Yesterday concluded the first ministerial meeting of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum, in Sochi, whose attendance and policy deliberation manifest the growing leadership drive in the Global Majority, which was dramatically expressed at the BRICS-Plus Summit in Kazan, Russia on October 22-24. Today, the Belarus government officially accepted the BRICS invitation to become a “partner nation.”
Among the 1500 attendees at the Russia-Africa three-day event were delegations from 54 nations, including 45 ministers. The Joint Statement was released on November 10, spelling out areas of collaboration.
The remarks to the Russia-Africa Forum by President Vladimir Putin, read by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the plenary, convey the spirit of the talks and declaration. Putin stated: “African countries are gaining increasing recognition on the global stage. By pursuing a constructive, peace-oriented foreign policy, they are playing a progressively significant role in addressing the most crucial issues on the international agenda.”
The Sochi event is just the latest expression of the new leadership dynamic, thoroughly against the Western neo-colonialist system, now expiring, after decades of harm. But there are many factors at play, some of them dangerous in the extreme. The mortal conflicts can escalate to all out nuclear annihilation.
Over the past weekend, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued pounding southern Lebanon, striking Syria, and committing genocide in Gaza. Israeli Acting Prime Minister Netanyahu, whose corruption trial is scheduled to start Dec. 2, proclaimed yesterday that he has spoken three times to incoming President-elect Donald Trump since the Nov. 5 elections, and insists they see “eye to eye.”
From Ukraine, a large—maybe the largest yet—barrage of attack drones were deployed yesterday, mostly at Moscow, but also at other districts, including Bryansk, Belgorod, and Kursk.
Instead of an alternative to these directions, the wildest statements continue to come from the has-been elites still in office in the West, despite the governmental transitions underway, as in the U.S. on Nov. 5, when the electorate revolted, and in Germany, the same day, when the “Traffic Light” government in Berlin fell:
• German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius continues to push his solution to the German economic breakdown, calling for making Germany “war-ready.”
• U.S. politicians lobbying for a spot in the new Trump government push their solution to the U.S. economic breakdown, calling for lower taxes, and higher import tariffs, shutting out migrants, plus bans and sanctions. The outgoing politicians do the same. The U.S. Commerce Department last week issued an imperial “order” to the Taiwan-based Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest chip-maker, to cease and desist from selling certain advanced designs to mainland China.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and leader of the Schiller Institute, addressing her associates, called for seeing this whole world situation—good and bad—as a “totality,” and taking it as “a unique moment” in which to intervene. Referring to many different aspects of the strategic situation, she stressed that there is “a huge vacuum” of leadership. This describes those still in power, expecting to come into power, or being dumped in the West. But also, at large, there is a lack of understanding of how an economy works.
The Schiller Institute is going all out for the highest-impact international conference (online) December 7-8, to enlist persons and forces to deliberate and address what should be done. Zepp-LaRouche has commissioned a rush-study for pre-conference discussion, to highlight for every continent, one or two of the priority infrastructure projects. These define the agenda of what solves the migrant crisis, and builds up the Global South, while at the same time turns around the Global North’s agro-manufacturing breakdown, and cultural and scientific decay. Think of 2 to 3 billion new jobs.
This week we can imagine what this can look like in the Western Hemisphere. On Thursday, Nov. 14 will be the official opening of the Chancay Port in Peru. China’s President Xi Jinping will be there for the ceremony. He, and other heads of state and government, will then attend the proceedings of the Asian Pacific Economic Community (APEC) summit, hosted by Peru. One of the favorite sayings about the port is “From Chancay to Shanghai!” The deep harbor can accommodate the largest of today’s mega cargo vessels. It will be a hemispheric hub.
The Chancay Port then poses the related priority project: crossing of the continent with a Bi-oceanic Corridor connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Such a transport and development corridor has been dreamed of for nearly two centuries. The North American bi-oceanic corridor—the Transcontinental Railway—was started in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln.
The Schiller Institute study will sketch out the volume of key inputs required for the South American project, from steel, to concrete, to rail, to heavy construction machinery, to logistics for the workforce, and all that goes with it. This bill of materials then spotlights the locations and companies that supply these inputs, including from the deindustrialized Global North, which must plan to upgrade and retool.
Plan on attending and organizing in advance for the December 7-8 Schiller Institute conference. “Collaboration, not confrontation,” as Helga Zepp-LaRouche calls for, is the only realistic agenda for the world.
