Why the U.S., Russia, China, India, and
Germany Must Overcome Geopolitics!
[Print version of this editorial]
Jan. 27—The world is indeed out of joint. But one thing is certain: The current array of crises will not be resolved with old formulas, and certainly not with geopolitical gambits, color revolutions à la George Soros, or the Old Testament “eye for an eye” approach of the perhaps not-so-liberal publisher-editor of Die Zeit Josef Joffe. What is required instead is a higher level of reason, which identifies the common interests of all the world’s nations. Precisely this level of thinking was expressed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in his Jan. 25 speech before the Duma, in which he proposed an alliance among Washington, Moscow, and Beijing to find solutions for today’s challenges.
In a variation on Schiller’s poem, “The Commencement of the New Century,” one is tempted to say: “Two mighty systems strive for undivided mastery of the world”—namely, the old, war-inducing system of geopolitics, and the new, future-oriented paradigm of the common destiny of mankind. The representatives of the first of these—the collapsing, formerly neoliberal order of globalization (laissez-faire economic liberalism)—are reacting to their perceived loss of power with verbal outbursts appropriately diagnosed as clinical hysteria. But in this camp, there is apparently little honor among thieves, or various factions. The best example is British Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to Washington, during which she tried to corral the new U.S. administration into the geometry of the British Empire. The new order, on the contrary, is guided by entirely opposite principles, based on the win-win cooperation of China’s New Silk Road, which is rapidly expanding.
Lavrov’s Proposal
In this respect, Sergei Lavrov’s intervention was of the highest importance:
We believe that as Russia, the United States, and China build their relations, this triangle should not be closed or directed towards some projects that could worry other states. [They should be] open and fair. I am convinced that the economic structure of Russia, the United States, and China is such that there is a great deal of complementarity in the material and economic sphere.
These three nations can also splay an important role with respect to international security questions, he said. Russia and China are already cooperating well in this area, and they expect that President Donald Trump, who has already stated that the United States will no longer interfere in the internal affairs of other nations, will cooperate as well.
The spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Hua Chunying, immediately supported the Russian proposal for trilateral cooperation among these three nations, which are “leading global powers” as well as permanent members of the UN Security Council. They have “great responsibility for global peace, stability, and development,” she said.
Should Donald Trump opt for close cooperation with Russia, China, and India, that would, in fact, spell the end of geopolitics. Fear of such an outcome obviously motivated British Prime Minister May’s visit to Trump—the first foreign head of government to visit—where she then endlessly rhapsodized about the wonderful relationship between Margaret Thatcher and President Reagan, which “made the modern world.” This Anglo-American special relationship must again assume leadership for the new century, she said.
The London Times suggested that May does not underestimate Trump, but should “tap” the spirit which led to Brexit, as the most important ideological bridge to Trump’s White House. The Financial Times fantasized about an additional intention of May’s visit, namely, to exploit this special relationship in order to split Russia from China through various concessions and manipulations. The New York Times, for its part, titled its article, “British Alignment with Trump Threatens European Order,” alluding to Trump’s negative attitude toward the European Union (EU).
The total denial of reality by the supporters of geopolitics is producing ludicrous effects. For example, Joffe argues against Trump’s protectionist measures by saying that globalization has “created fabulous wealth which supports the magnanimous social state and creates a cushion for the losers. Protectionism benefits favored industries, but allows the country to become poorer—its weakest classes, first of all.”
This is the classic laissez faire narrative, which says it is wonderful that the profiteers of the casino economy become fabulously rich, then bestow charity on the poor, and thus ennoble themselves. It is precisely that narrow-minded stupidity which the Brexit, Trump’s election, and the no vote in the Italian constitutional referendum rejected.
Joffe’s conclusion that Europe must take over the role of the United States “to save the liberal world order,” is just as ludicrous as the question posed by the daily Die Welt: “Will Chancellor Merkel Become the Counterpart to President Trump and the Leader of the Free West?” Norbert Röttgen, chairman of the Bundestag Committee on Foreign Affairs, has similar ambitions for himself, and indulges in one media highlight after another. He wants to confront Trump with “new social alliances” and is apparently placing his hope in people like Sen. John McCain.
The Four Basic Economic Laws
There is only one sure way to overcome the strategic confusion outlined here: The common interests of all the world’s nations must be established on a higher plane—a plane at which the purported contradictions disappear. The four basic economic laws which Lyndon LaRouche has identified for overcoming the crisis, provide the basis for achieving it:
- The first, indispensable measure must be to avert the threatened crash of the transatlantic financial system—which threatens to be worse than that of 2008—by reinstating the Glass-Steagall banking separation law. Under the leadership of the LaRouche Political Action Committee (LPAC), many organizations in the United States are mobilizing to escalate the pressure on President Trump to keep this campaign promise, and re-introduce Glass-Steagall in the form of its 1933 original, in his Feb. 28 State of the Union address, at the latest.
- Second, a National Bank in the tradition of Alexander Hamilton must be created, whose sole aim must be to finance infrastructure, industry, and basic scientific research according to the strict principles of physical economy—which means raising the productivity of labor and industrial capacity, and thus producing full employment.
- Third, an international credit system must facilitate long-term international cooperation for the reconstruction of the world economy according to the same principles as above.
- Fourth, there must be international cooperation on a crash program to achieve nuclear fusion, which would give mankind energy and raw materials security, and to establish through space exploration the future-oriented, higher plane, which is needed to create an actual order of peace among nations.
If Trump accepts Lavrov’s offer and constructive cooperation among the United States, Russia, and China is implemented, such win-win cooperation is also within reach of all nations. The first contacts between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have already led to positive declarations of intent.
Under these circumstances, Germany must associate itself with this new strategic alliance. It is in our most fundamental interest to cooperate with the United States, Russia, China, India, and many other countries in the economic development of the Near and Middle East, and to take up the long neglected mission of industrializing Africa. Only in this way will the refugee crisis be resolved in a humane way and will we be able, at least partially, to make amends for having allowed ourselves to sit back and watch the aggressive wars of Bush, Obama, Blair, and Cameron in the Middle East without doing anything—or rather, for having allowed the European governments to indirectly or partially to support these wars.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was correct in his observation that, with Trump’s election, the old order of the 20th Century is gone once and for all. And that is a very good thing. It is now up to us to ensure that the new order will respect the true identity of mankind as a creative species—in that we concentrate on those great challenges which we are the only living species capable of meeting. Among these challenges are such questions as the discovery of the characteristic or nature of life itself, the role of human creativity in the universe, and the principle of development of the universe, which, according to our current understanding, consists of something like two trillion galaxies. And, last but not least, the question of realizing in the individual a beautiful character with the aid of aesthetic education.
