Dec. 24—On this day when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, there is little jubilation in that city. The usually festive marches in town are canceled for more somber statements about the terrible destruction the Palestinians are currently experiencing, in Israel’s self-destructive overreaction to the Hamas attack of Oct. 7 from Gaza.
“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy,” said Jesus, according to Matthew. “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
Early in the morning on Dec. 20, a Russian Special Flight Squadron plane landed at Dulles International Airport of Washington, D.C., where it remained for more than 55 hours before departing on Dec. 22.
There has been no public acknowledgment of who was on the plane or the purpose of the high-level visit. But the timing of the visit, as well as the publication the next day of a major New York Times article on Putin’s willingness to negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine, make us ask the question: Is the Ukraine conflict drawing to a close?
The article says that the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, flagging support among NATO nations, and the urgency of the Gaza situation are, combined, “creating an opportune moment for a deal.”
An upcoming diplomatic exchange gives the lie to Russia’s supposed international isolation: Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will visit Russia over Dec. 25-29, 2023. Jaishankar’s agenda includes discussion of economic cooperation and meetings with Sergey Lavrov and the Foreign Ministry of Russia.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran has claimed, following the Houthi actions to significantly control access to the Red Sea, that the U.S. and its allies “will soon have to wait for the Mediterranean Sea, Gibraltar and other waterways to be closed to them.” While a closure of Gibraltar is hardly as easy as the actions taken from Yemen to control access to the Red Sea, even partial threats to shipping can cause major increases in insurance rates, affecting global trade significantly, with follow-on effects on the pricing for air cargo.
Furthermore, the British, terrified of peace breaking out in Ibero-America, have dispatched not only diplomatic forces, but now a naval vessel to fan conflict in the region. Following the Dec. 14 meeting in which the Presidents of Venezuela and Guyana agreed not to use force to resolve their border dispute, the British first sent Minister for the Americas and Caribbean Overseas Territories David Rutley to Guyana on Dec. 18 to “reaffirm its support for Guyana on the first ministerial visit to the country from a G7 nation since the Venezuelan regime renewed its border claim on the Essequibo region,” as reported the U.K.’s press release. Rutley would “stress unequivocal backing for Guyana’s territorial integrity.” Now, the British are sending a patrol vessel, HMS Trent, to conduct exercises with “regional ally and Commonwealth partner Guyana later this month.”
The world is sick of war! Another direction is needed. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works.”
It is time to turn the bloated, wasteful, and deadly industrial component of the U.S. Military-Financial-Industrial Complex to good account, through its conversion to useful production, as discussed in this EIR report.
“It’s not yet too late,” Helga Zepp-LaRouche reminds us in her Christmas message “Turn Swords into Plowshares.” She writes:
We need to replace the war cries for ever “more weapons” with a return to diplomacy and the idea that we can—and must—resolve all conflicts through negotiation, if we are to avoid ending up in global nuclear war and a nuclear winter, which would wipe out all memory of humanity’s existence.
Instead of the greed of the speculators of the MIFC, Wall Street, and the City of London, whose high rates of profit rely on taxpayer money pouring into new wars, we must defend the existential interest of the population: The interests of farmers, small and medium-sized businesses, train drivers, bakers, etc.
Swords to plowshares!
Justice can only lie in the future. Matthew 5:
Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
