The Lead

Campaign for Truth, Make Diplomacy Work

by Marcia Merry Baker (EIRNS) — Feb. 26, 2026

Today in Geneva, diplomatic meetings took place on two tracks: discussions between delegations from Iran and the United States, mediated by Oman; and secondly, discussions between delegations from Ukraine and the United States. The Iran three- hour session ended with no agreement, but with talk of continuing next week in Vienna for “technical” discussions. The Ukraine efforts ended, with inconclusive talk about a next round of negotiations.

It is well and good that this and other diplomacy takes place, not warfare nor intractable stand-off. However, the respective conflict zones cannot continue this way as a mode of conduct, without the situations breaking down into destruction and chaos from combat, domination by force, and escalation to nuclear obliteration. In the case of Iran, the United States continues to add to its concentration of force assets in the region, already larger than before the wrongful 2003 assault on Iraq.

Today’s inconclusive Geneva sessions point up the larger context of the unilateralism and militarism of the Collective West, led by the current triumphalist United States government, and the European Coalition of the Willing. These forces were on parade this week with President Donald Trump’s reiterating his “Peace through Strength” outlook in his Feb. 24 State of the Union address. Also Feb. 24, the four-year anniversary date of the Russian Military Special Operation, which the Coalition of the Willing claims had no provocation whatsoever, some 30 nations of the Coalition met online. This included a contingent of in-person representatives in Kiev from the Nordic, Baltic, and other countries. The session was co-chaired by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. In their joint statement they “committed to sustain military as well as fiscal support, including through the EU’s €90 billion loan and bilateral contributions.”

Underlying the political-militaristic stance of these alignments and NATO is the reality that the entire Western financial/economic system itself is in dire trouble. Perfectly in line with this is the announcement on Feb. 26 of the resignation of the president of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende, for taint from the Epstein Files. So goes it for the sponsor of the annual Davos Forum.

How to face down these dangers and degradation, and lift the world onto the high road for humanity is on the agenda of an emergency EIR Roundtable March 2, titled, “Epstein and the Bottomless Depravity of the ‘Elites’: Urgent Need for a Cultural Renaissance!” The day-long, two-session, international event features experts and institutions committed to the dialogue to both confer and to mobilize for solutions.

Adding to the momentum for this positive process is the grave evaluation made public on Feb. 24 by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), reporting that, “London and Paris Are Preparing To Arm Kyiv with a Nuclear Bomb.” The four-paragraph release under that headline explains: “Great Britain and France recognize that the current situation in Ukraine leaves no chance of achieving their much-desired victory over Russia at the hands of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. However, the British and French elites are not prepared to accept defeat. They believe Ukraine needs to be equipped with ‘Wunderwaffe.’” Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia presented this evaluation on Feb. 24 at a special session of the UN Security Council, chaired by Great Britain, which had invited many guest European nations to the meeting to pontificate against Russia, but instead were hit with reality.

Now is the time to join and advance the mobilization underway for a new world development and security architecture, paving the way with the truth. Register for the March 2 [world dialogue](https://schillerinstitute.com/blog/2026/02/13/register-emergency-zoom-conference-of-the-movement-of-world-citizens/.