March 29—The release this week of the Schiller Institute’s policy document, “The LaRouche Plan for a New International Economic Architecture,” comes in the midst of the terrible danger of escalation to nuclear war, but also at a time of great promise, given that there is a worldwide re-ordering process underway, of nations demanding development. They are rejecting the US/UK/NATO bloc’s ‘rule by sanctions’ and regime change, even if still only informally.
This is seen in the two votes of the UN General Assembly this month, when condemnation of Russia was demanded in resolutions March 2 and March 24, but 35-38 nations abstained, including leaders from every continent, calling for humanitarian action, not censure. South Africa, Ethiopia, India, China, Iran, Pakistan, Bolivia, and others were in this group. Many of their ambassadors’ floor speeches made the point that development and mutual respect must now come to the fore, not coercion.
Also look at the fifty nations which have refrained from sanctions or punitive trade restrictions. They include many of the most populous, with productive economic sectors. This conveys a spirit akin to the time leading up to the world declaration of hope at the Non-Aligned Conference in 1955 in Bandung.
There are concrete diplomatic initiatives. On March 30-31 Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosts the third ministerial meeting on Central Asia, convened by China, titled, “Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan Plus Afghanistan.” Both immediate support to Afghanistan, and longer term projects for connectivity and mutual development are on the agenda.
On March 31, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be in India, to meet with his counterpart, Dr. S. Jaishankar. On the agenda will be arrangements for setting up a new payment mechanism outside the SWIFT system, agreements for Russia to provide coking coal for India’s steel sector, and other mutual economic benefits.
On the track of 2022 multi-nation meetings, Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia, this year’s host of the G20 Summit in Bali in November, has forcefully confirmed that he will not disinvite Russia from attending, despite the pressure on him to do so, from London, Washington, and Brussels. “Jokowi” insists that he wants a development agenda.
These initiatives are in the direction of what the world needs as a mobilization for cooperative development—for saving lives in the short term, and making way for building the economic platform for billions more people. That is the purpose of the rush-dialogue process furthered by the Schiller Institutes’ upcoming April 9 conference, and discussion document.
The opposite approach is underway in the Trans-Atlantic, even in terms of basics of the means to life—energy and food. Raving technological incompetence and moral turpitude are on display as the order of the day. For example, the EU nations want to sanction and threaten Russia with war, but still receive Russian gas and oil as long as they choose, and further, by the way, to NOT pay Russia in rubles, as requested. The deadline for their agreement to pay is March 31, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last night on U.S. Public Broadcasting Service TV: “No payment, no gas.” Now the German Energy Management Agency is working up contingency plans for which sectors of the economy will be shut down, in what order, if the gas doesn’t come.
On the food and agriculture crisis, EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojcechowski has denounced Russia for launching war on Ukraine in order to impose hunger on the world. He was part of the March 23 decision by the European Commission to issue new contingency food and agriculture plans. The EC said it will temporarily suspend Green Deal “Farm to Fork” rules that lock land out of production, so that farmers can cultivate it this year. But farm spokesmen are quick to respond, what about lifting the other restrictions, e.g., against weed-killers? And how do we afford the fertilizer, the diesel, and all the rest?
Likewise, in the U.S., farm groups are asking for help to produce, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture is dithering about such contingencies as allowing cultivation of land locked up in the Conservation Reserve Program. Meantime, planting season is already underway.
President Biden and EC President Ursula von der Leyen issued a joint statement on food, energy, and other basics March 24, but obfuscated that food security must be “balanced” with “climate” considerations, and “reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.”
It’s long past due, to shunt this crowd and this thinking aside. A world famine is pending. Already, from Afghanistan, the grim statistics are coming in, that 13,000 newborns died of starvation so far this year, and literally, millions will die there in 2022 of malnutrition, without intervention.
Help lead the mobilization of the Schiller Institute. The agenda for April 9, underscores the discussion and mobilization we need right now. “For a new, just world economic order—preventing the starvation of one billion people,” is one of three sessions. The other two are: on Security, “A new security architecture in the tradition of the peace of Westphalia and the Bandung Conference;” and, on Development, “Finally overcoming colonialism and imperialism; development is the new name for peace; and the need to build a World Health System.” The opening is the Plenary, titled, “Why the failure of the old paradigm requires the design of a new paradigm in international relations.”
Join the fight. The April 9th conference: “For a Conference to establish a New Security and Development Architecture for All Nations.”
