Over the weekend, “Immortal Regiment” marches were held around the world in an early commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the defeat of fascism in Europe. Events occurred across Europe, in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Rome, Amsterdam, and Stockholm; in countries across the world, including D.R. Congo, Argentina, Venezuela, Australia, Türkiye, China, India, and South Korea; and, for the first time in six years, in Washington, D.C. Even more events will take place later this week, including the central event in Moscow on May 9, which numerous world leaders will attend.
These events commemorate the enormous sacrifices made by those who lost their lives in the war, most especially the estimated 27 million citizens of the Soviet Union. But they also serve as a reminder that peace between nations is possible when there is a common commitment to a higher mission. On May 2, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova referenced a letter written by President Franklin Roosevelt to Joseph Stalin during the war, in which Roosevelt commended the Soviet people who acted “not only to cover with glory their country’s arms, but to inspire by their example fresh determination among all the United Nations.” This kind of renewed cooperation among nations is a distinct possibility today, if the crud of the recent decades of Anglo-American hubris can be shaken off.
Not surprisingly, Ukrainian madmen, with the approval of their British curators, are working to exacerbate tensions and ensure no positive rapprochement happens between the West and Russia. After refusing to agree to a three-day ceasefire spanning the May 8-9 celebrations that had earlier been proposed by the Russian government, Ukrainian acting president Zelenskyy implicitly threatened violence against those who decide to attend the main ceremony in Moscow’s Red Square. “No one is going to help Putin play this in order to give him a soft atmosphere of escape from isolation on May 9, and to make everyone feel comfortable and safe,” Zelenskyy told reporters on May 3. Additional threats from Ukrainian government officials have been made, including the head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak who posted a cartoon of Zelenskyy presiding over Red Square in flames, with a caption that reads: “We’ve done what we could to bring this day closer.”
While U.S. President Donald Trump continues to issue contradictory messages regarding a serious dialogue with Russia, he has nonetheless rejected the warmongering hysteria coming out of Europe and appears determined to reach at least some type of agreement. Much work remains to be done, necessitating the active involvement of citizens across the world, but a distinct possibility for peace does exist.
At the same time, it cannot be ignored that major crisis points exist and are escalating. The growing tensions between the nuclear powers of India and Pakistan remain on a hair-trigger, as India is reportedly moving to cut off part of Pakistan’s water supply at the Baglihar Dam on the Chenab River. Meanwhile, the people in Gaza are at the point of starvation after weeks without any aid coming into their territory. Not coincidentally, both of these crises have their roots directly in British imperial geopolitics, and aside from requiring immediate steps back from the brink, they both ultimately require a resolution at a higher level than that from which they were created.
President of The LaRouche Organization Diane Sare, in her statement written on the occasion of the Immortal Regiment marches to be held over the course of this week, drew attention to the proper immortal ideas which citizens are now called upon to wield, if we are to seize the current moment of history and address the myriad of crises facing the world. Sare concluded her statement with the following:
“Twenty years from now, when the whole world celebrates the 100-year anniversary of Victory in Europe, let us resolve that poverty, slavery, and war will have been eradicated, as relics of a bygone age, by an ennobled humankind. We do not need to sacrifice our individualism or our national sovereignty in order to cooperate on great projects of energy and water management, education and healthcare, and scientific discovery. If we would humble ourselves and contemplate the vast perfection of our galaxy and universe, the limitless potential for human improvement would overwhelm our spirit.
“It is time for the United States to return to the universal principles of our founding. Let us dedicate ourselves to fulfill the hope that American World War II General Douglas MacArthur expressed when receiving the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945: ‘It is my earnest hope, and indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past—a world founded upon faith and understanding, a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance, and justice.’”
