The Lead

Taking a Gigantic Step in the Right Direction, Before It Is Too Late

by Jason Ross (EIRNS) — May. 17, 2024

The attempted assassination of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has shaken Europe and the world. And the intended message is clear: opposition to Anglo-American NATO and the EU will not be tolerated. Since the May 15 attempt on Fico’s life, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo have all received death threats, largely delivered on social media.

Fico repeatedly drew the ire of the trans-Atlantic establishment. He has threatened to veto any future Ukrainian application for NATO membership, arguing that Ukraine joining NATO could trigger World War III. He refused to continue the supply of arms to Ukraine initiated under the previous government. He stated publicly that the origin of the Ukraine conflict was not Putin’s actions of February 2022, but the attacks on the Donbass by Ukrainian nationalists. He has backed Russia’s assertion that it was promised, following the fall of the Soviet Union, that NATO would not expand eastward.

The investigation into the shooting continues. The alleged would-be assassin has been associated both with the pro-Western “Progressive Slovakia” party and with Russian groups, depending on which part of the social media landscape you frequent. In the one case, Fico’s opposition to NATO policy is what drove the assailant. In the other, his insufficient opposition to NATO is what motivated the shooting.

The British media have tried to direct the story: Russian asset Fico got what he deserved, and you may meet the same fate if you don’t behave.

Slovakia is not alone. Earlier this year, Brussels was prepared to attack Hungary’s economy over Viktor Orbán’s opposition to increased funding for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the ADL and related groups are attempting to send the same message to youth and others participating in protests against Israel’s pulverization of Gaza. “If you know what’s good for you and your career, you’ll end your efforts,” they say. If you oppose the bloodletting, you must be anti-Semitic, they imply. And if you don’t stop, counterprotesters will be sent to attack you.

Then there are the so-called “disinformation experts,” lavishly funded by U.S. and U.K. institutions to exert control over media and thought. A Slovak publication, Standard, has revealed numerous examples of Slovak NGOs funded for such purposes as to “combat disinformation,” “increase support for Ukraine by combatting Russian disinformation,” and map “anti-Western” sentiment among the people. “In short,” reports the Standard, “the grant paid by the Americans is meant to explain to Slovaks what their foreign and security priorities are.”

While the Anglo-American world is attempting to maintain and enforce an eroding and brutal hegemonism, the meeting of Presidents Putin and Xi in China shows another path. Putin traveled to Harbin, a city of traditional Russian-Chinese cooperation, saw the signing agreements on Arctic shipping and the establishment of a Sino-Russian Academy of Fundamental Sciences, spoke of his plans for the Russian Far East, and discussed Ukraine and international security and development with his host in an informal meeting.

The world is waiting for the U.S. and NATO to come to their senses, to be part of the future that is taking shape for most of the world.

As Helga Zepp-LaRouche said in the May 17, fiftieth meeting of the International Peace Coalition:

“We are obviously in a pre-war situation,” Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche told the meeting and added that if current tendencies continue, we could very shortly reach a point of no return.

“We are heading toward a point of decision, and we have to catalyze the Western countries, despite all the odds, into the idea that we have to cooperate with Russia, with China, that these countries are not the enemy, that there is a new world economic order emerging with the global majority,” she said, urging attendees to “get people in the West to understand that there is no need to have all of that, that we have to have a new security and development architecture which takes into account the interests of every single country on the planet, and that the new name for peace is development, which is why the Oasis Plan is a gigantic step in this direction.”