STANDING UP TO THE EMPIRE’S BLACKMAIL — AND OFFERING A NEW PARADIGM INSTEAD

Scarcely 13 hours before the May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow was scheduled to begin, celebrating the 81st anniversary of the Allied defeat of fascism in World War II, U.S. President Donald Trump pressured Ukraine’s erstwhile president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stand down from his wildly provocative May 4 threat to attack that Victory Day parade with drones. Trump did that after Russian President Vladimir Putin had warned three times over the last few days that any such strike would cause Russia to “launch a retaliatory, massive missile strike against the center of Kiev,” in the words of a Russian Defense Ministry statement. What might have ensued after that is anybody’s guess.

So, sanity prevailed in Washington—at least momentarily. But don’t expect it to hold, unless the underlying policy of geopolitical confrontation to defend the bankrupt Western financial system is abandoned for good. And that is not going to happen unopposed, because London’s financial Establishment, with most of Europe’s governments and American neocons in tow, is openly committed to a Nazi-like revival, especially in Germany and Japan, to launch war on both Russia and China.

That is a hard truth which Lyndon LaRouche warned about 50 years ago, and it is now being openly recognized and denounced by officials in Moscow and Beijing, as you will read below. It is also a point that was dramatically emphasized by Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche during the May 8 International Peace Coalition meeting, who warned that the Russian view, that revanchism, nationalism and Nazism are on the rise in Germany and that it is targeted east at Russia, has to be taken extremely seriously. “I would really say that the situation between Germany and Russia is extremely tense,” Zepp-Larouche stated, “and people should take the questions seriously and not return to a past which can only lead, if it ever comes to a real confrontation, to the total destruction of Germany.” She insisted: “If there is going to be another war it will be a world war for sure…. We absolutely have to stop this insane geopolitical confrontation and go in the direction of a new paradigm, a new security and development architecture which absolutely must take into account the interest of every single country for it to function.”

As for motion towards such a new architecture, there are growing indications that China, Russia, and other leading nations of the Global Majority are starting to flex their collective economic, political and military muscle to stand up to the blackmail and turn the tables on the London-led financial empire—while offering positive economic cooperation instead, including to the United States.

For example, on May 3 China prohibited companies operating in the country from capitulating to U.S. sanctions, threatening them with economic and legal consequences if they did. This is a major display of economic muscle by China, and it is noteworthy that Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated in her May 7 press briefing that Russia “welcomes and considers entirely justified” China’s decision not to enforce U.S. sanctions against Chinese companies according to TASS. At the same time, China is preparing for a constructive visit by President Trump on May 14-15, with offers of all sorts of economic cooperation.

Then there is the cited case of Putin’s sharp warning that downtown Kiev would be attacked, if Zelenskyy’s May 4 threats materialized. Even as President Trump was pondering how to weigh in on the rapidly escalating crisis, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on May 7: “We expect Washington and those who facilitate the negotiation process to continue their goodwill efforts. We highly value these services.”

Or take the May 5 announcement by Trump that he was ending the Project Freedom military escort of ships through the Strait of Hormuz—after only two days that it had been in effect! The London Financial Times reported, as did RT and other media, that the main reason Trump changed gears is that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Trump in no uncertain terms that he would not allow the U.S. to use Saudi airspace for that operation because, as FT wrote, “Riyadh considered the U.S. President’s plan to be ‘unnecessarily escalatory and not well thought through,’ said one of the people briefed on the situation.” Recall that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on May 6, and then spoke with the Saudi foreign minister by phone while he was still in Beijing. There are growing indications that the Chinese government is significantly involved (behind the scenes) in trying to bring about a peaceful solution to the Iran crisis—working with and through Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and other regional governments.

Finally, consider the strategic fact that there is a growing constituency inside the United States that is receptive to such proposals of mutually beneficial cooperation as a way to bring peace. The “No Funds for Iran War Act” introduced in the House of Representatives on May 5 was initiated by 18 congress members, 14 of whom are veterans. Their bill calls for Congress to use its “power of the purse” to force an end to the Iran war immediately—a policy initiative spread nationally by LaRouche independent presidential candidate Diane Sare.