The Lead
Time To Choose: Statecraft or Playing the Fool
by David Shavin (EIRNS) — May. 14, 2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin will be spending May 16-17 strategizing in Beijing with China’s President Xi Jinping. The Kremlin announced today that the two “will have an extensive discussion of the entire scope of issues pertaining to the Russia-China overarching partnership and strategic cooperation.”
China’s new ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, arrived in New Delhi on May 10, after the post had been left vacant for 18 months. Having served as China’s Assistant Foreign Minister and numerous diplomat posts, he certainly qualifies as a high-level appointment. On arrival, he stated: “President Xi and Prime Minister Modi have agreed on the important assessment that China and India are cooperation partners and not competitors. And reached an important common understanding that our two countries are each other’s development opportunities and not threats. This should serve as the fundamental guidelines for the growth of bilateral relations.” Xu added: “As President Xi Jinping said, if China and India speak with one voice, the whole world will listen. If both countries join hands, the whole world will pay attention.”
While the border frictions between China and India have not yet been solved, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put that on the agenda. It is of some note that China has reclaimed its position as India’s largest trading partner, surpassing the United States. It becomes a matter of speculation how long a scheming London or bungling Washington can keep India oriented toward a geopolitical confrontation against China. For example, immediately after India signed a ten-year agreement with Iran on the development of the port of Chabahar, the U.S. State Department tried to lay down the law on New Delhi, threatening to impose sanctions on them.
As long as the United States remains addicted to the biggest financial bubble in all history, it will find itself, as Lyndon LaRouche used to describe, as the ‘big dumb giant on a British leash.’ Today the British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps—possibly being out of sorts from the rapid Russian military advance (over 60 miles in 3 days) over the long weekend—not only informed Ukraine that the U.K. would never allow them a respite from their complete destruction unless they conquered Russia, but he emphasized that “it is very, very important that the U.S. follows the U.K. lead” in this. He actually stated that, after the U.S. just ponied up $61 billion more for the effort, the U.K.’s upping their game to less than $4 billion put them in position to push the U.S. even further.
Shapps’ math aside, more sophisticated players of the “Great Game” in London know it is more about the cultural manipulation of the Yankees across the pond. And, after all, what is one to think of the performance of the U.S. Secretary of State’s sudden visit to Kiev, as Ukraine’s troops are being routed in the Kharkiv Oblast, even with some of the most hardened, anti-Russian neo-Nazi elements of their forces just giving up and surrendering show of support? Blinken capped his “rally the troops” day by taking the stage in Kiev’s Bar Diktat with a guitar, and trying to croon “Rockin’ to the Free World”, evidently to show what the soldiers are fighting and dying for—that the fight to the finish in Ukraine is for the whole free world. The level of banality leaves one speechless.
The U.S. and the entire Western world needs to run, not walk, to a source of culture, humanity and optimism—the LaRouche “Oasis Plan.” You can be sure that Putin and Xi are not crooning “Rockin’ to the Free World” this week.
Contents
Strategic War Danger
- U.S.'s Blinken in Kyiv Plays the Fool (↓)
- U.K. Defense Secretary Insists U.S. Must Follow Our Lead, No Peace Deal for Ukraine (↓)
- Israel's Military Operation against Gaza Escalates (↓)
New World Paradigm
- Management of Djibouti-Addis Ababa Railway Transferred from China to Ethiopia (↓)
- Berlin Court May Rule against German Government on Supplying Weapons to Israel (↓)
- Putin Appoints Dyumin Presidential Aide To Focus on Defense Industry (↓)
U.S. and Canada
- Union Theological Seminary Thanks Student Activists, Disinvests from War (↓)
- India and Iran Sign 10-Year Deal to Operate And Develop the Strategic Port of Chabahar; U.S. Threatens Sanctions (↓)
- Putin to China on ‘the Russia-China Overarching Partnership and Strategic Cooperation’ (↓)
- First Chinese Ambassador to India in 18 Months, as Xi and Modi Talk Alliance (↓)
- Are Israeli Security Forces Working with Crazed Settlers To Destroy Food Convoys To Gaza? (↓)
- Biden Raises Tariffs on China in Scam That Increases Decoupling (↓)
Harley Schlanger Update
Watch The Daily Update with Harley Schlanger, a short video update available every weekday morning from The LaRouche Organization.
