The world is sitting on an absolute powder keg, as there are now two major conflicts which could erupt at any moment into a global war. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is scheduled to visit Washington this week where he will be discussing a potential response to Iran’s missile attack last week, and at the same time working to bring the U.S. fully into Israel’s war against Iran. Despite the echo chamber that exists in Washington, there are even some voices across the trans-Atlantic that recognize that nothing good will come if this policy is continued—as French President Emmanuel Macron has most recently exhibited in calling for an end to weapons shipments to Israel.
However, after one full year of Israel’s medieval-like barbarity in Gaza, and now in Lebanon, the world is no longer the place as it was. As has been hinted before, Gaza is not only the graveyard of innocent children—it is also the graveyard of the “rules-based order.”
At the same time, Russia’s recent victory in the town of Ugledar [Vuhledar] has unleashed something of a panic in the West, exposing a far more stark reality than is allowed to be shown on the pages and television screens of mainstream media. A conflict which could have been avoided had the neoconservative Russophobes in NATO agreed to negotiations and an acceptance of Russia’s national interests has now become a bellwether of the ineffectiveness of NATO as a whole—at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and perhaps Ukraine’s nationhood itself.
Western officials are now scrambling on both sides of the Atlantic, as new proposals for a ceasefire in Ukraine are floated and President Biden along with his teleprompter will visit Germany at the end of the week to discuss other options. These will include “Trump-proofing” NATO and the creation of a long-term war footing against Russia. But NATO unity and planning are not looking good, as exemplified by Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has said he will never allow neighboring Ukraine into NATO as long as he is in office.
Nonetheless the danger remains enormous as those committed to defending their doomed worldview are driving the world toward a thermonuclear showdown.
In discussion with associates today, Helga Zepp-LaRouche emphasized that these next four weeks leading into the U.S. November elections are going to be decisive, and will see numerous inflection points as the world is going through this current upheaval. Tensions are likely to only increase—hopefully not to the point of no return—but the outcome is not yet decided. Openings to organize and introduce new ideas about which direction the world must go in will also increase, and it will be an opportunity to build momentum for a principled response to this crisis.
As Friedrich Schiller said, “We are born for that which is better!” The time has come to replace the neoliberal system with one fit for the dignity and beauty of mankind.
