Amid the seeming chaos and fluctuations happening in every direction, where virtually nothing can be stated with certainty, what is certain is that a new world is in formation, and it needs a new organizing principle if it is avoid a catastrophic disaster during the intervening tumult. The news around the reported U.S. peace deal for Ukraine is a case in point. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Ukraine’s top presidential advisor Andriy Yermak in Switzerland on November 23, a meeting which he described as “the most productive day we’ve had” since President Donald Trump came into office.
Whether or not U.S. officials are truly intending to bring up the hard truths needed if a deal is to be reached is not known. But what is known is that, with Russia’s effective victory over the combined efforts of NATO, and the fact that it is “liberal” Europe which is digging in its heels to continue the war now that peace is on the table, any remaining semblance of respectability has been ripped from these defenders of the so-called “rules-based order.”
As the world order becomes unmoored through developments such as this, on the one hand creating openings for positive changes, new and terrifying dangers are quickly emerging on the other. In addition to Europe’s “rearmament” for long-term war with Russia, in Asia, Japan’s new government is gearing up for an unprecedented aggressive stance against China. Also on November 23, Japan’s defense minister announced that his country would be deploying medium-range missiles to Yonaguni Island, Japan’s closest territory to Taiwan, only 68 miles away. This follows increased anti-China rhetoric from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and pledges to increase Japan’s military presence in the region.
Then there’s the brewing storm clouds around Venezuela. Reuters has reported that the U.S. is poised to launch a new phase of Venezuela-related operations in the coming days, on the eve of the U.S. announcement of the alleged Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization on Monday, November 24. “War” Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that the terrorist designation “brings a whole bunch of new options to the United States.” At the same time, there are indications that a sea blockade has already begun for ships coming into Venezuela, and six airlines have reportedly suspended their flights to the country.
While there is clearly a showdown nearing, it would be lazy thinking—or cynical—to assume that the United States will automatically take the neocolonial or imperial side. For one, it ignores the deliberate orchestrations going on by those hoping to maintain such an imperial order, such as little Narco Rubio, who has been pushing for regime change in Venezuela for years and is hoping to sway Trump into a regime change war, despite his pledges to the contrary. Or the call published in Foreign Affairs for both Japan and Germany to have their own nuclear weapons, in order to “strengthen the global order.”
This differentiation was again reiterated by Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in a November 22 interview, in which he said: “The Trump administration is among the few of our Western interlocutors—and even opponents—who recognize the validity of our concerns about the underlying causes…. It is important that the Trump administration is willing to consider these issues, unlike many in Europe who, in their anti-Russian blindness, simply dismiss this approach and ignore the obvious.”
The missing ingredient in today’s crisis is a “different method of thinking,” as Helga Zepp-LaRouche discussed in EIR’s roundtable discussion on an alternative policy for Venezuela last week. She referenced the interest President Trump had in, for example, Arctic development in collaboration with Russia, despite the long-standing tensions between those two nations. If this impetus were encouraged, it would only be natural that mankind would eventually extend modern transportation and infrastructure links around the world, from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa to Tierra del Fuego on the tip of South America—as long as we don’t blow ourselves up in thermonuclear war in the meantime.
The current neoliberal world system is breaking down—politically, morally, and financially, along with its accompanying AI and crypto bubbles. A new development and security architecture that takes into account the interests of all nations, as equals, must be the conscious organizing principle that shapes the new era, if we are to escape the dangerous chaos unfolding today.
