CGTN Radio turned to Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche today for her assessment of the strategic implications of the July 22 four-party Istanbul agreement to permit the export of Ukrainian and Russian grain and fertilizer, in the face of the catastrophic spread of famine across the planet. (http://chinaplus.cri.cn/podcast/list/27, minute 15:12)
Zepp-LaRouche identified that urgently-needed breakthrough agreement as both an effect of the completely new dynamic developing in world affairs, and a driver laying the basis for the next breakthroughs required. The reality of 1.7 billion people in danger of dying of hunger was heard, she said. The United Nations and Turkey played a very important role, negotiating this for two months, but “the cry of the entire developing countries, the poorest of the countries, was backing this pressure to accomplish this deal…. The tide in the world is shifting, because as you could see with the refusal of many countries belonging to what used to be the Non-Aligned Movement to go along with the sanctions against Russia. So, we are really looking at a completely different dynamic in the world right now.”
At the same time, that the agreement is an important (not sufficient, but important) step toward stopping famine, “it also proves that you can have diplomatic solutions, including with Russia,” she pointed out, thus overriding the hawks in the West who say “you cannot negotiate with Russia; diplomacy is out. So, this is the proof that that is not true.”
Zepp-LaRouche drew out the implications of the key role played by Turkey in this agreement, and with Russia and Iran in the Astana process: “Turkey is a member of NATO, but they are also making these arrangements with Iran and Russia. Therefore, Turkey’s mediation role could become a role model for solving all kinds of problems. I think if more NATO countries would follow the example of Turkey, it would be very beneficial,” she insisted. “There is not a unity in NATO at all, and there is no unity in the European Union because not everybody agrees with the policy of sanctions against Russia. The majority of the world does not agree with it…. And that has a very good reason. Many of these countries recognize that the main fault for the Ukraine crisis is not Russia, but it has been the continuous policy of eastward expansion of NATO. That has to be confessed and admitted, and then you can have a solution.”
She identified the solution for CGTN’s audience: “We need a new security and development architecture which takes care of the interests of every single country on the planet. Until we have such a fundamental change, we will have a very difficult time. So, all people of good will should work together that we get to this New Paradigm.” [See Documentation for the whole interview.]
That is the precisely subject of the Schiller Institute’s “Call for an Ad-Hoc Committee for a New Bretton Woods System,” which outlines the eight essential measures required to secure that new paradigm. (https://schillerinstitute.nationbuilder.com/call_for_an_ad-hoc_committee_for_a_new_bretton_woods_system)
In a follow-up discussion with American associates today, Zepp-LaRouche added that “the world is in flux, and there are those who learn from their mistakes, and those who do not.” And the “rules-based orderers” who do not, are losing ground and looking more preposterous by the day!
Take the West’s economic breakdown. The U.S. and European economies are disintegrating and heading towards social chaos; dark pessimism reigns about life under the Western bankers’ system. But Russia is giving hope to its people; the sanctions have hurt, but with an eye to what China has accomplished, the national leadership is mobilizing the Russian people to develop the solid sovereign technological base required for growth. Faced with policies which failed to protect the country in the face of the all-out international assault, President Putin and the leadership are moving to change them.
NATO member Hungary is speaking out. In urging Western nations to adopt a new strategy, “focused on peace talks and drafting a good peace proposal … instead of winning the war,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán pointed out that the European Union is “sitting in a car that has a puncture in all four tires.” Those four tires of Western strategy on Ukraine were: “that Ukraine can win a war against Russia with NATO weapons; that sanctions would weaken Russia and destabilize its leadership: that sanctions would hurt Russia more than Europe, and that the world would line up in support of Europe’s policy. It is absolutely clear that the war cannot be won in this way.”
And by the way, he added, Europe’s economic policies have failed and “governments in Europe are ‘collapsing like dominoes.’”
The Global NATO crowd is not doing much better in their Asian offensive. U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley deliberately descended on Indonesia the day before its President Joko Widodo was to begin his two-day state visit to China, to lecture the Indonesian military that they better line up with the United States against the purported Chinese threat to “our” values. Never mind that Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto only a month before had urged countries to respect China’s “rightful rise back to its position as a great civilization,” when speaking to the London-organized annual Asian defense summit, Shangri-La Dialogue. Never mind that President Widodo had just demonstrated his government is committed to maintaining Indonesia’s historic role as a Non-Aligned leader, in forcing Russia to be invited to the G20 meetings, and that Widodo chose to make China his first stop in his first East Asia trip since the COVID pandemic.
China’s Global Times drew out how utterly Milley and crew are degrading United States standing in the world with such behavior. They titled their editorial response: “Let’s Hope U.S. Diplomacy Doesn’t End Up as Chewing Gum on the Bottom of China’s Shoes.”
“While paying close attention to China, the U.S. has gradually lost itself, and then lost its vision, mind and creativity as a major country,” it warned. The editorial concluded that China is now laying track for Indonesia’s first high-speed railway, and “it is believed that the existence of this railway will certainly outlive Washington’s `China threat’ campaign.”
