A new world order is coming into being, which the “West” would do well to join, rather than oppose.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia is in China, on his first international trip since being inaugurated on May 7 for his new term as President. This is the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and China, and the leaders of the two UN Security Council permanent members signed agreements and a joint statement on deepening their partnership in the new era. While in China, Putin will attend the eighth China-Russia Expo, which takes place in Harbin over May 16-21. Thousands of purchasers will be attending.
In their joint press conference, the two Presidents stressed the importance of Russia’s BRICS chairmanship this year, and China’s taking over as chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in July. They called for political settlements to disputes, for the respect of UN resolutions, and for a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. The development of ties between Russia and China is not out of expediency nor is it targeted at any third party, Putin said, stressing that it benefits international strategic stability.
Xi said the core of his Global Security Initiative advocates the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. The fundamental solution to the war in Ukraine is to promote the establishment of a new balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, taking into account the interests of both Ukraine and Russia.
Bilateral trade is growing, including major increases in Russian purchases of Chinese technological goods.
As the two leaders met, BRICS founding member South Africa spoke at the International Court of Justice on its May 10 urgent request for the court to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah, to cease its military operations throughout Gaza, and to allow humanitarian aid and UN access. The South African Ambassador to the Netherlands opened by likening the scenes in Rafah, of people desperately fleeing to safety, to the 1948 Nakba. Gaza has almost been wiped off the map, he told the Court. Israel is showing utter contempt for Palestinian lives.
The jurists who set out South Africa’s position stated plainly that the previous Orders of the Court are not protecting the Palestinians. Israel, which claims to have the world’s most moral army, has razed most of Gaza. If the destruction is not stopped, the possibility of the restoration of Palestinian life will be impossible, they argued, at least during the lifetime of those who survive the carnage.
Nothing can ever justify genocide. And in 2004, the ICJ found that the right of self-defense does not apply to an occupier against an occupied people. The Court was urged to assert its authority, and, thereby, the authority of international law itself, which Israel is making a mockery.
South Africa was extremely direct in stating that the intention of the Israeli authorities is to commit ethnic cleansing, to remove the Palestinians. Already, they have forced the evacuation of 1.2 million Palestinians to Rafah, a city of a quarter million a year ago. And now that last refuge is itself under assault and evacuation orders.
Rather than act firmly to oppose this atrocity, the White House has made some pathetic symbolic moves of banning the export of a few weapons to Israel, while continuing the charade of building a temporary pier for the supply by sea of humanitarian aid that could easily arrive via the land crossing that Israeli forces are blocking.
Meanwhile, the European Union is working on its 14th (!) sanctions package against Russia, including a ban on four more Russian media outlets. Secretary of State Blinken has effectively given Ukraine the nod to attack Russia with long-range weapons.
The assassination attempt against Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico is being seen as a threat against any who would oppose NATO. The country’s interior minister says that the shooter opposed Fico’s halting of arms to Ukraine. But who deployed the shooter? Consider the messaging from London.
In the nation of Georgia, U.S. and European funding and other sources of support are drumming up protests against the democratically passed law requiring registration of NGOs receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad. Georgia is told that the law, and the treatment of the protesters, jeopardizes its potential membership in the EU and runs afoul of U.S. principles. The law would reveal who is funding precisely such protests. But, in a significant display of hypocrisy, the EU is planning to sanction four more Russian media outlets and ban all Russian financial support for NGOs.
Instead of backing Israel’s acts of barbarism in Gaza, demanding that Ukraine defeat Russia militarily, and opposing the rise of China, the nations of Anglo-American NATO should look to what they can contribute enduring, positive value to humanity.
An example is seen in the recent breakthrough in the WEST tokamak in France, sister to the EAST tokamak in China. The magnetic confinement fusion reactor is showing progress towards harnessing this higher form of nuclear power for commercial use.
Using the creativity of the human species to increase our power over nature is the key to economic progress—and human happiness! Such is the basis of Lyndon LaRouche’s Oasis Plan.
