EIR LEAD EDITORIAL WEDNESDAY APRIL 26, 2023

De-Escalate Now Before It Is Too Late

April 25, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—There is a mindless march underway towards the biggest crisis in human history. If it’s not stopped by saner heads prevailing in the Western world, then we are on the fast track towards World War III. This was reiterated by the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Director of the Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department Vladimir Yermakov, who told TASS in an interview today that, “in the worst-case scenario, i.e., if Washington drives the situation to a military clash between the strongest nuclear powers, then it is not the fate of the New START but the fate of the entire world that will be a concern.”

“We continue sending sobering signals to the West that a catastrophe must be prevented.” However, Yermakov pointed out, the West “remains deaf to the calls....” In order to improve the situation, “the U.S. must immediately take concrete steps on de-escalation and to abolish the hostile course towards undermining Russia’s security in practice,” he insisted.

What’s worse is that not only is this war avoidable and unnecessary, but it is being caused by the ideological rejection of the equality and sovereignty of all nations. Compare two events that took place Monday, April 24. In New York, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke in person at the UN Security Council, where he elaborated on what must become “the principle of genuine multilateralism,” to be achieved through “a balance of interests based on the sovereign equality of states and indivisible security.” At the same time in Luxembourg, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell steadfastly opposed such a view. There are two sides, he said: Even “when there are many people who don’t want to take sides. But they have to take a position with respect to the war in Ukraine and with respect to the relationship with the growing role of China.”

His ideological fanaticism is what underlies the West’s insistence on and involvement in the attempt to destroy Russia. Following the recent string of leaked Pentagon documents, which proved, among other things, that the U.S. knows Ukraine is not winning the war, another report has come out in Politico that the White House is worried that Ukraine’s much-hyped spring offensive will fail. Despite this, the U.S. still demands more and stronger weapons for Ukrainians to fight Russia “for as long as it takes”—a hypocritical and immoral sacrificing of lives in an attempt to hold on to its unipolar order. Another report, in the Washington Post, shows just how deeply involved the U.S. is, and how flagrantly dangerous this war has become. The report details how Ukraine was planning a wave of strikes inside Russia for the Feb. 24 anniversary of the Russian special military operation—and was only deterred by a direct intervention from Washington to stop it. We truly are on the verge of catastrophe.

However, there is no more clear illustration of the extreme danger which Western elites are stoking, and the absolute truth that Yermakov warned of, than the seminar hosted on April 25 by the Hudson Institute in Washington. Featuring a group called the “Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum,” the event encouraged those within Russia to “seize the moment,” and push for the final dismantling of the Russian Federation itself. The West, the main speaker argued, should “embrace” the collapse of Russia, and begin to recognize new ethnic and regional “nations” as sovereign in order to facilitate the transition. And anyone worried about nuclear weapons should just relax, he said, “this can be done.”

The actual cause of this war is the collapse of the neoliberal system, and at the same time the assertion by a growing number of nations around the world of the right to an actual future—not one under the control of these types of geopolitical machinations. Increasingly, members of the Global South are refusing to cower in fear of global would-be imperialists, and are instead celebrating a certain principle of self-determination, and dignity. This is an assertion rooted in natural law, not merely a ruse for their own piece of the pie. Last weekend’s celebration in Ethiopia, “Enough with War—Let’s Celebrate Peace,” was a case in point. As some of the representatives at this event pointed out, the reason peace was achieved in Ethiopia was that it was an “African Solution to African Problems.” In a similar fashion, witness the continued growth in membership of the BRICS, and the absolute failure by the Global NATO crowd to recruit their “their side” of opposing Russia and China.

The task before each of us is to stare this dire reality straight in the eyes, and become a catalyst for a breakthrough. As is painfully obvious from looking at domestic politics in the U.S. or Europe, the solution is not going to emerge from partisan politics in the West, as can be seen by the announcement of Biden’s re-election bid Tuesday. Only from the introduction of something new—a truthful punch to the ideological gut delivered by true-blooded citizens—will averting this tragedy become possible.