March 5, 2024 (EIRNS)—At the UN General Assembly plenary session March 4, the United States was singled out for condemnation, alongside Israel, for furthering mass death in Gaza. The Assembly was called into informal session to review the “use of veto,” as seen in the UN Security Council in recent months. The focus of attention and opprobrium was the United States’ veto on Feb. 20, of a ceasefire resolution for Gaza, which was the third such veto by the U.S. In introducing the session, UN General Assembly President Ambassador Dennis Francis of Trinidad and Tobago rightly described the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic, unconscionable, shameful.”
Many ambassadors spoke out against the United States not only on behalf of their nation, but also in the name of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Arab Group, the Gulf Cooperation Council, or the Group of Friends in Defense of the UN Charter. The representative of Algeria, which authored the vetoed Feb. 20 ceasefire resolution, warned that if the UN Security Council does not act immediately, “there will be nothing left in Gaza that is worthy of living.”
The U.S. response, given by Deputy High Representative to the UN Robert Wood, was elitist rhetoric. He declared that passing any UN Security Council ceasefire resolution would be harmful to the talks the U.S. is fostering among Israel, Hamas, working with Egypt and Qatar. He intoned that the United States is currently working on a new text for a UN resolution, which it will deem acceptable.
The representative from Malta spoke out against the United States, on behalf of the “Elected 10” of the UN Security Council, which are those rotating members of the 15 nations in the UN Security Council, apart from the Permanent Five (U.S., China, Russia, U.K. and France). She expressed regret at the Feb. 20 U.S. veto, saying that the Security Council must shoulder its responsibilities.
Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN Munir Akram, one of the longest-serving and most respected diplomats at the UN, spoke on behalf of the OIC, calling for an international peace conference.
After the UNGA morning plenary on “reviewing the veto,” UNGA President Dennis Francis then convened a second session, on the crisis in Gaza and UNRWA. Conspicuously sitting at the front right next to Francis was Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Lazzarini gave a devastating report on the situation in Gaza. The discussion then proceeded.
At the very same time as these UNGA deliberations were underway, Israel announced that it had charged another 450 staff members of UNRWA with involvement in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. When the UNGA session concluded, Lazzarini then held an evening press conference. He reported that UNRWA had not even received any of the Israeli charges at all. Moreover, UNRWA staff, who have been detained along with others, when released, have reported that they have been “traumatized” by their “ordeal.” He said they were, “systematically humiliated, obliged to be naked, subjected to verbal and psychological abuse.”
The same compulsive evil on display by those in power in the U.S., U.K., Israel, and a few cohorts for the genocide in Gaza can be seen in the provocations and build-up for nuclear confrontation, now posing an immediate threat of conflagration. Fortunately, there are those ringing alarm bells, especially after such moves as French President Emmanuel Macron mooting on Feb. 26 for sending NATO forces into Ukraine, and the leaked audio file on March 1 of the German Air Force officials discussing, on Feb. 19, the best ways to attack Russia from Ukraine.
A number of retired, experienced diplomats and military officials in the Trans-Atlantic are speaking out against the insanity of playing bluff with President Putin. Retired Indian Ambassador M.K. Bhadrakumar warned Western policymakers that Putin was not “crying wolf” when he issued a “warning to the entire West by placing nuclear weapons on the table” in his Address to the Federal Assembly on Feb. 29. Make no mistake, said Bhadrakumar, “Moscow means what it has been saying, namely that it will regard any Western combat deployment in Ukraine by NATO countries as an act of war.” The source of the world danger today is the “mindset” of “foolhardy, impetuous Western statesmen who are desperate to stave off an impending defeat in the war, which they began in the first instance, with the stated intention to destroy Russia’s economy, create social and political instability that would lead to a regime change in the Kremlin.”
There are certain singular actions taking place aimed at countering the mobilization of immorality, incompetence, and evil. An initiating group of 200 lawmakers from 13 countries has issued a statement calling for an immediate arms embargo on Israel.
In the United States, an internet discussion, “NATO Headed for Nuclear War with Russia?” was held Monday, March 4, based in New York, by independent candidates Diane Sare for U.S. Senate and Jose Vega for Congressional District 15 in the Bronx, with Scott Ritter, military specialist, and Prof. Steve Starr, nuclear war specialist.
Join the mobilization for forcing a world emergency shift away from the death track, onto the road to mutual development, benefit, and peace. This is the spirit described by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute leader, in an interview published today in Global Times, on the occasion of this week’s start-up of the annual government meetings in China. The interview is titled, “Two Sessions To Show a Pathway for World To Overcome Mistaken View of Group Confrontation: German Think Tank Founder.”
Zepp-LaRouche said, “Mankind is clearly at a branching point. Since geopolitics is the curse of history, I am hopeful that China’s two sessions will show a pathway for the world, and help the world understand how to overcome the mistaken view that a country or a group of countries must defend its interests against another group by all means. It is quite possible for China to establish a new paradigm, where the interests of all can be taken care of. That is a new system, which allows for the development of all.”
