Putin says that “sanctions will not affect the economy of Russia,” he lies — not to the people, but to the bourgeoisie, promising it that its incomes will be preserved. In reality both sides act as representatives of one and the same class — the world capital, where the difference is only in the form of ownership but not in the essence. One defends the dollar, the other defends the rouble, but both defend profit. Trump’s sanctions, like Putin’s response, are economic mobilization — preparation for a new cycle of accumulation. The price of oil rose by 5%, and that is not a “side effect” — it is a mechanism of extracting superprofit under the cover of diplomacy.

Meanwhile Europe is turning into an arena. The so-called “coalition of the willing” is an assembly of dependent states which call themselves allies but act as branches of Anglo-American capital. They do not “press on Russia” — they work off their own dependence, paying for the war with their budgets and with their peoples.

When Putin warns that “sanctions may destabilize the oil markets,” he tells the truth — but not for the sake of humanity. He merely reminds that it is possible to destroy the world system also from the East, if the West does not allow the East to be an equal participant in exploitation. And when Lithuanian fighters rise into the air because of the “intrusion” of Russian planes for 18 seconds — that is not an incident, but a ritual, a spectacle of constant alarm, necessary for the preservation of military budgets. Every alarm strengthens not security, but control.

Today’s “war for peace” is a war for markets. And while capital remains the foundation of the state, any sanction is only a way to redistribute the world profit among those who already own the world.