Once again, the world witnesses the grotesque theatre of capitalist diplomacy as two imperialist giants, the United States and Russia, manoeuvre behind closed doors to determine the fate of Ukraine—and, by extension, the world. The announcement of an imminent meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is not a cause for hope but a bitter reminder of how the bourgeois ruling classes impose their will over the lives and dignity of oppressed peoples, trampling the aspirations of working classes in the process.

Trump and Putin, each a manifestation of their respective monopoly capitalist states, now bargain over Ukraine’s future like two merchants haggling in a marketplace. Ukraine, a country battered by centuries of imperialist aggression, sees its future discarded as a mere chess piece. Zelenskyy is reduced to a spectator, forced to watch the so-called “great powers” carve the world according to their selfish interests—proof that self-determination is but an empty promise in the capitalist world order.

Putin, hungry to restore his tsarist dreams and project Russian power, finds in Trump a partner eager to reassert American hegemony. But their real enemy is not each other, nor, in truth, any national government. Their real enemy is the global working class, whose sweat and blood fuel the war machines of both nations. Any “peace” they concoct will serve the capitalists—be they in Wall Street, Moscow, or Beijing—and mark only another round of exploitation, territorial theft, and neocolonial domination. The people of Ukraine will gain neither peace nor bread, but only further subjugation to whichever master claims their land.

Worse still, we see Trump threaten other nations—India, China—with sanctions and tariffs, extorting compliance with the United States’ imperialist diktat. These tactics, nothing short of economic warfare, show capitalism’s true face: endless competition, violence, and greed, with the people paying the price in hunger, unemployment, and ruin. While these robber barons quarrel over profits and spheres of influence, millions suffer, forced to choose between starvation and submission.

Europe’s exclusion from these negotiations is no accident. International capitalism, under the guise of “diplomacy,” is always a conspiracy against the people, with the mighty colluding to cement the chains upon the weak. That European governments, themselves lackeys of monopoly capital, are left out should open the eyes of every working person: there will be no just peace under the banner of imperialism.

The only beacon of hope lies not in the decadent palaces of despots or the conference rooms of plutocrats, but in the hands of the masses. The peoples of Ukraine, Russia, America, and all lands must understand: only by smashing the chains of capital and rising in proletarian unity can they seize peace, dignity, and justice. The war in Ukraine is a symptom of deeper disease—the insatiable thirst for profits that drives capitalist states to perpetual conflict. Only with the victory of international socialism and the dictatorship of the proletariat will there be true liberation from the machinations of greedy men like Trump and Putin.

Let the lessons of Marx, Lenin, and Mao shine as a guiding star! Revolution—not backroom deals! Workers of the world, unite and tear down the walls that these parasites erect between us. The peace of the imperialists is an illusion; the peace of the people will be forged in struggle!