World war danger updates

Russian Defense Ministry Warns NATO Black Sea Exercises Foreshadow Possible Ukraine Conflict

November 10, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Russia, Ukraine, United States, World war danger updates

Russian Defense Ministry Warns NATO Black Sea Exercises Foreshadow Possible Ukraine Conflict –

Nov. 9, 2021 (EIRNS)—The Russian Defense Ministry warned today that its forces are closely watching the U.S.-led multinational exercises in the Black Sea multinational group of armed forces near the Russian border” through exercises shaped by possible military action by the Ukrainian regime in southeast Ukraine.

The Tass report on the Defense Ministry statement reads, in part, as follows:

“Currently, the U.S. Navy’s guided missile destroyer Porter, tanker John Lenthall and command ship Mount Whitney are deployed to the Black Sea. Two US Air Force B-1B long-range strategic bombers performed flights over the Black Sea at a distance of 100 km from the Russian state border…. ‘These are unscheduled moves by the U.S. military that is setting up a multinational group of armed forces in close proximity to the Russian border,’ the Defense Ministry stressed.

“As the Russian Defense Ministry explained, the U.S. warships have arrived to take part in multinational drills that the U.S. European Command is holding in the Black Sea region. Such moves are a destabilizing factor in the region and, in particular, pursue the goal of the military exploitation of Ukrainian territory, the ministry stressed.

“‘Considering that in addition to the U.S. Navy, the drills will involve tactical, patrol and strategic aircraft, and also the contingents of the armed forces of Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine, this is evidence of an attempt to study the prospective theater of military operations in [the] case that Kiev prepares a use-of-force scenario in the southeast’,” the statement says.

The Russian Defense Ministry is doing more than “closely watching” these U.S.-led exercises. The Black Sea Fleet’s small anti-submarine warfare ships and anti-submarine helicopter have carried out exercises for locating, tracking, and then attacking “a notional enemy submarine” in the Black Sea, Tass reported yesterday, practicing air defense for a surface strike group in transit by sea, accomplishing surface-to-air missile and artillery firings against aerial targets.” In this extremely dangerous situation, U.S. Sec. of State Blinken is holding a “Strategic Dialogue” with his Ukrainian counterpart this Wednesday (Nov. 10). U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price spoke of how the U.S. supports “de-escalation in the region and a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine,” but then went on to repeat that “we stand with Ukraine, we stand with Kyiv, and condemn all Russian aggression against Ukraine in all forms.”

China Labels U.S. Foreign Policy on Xinjiang “Weasel Diplomacy”

May 13, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in China, Color Revolutions, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, United States, World war danger updates

May 12 (EIRNS)—China very appropriately has labeled as “weasel policy” U.S. policy toward Xinjiang. Today at the United Nations, the permanent missions of the U.S., the U.K, Germany and an array of NGOs are holding an event on Xinjiang and “the repression of Uighur Muslims.” The spokesman for China’s UN mission issued a hard-hitting statement in response to this insult, while the semi-official Global Times titled its article on the subject: “U.S. `weasel diplomacy’ will not function in Xinjiang.” During the May 10 Foreign Ministry briefing, spokeswoman Hua Chunying also asserted that U.S. behavior on Xinjiang was “just like the weasel paying respect to the hen, without the best of intentions.” Global Times quotes professor Li Haidong, from the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, who warned that the purpose of this “weasel diplomacy” is to turn Xinjiang into another Afghanistan. The proverb quoted by Hua, he said, is that a weasel may put on a friendly face, but will always find the opportunity to catch the hen and eat it.

Global Times adds that this weasel diplomacy has brought war to many countries, pointing to how the U.S. “ruthlessly and barbarically inflamed turmoil in Afghanistan for its own interests,” yet now pretends to care about Xinjiang’s Muslims. It won’t work in Xinjiang, GT admonishes, because Xinjiang “is neither Ukraine nor Afghanistan–China has strong national power, rich resources and powerful strategies.” Li pointedly warns, “If the U.S. tends to believe it could stir up internal chaos in China, it must have overestimated its own strength and underestimated China’s ability to resist external pressures.”

The Chinese UN mission’s statement points to the “sheer lies and political bias” of today’s UN event, and particularly attacks the fact that in the middle of a global pandemic, and when nations should be acting in solidarity to face the challenge of defeating the pandemic, the co-sponsors of this event are obsessed with undermining the unity and collaboration of Member States–violating the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. The spokesman slams the U.S.’s sanctimonious claims of defending Uighur Muslims, when its perpetual wars have slaughtered Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria–killing civilians and displacing tens of millions. The U.S. doesn’t care about the deaths of almost one million Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria but is “very keen” on Uighur Muslims in China, he says. Today’s event, he intones, is “outright political farce.” The full Global Times article is here.

Schlanger on Caesar Sanctions Posted by Russian International Affairs Council

April 20, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Color Revolutions, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Media coverage of our activity, Our initiatives (petitions, etc), Stop the Sanctions, World war danger updates

Schlanger on Caesar Sanctions Posted by Russian International Affairs Council

April 19: An article by Harley Schlanger, just written for LaRouche publications on Helga’ Zepp-LaRouche’s call to revoke the Caesar Sanctions, and how the U.S. Congress was incited to pass them, has been posted on the RIAC (Russia International Affairs Council) site. In addition, the RIAC tweeted the article to its 9,500 Twitter followers. RIAC is a institution of the Russian Foreign Minister, and is directed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Here is a link to the Tweet.

Syria Times Reports Dr. Shaaban Attacking British at Schiller Event

May 11, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Activity of the Schiller Institute, Color Revolutions, General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Media coverage of our activity, Our conferences, Syria, Syria, World war danger updates

May 10 (EIRNS) – Schiller Institute Southwest Asia representative Hussein Askary reported to EIR that Syrian media is publishing a news item today in which it is made obvious that Syrian government spokesperson Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban used the Schiller Institute conference as a platform to single out the British as instrumental in the propaganda and psychological war against Syria. Dr. Shaaban usually directs her criticism for the military and economy devastation visited upon Syria, at the United States and Saudi Arabia; seldom at Britain. This link is for the English version of the circulating story in Syria Times. The Arabic version was published in several Arabic newspapers and websites, Askary reports.

NYT Opinion Writer: Biden’s Taiwan Policy “Reckless,” Threatens “Catastrophic War”

May 6, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in China, General, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, United States, World war danger updates

May 6 (EIRNS)–Under the title: “Biden’s Taiwan Policy Is Truly, Deeply Reckless,” the New York Times Opinion writer Peter Beinart warned on May 5 that the Administration’s policy is bringing us very close to war, and quotes experts that the war would become nuclear. He also quotes military experts that the U.S. could not win such a war — simply driving home that such a war would likely become nuclear by a desperate and crazy U.S. leadership.

Beinart writes: “Like the Trump administration before it, the Biden team is now progressively chipping away” at the One China policy, which has prevented war over these past decades.

He notes: “Last summer, Democrats removed the phrase `one China’ from their platform. In January, Mr. Biden became the first American president since 1978 to host Taiwan’s envoy at his inauguration. In April, his administration announced it was easing decades-old limitations on official U.S. contacts with the Taiwanese government. These policies are increasing the odds of a catastrophic war. The more the United States and Taiwan formally close the door on reunification, the more likely Beijing is to seek reunification by force.”

Beinart quotes Harvard’s Graham Allison: “No Chinese national security official I have ever met, and no U.S. official who has examined the situation, doubts that China would choose war over losing territory it considers vital to its national interest.” He quotes Fareed Zakaria: “The Pentagon has reportedly enacted 18 war games against China over Taiwan, and China has prevailed in every one.” He notes: “Within 500 miles of the island, mainland China boasts 39 air bases. The United States possesses two. To come to Taiwan’s aid, U.S. forces would need to cover huge distances, and China has built an arsenal of advanced anti-ship missiles, sometimes called “carrier-killers,” which are designed to make such a rescue mission hideously costly.”

In other words, the U.S. can not win such a conventional war. Beinart notes: “Some of America’s most experienced China experts — including former ambassador to Beijing J. Stapleton Roy and Chas Freeman, who served as Richard Nixon’s interpreter on his 1972 trip to China — believe such a conflict would risk nuclear war. He adds that, according to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 85 percent of Republican leaders support defending Taiwan militarily, but “only 43 percent of Republicans among the public agree.”

He concludes: “What’s crucial is that the Taiwanese people preserve their individual freedom and the planet does not endure a third world war. The best way for the United States to pursue those goals is by maintaining America’s military support for Taiwan while also maintaining the “one China” framework that for more than four decades has helped keep the peace in one of the most dangerous places on earth. Hawks will call this appeasement. So be it. Ask them how many American lives they’re willing to risk so the United States can have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan.”

Beinart is a professor of journalism and political science at The Newmark School of Journalism at The City University of New York, and is editor-at-large of the “progressive” Jewish Currents..

End Sanctions, Create a New Paradigm

May 10, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Activity of the Schiller Institute, Economic development updates, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Our conferences, World war danger updates

End Sanctions, Create a New Paradigm –

May 9 (EIRNS)—“It seems to me that if mankind is going to survive or not as a species, are we going to go extinct or not, really depends on whether we can overcome being victimized by imperial thinking—divide and conquer—and letting ourselves be in this camp, hostile to the other camp. Or, can we somehow evoke in ourselves and in others this quality of the inner self-development in cohesion with the lawfulness of the creation of the universe?

“It seems to me that this is a method which absolutely must be applied now. I think that on the question of somehow overcoming this geopolitical confrontation, or especially the divisions of identity politics which are increasing divisions by the day—we have to somehow find this inner mechanism, this inner idea which makes us all human belonging to the one human species. Given the pandemic, and the fact that we are really in an unbelievable crisis—a moral crisis, a political, medical, military crisis, an economic crisis, a financial crisis—that we have to start somewhere where we address this question of what makes us all human, and that is the sacredness of every human life on this planet…. And I think we will be able to do that, because I think human beings have the potential to be human.”

With these words Helga Zepp-LaRouche opened the second panel of the Schiller Institute conference “The Moral Collapse of the Trans-Atlantic World Cries Out for a New Paradigm,” an event which brought together speakers from the United States, Europe, South America, Syria, Afghanistan, and Japan. Confronted with the deadly realities of the threat of nuclear war, of pandemic and famine, and of the neo-Malthusianism that has infected the minds of so many and stymies their acting against the very real threats to humanity as a whole.

Barbaric sanctions—murder conducted in the name of “human rights”— are a disgusting tool used to crush countries into submission. The Saudi blockade of Yemen, the U.S. extension of deadly sanctions on Syria—these are clear expressions. But what of the sanctions demanded by the likes of supposedly “progressive” people?

What of the Green demand that nations not develop, not utilize their resources, and not have growing populations?

Whether sanctions take the form of U.S. opposition to a government (think Syria, Russia, Iran), or the Great Reset’s opposition to an atmospheric gas (CO2), the effect of their implementation is to crush development and deprive people of their lives, livelihoods, and futures.

We must not be moral failures! A world in which an accident could result in the unleashing of a barrage of hundreds of nuclear missiles and thousands of warheads, absolutely devastating civilization is not a world that can be tolerated, nor one suitable to the inherent dignity of the human individual.

Share the Schiller Institute conference and rise to the level of thought and action the present demands and the future deserves. (There is a brief 1 min. lag in start of the video.)

Afghanistan IG Blasts State & Defense Departments for Restricting Information on Afghanistan

October 31, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Afghanistan, General updates, Geopolitics updates, United States, World war danger updates

Oct. 30 (EIRNS)–John Sopko, the Special Inspector General For Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), blasted the State and Defense departments for their lack of cooperation with his office in remarks prepared for the Military Reporters & Editors Association Annual Conference yesterday. “U.S. agencies have not made honest reporting easy for SIGAR” or for the news media in reporting on the war in Afghanistan, he said. Sopko described efforts, some very recent, by the two departments to restrict the information available to the public in SIGAR’s reports, among them the fact that SIGAR has to put some information for its quarterly reports into classified annexes, all of which, he argued, should be declassified.

The State Department claims that its requests to restrict information is to protect Afghans who worked with the U.S. occupation but, Sopko said, “State was never able to describe any specific threats to individuals that were supposedly contained in our reports, nor did State ever explain how removing our reports now could possibly protect anyone since many were years old and already extensively disseminated worldwide.”

Sopko reported that he recently received a letter from the State Department asking that 2,400 items on the SIGAR website, attached to the letter in spreadsheet form, be redacted. “[I]t quickly became clear to us that State had little, if any, criteria for determining whether the information actually endangered anyone – and I think you will agree with me that some of the requests were bizarre to say the least.” Among them was a request that SIGAR redact the name of Ashraf Ghani from its reports. “While I’m sure the former President may wish to be excised from the annals of history, I don’t believe he faces any threats simply from being referenced by SIGAR,” Sopko said. He added that SIGAR’s own risk assessment found all but four of State’s 2,400 redaction requests to be without merit.

Sopko argued that the main reason why few people understand why the U.S./NATO-created Afghan government fell so quickly in August is because of the information that the State and Defense departments have withheld from release. This includes information compiled on the performance of the Afghan security forces since 2015. “This information almost certainly would have benefited Congress and the public in assessing whether progress was being made in Afghanistan and, more importantly, whether we should have ended our efforts there earlier,” Sopko said. “Yet SIGAR was forced to relegate this information into classified appendices, making it much more difficult for Members of Congress to access the information, and completely eliminating public and press access to and discussion of that information.”

The documents now known as the Afghanistan Papers were originally produced in Sopko’s office and they showed, among other things, that the private assessments of U.S. officials often contradicted their public statements on the “progress” the U.S. was making in Afghanistan.

SIGAR also released its latest quarterly report, yesterday, in which it found that more than $100 billion went down the drain when the government collapsed on August 15. The United States provided $89 billion in training and equipping the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces and more than $17 billion “in on-budget assistance” to the Afghan government, according to the report. The net result of all of this expenditure is now zero as the government it was meant to support no longer exists.

Speaking at Victory Day Parade, Russian President Warns of Present Danger

May 10, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Russia, World war danger updates

Speaking at Victory Day Parade, Russian President Warns of Present Danger –

May 9 (EIRNS)—Speaking on the occasion of the anniversary of Victory Day on May 9th at the Victory Day Parade in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “The war brought upon us so many unbearable ordeals, grief and tears that it is impossible to forget. Those who are plotting new aggressions cannot be forgiven or justified….

“History demands that we learn from it. Unfortunately, attempts are made to deploy a large part of Nazi ideology and the ideas of those who were obsessed with the delusional theory of their own supremacy,” stressed the Russian President.

With Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon at his side, Putin asked for a minute of silence to commemorate the “blessed memory” of all those who died in the war and to “mourn the veterans who have passed,” after which he continued: “This year, we celebrate 80 years since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. June 22, 1941, is one of the most tragic dates in our history. An enemy attacked our country and invaded our land to kill and to spread death and pain, horror and immeasurable suffering. This enemy not only wanted to overthrow the Soviet political system but also to destroy us as a state, as a nation and wipe our peoples off the face of the Earth.

“We responded to the invasion by the Nazi hordes with a united, formidable and unstoppable determination to repel that invasion, to do everything in our power for the enemy to be defeated and for the criminals and murderers to receive inevitable and just punishment.” His complete address is posted to the website of the Russian Presidency.

UN Official Warns of Economic Collapse and Food Insecurity in Afghanistan

October 31, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Afghanistan, Agriculture, Economic development updates, General updates, Global Diplomacy, Healthcare, World war danger updates

Oct. 30 (EIRNS)–In New York, UN humanitarian affairs chief Martin Griffiths told The Associated Press in an interview that the G20 leaders should worry about Afghanistan because its economy is collapsing and half the population risks not having enough food to eat as the snows have already started to fall. Half the Afghan children under age five are at risk of acute malnutrition and there is an outbreak of measles in every single province which is “a red light” and “the canary in the mine” for what’s happening in society, he said.

Griffiths warned that food insecurity leads to malnutrition, then disease and death, and “absent corrective action” the world will be seeing deaths in Afghanistan. He said the World Food Program is feeding 4 million people in Afghanistan now, but the U.N. predicts that because of the dire winter conditions and the economic collapse it is going to have to provide food to triple that number — 12 million Afghans — “and that’s massive.”

“So, the message that I would give to the leaders of the G 20 is worry about economic collapse in Afghanistan, because economic collapse in Afghanistan will, of course, have an exponential effect on the region,” he said. “And the specific issue that I would ask them to focus on first, is the issue of getting cash into the economy in Afghanistan — not into the hands of the Taliban — into the hands of the people whose access to their own bank accounts is not frozen.”

Zakharova Warns of Pitfalls of Western ‘Sanctions War’

May 5, 2021by Mary Jane Freeman in Color Revolutions, Economic development updates, General updates, Geopolitics updates, Global Diplomacy, Russia, Stop the Sanctions, United States, World war danger updates

May 4, 2021 (EIRNS)–“Diplomacy is being replaced by sanctions,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned in an interview with RT Television yesterday, and this is “undermining mutual trust and darkening the prospects for normalizing relations” between Russia and the collective West.

“The vicious practice of imposing unilateral political and economic restrictions, especially the extraterritorial application of such measures, is an infringement on the sovereignty of states and interference in their internal affairs aimed at keeping, at any cost, their [imposers’–ed.] dominant position in the global economy and international politics, which they are gradually losing,” she charged.

She discussed various measures which Russia is taking to defend itself: consolidating its national financial system, searching for new international partners, diversifying foreign economic ties while developing advanced, competitive domestic industries which lay the basis for substituting domestic products for what was previously imported. New legal mechanisms are being worked on, and legislation “providing for measures to counter new potential unilateral steps by the United States and other countries” is being drafted.

RT asked several questions about ways Russia might protect itself from restrictions on its access to Western financial systems. Zakharova noted that cutting Russia off from the SWIFT system for international settlement of payments “is so far considered a hypothetical scenario.” That said, work is underway on reducing Russia’s dependence on the dollar, a discussion that has been underway for at least a decade, she noted. She referenced that the 2007-2008 crisis “called into doubt the sustainability of the world currency system based on the supremacy of one national monetary unit.”

Zakharova made clear that such discussions are not taking place just in Russia, as finding ways to secure “the independence and sustainability of the financial system to external threat is increasingly becoming a priority for any state.” Russia will not be driven by the “hostile foreign policy” of others to shut out the outside world; it is discussing measures that can be taken with regional neighbors, the BRICS, and others.

Once again, Zakharova, as other high-ranking Russian officials have consistently been doing, proposed that Western nations change course, and come to the table to reach agreements which defend everyone’s interests: “We have repeatedly made it clear that we did not start this sanctions war, but we are ready, at any point, to do our part in order to end this pointless confrontation, in which there will not be and cannot be any winners…. We strongly support a broad international discussion of ways to counteract the illegitimate unilateral measures. We are confident that a systematic dialogue should help reduce the business community’s concerns regarding the uncertainty and instability in global affairs, which are provoked by the West’s one-sided and inconsistent policy.” The RT coverage can be found here.

The Foreign Ministry carries the transcript of the interview on its website.

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