Feb. 25—In Ukraine this weekend, the military operations continue, with a focus on Kiev. Speaking from there, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today made sounds of both resistance and a call for ceasefire, and also proposed today that talks begin with Russia. President Vladimir Putin, who spoke with President Xi Jinping this morning, said that a high-level Russian delegation would be prepared to meet in Minsk, with Ukrainian representatives, on the security terms for Russia and the region, which Russia has repeatedly spelled out. Belarus President Alexandr Lukashenko affirmed that appropriate conditions would be provided for such a meeting in Minsk.
The response of the U.S./U.K./NATO bloc to the situation is more of the same geopolitical logic, which led to the crisis in the first place. NATO heads of state and government met for a virtual session today, and issued a bellicose joint statement. The UN Security Council met late this afternoon, with a resolution by the NATO bloc, to denounce Russia; their next step is to take it to the UN General Assembly. President Biden spoke with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the U.S. and EU today announced sanctions against Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov personally, and also members of the Russian national security team. All the while, there are pledges of continuing arms flows into Ukraine. A convoy of ammunition reportedly went in today from Poland.
The situation will not remain in this phase for long. The military operations will be over at some point soon, and the world is confronted with a new moment in our continuing responsibility: What happens next? One direction is doom, by one or a combination of nuclear war, famine and disease. For certain, the current collapsing financial/economic system cannot be “put back together” again to function. The other direction is toward physical economic, and social advancement for all nations and peoples—a new era for humanity.
What will the course of history be, is exactly the focus of the international statement/petition by the Schiller Institute, “Convoke an International Conference to Establish a New Security and Development Architecture for All Nations.” In multiple languages—the latest, Portuguese, it is in circulation for emergency action for a new paradigm.
Already, the West is hardening its crazed policy outlook into evil extremes. Media in Germany are making references to Vladimir Putin “walking in the footsteps of Hitler, like 1939.”
Instead of this, just go back and look at some of the true reference points in cultural and strategic history. For example, in on Sept. 25, 2001, Putin addressed Germany’s Bundestag, speaking in flawless German, of the joint opportunities between the nations of Europe, including Russia. “The Cold War is over. The world is at a new stage of development.” He spoke of common interests, in particular, of jointly combatting terrorism. He stressed the common economic interests between Russia and Germany. Further, “Russia is an extremely dynamic country within Europe, not just in political terms but also in economic terms.”
Over the ensuing years, as these aspirations were countered by the U.K./U.S./NATO establishment, Putin again spoke out, this time against the dangers of the dominance in global relations by the U.S. bloc. In 2007, he addressed the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 10. He warned of the consequences of the “almost uncontained hyper-use of force in international relations.” He opposed the U.S. missile shield in Europe.
In 2014, Putin gave an in-depth speech on March 18 to both chambers of the Federal Assembly of Russia, on the occasion of the request for admission into the Russian Federation, by the Crimean Parliament. He presented a history of Ukrainian and Russian peoples, reviewed the unlawful events of the Maidan coup the month before, denouncing the role of the neo-Nazis and others. But all the while, he held out the hand of good will to those genuinely protesting corruption in Ukraine, and to the international community.
That same month, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute President, wrote an article (EIR, March 14, 2014,) “It’s Not About Ukraine; It’s About Thermonuclear War,” which ended with her warning that thermonuclear war is “pre-programmed for the immediate future,” if the West continues its encirclement of Russia, and lacks the policy ability and wisdom to see what is going on, and correct it. She wrote then: "But there is still a small window of time in which a full mobilization of the population and reasonable people in the institutions of the U.S. and Europe can force the changes required in the policies of the governments. The main points are:
“• The imperial policy toward Russia and China must be replaced, and the underlying cause of the danger of war eliminated: the threat of disintegration of the trans-Atlantic financial system;
“• The true character of the coup in Ukraine must be exposed and admitted, and the underlying cause of the danger of war eliminated: the threat of disintegration of the trans-Atlantic financial system;
“• It must be immediately replaced by Glass-Steagall-style separation of the banking system and the creation of a credit system in the tradition of Alexander Hamilton.”