EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR FRIDAY AUGUST 11, 2023
Wall Street and London Lashing Out as BRICS Summit Approaching
Aug. 10, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—As this news service has frequently reported, an historic sea-change is underway globally, being led by the members of the BRICS and their growing allies within the developing world. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov referred to it some months back, the “Global Majority” is currently finding its voice and demanding a new future, free from the neocolonial and oligarchic yoke of the past. This emerging new world, characterized by its assertion that there are no good reasons for ongoing underdevelopment and global inequality, is the reason behind the desperate and irrational drive for confrontation, as seen in the hotspots around the world. A major opportunity to consolidate this orientation and increase its momentum is the BRICS summit hosted by South Africa later this month, slated to discuss the expansion of the group. Altogether 22 nations have applied to join from around the world, with many more leaning in their direction.
With the Ukrainian counteroffensive failing, and more snippets of truth emerging about the horrific casualties experienced by the Ukrainian army, those forces intent on global hegemony are moving towards other theaters of crisis to ratchet up tensions. This is classic geopolitics, but it’s also endgame for the old neoliberal system. Poland’s recent deployment of troops to its border with Belarus, first of 2,000 and now of 10,000, indicates this danger.
Indeed, the major mouthpieces of the Western establishment have made that explicitly clear in their continued attempts to stir up tensions among BRICS members in the run-up to their summit. Both the Atlantic Council and The Economist have joined the fray this week, spinning rumors and stories about supposed divisions within the membership. Whether or not you see it as such, you’d better believe that Western elites know exactly what they’re doing. As The Economist itself admits, shifting the BRICS from its current track by the end of the Johannesburg summit, “will determine the future shape of the bloc.” As South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said the other day, “I think there’s someone who’s trying to spoil our summit.”
And there’s more. A presidential candidate in Ecuador was assassinated Wednesday night, likely by foreign drug cartels that have increasingly come to dominate whole parts of the Western Hemisphere. These same cartels have trafficked over 7 million people through the Americas and into the United States over the past three years, increasing their dominance in entire countries and creating ungovernable situations.
Similarly Pakistan’s Parliament has been dissolved amid an ongoing crisis in the country, in the wake of what has now been revealed as a U.S.-encouraged overthrow of the previous Prime Minister last year. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has now been sentenced to three years in prison, and banned from running for election for five years, despite his overwhelmingly high popular support.
The situation in Niger also remains very much on edge following the military coup there last month. On Aug. 10, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), with major ties to French and other Western powers, announced that it was readying a “standby force” for potential intervention into Niger, while at the same time emphasizing “diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach.” What will happen is unclear, but given Niger’s relationship with China, and the fact that it is a key supplier of raw materials and the headquarters of the U.S.’s Africa Command, Niger’s potential shift towards this emerging world with the BRICS—including kicking out its former colonial masters—is an option some would rather start a war over than accept.
Short of a full-scale war, which many admit would likely engulf the entire African continent, some in the British establishment are scheming for what will need to be their next strategy to maintain some level of imperial control. As the Financial Times editorial board wrote Aug. 1:
“For too long, both Europe and the U.S. ignored both Africa’s potential and strategic importance in favor of an anachronistic view of the continent as a purely humanitarian problem. Both have recently woken up to the fact that, in failing to see Africa’s significance, they have ceded ground to China and increasingly Russia. Only by taking the continent more seriously and by helping it prosper can they make up lost ground.”
What a noble proposal! If the Financial Times and statesmen in Europe and the U.S. want to “help Africa prosper,” then we have an idea: Build the Grand Inga Dam! Discussed by the presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa at the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact on June 22-23 in Paris, the Inga Dam would generate over 70 GW of badly-needed electricity and would benefit more than a dozen African countries.
However, if the statements from those Western posturers are merely meant to nudge Africa back into the geopolitical orbit of the “rules-based order,” then it is doomed to fail—and may just bring the world into global nuclear war on the way.
Real Americans and Europeans who have a love for not only their nations, but also for the common heritage of humanity itself, must act on the basis that the interests of each coincide with the interests of all, and thereby bring an end to the depraved policy of war and colonialism which still grips the world today. A major advancement in this fight happened last weekend with the internationally-coordinated Humanity for Peace rallies, which demonstrated that there are no two people so different that they can’t fight together for a common future.
Activate yourself if you have not already done so, and build this movement.
