Are You Missing Out on the Revolution Underway in the World?

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2023 - EIR Daily Alert Service

Feb. 2, 2023 (EIRNS)—The Schiller Institute is holding an international conference this Saturday, Feb. 4 to which you are invited. The subjects of its two panels tell you how big this discussion will be: “How Nuclear World War III Can Be Avoided,” and “The Name of Peace: A New Security and Economic Development Architecture.”

This is your opportunity to join other thinking people, from across the world, to discuss through how humanity can replace this hated old order which has led the world to the brink of nuclear war, in time. You will find out you are not alone, in realizing that this collapsing old order, which protects the rights of the billionaires, but neglects the billions of people who suffer from scarcity, has to be replaced. You will experience that special happiness and optimism which comes from participating in a serious discussion with people from other countries and cultures about how our nature as creative human beings allows us to change the course of history, when so needed.

Most people will find there that they don’t really know what is going on “out there,” which you need to know to be able to help bring about the changes we need. Take the following examples:

Did you or your neighbor know that while the media are telling you not to worry about nuclear war, because Russia and its military are about to collapse, President Putin and the Russian people today celebrated the 80th anniversary of their victory against the Nazi invaders at Stalingrad, as the “eternal symbol of the invincibility of our people”?

And the at the solemn celebration of that victory, the Russian President issued a reminder: “Those seeking to defeat Russia on the battlefield apparently do not realize that a modern war with Russia would be entirely different for them. We’re not sending our tanks to their borders. Yet we have something to respond with, and it would not be limited to armor use only, everyone must realize that.”

It would be highly advisable, in fact, for you to know that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov this week issued very similar warnings, that the Russians recognize that the strategic goal of the United States and NATO’s war in Ukraine, is the “strategic defeat” of Russia, “to cut Russia’s name from the political map of the world,” and on that basis, there is nothing that can be discussed. But those same high-level officials said again to the United States: If you give up your “ambition to defeat or deal a strategic blow to the Russian Federation ... then we will be ready to take a constructive look at U.S. proposals.”

How about the fact that the Pentagon is preparing plans to fight a war with China, a nation of 1.4 billion people which is the fastest-growing technological power in the world, while fighting a war at the same time with the nuclear weapons power, Russia? Isn’t that something you had better find out about fast? China’s People’s Liberation Army published an article on its website this week with the message that China does not want war with the U.S.! But, by the way, should the U.S. provoke that fight, the PLA reported elsewhere, China has a new hypersonic anti-ship missile which can reach the speed of Mach 10 by the time it hits its target.

There are forces already in motion all over the world, however, to stop this madness. Did you, or your neighbor know that nearly 3 million men and women took to the streets of some 250 cities across France on Jan. 31, in protest against government policies which cut their living standards in order to bail out the speculators and feed a war in Ukraine which threatens to go nuclear? That the next day, the largest strike in a decade took place in the U.K., for basically the same reasons?

How about the fact that 16 nations of Southern Africa, despite most of them being poor and struggling, had the gumption to issue a statement telling the U.S. government that they do not, and will not support NATO’s war against Russia, despite all the former’s threats?

Are any of your neighbors discussing the fact that President of Brazil Lula da Silva proposed on Jan. 30 that Brazil, China, India, and Indonesia get together to help negotiate a peaceful end to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, instead of feeding the conflict by shipping in more and more arms? Lula’s initiative is not some gesture made off the top of his head. It buttresses the offer of Pope Francis of the Vatican as a venue for peace negotiations to end the conflict. Both initiatives increase the pressure to abandon the drive to crush Russia and China.

Join us in “conspiring” this weekend on how to turn this potential into a force strong enough to overturn this rotten system and bring about peace through development!

• Watch Harley’s Updates with Harley Schlanger on Friday February 3, 2023: Every weekday morning on The LaRouche Organization, Schlanger will give you the strategic briefing you need to start your day.

STRATEGIC SHOWDOWN

Putin Cites the Battle of Stalingrad as ‘The Eternal Symbol of the Invincibility of Our People’

Feb. 2, 2023 (EIRNS)—Today is a sacred day in Russian history, the 80th anniversary of the Feb. 2, 1942, marking the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. Paying homage to those who fought and died during that six-month battle, one of the largest and longest in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), President Vladimir Putin laid wreaths at the Eternal Flame at the Hall of Military Glory in Volgograd—the renamed Stalingrad—and at the gravesite of Marshal Vasily Chuikov, the extraordinary commander of the 62nd Army responsible for the defense of the city and the final defeat of the Nazi forces.

Putin’s very moving message not only drove home the meaning of that 1942 victory, but the memory it seared in the minds of generations that followed and its relevance for Russia’s battle against Nazism in Ukraine today. “Our moral duty—first of all to the victorious soldiers—is to cherish and fully preserve the memory of this feat, pass it on to future generations, not allow anyone to belittle or distort the role of the Battle of Stalingrad in the victory over Nazism, in the liberation of the whole world from this monstrous evil,” he said.

“Those who threaten us seem to fail to understand the simple truth that our entire nation, all of us, were brought up and absorbed our people’s traditions with our mothers’ milk. There was the generation of victors who gave their blood, sweat and tears to create the country that we inherited from them.” Stalingrad, he emphasized, will always represent the “eternal symbol of the invincibility of our people, the essence of life.”

As for the current Ukrainian situation, it is “unbelievable, but true,” Putin said. “We are once again threatened with German Leopard tanks, with crosses on their hull. And once again seeking to battle Russia in Ukraine with the help of Hitler’s followers, the Banderites.”

He added a warning: “Those seeking to defeat Russia on the battlefield apparently do not realize that a modern war with Russia would be entirely different for them. We’re not sending our tanks to their borders. Yet we have something to respond with, and it would not be limited to armor use only, everyone must realize that.”

The Russian President pointed out that after the war, Stalingrad and its environs “had to be restored literally from scratch by the whole country,” because “there was practically not a single tree, not a single building left intact” in the city by February 1943. “The exceptional steadfastness and dedication of the defenders of the residents of Stalingrad look as deeply astounding now as they did then, and arouse feelings of the sincerest gratitude and respect.”

West Seeks a ‘Lasting Strategic Defeat’ of Russia in Ukraine, Says Lavrov

Feb. 2, 2023 (EIRNS)—In his wide-ranging interview with TV host Dmitry Kiselyov for Rossiya-24 TV and RIA Novosti today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that the West seeks to make Russia suffer “a lasting strategic defeat” in Ukraine. “What is it if not racism, Nazism, and an attempt to find a solution to ‘the Russian question?’ ” he asked. With their unending sanctions, he continued, Western nations hope to cripple Russia completely, to bring a “decade of regression,” as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen bluntly put it.

“We are in the center of a geopolitical battle. There is no doubt about it,” Lavrov said. Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine are “heroes” whose “deeds are for the future of mankind, in which there will be no conditions for full U.S. hegemony,” said Lavrov, in the hour and 20 minute interview.

He affirmed that, naturally, everyone wants the Ukraine conflict to end. The key, however, is not the timing, but a “quality end-result that we can secure for our nations, for those people who want to remain part of Russian culture and who have for years been deprived of all things Russia by the Kiev junta with Western connivance. At this point, we are acting based on the principle proclaimed by our Western colleagues: victory should be won on the battlefield. This is their clear formula, and they were the ones who refused to negotiate.”

Lavrov’s discussion of Russian-Chinese relations was instructive. Relations are as strong as ever, he said, with “no restrictions, no limits, and no issues banned for discussion.” Both Moscow and Beijing simply want to pursue national development “within the framework of existing norms of international trade.”

And, he emphasized, “China beats America on its own turf under its own rules.” That is why the U.S. “is reneging on the economic principles that it spread across the world and benefited from in the past.” But, as Moscow sees it, the current form of globalization “no longer has positive traits,” Lavrov said, adding that “we realized it sooner because we were the first to take a punch.” Russia had “less immersion” than China in the U.S.-influenced global financial system and other mechanisms, which Washington now abuses, he explained.

Lavrov predicted that it will take China some time to reduce its involvement with those mechanisms and create alternative tools to defend its interests, but it is moving in that direction.

Ambassador Antonov Stresses U.S. Doesn’t Hide That It Seeks the Strategic Defeat of Russia

Feb. 2, 2023 (EIRNS)—Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov, speaking on Rossiya-1 TV yesterday, told his fellow Russians that the United States goal is the strategic defeat of Russia, to wipe Russia off the world’s political map, reported TASS.

“The political circles in Washington do not hide the goal of their war on the Ukrainian territory, and my tongue did not slip—to inflict a strategic defeat to Russia, to exhaust and to wear down our country. ... They want to drive a wedge between us and former Soviet republics, they threaten them with sanctions, they persuade them that all cooperation with us must be stopped and all ties must be cut. The Russophobes have decided to cut Russia’s name from the political map of the world. These ideas are not propaganda slogans and not a figure of speech. This is indeed a real situation in our relations,” he said bluntly.

As for the New START strategic arms treaty, Antonov stated that nothing is on the table to replace it when it expires in 2026. But, Antonov stressed, Moscow is ready to make a constructive assessment of U.S. proposals on strategic security—as soon as Washington reconsiders its anti-Russian stance:

“A question arises as to what should be done for the [New START] Treaty to work in full? It’s very simple: the United States should make a revision of their anti-Russian policies. They should refrain from an ambition to defeat or deal a strategic blow to the Russian Federation, and then we will be ready to take a constructive look at U.S. proposals. Otherwise, any progress on our part would hardly be justified.”

Antonov reiterated that Washington had been ignoring Moscow’s concerns for years. The Russian Federation still views the New START Treaty “as important and useful. We proceed from the fact that the treaty still ensures predictability in relations between the largest nuclear powers.”

Antonov argued that the U.S. has made “an important strategic mistake. They have, in fact, started a conflict with two nuclear powers, or putting it into simple words—they are trying to fight on two fronts. One should take a look at news reports delivered by the Pentagon via major U.S. media outlets, in which they state that Washington prepares for war with China over Taiwan.

“Once again, red lines were mentioned there. However, there are no red lines, and frankly speaking, I can hardly imagine how Americans will start direct hostilities with China over Taiwan.” This, Antonov added, “at the same time, Americans keep reiterating that they are committed to their policy of One China,” that acknowledges Taiwan is part of China.

People’s Liberation Army Describes a New Hypersonic Missile

Feb. 2, 2023 (EIRNS)—The Chinese PLA has taken the unusual step of announcing the performance characteristics of a new hypersonic missile that it is bringing into service. South China Morning Post reported overnight that the PLA had posted an article on the popular Chinese Weibo platform, announcing the performance characteristics of its YJ-21 anti-ship missile. Notable is that the PLA claims that the YJ-21 travels to the target at a velocity of Mach 6 but accelerates to Mach 10 before it strikes the target, making it impossible to defend against.

The public debut of the missile at an air show in November shows that “the Chinese Navy has begun to establish a more destructive combat system in the offshore defense system, which has brought its denial combat capability to a higher level,” the article reads.

U.S. General Suggesting War against China by 2025 Criticized by His Airmen

Feb. 2, 2023 (EIRNS)—It appears that some of the airmen of Air Mobility Command think that their commander, Gen. Mike Minihan, has more than a few screws loose. According to a report in Military.com—based on sources who insisted on remaining anonymous for obvious reasons—many of those who received Minihan’s memo last week, warning them to prepare for U.S. war against China by 2025, thought it was sent in error. Some were said to be shocked at what they read.

In particular, the section advising airmen to “fire a clip” and “aim for the head” was widely criticized by airmen. “I am not aware of a single incident where an aircrew member has shot someone in the head,” a C-17 pilot told Military.com. “His direction completely misses the mark. AMC moves cargo; we are not SEAL Team 6.”

Another officer said fellow airmen noticed Minihan’s use of “clip” instead of the proper term, a magazine, was “inaccurate” and that the advice to “aim for the head” was seen as “dramatic.” Additionally, marksmanship training in the military does not typically teach service members to aim for the head in combat but, rather, to aim for the center mass of a target to increase the chances of landing a shot.

Military.com reports that Minihan has a history of “pugilistic” rhetoric, particularly stressing lethality. The commander is more than pugilistic, however. His repeated exhortations to the men and women of the U.S. Air Force to take pleasure, sexual and otherwise, in killing, is not “tough-guy” military talk, but downright Satanic.

“Lethality matters most,” Minihan said in a speech at the Air Force Association conference last fall. “When you can kill your enemy, every part of your life is better. Your food tastes better, your marriage is stronger.” Reportedly shouting at times in this speech, he later remarked: “We are lethal. Do not apologize for it. The pile of our nation’s enemy dead, the pile that is the biggest, is in front of the United States Air Force.” During another speech to airmen last Oct. 27, Minihan ranted that “victory will ride on your shoulders, and the main theme is unrepentant lethality! And if we do that America’s peace, prosperity and prestige is strengthened. That’s all you need to know.”

The Pentagon has distanced itself from Minihan’s remarks—but he has not been dishonorably discharged, as is merited.

“The National Defense Strategy makes clear that China is the pacing challenge for the Department of Defense and our focus remains on working alongside allies and partners to preserve a peaceful, free and open Indo-Pacific,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a Jan. 31 statement to news media. Asked about the Minihan memo specifically, the Pentagon forwarded a statement attributed to an unnamed Defense Department official saying, “These comments are not representative of the department’s view on China.”

Minihan is a career C-130 pilot who held a number of staff and command positions in U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Forces Korea over ten years or so before assuming command of AMC in October 2021. The Air Mobility Command itself is a component command of U.S. Transportation Command, responsible for the operation of cargo and air-refueling aircraft. It has no combat responsibilities and none of its airmen are likely to find themselves assigned to combat inside the first island chain, or anywhere else for that matter.

The Economist Insists West Start Training Ukrainians To Fly F16s Now

Feb. 2, 2023 (EIRNS)—Why all the opposition in the West to sending fighter jets to Ukraine, asks The Economist nastily in a Feb. 1 “Explainer.” The talk that Russia will view them as “escalatory” is the “excuse [that] has been offered almost every time Ukraine has asked the West for new or improved capabilities,” the miserable City of London weekly writes dismissively. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is, “as usual ... the leader of the laggards,” but President Biden is “seemingly among them,” too, it complains.

Training Ukrainian pilots and ground crews to handle U.S. F-16s or F-17s should begin “immediately,” The Economist insists, so that when the planes are sent, as sent they will be, Ukrainian forces will be ready to deploy them in Ukraine’s planned spring offensive.

Why does The Economist smugly assert that the fighter jets will be sent? Because “many of Ukraine’s supporters in the West have become convinced that it is not enough for Ukraine to avoid defeat, but that Russia must lose.

“The Netherlands has already indicated a willingness to send its F-16s. Ukraine says Poland is considering the same. The Pentagon is said to be preparing to give its assent to such exports,” it claims. “If the West believes that without better fighter jets, Russia will eventually establish dominance over its airspace, it should provide them: this time sooner rather than later.”

Türkiye Adamant against Sweden’s NATO Membership as Long as It Permits Quran Burning

Feb. 2, 2023 (EIRNS)—Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled out approving Sweden’s membership in NATO as long as Swedish authorities allow the burning of the Quran on their streets. “We will not say yes to [Sweden’s] entry into NATO as long as you allow our holy book, the Quran, to be burned, torn apart, and to be done with [approval of] your security personnel,” he said Feb. 1, reported Anadolu. “We closely follow developments regarding NATO’s enlargement process. Our view on Finland is positive, but not on Sweden.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, during a visit to Tallinn, Estonia, the same day, said that “despite the political will that the new Swedish government has expressed during our meetings, we have not seen any concrete steps” towards implementation of the tripartite memorandum that the three countries signed in Madrid, last summer. Reiterating Ankara’s commitment to NATO enlargement, Cavusoglu cautioned that “as allies and friends, we should understand each other’s legitimate security concerns, not just one side’s concerns.”

Cavusoglu specified that the issue of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its Syrian associates YPG, and their supporters in Finland and Sweden is not about their propaganda activities but about their seeking financing and recruitment. “It does not matter who is behind these actions. It is Sweden’s responsibility to prevent these actions,” he said.

COLLAPSING WESTERN SYSTEM

French Protests Growing against Macron’s Austerity Dictates

Feb. 2, 2023 (EIRNS)—On Tuesday Jan. 31, it is estimated that some 3 million people took part in demonstrations, rallies, and strikes in nearly 250 protests all over France, going beyond the Jan. 19 protests, which were already massive.

The CGT trade union said 2.8 million protested nationwide, with 500,000 in Paris alone. The French Interior Ministry said that a total of 1.272 million people took part in the protests nationwide and 87,000 in Paris. According to the figures communicated by the prefectures, there were 14,000 demonstrators in Rouen, 12,000 in Le Havre, and 28,000 in Nantes, up from 25,000 on Jan. 19. In Marseille, some 40,000 people were marching, a sharp increase from the 26,000 on Jan. 19. As earlier, the medium-sized cities seemed to be in the lead with 7,000 demonstrators in Alès (population 35,000) and 8,500 in Angoulême (population 42,000).

The protests severely disrupted transport, cancelling three-quarters of the trains outside Paris. The CGT said at least three-quarters of workers at TotalEnergies oil refineries and fuel depots walked off the job. Power plants reported reduced production after workers struck at EDF, the main electricity company. One of the leading teachers’ unions said some 55% of secondary school teachers had walked out. High school students staged protests outside some schools, and students said they would occupy Sciences Po university in Paris in support of the strikers.

A poll by BFM-TV on Feb. 1 found that 71% of French people oppose the government’s pension “reform,” which triggered these protests; 28% say they favor the reform, and 1% undecided. Some 66% replied they want the demonstrations and strikes to continue, I order to force the government to back down.

Both the IMF, and CEO of Twitter and Tesla, Elon Musk, are aware that a defeat of Macron could inspire many others in other countries. Therefore, they decided to interfere in the internal affairs of France. On Jan. 30, the eve of the demonstrations, the IMF released a statement insisting that Macron’s reform is essential for the financial system. From his side, on Jan. 20, one day after the first set of protests, Musk, who had had a secret encounter with the French President on Dec. 22 in New Orleans, tweeted that “Macron is doing the difficult, but right thing,”

Latest Raids by Ukraine’s Security Police Launch ‘Spring Jailings’

Feb. 2, 2023 (EIRNS)—On Feb. 1, Ukraine’s SBU state security and State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) carried out raids that included the property of the former Interior Minister Arsen Avakov (2014 to 2021).

Avakov certainly knows where some bodies of Kiev’s opposition are buried. However, he explained, according to Ukrainskaya Pravda, that agents “were looking into Airbus contracts from six years ago,” and this much is undoubtedly true. When he ran the SBU, they had purchased dozens of second-hand French-made H225 helicopters, which bore a problematic track record. On Jan. 18, 2023 one of them crashed in a residential neighborhood near Kiev, killing all onboard, including Avakov’s successor as Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, the first deputy minister, and four other Interior Ministry officials.

The SBU also raided yesterday the premises of Ihor Kolomoisky, the billionaire sponsor of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s television career and his presidential campaign. Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency reported that SBU and SBI agents were interested in the activities of two energy companies, Ukrtatnafta and Ukrnafta. Zelenskyy had turned on Kolomoisky last spring, stripping him of citizenship via a dubious assertion of extra-constitutional powers.

Yet another target of the SBU raids was a longtime member of Ukraine’s unicameral Verkhovna Rada, Vadym Stolar. Before Zelenskyy abolished 11 political parties last year, Stolar was a member of the largest one, the Opposition Bloc—For Life.

The parliamentary head of Zelenskyy’s party Servant of the People, David Arakhamia, explained on social media yesterday, that the raids were part of the Kiev regime’s “spring jailings.... The country will change during the war. If somebody is not prepared to change, the state will come to them and help change.”

NEW WORLD PARADIGM

Iran and Russia Agree on Separate Bank Messaging System, Outside SWIFT

Feb. 2, 2023 (EIRNS)—Iran and Russia have signed a financial-messaging agreement under which banks of those two countries can transfer funds between one another outside the Western finance-controlled SWIFT system, from which both are largely blocked by Western sanctions. The MOU of the agreement, which had been in the works for a year, was signed on Jan. 29 at a ceremony in Tehran, with officials from both nations present, Al-Monitor reported. Citing the business website, Tehran Bazaar, Al Monitor says Iran’s Shahr Bank and Russia’s VTB Bank will be involved in the initial pilot program.

Southern African Nations Affirm Their Non-Alignment on Extra-Regional Conflict

Feb. 2, 2023 (EIRNS)—The Extraordinary Organ Troika summit of the heads of state and government of the 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) met in emergency session Jan. 31 to discuss issues related to regional peace and security. Meeting in Winhoek, the capital of Namibia, members examined the security situations in Eswatini and Lesotho with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as tensions between D.R. Congo and Mozambique.

The heads of state and government of Zambia, Lesotho, Namibia, Eswatini, and South Africa, attended, as well as relevant ministers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique. Host Namibia President Dr. Hage Geingob chaired the meeting.

As this news service has documented, the U.S. White House, State Department, and Congress have repeatedly pressured African leaders to abandon neutrality on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and side with the West in denouncing Russia. The SADC final communiqué on the meeting took the opportunity to make clear that these tactics have failed. It states:

“Summit adopted the draft African Union Declaration on the U.S.A. proposed ‘Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act’ and urged Member States to communicate SADC’s position, and reaffirmed the stance of Non-Alignment on conflicts outside the continent and the region at multilateral fora. “

African News Agency (ANA) explained Feb. 1, that the draft African Union declaration to which SADC referred opposes the U.S. “Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act,” passed by the House of Representatives in April 2022 and awaiting passage in the Senate, which “seeks to punish African countries that maintain political and economic relations with Russia.” During her Jan. 23 visit to Moscow, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor roundly attacked the bill, saying it “should be torn up and not proceed in any form or state.”

ANA elaborated that “the law is broadly worded, enabling the U.S. State Department to monitor the foreign policy of the Russian Federation in Africa, including military affairs and any effort which Washington deems as ‘malign influence.’ The U.S. government would have to counter such activities, including through foreign aid programs.... Among other measures, it would ‘hold accountable the Russian Federation and African governments and their officials who are complicit in aiding such malign influence and activities.’ ”

Thus, ANA notes, “the SADC leaders reaffirmed their collective position of non-alignment towards conflicts outside the continent, insisting that they would not be drawn to take sides in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.”

Reach the source of this article at www.larouchepub.com