“Whom the gods would destroy ...”

On the Way to World War III

by Helga Zepp-LaRouche

[Print version of this editorial]

Oct. 20—It should be clear to any alert person that we are potentially on the verge of a global nuclear war in the short term, which can be triggered by a further escalation of either of the two conflicts—the Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict. What immediately makes this situation so unprecedentedly dangerous is the fact that Western leaders are not pushing for an immediate ceasefire and diplomatic solution, but are taking sides unilaterally. And the U.S. is clearly preparing in the medium term to wage simultaneous wars with Russia and China, which would inevitably be nuclear.

Given this existential threat to all of humanity, we need: a global mobilization for an immediate ceasefire in both conflicts, support for the Chinese proposal for a Southwest Asia Peace Conference, and a new global security and development architecture that definitively puts geopolitics aside, puts the interest of all humanity first, and which takes into account the interests of every nation on this planet. In other words, we urgently need a completely new paradigm as the basis for international politics.

Yesterday, Israeli Defense Minister Gallant indicated that a ground offensive in Gaza was imminent and would be “long and intense.” At the same time, Israel’s neighbors are preparing for a regional escalation that could see the opening of a second front between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and, in the worst-case scenario, would involve Iran. At that point, all calculations will be worthless.

The U.S. already has two aircraft carrier groups, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group and the USS Gerald R. Ford group, and the command ship USS Mt. Whitney, the flagship of the U.S. 6th Fleet, and thus a total of ten warships and 12,000 troops, all of which will soon be under the joint command of the commander of the 6th Fleet, Vice Admiral Thomas Ishee, and thus, so to speak, “guns at the ready” for intervention in the conflict in Southwest Asia.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration quietly delivered ATACMS missiles to Ukraine, marking a further escalation against Russia. The Russian Ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, then issued a sharp response: “The consequences of this action, which was deliberately hidden from the public, will be of the most serious kind.... We have stated that pumping the Kiev regime full of weapons seriously undermines strategic and regional security. The U.S.A. is inciting a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia.”

In response to these developments, Russian President Putin, at a press conference from the government guest house in Beijing, casually announced that Russian aircraft are now flying on permanent patrol over the Black Sea, and are equipped with the supersonic Kinzhal missile, which can fly at the speed of Mach 9.

He said: “And, finally, a larger and highly significant, if so far imperceptible mistake, is that the United States is becoming more directly involved in this conflict…. I want to say—what I am going to say and inform you about is not a threat—that I have instructed the Russian Aerospace Forces to start patrolling the neutral zone over the Black Sea on a permanent basis. Our MiG-31 aircraft carry the Kinzhal systems that, as is common knowledge, have a range of over 1,000 kilometers and can reach speeds of up to Mach 9.”

President Putin later repeated, “I emphasized that this is not a threat. But we will perform visual control, and weapons-based control over what is happening in the Mediterranean Sea.”

This means that the missiles, against which there is currently no defense, could, with only a short flight time, hit all military targets in Ukraine and sink the U.S. aircraft carrier group off the Israeli coast. Exactly when the Kinzhal missiles might be deployed, for example, if Russian allies such as Syria or Iran were to become involved in expanding military operations, is known only to the planners.

At the same time, Biden is trying to raise another $100 billion for various operations, despite the U.S. being massively indebted to the tune of $33,628,038,748,492 at the beginning of October, and to get this through the Congress despite enormous economic and social problems in the country: around $60 billion for Ukraine, $10 billion for Israel, the rest for Taiwan and the defense against refugees at the border with Mexico. And Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, despite all the signs of a huge loss in the dollar’s reputation and the associated de-dollarization, still relies on the ability to miraculously multiply money, and emphasizes that it is no problem at all for the U.S. to finance two wars at the same time.

Regardless of all the realities on the battlefield—the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive is now admitted even by the mainstream media—an early end to both the Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars, is explicitly ruled out. The State Department has now issued instructions to U.S. diplomats and others to avoid any use of words such as “de-escalation,” “peace talks,” “end to violence,” or “ceasefire.” These “others” apparently also include German Federal Chancellor Scholz, for whom these are obviously foreign words. Contrast that with the legislative mandate from Article 26 of the German Basic Law, which, in the context of Articles 24 and 25 and the Preamble of the Basic Law, represents the Federal Republic of Germany’s specific obligation to promote peace.

The question is whether the traffic light coalition [a reference to the red/green/yellow colors of Germany’s currently ruling parties—ed.] still wants to do “everything together” with the United States when it comes to a future strategic direction. The U.S.’s new military strategic plan envisages a simultaneous conflict with Russia and China, which represents a significant deviation from the previous assessment, according to which the U.S. could, at best, manage a war with a superpower and a simultaneous regional conflict.

And then there is the remarkable phrase that Biden used on the Oct. 15 CBS News show “60 Minutes”: “Imagine what happens if we, in fact, unite all of Europe and Putin is finally put down where he can not cause the trouble he’s been causing.” This phrase can be understood either as “put down” or “put (an animal) to sleep,” but is downright hair-raising when used in connection with the commander-in-chief of the world’s strongest nuclear power.

Putin’s response, when asked to comment on Biden’s remark, was comparatively calm: “We have a well-known saying in Russia: Live long, learn much. And that doesn’t just apply to President Biden, but to the entire political elite in the United States. We must learn to respect others, and then there will be no need to put anyone down.... Respect for other peoples, other countries, other nations lies in something else, namely taking their interests into account.”

So far, however, it does not seem that the interests of any one nation have been taken into account, but rather those of the military-industrial complex in the U.S. and Germany. After the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Lockheed Martin’s shares rose by 9% in a single day, and the other major weapons manufacturers also made big profits.

However, being unconditionally on Israel’s side, as Scholz repeatedly emphasizes, does not answer the question of which Israel. Is it the Israel whose citizens took to the streets for months against Netanyahu’s judicial reform, or the Israel which wants to make the last remnants of the possibility of a Palestinian state disappear, or the Israel in which voting out Netanyahu as quickly as possible is being discussed? These would result in completely different perspectives. And wouldn’t it also be appropriate if the media in Germany were to report that which is being published[fn_1] in Israel, namely Netanyahu’s deliberate support of Hamas in order to eliminate the option of a Palestinian state once and for all?

All forces interested in preventing the twin crises in Ukraine and Southwest Asia from escalating into a world war should put pressure on their own governments to take up the peace initiatives at hand. Not the least of these would be the peace conference for Southwest Asia proposed by China. The “Oasis Plan” proposed by Lyndon LaRouche in 1975 provides the necessary economic development program that must be the basis for any durable peace in the region. The requirements of the principle of the Peace of Westphalia also demand that UN Resolution 242 of November 22, 1967, passed by the UN and accepted by Israel itself, be finally implemented.

It is clear from what has been said here that we are currently on a trajectory that will sooner or later lead to ultimate catastrophe. So we need an immediate turnaround, not of 360 degrees,[fn_2] but of 180. Every first-grader should understand the difference.

zepp-larouche@eir.de

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