It’s almost incomprehensible that an old, cold warrior like myself, hailing from a Mid-Atlantic State in the U.S.A. would be purposely quoting a Russian leader as an authoritative source for guiding the nations of the world to a way forward in achieving greater peace and harmony in international relations.
But it’s the new reality of where we have come today. The leader of a modernized Russia is arguably the most informed, persuasive, level-headed, statesman on the international scene today.
That’s saying something by an old fella who grew up in the post-WWII Cold War era when Soviet-style communism was the totalitarian menace that threatened the Western world with a nuclear conflagration.
Compare what is being mouthed by Biden and our European partners with what is coming out of diplomatic circles in the non-West concerning the Israel-Hamas war.
Maybe you picked up on it if you read my last Substack article. I began the piece with a quote by Vladimir Putin where he stated that: “… You cannot solve the problem [in Gaza] in its entirety without addressing fundamental political issues, the main one being the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem.”
His pronouncements, unlike what we are hearing out of the leadership in the trans-Atlantic West, advocate the recognition that the Palestinians also have the right to exist—and which are every bit as valid as their Israeli neighbors’ claims—on a landmass once historically the domain held by Arab/Bedouin tribes, the ancestors to present-day Palestinian refugees…,
Refugees living on properties once inhabited by their grandparents as their own.
That framework for addressing the latest crisis in Southwest Asia (aka the Middle East) is certainly not the main talking point being touted by the Biden-led collective. No. What is pounded into the minds of the general public is the repeated plaint about Israel’s right to exist and its sovereign right to defend itself. Okay. Already.
That was cited as the sole reason why the U.S. vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have called for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver lifesaving aid to millions in Gaza. (??) The point is…
Nowhere, in any prior resolution or adopted article, officially recognized under the auspices of the U.N. was it ever argued that Israel is denied its sovereignty and right to exist as a nation-state. Without question; it’s a long-standing, universal principle codified in the U.N. Charter. It is foundational—the right of sovereign nations to defend their respective national security interests.
And yet, because this was not specifically reiterated in a recent (October 18) resolution brought before the Council, the U.S. delegation prevented (a greater amount of) humanitarian aid from reaching the beleaguered civilian population in Gaza.
The U.S. is currently aiding and abetting the wanton, genocidal bombing of a defenseless civilian population, two-thirds composed of women and children, and as it continues unabated*; premised on the predicate of the “national security” concerns of Israel, we are supposed to idly accept the murder of more than 3,400 children and the injury of at least 6,300**. ?!
Well, gauging by the response of the global majority of nations condemning the atrocities of indiscriminate bombing, and the apparent throttling down of the massive strikes, there is an injection of saneness entering into the international public dialogue:
Headlines of October 30: Overriding U.S. and Israeli opposition, 120 U.N. member states demand Gaza ceasefire.
Update Nov. 6—China is telling Israel that punishing innocent Palestinians goes well beyond its right to defend itself!
About that U.N. vote; it’s offset by 14 nations that sided with the U.S./Israel position, with 45 abstentions as the votes were tallied. We are observing a situation where there is an obvious rift between a minority of nations who are allied with the U.S.-led trans-Atlantic West and the majority of nations who collectively abhor what Israel’s military is doing with U.S. assistance.
“The U.N. emergency resolution, proposed by Jordan, came as cities around the world exploded in protest. Millions of people were in the streets in country after country to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and condemn the unfolding genocide in Gaza”. (See footnote #1 for source)
It is not difficult to find an increasing number of quotes coming from all over the internet condemning the brutality, and the abject disregard for the killing of innocent women and children which can be stated in terms that shock the senses:
The horror of Oct. 7, when Israel lost over 300 soldiers and up to 1,100 others, is repeated, in death counts, every four days in Gaza. They’ve had seven “Oct 7s” and counting. And with a population of less than a quarter of Israel’s, the comparable effect is an “Oct. 7” every day, for 25 days in a row.1
So what is going to be the U.S. official response to the clamor of international sentiments that insist that war crimes are daily being conducted by the Israel Defense Force (IDF) with U.S. government complicity?
Various theories are being offered by geopolitical analysts suggesting how the Mid-East crisis can be contained. Of course, the overwhelming concern expressed by expert opinion is that this regional conflict could very dangerously blow up into a world war. There is indeed some moderation to be heard coming out of D.C. Democrats lately. Particularly noteworthy are recent comments made by Barak Obama which call for military restraint and humanitarian relief for the casualties and inhabitants in Gaza.
I viewed a speech that the respected geopolitical observer/scholar John Mearsheimer gave before the respected Australian Centre for Independent Studies. I also watched an interview with Scott Ritter who offered a more optimistic assessment of the political realities unfolding. While Mearsheimer offered no clear vision for solving the intractable problems that keep reoccurring within the Palestinian/Israeli dynamic, Ritter opined that the atrocities committed by Hamas have forced the world body to once again put this matter back front and center—demanding a final 2-state solution.
That is the crux of this whole matter of finally resolving the quagmire that embroils this area of the globe. Will it be possible to arrive at a two-state solution that many experts concur is the only permanent answer to creating lasting peaceful relations between the Arabs and Jews?
Mearsheimer reminded his listeners that there are 7.3 million Palestinians who reside within the borders of what he defined as Greater Israel. He conceded very logically that, yes, the Jews within Israel rightfully claim their sovereignty as an independent nation; the same yearning exists congruently within the Palestinian people as well.
And yet in his well-reasoned analysis, he submits that the current Netanyahu government and the overriding majority of Israeli citizens will adamantly oppose that eventuality. Granting statehood status to a people who democratically approved of Hamas “terrorist” leadership within Gaza is simply unthinkable to the right-leaning polity in today’s Israel.
Interestingly, Scott Ritter is convinced that the U.S. will force Israel to ultimately agree to a Palestinian state creation overseen by the international community of nations. And how or why does Scott, an ex-military guy, ex-U.S. weapons inspector, and contributor to nuclear peace treaties being signed between the USSR and past U.S. administrations confidently aver that the U.S. will commit to a pursuit of forging a two-state solution?
Right now, as far as I can tell, his belief that the U.S. will move in the 2-state direction is, at best, a minority position.
Yet, sooner than later, according to Ritter, the U.S. will simply opt for a rational decision that ultimately is in its best national security interests. The main thrust of his argument rests on the U.S./European need to preserve stability in an oil-rich producing Middle East on which much of the Western national economies still depend for vital petroleum products that help sustain the energy grids that fuel industrial production. (This calculus is amplified by what has been lost by the economic sanctions and Nord-stream pipeline destruction that cut off the Russian supplies of oil and gas to Europe.)
Consider. As already mentioned, the alliance formed essentially by the NATO-driven West composed of the coalition of U.S./U.K.-led trans-Atlantic European nations along with some of the Asian allied nations like Japan and S. Korea are a minority bloc or coalition within the worldwide body of nations making up the U.N.
The recent vote on a cease-fire resolution where 120 nations voted yay, and just 14 votes went to nay (45 nations abstained, unwilling to tilt against the U.S./Israeli stance), is strong evidence that a global majority understands the importance of keeping the hostilities contained in that area of the world.
Effectively we are witnessing a bifurcation between the nations that have been identified as those belonging to the so-called “developed” part of the world and those within the “undeveloped” regions of the globe. Recently the terms “Global North” and “Global South” have been used to describe this split among the member nations of the international world body.
Another way to understand the geopolitical landscape and the seismic shift occurring is, that
“the war is part of a wider geopolitical struggle by the U.S.-led Western imperialist bloc against Russia, China, and other nations of an emerging multipolar world that repudiates American-dominated hegemony”.2
That is most readily illustrated by what has occurred within the BRICS+ coalition of nations that will have grown to include 6 additional nations that number member-partners who are major oil producers in the Persian Gulf sphere.
([Also] note the list of Global South states now cutting diplomatic ties with Israel).
The emergence of a BRICS-11 which becomes official at the start of 2024 is an aggregation assembled under the powerful alliance of Russia with China. The consortium of Eurasian nations represents the new paradigm of a multipolar world that has at its apex the proven military might of a reconstituted Russia with the vast economic engine for development that China possesses. That commodity-rich group owns real resource wealth of petroleum, natural gas, rare metals, agriculture, etc. that empowers it with an economic potential that assures its independence from the old unipolar domination of the collective West.
The difficulty that arises is the refusal of the Global North, trans-Atlantic alliance—under the NATO pact— to recognize the wisdom of collaborating and even nurturing the widespread cooperative efforts being forged among the developing Global South areas of the globe. China has long extended an open invitation to the U.S. and its European allies to join in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which is investing in the development of billions of dollars worth of major infrastructure projects bringing advanced technologies into Africa, South America, and the Eurasian continent.
Instead of forging East-West cooperatives, typical of the West’s attitude is the continued insistence on outworn, zero-sum thinking that has been the outgrowth of the way European nations conducted constant warring among themselves in the past. Our leaders see adversaries or enemies where there could be wholesome competitors if not outright collaborators. This is the vestigial legacy of the empire-building phase of history that is being phase-shifted out of existence—if only in those parts of the world not under the sway of a Global NATO mentality.
An example of that geopolitical way of doing things that is still rife among the Anglo-American/Zionist cadre of governments is the knee-jerk way that the new BRICS11 accords were met by Western media coverage. The expansion from the original BRICS 5 member states to 11 was immediately framed as an adversarial move concocted by the evil twins Russia and China.
Is this why NATOstan is now trying to drive a wedge between Iran and its newly brokered friendships with the other BRICS members including Saudi Arabia? Are the neocons leveraging the outbreak of war in Gaza to somehow manipulate things so Iran can be isolated as a terrorist outcast in an attempt to escalate the conflict?
That is a subterfuge that must be neutralized.
What if the BRICS was sincerely interested in bringing economic development through incorporating advanced technologies into their societies, rather than the myopic counter-productive, economic warfare that seems the primary motivation of the West?
Our leaders could if they ever become capable of transcending the neocolonial, imperialistic thinking of British and Euro-centric ideologies embrace the multipolar vision of not just the Palestinians yearning for sovereign, national independence, but all the world’s inhabitants desiring much the same.
As the LaRouche Organization prescribes; that prospectus is accomplished through initiatives that drive new technologies that advance civilization. Lasting peace can be achieved through industrial/technological development that improves the lives of all.
Compare that to genocidal policies imposed upon Gaza that are designed to deprive 2.1 mil. people of the necessities of food, water, shelter, and electricity3
How long will an apartheid regime backed by the intransigence of NATO geo-strategic thinking be allowed to continue under a ruse of legitimacy when it is obvious to most of humanity that purposely killing non-combatant civilians is an egregious war crime?
Notes:
* It’s difficult to obtain accurate reports about the number of bombs still dropping
** Daily tallies are changing rapidly. At least 8,306 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the current war, according to the latest numbers from the Gaza Health Ministry. (10/27) More than 12,000 are thought to be buried beneath the rubble of bombed-out houses, apartments, hospitals, and shelters. (peoplesworld) Updated: Gazan figures now give a death count of around 9,000 in the first 25 days; of whom about 3,760 were children; of whom 615 were babies. (LaRouche)
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2023/10/27/western-media-cancel-ukraine-conflict-as-palestinian-genocide-exposes-their-lies-fake-news/
https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-gallant-announces-complete-siege-gaza-no-electricity-food-fuel-2023-10?op=1