The Lead

Reason Demands Action

by Marcia Merry Baker (EIRNS) — Jul. 20, 2024

This coming week’s EIR runs an article by Schiller Institute leader Harley Schlanger, on the present world threats of chaos and warfare. It opens, “When former President Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination for President Thursday night—six days after being hit in the ear by a would-be assassin’s bullet, which was less than an inch away from being a kill shot—a frail President Joe Biden was in isolation, diagnosed with COVID-19, and under enormous pressure to end his campaign for re-election. Lost in the midst of this drama is that Ukrainian soldiers are dying in large numbers daily in NATO’s proxy war against Russia, children are continuing to be slaughtered by Israel Defense Forces using U.S. weapons in Gaza and the West Bank, and NATO moved ahead with its plan for ‘Global NATO’ at its Washington, D.C. summit, committed to a confrontation with China in the not-distant future. Each day, NATO forces are at the edge of crossing ‘red lines,’ providing Ukraine’s shattered military with more powerful and longer-range missiles to target Russia, taking the risk that an ‘accident’ could lead to an escalation, to the use of nuclear weapons.”

This weekend’s updates to Schlanger’s situation report include a new exchange of attack drones between Ukraine and Russia, and fierce attacks by the Israel Defense Forces on multiple sites in Gaza. Plus, Israel today conducted multiple airstrikes in Yemen for the first time, hitting an oil storage tank farm, and a power plant near the Hodeidah port, with many dead. Yesterday, a drone from Yemen struck in Tel Aviv, killing 1, and injuring 10.

However, at the same time, there are positive initiatives for development and peace.

• In Brazil yesterday, President Lula da Silva announced intentions for his nation to join the Belt and Road Initiative. At a highway project event, Lula singled out infrastructure-building as part of the BRI mutual benefits in South America. Da Silva is also in collaboration with China for peace in Ukraine and Gaza.

• In Germany, beautiful placards were posted before dawn throughout Leipzig, declaring “Cooperation with the BRICS, Vote Down the Warmongers!” These are from the BüSo political party’s campaign slate of 12 people for the Sept. 1 election for state parliament in Saxony. Their program, “Peace Through Development,” spells out policies in every area, from local to international. “We need negotiated solutions at a higher level to end the wars in Ukraine and Israel/Palestine.”

• In the Vatican, it is reported that Pope Francis has sent Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to Ukraine on a peace mission. He arrived in Lviv July 19, and will stay until July 24.

• In Russia, many media have covered the July 19 EIR (weekly) guest article by Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov from the Russian Federation. Headlined, “On the Issue of Struggling against Neocolonial Practices,” the article makes a public call for “the support of the Russian initiative to create an international anti-colonial movement ‘For the Freedom of Nations!’ to eradicate modern practices of exploitation and hegemony.” The article coheres with the campaign of Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche for the emancipation of the Global South, for its industrialization, and her focus on the urgency of its playing, immediately, an historic role for peace and for the creation of a new global security and economic development architecture.

These positive actions occur on a world stage in which Global NATO is self-deployed on an all-out drive to dominate and prevent national sovereignty and development, risking the very existence of civilization.

This wide-angle perspective is the only way to understand what is happening, in a way to enlist fellow citizens, in all countries, to activate to stop the Global NATO end game. The vehicle for action is the International Peace Coalition.

The situation in the United States is tense in the extreme. Tomorrow, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Washington, D.C., where the official death toll in Gaza is now nearing the 39,000 mark. He denounced the July 19 decision by the UN International Court of Justice that Israel’s actions have been unlawful in the Palestinian territories for years, by calling it “an absurd opinion.” On July 24, Netanyahu is to address a joint session of Congress. Hundreds of staff members from the offices of over 140 elected lawmakers demand a boycott of Netanyahu. The Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) warns he may order arrests of dissenters against Israeli policy. Street protests against Netanyahu are planned by dozens of groups this week.

The host of Netanyahu, President Joe Biden, remains in COVID confinement at his Atlantic Coast beach house, with no word on if or when he will meet Netanyahu. Meantime, on Monday, July 22, there will be a hearing on the Trump attempted assassination in the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, the first of many organized by four different Congressional committees, now looking for who is responsible for the attack. So far, all that can be reliably said, is that the crime came from either or both, Secret Service/security function incompetence, or deliberate criminal act by the “invisible government.”