M.K Bhadrakumar, a former Indian Ambassador, scholar, journalist, and member of the Valdai Discussion Club in Russia, published an article July 14 on his website, “Indian Punchline,” titled “Putin Had a Dream To Reset the World Order.” The article powerfully presents the impact of Vladimir Putin’s call for a Summit of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — China, Russia, the U.S., the UK, and France — by September, to address the multi-pronged crisis of civilization. This is an extremely important intervention which is largely a paraphrase of Helga Zepp-LaRouche’s article on the subject which has circulated internationally (see “The P5 Summit Proposed by Putin Could Be The Last Chance, although he did not credit her, nor link her article. (https://schillerinstitute.com/blog/2020/07/14/the-p5-summit-proposed-by-putin-could-be-the-last-chance-by-helga-zepp-larouche/ Bhadrakumar’s articles circulate widely around the world.
Some excerpts:
The Russian President is intensely conscious that a P5 Summit may be the last chance to establish a basis of trust for strategic orientation of relations among the 5 major nuclear powers.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev told Interfax: “Trump has lots of problems, which affects his rating. He is pretty much lagging behind his main rival. Still, he is a creative person and it is quite possible that a miracle, which happened four years ago, might repeat itself. But for now, his chances do not look bright, considering the grave economic situations caused by coronavirus and racial unrest.”
Interestingly, this is more or less the Chinese assessment of U.S. politics, too…. Beijing too hasn’t written off Trump. The policy speech by State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the China-U.S. colloquium last week before an audience that included Henry Kissinger contained flashes of an overture to Washington. The Chinese commentaries have zeroed in on Trump’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic as the genesis of his woes.… Beijing still thinks it can help Trump to turn the tide of the pandemic with the considerable expertise it has acquired, and bringing to the fore its vaccine research, etc.
Putin’s far-sighted initiative, spelt out for the first time in the powerful speech at Jerusalem, anticipated the cascading tension in the international system stemming from the combination of the Covid-19 pandemic, the colossal decline of the physical economy, the systemic collapse of the financial system, and a growing geopolitical confrontation among major powers, which is today leading to a breaking point that can degenerate into social chaos and widespread war.
Putin’s initiative reflects his conviction that even a multitude of small steps and measures to deal with all the different crises will no more suffice; nothing short of a veritable Grand Design can provide a comprehensive solution. There are several aspects to a Grand Design. For a start, the dramatic crises currently menacing the world call for a new world economic order based on a New Bretton Woods system. An investment program in the tradition of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal could provide a very useful common thread among the P5 heads of state, all of whom have at one time or another referenced FDR in positive terms.
