EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR TUESDAY JULY 18, 2023

The Sense of Humanity Is Growing: Go for a Break against the Escalation Towards War

July 17, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—Consider what our situation is. Given the fact that we are on a trajectory towards war, this won’t change until we force a break in the process, a stop to the confrontation, and a clear signal that there can be cooperation. Until this happens, the danger escalates.

That is the evaluation given today by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, leader of the Schiller Institute, who stressed that the role of the newly formed collaborative International Peace Coalition is crucial to create the momentum and likelihood for a break.

The escalation in the danger of war is seen in the events of the hour. The Kerch Strait bridge connecting Crimea to the Russian mainland was hit by explosions early this morning, stopping traffic on the roadway, killing a married couple and hurting their child. Repairs are underway, and return to full motorway use is projected for September. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said soon after the explosions:

“Today’s attack on the Crimean Bridge was perpetrated by Kiev, which is a terrorist regime and has all the traits of an international organized crime group. Decisions are made by Ukrainian officials and the military with the direct involvement of the U.S. and British intelligence services and politicians. The United States and Britain are running this state-run terrorist entity.”

The military escalation continues following the July 11-12 NATO Summit in Lithuania. President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea, one of the four Pacific nations invited as guests of Global NATO, traveled to Poland after Vilnius, then to Ukraine, for a tour, meetings, and a joint press conference with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and now has committed to step up support—ostensibly more “lethal” than in 2022—for Ukraine against Russia.

From the U.S. side, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan went on two network TV programs yesterday defending what he called U.S. “moral authority” embodied in sending cluster bombs for use by Ukraine, offering the info-war narrative that Ukraine has the right to defend itself.

On the economic track of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, made a year ago July, Russia today terminated participation, after conditions were never met that had been agreed upon in 2022, and in subsequent extensions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today,

“The Black Sea agreements are no longer in effect. The deadline, as the Russian President said earlier, is July 17. Unfortunately, the part of the Black Sea agreement that concerns Russia has not yet been fulfilled. As a result, it has been terminated. As soon as the Russian part [of the deal] is fulfilled, the Russian side will immediately return to the implementation of this deal.”

These updates make the point stated by Zepp-LaRouche, that the situation will keep escalating toward worsening danger of war, until we have a break. It is a call for us to escalate for that. She said, we need an “all-encompassing movement,” with no impediments from disagreements on lesser points. We have to stop this deadly confrontationism.

There is a growing sense of humanity toward doing this, occasioned in the U.S. especially, and elsewhere, over revulsion at President Biden’s approval of providing cluster bombs to Ukraine. The LaRouche Organization activists report a strong reaction from everyday Americans on the streets, when they are reminded, “We used to send engineers, now we send cluster bombs.”

Among key institutional developments, the peace emissary of Pope Francis, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, is in Washington, D.C. today through July 19. He will meet with President Biden tomorrow.

Also of note, leaders of the Global Majority from South America are resisting EU pressure to be in lockstep in support of Global NATO’s Ukraine proxy war against Russia. This is the preliminary report from day one of the two-day summit in Brussels of leaders of the EU and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). One sign of resistance is that an advance proposal to have Zelenskyy attend in person was squashed.

Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and rotating chair of CELAC, warned in his speech that the Ukraine war

“continues to consume abundant resources and provokes the unnecessary shedding of blood, and the world economy also bleeds unnecessarily, as the war and combat provoke enormous pain and additional suffering to the poor in far off lands through the increase in the prices of food, oil and loans. Let there be constructive peace conversations, not unproductive posturing in search of imperial hegemony or domination.”

This is the time and the chance for humanity to break out of the doomsday option. Sign and circulate the “Urgent Appeal by Citizens and Institutions from All Over the World to the (Next) President of the United States.”

Plan how to make use of the new statement expected out within a few hours, from the International Peace Coalition/Humanity for Peace effort, on its four-point agreement on principles for peace, and its plans for fostering events around the world August 6, on the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, including the key demonstration at the United Nations in New York.