A glimmer of a possible way out of the deadly global strategic crisis besetting the entire planet took shape in the four-hour summit meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which was held near San Francisco on Nov. 15.
A glimmer, because, despite the major disputes remaining between the two countries—such as Taiwan, economic sanctions, containment of China’s development—the two leaders agreed that “the world expects the United States and China to manage competition responsibly to prevent it from veering into conflict, confrontation, or a new Cold War,” as the White House readout stated. “The meeting was positive, comprehensive and constructive,” the Chinese readout reported. “It has charted the course for improving and developing China-U.S. relations. And San Francisco should be a new starting point for stabilizing China-U.S. relations,” the Chinese report stated hopefully.
There were specific agreements reached on cooperation to stop fentanyl and other drug production and trafficking; on re-establishing military-military communication; and on setting up working groups to follow through on the agreements reached by Biden and Xi. But more important than those specifics, was the strategic focus China put on the summit, as noted by their readout: “China and the United States are faced with two options in the era of global transformations unseen in a century: One is to enhance solidarity and cooperation and join hands to meet global challenges and promote global security and prosperity; and the other is to cling to the zero-sum mentality, provoke rivalry and confrontation, and drive the world toward turmoil and division. The two choices point to two different directions that will decide the future of humanity and Planet Earth.”
But it was only a glimmer, because even as the two heads of state were meeting, the war in Southwest Asia was escalating and the carnage in Gaza continuing, not only condoned but facilitated by the Biden administration—including with major new American shipments of weapons. After weeks of justifying their criminal assault into the Al-Shifa Hospital—a brazen crime against humanity that has been denounced the world around—by insisting that the facility was being used as a military staging area of Hamas, with tunnels beneath the hospital and material and sophisticated weapons on site, the IDF finally reported, after seizing control of Al-Shifa, that they had found … two or three duffel bags of employees (out of more than 1,000 workers) with some firearms, flak jackets, grenades and military uniforms, and a laptop which has not yet been examined but which purportedly documents Hamas’s control of the hospital. No tunnels were reported found.
In a press conference immediately after meeting with President Xi, President Biden again fully endorsed Israel’s attacks on Gaza, asserting that “one thing has been established is that Hamas does have headquarters, weapons, matériel below this hospital and, I suspect, others.” He doubled down by stating he was “absolutely confident” that this was the case, asserting: “This is not carpet bombing…. It’s not like they’re rushing in the hospital, knocking down doors, and, you know, pulling people aside and shooting people indiscriminately.”
Oh?
Palestinian authorities reported Nov. 14 that the death toll in Gaza stood at 11,320, of whom 4,650 are children and 3,145 are women. Another 3,600 people remain unaccounted for, including 1,755 children—most of them likely buried in the rubble. The UN reported Nov. 16 that two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million—that is, about 1.5 million people—are now homeless as a result of the bombings. Earlier today, Israeli authorities reported that IDF airplanes had dropped leaflets on four towns in southern Gaza urging them to evacuate their villages, because they would shortly be bombed as well.
That sure sounds like carpet bombing; it looks like ethnic cleansing; it smells like a deliberate campaign of depopulation against an entire people. Is this what the United States of America—along with many of the nations of Europe—has now given its good name to?
We are better than that.
The International Peace Coalition, founded six months ago by Schiller Institute head Helga Zepp-LaRouche, will be holding an urgent international symposium on Sunday, Nov. 26 to sound the alarm on these developments, and to turn the slight glimmer of a solution into full-fledged reality. In addition to remarks by Helga Zepp-LaRouche and other speakers, the event will conclude with a showing of the riveting film “8:15 Hiroshima,” followed by a discussion with its Executive Producer and Writer Dr. Akiko Mikamo.
