Will the failed states of the trans-Atlantic, rather than adopt a new security and development architecture, risk, or even insist on plunging humanity into thermonuclear war, perhaps even in the next days? Less than 24 hours after the close of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, attended by 35 countries, 6 international organizations, several leaders of the world’s most populous nations and the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Anglosphere has escalated war in Southwest Asia.
Israel—that is, the NATO-sphere—attacked Iran late Friday, Oct 25. (Israel had also attacked Syria’s capital, Damascus, the day before.) Various commentators, some qualified and some not, are making the mistake of trying to read Israel’s latest set of military provocations from the bottom up, and are unproductively “shooting from the lip.” For the civilizational danger in which we presently find ourselves to be outflanked, we must view things from the top down.
On Oct. 26, in New York, such a top-down public deliberation will take place. Scott Ritter, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson (ret.) and Dennis Fritz of the Eisenhower Media Network, Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche, journalist Garland Nixon, Ray McGovern, Jimmy Dore and others will join a forum co-hosted by the independent New York candidates for United States Senate Diane Sare, and Jose Vega, Congressional candidate for CD15 in the Bronx. This is in the tradition of the “town meeting,” a much-underutilized method for public deliberation, on issues of great importance—but with a difference. To enhance these deliberations, live performance of Classical musical compositions will not only punctuate, but also inform the proceedings. It is intended to cause a cognitive culture shock, to upend the very idea of how political meetings, rallies, or demonstrations should take place, or even be conceived.
Discussing issues of principle as a standard of political policy is the way to inspire higher thought that leads to action for the benefit of all. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, at the Oct. 24 close of the BRICS summit, said of the spreading war in Southwest Asia:
“South Africa is concerned about the military aggression by Israel against the people of Gaza, which we have characterized as genocide. This genocide led South Africa to approach the International Court of Justice with a view to stopping the killing of innocent women and children in Gaza. We believe the world cannot sit by and watch the suffering.
“The world cannot afford a region-wide escalation of the conflict.
“South Africa has been unwavering in advocating for a two-state solution that would see an independent Palestinian state along the borders set out in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital. This would be in line with UN resolutions, international law and internationally agreed parameters.
“We call on the international community and the UN Security Council in particular to address the spiralling conflict.”
While not new, President Ramaphosa’s calm but unwavering restatement of Reason as the basis for South Africa’s insistence on justice for all, including in Southwest Asia, was an expression of a type of statecraft and leadership that must become typical, but not only among those nations represented in Kazan. It is the minimal level of discussion required for us to think our way out of the Apocalypse, if that can still be done. We must think from the top down, including about war and its resolution.
Thinking from the top down, we note that Iran, currently the chief target of the Anglosphere, is a BRICS nation, one of the permanent members (Saudi Arabia’s status is unclear). Thirteen other nations were added this past week as partner members of the BRICS. There was a wide-ranging discussion of a fundamental reorganization of power relations and economic progress among the majority of people in the world.
Therefore, let us ask ourselves: Are the military actions happening at this moment in Southwest Asia primarily part of the implementation of a “Greater Israel” design, including the ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza, with attacks on Lebanon, Syria and Iran—or are we seeing a Southwest Asia-wide military response by a bankrupt Anglo-American bankers’ dictatorship to the emerging alliance for economic independence and technological sovereignty that involves BRICS members Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and even, perhaps, a wavering Saudi Arabia?
Once again: Do not see this merely from the “flatland” of geopolitics, but rather, from the standpoint of the inalienable right of nations to develop and prosper, versus the arbitrary “right of might,” the true meaning of the Nietzschean term, “the rule of law.” Today Helga Zepp-LaRouche told the 73rd consecutive Friday meeting of the International Peace Coalition:
“So, there were many formulations by Xi Jinping, by Putin, by others, absolutely echoing what we have been discussing here at the International Peace Coalition for more than a year, namely, the absolutely urgent need to create a new international security and development architecture which must take into account the interests of every country, to bring the world away from the abyss of the threatening wars which could become regional and even global, and then nuclear war….
“In any case, the question is, will the West relate positively to this new development or not? All the problems of the world could be managed easily if the collective West would now say, this is the legitimate desire of the collective countries of the South. They want to overcome colonialism and establish a world economic system which allows them to develop. Therefore, we support it. If that happens, we can really enter a new era of humanity. But if the reaction of the West is to say, no, we will try to smash this new formation, then we are on a short road to disaster.”
The gathering in Manhattan on Saturday, broadcast to the world, is an attempt to begin the same caliber of deliberations that were occurring in Kazan, but among citizens who must decide, regarding averting certain disaster, that, as Helga Zepp-LaRouche said, in concluding the IPC meeting, “I only believe in miracles that we will do ourselves.”
