The multiple crises we face, from the economic breakdown to the death toll and dangers from geopolitics, require collaboration among peoples and nations on solutions; in particular, on ending toleration of “climate emergency,” green destruction. On Oct. 6, the call for this went out as a joint statement from the respective leaders of the European-based CLINTEL, and the Schiller Institute, titled, “A Wake Up Call: The Danger for Mankind Is Not the Climate, but Toleration of a Devious Policy that Uses Climate to Destroy Us!” As co-author Helga Zepp LaRouche, Schiller Institute President, stressed yesterday, we want people to endorse, confer and initiate action, in order to get nations to cooperate on dealing with the current, acute emergencies.
Where there should be absolutely no cooperation, of course, is regarding anything to do with the COP26 Climate Summit in Britain, except for boycotting. It starts on Halloween, just 10 days away. The expected attendance has gone down from a projected 30,000 to 20,000. Except for the Davos set and the diehards, it is notable who is not coming—e.g., President Xi Jinping, President Vladimir Putin, and others. President Biden, who is booked to go, yesterday lobbied in person on Capitol Hill, pleading with Congressmen to vote up the latest version of his administration’s green spending bill, because without it, he said, it will look so bad at Glasgow. “The prestige of the United States is on the line. I need this to go represent the United States overseas….” His climate envoy, John Kerry, has plans to join with the World Economic Forum to announce some new entity named “First Moves Coalition” at Glasgow. Better that we do everything to end this entire 30 years of “climate” insanity, since it formally started in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit.
Where collaboration has begun and is urgent—with the outstanding absence of the Trans-Atlantic so far—is regarding Afghanistan. Last evening in Moscow, a joint statement was released by the 10-nation meeting of the Moscow Format (Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan). It reviews the terrible economic conditions in Afghanistan, and calls for an international conference of assistance to be convened at the earliest possible time under the auspices of the United Nations. The United States was invited but did not attend the Moscow Format. Moreover, the U.S. is part of the “Extended Troika"—the United States, Russia, China, and Pakistan — on Afghanistan, which has met before, but this week, when the Extended Troika met Oct. 19 and again on Oct. 20, with Taliban participation at this second session which followed the Moscow Format, the U.S. left an empty chair.
Afghanistan is the moral test for collaboration and action today. For example, take humanitarian food aid. More than 14 million in Afghanistan urgently need reliable food. As David Beasley, the World Food Program director, said last week, worldwide there are 43 million people, “one step away” from starvation, in 42 countries. Afghanistan is among those in the lead.
On the production of food, there is an urgent need for nation-to-nation collaboration. In the Northern Hemisphere right now, it is time to fertilize fields, following harvests, but fertilizer prices have shot up 300 percent in one year! Yields of corn and wheat, and other staples, are directly dependent on the timing and adequacy of nutrients. But in the grain belts of North America and Europe, you can’t afford it, can’t get it at any price, and can’t even get a contract for the future. Worse, add to this picture the legacy of decades of cartels determining patterns of production. The United States alone accounts for more than 30 percent of the entire corn crop of the planet, and 40 percent of the corn that is imported by other countries. As of now, the U.S. 2022 crop is bound to be reduced, without intervention. Wheat is also threatened.
China this week set the example of what approach to take, in its action on energy. A cap was put on the price range, in which coal prices can move up or down. Support was given for opening new coal mines and for expanding production from others. Approval was given for extending the length of coal storage on site, permitted at thermal generating plants, and so on.
The same can be done within and between nations for food. And likewise, for health care delivery and security. The World Health Organization said yesterday that the pandemic can be expected to go on another year unnecessarily, just because of the lack, to date, of international collaboration on the plans and resources to fully vaccinate the world.
Heed the “Wake Up” call. Endorse it; activate now; and plan on mobilizing attendance at the Oct. 13-14 international Schiller Conference, whose two-day program and invitation are now in circulation.
