EDITORIAL

Explosive Audio Reveals NATO Is in Ukraine Plotting Attacks on Russia

March 3—RT and Sputnik released on March 1 a dynamite, leaked recording and transcript of a Feb. 19 exchange among four top German military officials discussing operations for long-range missiles in Ukraine, and potential attacks on Russian arms depots and the Kerch Strait Bridge, which connects Crimea to the Russian mainland. The conversation makes clear that the United States, the U.K. and France all have military personnel in Ukraine now, carrying out their functions. The discussants confer in detail on options for how the Bundeswehr might carry out tasks related to missile logistics and training, without appearing to do so.

Both Russian publications carefully used conditional terms for the authenticity of the recording, such as “alleged,” and “purported,” but qualified listeners regard the taped conversation as genuine, beyond what even top AI could produce. Sputnik’s breaking headlines March 1 were: “Leaked Audio: German Top Brass Said To Implicate Brits in Plot Targeting Crimean Bridge” and “Full Transcript of German Top Military Officials’ Leaked Plot to Attack Crimean Bridge.”

The four military men in the leaked audio are identified as Brig. Gen. Frank Grafe, Department Director for Operations and Exercises at the Air Force Command in Berlin; Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz, Inspector of the Luftwaffe, and two officials at the air operations center of the Bundeswehr Space Command.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova commented March 1 on the leaked audio by pointing out, as Sputnik reported, “The hybrid war unleashed by the West against Russia is currently in full swing.”

The officials are heard discussing the details of the two battle plans they are trying to work out, striking Russian arms depots and knocking out the Kerch Bridge. For example, one says:

I would like to add something regarding the destruction of the bridge. We’ve been intensely studying this issue, and unfortunately, we’ve come to the conclusion that due to its size, the bridge is akin to a runway. Therefore, it may require more than 10, or even 20 missiles.

They confer on the problems of how to train Ukrainians in operations for the new missiles, without going to Ukraine personally. One idea:

Direct communication with Ukraine will only be through MBDA [the German missile manufacturer], which is much better than if such communication exists with our Air Force.

Another responds,

We have to make sure that there is no language that makes us a party to the conflict.

He also mentions they can’t be seen going by car through Poland. In the course of their discussion, they clearly refer to the American, British and French personnel already on the ground in Ukraine.

Potentially Criminal under German Law

Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche stressed, within hours of the tape’s release, that these revelations are “a game changer.” They are a “monkey wrench” in the works of the entire NATO war-making operations: “They are really big!”

She pointed out that for Germany, the conduct of these kinds of operations is “potentially criminal.” Germany itself is not under attack, and so cannot be said to be lawfully planning a counter-attack. The actions of Germany described on the recording cannot be called “defensive.” Germany has not declared war, and is not a party to war, and so cannot be said to be lawfully engaged in war-making activity. This is according to German law. In addition, the UN Charter and all codes of international relations are conspicuously violated.

The unfolding scandal exposed in this recording highlights the point of the call going out from the International Peace Coalition. At its 39th weekly meeting March 1, leaders from many nations, organizations, and faiths appealed to citizens, groups, and nations to mobilize against the war paradigm, which is causing genocide in Gaza, the two-year toll of destruction and death in Ukraine, and the extreme danger of spreading to potentially ignite all-out nuclear war.

There are dramatic expressions of people responding to the call to end the madness. In Britain Feb. 29, former MP George Galloway, long-time anti-war leader, was resoundingly re-elected to the House of Commons in a special by-election to fill a seat made vacant by the death of the incumbent. Galloway is a prominent leader of “No to NATO,” and is outspoken against the war machine.

Anti-War Voices Get Bigger and Louder

In the United States, look at the Michigan Democratic Party primary election on Tuesday, Feb. 27, in which well over 100,000 people voted for “uncommitted” against the Biden/Washington war machine. On Saturday, March 2, a meeting convened in Detroit at the historic New Bethel Baptist Church for a program titled, “Emergency Conference for Peace in Gaza: The Children of God Call for Justice!” The audience included people from the interfaith community of Dearborn and the civil rights network of Detroit. Anastasia Battle, coordinator of the International Peace Coalition, was mistress of ceremonies. Among the speakers were two independent candidates from New York—U.S. Senate candidate Diane Sare and Jose Vega from C.D. 15 in the Bronx—seeking to rapidly further national and international opposition to the worsening nuclear war danger, and to stop the genocide in Gaza.

The advance notice for the event stated in part,

We, the citizens of the world, bring our people together above our nations, our ideologies and our differences for the common good of humanity. The acts of Genocide upon the people of Gaza by Israel have brought the world before the stage of history and we cry out for Justice. The International Court of Justice has declared Israel must end their acts of Genocide upon the people of Gaza. Have they? The United States has played a complicit role thus far in allowing such an atrocity to happen which we swore to the world, “Never Again.” We gather together not only to declare the moral courage of our people but to assert the universal thread that connects us all, the love of ALL mankind. Humanity was born for that which is better!

Other actions in the United States included rallies March 2 and 3 in many cities, for ceasefire, justice and emergency humanitarian intervention in Gaza. The rallying cry at most of them was, “Hands off Rafah! Ceasefire Now! Stop the Genocide!” Advance plans for the demonstrations were publicized on CGTN TV on the eve of the rallies by Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK. Appearing on the World Today program, she was asked about the impact of all these actions. Benjamin answered, “Do these add up? Yes, they do. Are they enough? No.”

Now is the time to mobilize ever more strongly, and to succeed in making a world shift to peace-building, by backing the Oasis Plan approach to stop the genocide in Gaza and resolve the Palestine-Israel crisis. The same principle is required worldwide, for pursuing common development projects to build the future together. Long advocated by Lyndon LaRouche, the principle is, “Development is the name for peace.”