Feb. 27—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met on Monday Feb. 27 with the heads of the Foreign Ministry’s branches in Russia’s regions, and he reported to them that there is a “geopolitical tectonic process” underway worldwide, in which some 20 nations have expressed an interest in joining the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This is not a matter of mere organizational affiliation, Lavrov noted, but a global rebellion against colonial looting and the unipolar “rules-based order”:
“The countries which feel independent and are guided by national interests rather than someone else’s whims understand the ongoing developments as a geopolitical tectonic process, which in fact encourages them to associate with the countries that they consider their like-minded partners. In this regard, we have a vast field for interaction with our colleagues.” Lavrov added that “we are now referring to [these countries] as the Global Majority … [which] include giants such as China and India and many of our other international partners.”
The week of anti-war rallies across the United States and Europe, beginning in Washington on Feb. 19 all the way through to Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Feb. 26, are a different reflection of this same global process. The numbers were larger or smaller depending on the location, but what characterized all of the rallies was the openness of the vast majority of the participants to consider ideas that they weren’t previously willing to entertain. It was a hard-to-describe feeling in the air, mentioned by many participants, that they often ascribed to the novelty of “left” and “right” uniting around a common goal of stopping nuclear war.
But what is underway is more than that. People are increasingly aware that the crisis is much worse than their earlier wildest imagination, and that they need new ideas, new solutions, new approaches if a catastrophe is to be avoided.
That is why people were listening to Lyndon LaRouche’s representatives—from Washington to Ramstein—in ways they themselves found surprising.
What is driving this “tectonic process” planet-wide is the breakdown crisis of the entire trans-Atlantic economic system, and it is the solution to that underlying matter which is LaRouche’s critically unique role.
Look at the Western financial centers. The markets have entered a “death zone,” according to a top analyst for Morgan Stanley, one of the “Big Four Investment Banks” (JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley). Since October there has been a “speculative frenzy,” he reported, based on the bet that the Federal Reserve would soon end the “quantitative tightening” and flood the markets with free cash once again. But the Fed is continuing to raise interest rates.
Look at the developing sector. Rising interest rates are causing far worse damage there, since they mean bankruptcy and economic and social collapse for many countries. Argentina’s central bank rate has more than doubled in a year, and now stands at 75%; inflation is an out-of-control 99%. Nigeria’s interest rate has jumped by over 50% in a year, and is at 17.5%; inflation is 22%. Iran has imposed a steady interest rate of 18%, but sanctions and financial warfare have helped unleash inflation of 53%, and massive capital flight is being promoted. The value of the rial has dropped from 32,000 to the dollar in 2015, to 600,000 to the dollar today—a 95% devaluation.
Europe is scarcely better. According to a recent study by Bloomberg, the energy crisis will cost Germany $1 trillion by 2030—because of the cut-off of cheap Russian natural gas, and the demented energy “transition” policy of wiping out nuclear and coal. To reach their goals, they will have to install solar panels covering the equivalent of 54 soccer fields every day, and build 27 onshore and 4 offshore wind farms per week!
Syria exemplifies how this system has turned an entire nation into a killing field. After 12 years of warfare and sanctions that drove 90% of the population into poverty, the United States is maintaining its criminal Caesar sanctions even after the earthquakes devastated Syria and Turkiye. The Executive Director of the World Food Program, David Beasley, visited Turkiye and described the situation in both countries: “There is only one way to describe what I saw today: apocalyptic.” He urged that food deliveries to Syria must go “through all routes—without any restrictions.”
We second Beasley’s call, but more than that is required. The Caesar sanctions must be immediately lifted; U.S. troops must be promptly withdrawn from the country, as demanded by a House Resolution presented by U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Feb. 22; and the illegal theft of Syrian oil and grain by American occupation forces has to stop now.
More broadly, the growing anti-war ferment that has begun to surface in the West needs to redefine its own mission. As Helga Zepp-LaRouche put it succinctly last week: “It’s not good enough to just be against the war. The big question is: How can we as a human species give ourselves an order which allows for the cooperation and coexistence of all nations on this planet, to the benefit of all?”
