Lavrov at UNGA Calls Out West’s Nuclear War Planning, Aimed To Stop Nations Cooperating as Equals

Sept. 23, 2023, (EIRNS)—From the outset of his address to the UN General Assembly today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov identified the underlying cause of conflict in the world, as being the Western powers’ desperation to stop the unstoppable: the nations of the world joining together in new ways—through the BRICS, the SCO, the African Union, ASEAN, CELAC, etc.—so as to develop in freedom. He was equally blunt about the supreme danger: The West not only seeks global NATO domination, but also has revived plans for nuclear war against the Russian Federation.

An official translation of his speech is not yet available, but given its strategic importance, we provide here some key quotes via machine translation, despite the inadequacies.

“...A new world order is being born right before our eyes. The contours of the future are being created through struggle between the world majority, which stands for a more equitable distribution of global benefits and civilizational diversity, and the few who use neocolonial methods of subjugation to hold on to their elusive dominance.

“The hallmark of the collective West has long been its rejection of the principle of equal rights and its total incompetence. Accustomed to looking down on the rest of the world, Americans and Europeans make promises and commitments, including written and legally binding ones. And then they simply do not fulfill them....

“In 1945, when we, along with Washington and London, were together vanquishing the enemy on the front in World War II, our allies in the anti-Hitler coalition were already preparing plans for the military operation called ‘Unthinkable’ against the Soviet Union. Four years later, in 1949, the Americans drafted ‘Operation Dropshot’ to launch massive nuclear strikes on the U.S.S.R. These insane plans remained on paper. The U.S.S.R. created its own weapons of retaliation. It took the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the world was on the brink of nuclear war, for the idea of unleashing it and the illusion of winning it to cease being the basis of U.S. military planning....

“Unprecedented since the end of the Cold War, was the recent series of joint exercises between the United States and European NATO allies, including scenarios for the use of nuclear weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation. The declared objective of inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia has finally blinded the eyes of irresponsible politicians who are obsessed with their own impunity and have lost their elementary sense of self-preservation....

“The world minority is trying its best to slow down the natural course of things. The North Atlantic Alliance’s Vilnius Declaration characterizes the ‘growing partnership between Russia and China’ as a ‘threat to NATO.’ Speaking recently to his ambassadors abroad, President Macron expressed sincere concern about the BRICS expansion, considering this event as evidence of ‘the complication of the international arena, which threatens the risk of weakening the West and Europe in particular’.... Here is a revelation: If someone gathers somewhere without us, makes friends without us or without our permission, that poses a threat to our dominance. NATO’s advancement in the Asia-Pacific is a good thing, while BRICS expansion is dangerous.

“However, the logic of the historical process is inexorable. The main trend has become the desire of the majority of world states to strengthen their sovereignty and defend their national interests, traditions, culture and way of life. They no longer want to live under anyone’s dictate. They want to be friends and trade among themselves, but also with the whole world—only on an equal footing and for mutual benefit. Associations such as BRICS and the SCO are on the rise, providing the countries of the Global South with opportunities for joint development and defending their worthy place in the objectively emerging multipolar architecture.

“Perhaps for the first time since 1945, when the United Nations was established, there is a chance for genuine democratization in world affairs. This gives optimism to all who believe in the rule of international law and wish to see the UN revitalized as the central coordinating body of world politics. Where they agree on how to solve problems together on the basis of a fair balance of interests....

“I would like to urge Western politicians and diplomats to once again carefully re-read the UN Charter. The cornerstone of the world order created as a result of World War II is the democratic principle of the sovereign equality of states, large and small, regardless of their form of government, internal political or socio-economic structure.”