EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2021

The Global Potential of Development Diplomacy in Central Asia

July 15, 2021 (EIRNS)—This week, diplomatic activity continues intensely in Central Asia, in the context of the pullout from Afghanistan of U.S. and NATO forces after 20 years of warfare. Positive initiatives and support for reconstruction here, have significance worldwide. The measure of strategic success amidst decades of devastation is whether there is motion toward “development as the name for peace.”

Yesterday was the foreign ministers’ meeting in Tajikistan of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) six of whose eight member states are neighbors of Afghanistan. A joint SCO statement was issued following the meeting of the SCO Afghanistan Contact Group, stressing the territorial integrity of Afghanistan, and respect for all its peoples and cultures as they govern their nation. Among the many bilateral meetings of the eight SCO member nations foreign ministers in attendance, was the important meeting between the foreign ministers of India and China. In September, the SCO heads of state will meet in Dushanbe, where they will celebrate the organization’s 20th anniversary.

Today in Tashkent, is the first of a two-day multinational event, the “International Conference on Central and South Asia Regional Connectivity—Challenges and Opportunities.” It was initiated by invitation last February by Uzbekistan, which has been actively seeking rail, communications and trade-promoting projects across the region. “The main purpose of this conference is deepening cooperation between countries from Central Asia and South Asia in trade and energy issues and other brands of cooperation,” Uzbek officials stress. There are several heads of state/government attending, including Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, and host Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The United States delegation includes officials from the State Department and the National Security Council, and there are guests from Japan, the European Union and many organizations.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi have already met today in Tashkent, on the sidelines of the Connectivity event. The information so far released reports that the two spoke not only of what can be done in the Afghan and immediate regional situation, but they also covered many strategic topics, including the Pacific and world security.

Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp-LaRouche, in reviewing the Afghanistan situation in her weekly webcast today, pointed out the significance of the multi-nation dialogue, given the many tasks that must be done, especially opium eradication, restoring agriculture, and rebuilding. She said,

“And all of that really requires a gigantic effort where one could only hope that not only the neighboring countries, the countries in the SCO, and also the United States, the Europeans, that they would all cooperate to accomplish that. And you could create a different dynamic, which could spill over in the larger relationship between the United States and China, and one could hopefully find a cooperative approach elsewhere, and not have this escalation.”

The urgent need for reconstruction in Central and Southwest Asia could not be more self-evident, as it is in Africa and the Caribbean. Against this reality, the international green campaign is a program for mass murder, besides being a scientific fraud.

Yesterday in Europe, a new green low was reached by the European Union, which announced its new, sweeping “climate package,” otherwise known as the “Fit by 55.” The plan features 12 crazy points, including a deadline by when cars must have zero-emissions, and the introduction of import duties on products dubbed too carbon-emitting in their manufacture.

In parallel, in the United States, there is a relentless push to shut down nuclear and coal power. From state to state, there are many local forces staging resistance skirmishes against the Green Finance crowd, in efforts just to keep the lights on. The devolution of the U.S. baseload electricity capacity has reached the stage where large parts of the U.S. are now “on the map” for expected blackouts over the June through September period, as compiled by the North American Electricity Reliability Corporation (NERC), the overview agency for the U.S., and parts of Mexico and Canada.

On July 24, the Schiller Institute is hosting an international day-long webinar, to further deliberation and action to roll back this green menace, and rally for a world construction mobilization on the historic scale required. The conference has the title, “There Is No ‘Climate Emergency’—Apply the Science and Economics of Development to Stop Blackouts and Death.” Register and spread the word.