The Schiller Institute is holding an international conference this Saturday to which you are invited. The subjects of its two panels tell you how big this discussion will be: “How Nuclear World War III Can Be Avoided,” and “The Name of Peace: A New Security and Economic Development Architecture.”
This is your opportunity to join other thinking people, from across the world, to discuss through how humanity can replace this hated old order which has led the world to the brink of nuclear war, in time. You will find out you are not alone, in realizing that this collapsing old order, which protects the rights of the billionaires, but neglects the billions of people who suffer from scarcity, has to be replaced. You will experience that special happiness and optimism which comes from participating in a serious discussion with people from other countries and cultures about how our nature as creative human beings allows us to change the course of history, when so needed.
Most people will find there that they don’t really know what is going on “out there,” which you need to know to be able to help bring about the changes we need. Take the following examples:
Did you or your neighbor know that while the media are telling you not to worry about nuclear war, because Russia and its military are about to collapse, President Putin and the Russian people today celebrated the 80th anniversary of their victory against the Nazi invaders at Stalingrad, as the “eternal symbol of the invincibility of our people"?
And that at the solemn celebration of that victory, the Russian President issued a reminder: “Those seeking to defeat Russia on the battlefield apparently do not realize that a modern war with Russia would be entirely different for them. We’re not sending our tanks to their borders. Yet we have something to respond with, and it would not be limited to armor use only, everyone must realize that.”
It would be highly advisable, in fact, for you to know that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov this week issued very similar warnings, that the Russians recognize that the strategic goal of the United States and NATO’s war in Ukraine, is the “strategic defeat” of Russia, “to cut Russia’s name from the political map of the world,” and on that basis, there is nothing that can be discussed. But those same high-level officials said again to the United States: If you give up your “ambition to defeat or deal a strategic blow to the Russian Federation … then we will be ready to take a constructive look at US proposals.”
How about the fact that the Pentagon is preparing plans to fight a war with China, a nation of 1.4 billion people which is the fastest-growing technological power in the world, while fighting a war at the same time with the nuclear power, Russia? Isn’t that something you had better find out about fast? China’s People’s Liberation Army published an article on its website this week with the message that China does not want war with the U.S.! But, by the way, should the U.S. provoke that fight, the PLA reported elsewhere, China has a new hypersonic anti-ship missile which can reach the speed of Mach 10 by the time it hits its target.
There are forces already in motion all over the world, however, to stop this madness. Did you, or your neighbor know that nearly three million men and women took to the streets of some 250 cities across France on Tuesday, in protest against government policies which cut their living standards in order to bail out the speculators and feed a war in Ukraine which threatens to go nuclear? That the next day, the largest strike in a decade took place in the UK, for basically the same reasons?
How about the fact that 16 nations of Southern Africa, despite most of them being poor and struggling, had the gumption to issue a statement telling the U.S. government that they do not, and will not support NATO’s war against Russia, despite all the former’s threats?
Are any of your neighbors discussing the fact that the President of Brazil, Lula da Silva, proposed on Monday that Brazil, China, India, and Indonesia get together to help negotiate a peaceful end to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, instead of feeding the conflict by shipping in more and more arms? Lula’s initiative is not some gesture made off the top of his head. It buttresses the offer of Pope Francis of the Vatican as a venue for peace negotiations for the conflict. Both initiatives increase the pressure to abandon the drive to crush Russia and China.
Join us in “conspiring” this weekend on how to turn this potential into a force strong enough to overturn this rotten system and bring about peace through development!
