The Lead
The Empire That Wants You Dead, and To Forget About How We Got Here
by Stewart Battle (EIRNS) — Sep. 22, 2024
Many are baffled at how the seemingly “civilized” West has arrived at the current state it exists in today. Although likely an underestimate, it is now reported that the U.S.’s homeless population exceeds 650,000. Add to this the rate of drug addiction and overdose, which has killed hundreds of thousands over the past 20 years; the amount of train derailments—among those trains and railroads that still exist; the skyrocketing national debt and the far more dangerous though not discussed problem of financial derivatives. To these a dozens of other specifics could be added from across the U.S. and Europe, all illustrating in gruesome detail the collapse of the trans-Atlantic system.
Of course, the most immediate reality of this collapse, which demands our complete attention today, is the fact that the nations of the trans-Atlantic have abandoned international law, revoked countless agreements and arms control treaties, and are now rushing headlong into a nuclear showdown. As the former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter put it on Sept. 20, if Joe Biden and Keir Starmer agreed to give Ukraine permission to use precision-guided long-range missiles to strike Russian territory last Friday, Sept. 13—as had been hoped by many in the war party and media—then “on Saturday the 14th, we would all have been dead.”
However, to understand this dilemma one must see it within the ongoing process of history, at least going back to when the United States was still an anti-oligarchical nation. Remember, it was Indonesia’s President Sukarno who, in 1955, called the American Revolution “the first successful anti-colonial war in history.” Sukarno himself along with the Non-Aligned Movement was determined to spread the anti-colonial principles underpinning the American Republic, and evoke the best in every nation to participate in a new, free world. But this potential was intentionally deployed against and destroyed by that Anglo-Dutch oligarchical system, which always saw the original intention behind the United States as a systemic threat to their rule. What remains today of that potential? What, for example, would Sukarno say today about America’s war in Ukraine, or Gaza?
However, despite the ensuing tragedies which have evolved—especially in the post-9/11 world of surveillance states and endless wars—the world has now changed. Back in 2009, Lyndon LaRouche forecast that the commitment by Russia and China to develop Russia’s Far East would be a “fundamental change in the direction of history.” Speaking to a conference in Moscow, in reference to the news that Russia and China had agreed on an initial plan to develop Siberia, LaRouche said: “The world is now going to have a trans-Pacific orientation, as opposed to a trans-Atlantic orientation.… Because combining the populations, which are numerous, but underdeveloped, with a process of development of the raw-materials areas of Siberia and related places, is the solution for the present world problem.” Winston Churchill slightly shook in anger from his grave.
That forecast has now borne out, as the world is beginning to see the impact of the BRICS, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and the broader discussion of a new financial architecture built around the need to develop the world. But in response, that empire has mobilized to prevent any meaningful collaboration with this emerging dynamic, declaring all-out war against it as a threat to their “rules-based order,” as the continued expansion of Global NATO—now moving to encircle China—illustrates.
We have now entered the most dangerous period in history. Yet we also stand on the threshold of the most prismatic shift into a new era. As Sukarno and many others understood, the U.S. and the West must join hands with the majority of the world if a “solution for the present world problem” were to be found. Russia’s recent agreement to develop a heavy steel plant in Nigeria, in what will only be Africa’s third such facility, gives an indication of this potential.
Wishfully-great Britain, on the other hand, is again exposing its own role in this unfolding historical process, as it is now leading the attempt to ignite a full-scale war between NATO and Russia. The U.K.’s top officials and mouthpieces are frantically barking that the U.S. give the green light to Ukraine to use long-range missiles on Russia.
For those foolish enough to continue following the path set by today’s imperialist-driven war machine, it is undeniable that the end result will be thermonuclear extinction of humanity. However, a different option for mankind is now on the table. The question remains whether we will accept it or not.
Contents
Strategic War Danger
- British Continue To Run the Drive Toward War (↓)
- Ukraine Asks Romania To Protect Ukrainian Air Space (↓)
- War in Lebanon Is Now All but Official (↓)
- U.S. Condones Escalations in Lebanon, Still Blames Hezbollah (↓)
- Pope Francis on World Peace: Heads of State Will Be Judged by History (↓)
New World Paradigm
- Nigeria, Russia Sign MOU To Revitalize Moribund Ajaokuta Steel Mill, ‘Get Shovels in the Ground, Now!’ (↓)
Collapsing Imperial System
- Quad Meeting Ends with Further Measures To Build a Ring Around China (↓)
- Number of U.S. Homeless Increases Year-on-Year (↓)
- The Race for Fusion Is on Manchin Says (↓)
Harley Schlanger Update
Watch The Daily Update with Harley Schlanger, a short video update available every weekday morning from The LaRouche Organization.
