EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2021
Beware, ‘A War Searching for a Reason’
Dec. 9, 2021 (EIRNS)—Since the COP26 flop, along with the inevitable economic breakdown from the casino-monetarist system, and the green madness to-date, the geopolitical confrontationist hysteria against China and Russia from the U.S.-U.K.-NATO alignment has reached the stage of war provocation. This is exactly the dynamic that the Schiller Institute has warned of, and its process of international dialogue sought to prevent. More voices are now sounding the alarm. The urgent task is to create a mighty chorus.
Peter van Buren, an American with a long career in foreign service, has issued a warning posted today, in an article titled, “What Will Be the Casus Belli for War with China?” He makes the point that China “appears to be the next war now searching for a reason.” When it comes to making war, in recent decades, the U.S. “created a false pretext for doing so,” in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, and so on. In contrast, in the case of Pearl Harbor, the aggression against the U.S. was real. But in these other cases, the casus belli was made up, like weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The same thing is going on regarding China, and the danger is extreme.
Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. political leader and Southwest Asia combat veteran based in Hawaii, ripped into the rabid war talk of Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) this week. Wicker, the second-highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Fox TV, on Dec. 7, that U.S. military options against Russia must include that “we stand off with our ships in the Black Sea, and we rain down destruction” on Russia. “I would not rule out American troops on the ground. We don’t rule out first use nuclear action.”
Gabbard responded on Fox TV last evening, “Anyone who would propose or even consider what he is saying as an option must be insane, a sociopath or a sadist. Let’s go and launch a nuclear attack that would start a war that would destroy the American people, our country and the world and, oh, also, the Ukrainians so that we can save Ukraine’s democracy? I mean, it literally is insane.
“And the crazy thing is, Senator Wicker is not an outlier. He is the number-two Republican on the Senate Armed Forces Committee, and you are hearing the same kind of rhetoric coming from Democrats and Republicans in Congress and the administration and in the media—no problem with this because they actually agree with this. They are pushing this same narrative themselves, which is why this is such a dangerous, dangerous situation.... We are being pushed closer and closer to a hot war, a nuclear war.”
By whom? By
“the same neocons and neolibs in Washington who dragged our country into regime-change wars in places like Iraq and Libya and Syria. There are consequences to leaders in our country, influential people in our country, to throwing things out like, ‘a first use nuclear attack is on the table.’ This directly undermines our national security, and it directly puts the American people and our country and the world at risk.”
Against these voices of reason, comes the U.S.-convened Summit of Democracy, which opened today, online from Washington, D.C., and stands out for its lies and confrontation. China and Russia were not invited. Pakistan declined, given the others’ exclusion. Many poor nations were among the roster of 80 countries, participating with short messages out of fear of retribution. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Blinken announced that a new organization to combat corruption and misinformation that, they assert, threatens democracy, is being formed, called the Global Anti-Corruption Consortium, which has funding from the United Kingdom, Taiwan, the Open Society Foundation (George Soros), Denmark, and the United States. The State Department’s Agency for International Development (USAID) will start up a Partnership for Democracy program, under the direction of its administrator Samantha Power, who has been in the forefront of U.S. initiatives at this summit and at COP26.
The USAID was founded 60 years ago, under President John F. Kennedy, for the purpose of providing aid where needed, and doing good. It has been itself subverted years ago to serve British Empire geopolitical purposes, as shown in the extreme by its latest mandate to enforce “democracy.” Now is the time to mobilize for true emergency aid, rebuilding war-torn nations, starting with Afghanistan, and building the world economy. Kennedy’s mandate for the USAID was seen in action early today, when China’s air shipment arrived at Kabul International Airport, with 800,000 doses of vaccine against COVID-19, and other supplies. More will be coming soon.
Tulsi Gabbard, who is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, as she was doing her Reserve duty at Fort Bragg, displayed the needed spirit when she spoke out, in uniform, on Dec. 8, the day after Pearl Harbor Day, delivering a call to action on Twitter:
“I’ve been on Reserve duty at Ft Bragg, NC, thinking about Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, my brothers and sisters in arms who perished, and how that day of infamy catapulted us into a world war which resulted in the deaths and suffering of millions of people—and how infinitely greater the death and suffering will be if we allow the mainstream media, military industrial complex, and self-serving politicians to lead us into the apocalypse of World War 3. It’s time for anyone who cares about their loved ones, other Americans, and all human beings and wildlife, to wake up to this very grim reality of what lies ahead if we don’t stop them.”