EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR FRIDAY JUNE 24, 2022
Development or Else
June 23, 2022 (EIRNS)—The contrast is dramatic between the outlook of the two summits now underway, based in Brussels and in Beijing, ending tomorrow. The EU Summit and the BRICS Summit. The radically different approaches shown in the two gatherings prompt us anew to recognize the principle: development is the name for peace. The opposite approach: To destroy the means to life—food, water, energy, sanitation, medical care—and to make war, is the death of humanity. Yet that is the worsening picture of turmoil centered in the Trans-Atlantic, while the dying financial system is left in place.
In Brussels, leaders of the 27 member nations are meeting for the EU Council sessions today and tomorrow, with an outlook furthering the takedown of the European economy, more militarism and hostility to Russia and China, and only hypocrisy to nations in need on their doorstep. On the eve of today’s EU meeting, Germany officially declared a higher stage of its energy alert, one notch down from outright rationing, because of its gas and other shortages. There is no brake on energy price hikes, already rising fast. The EU reaction is to make it all worse.
The EU has officially made Ukraine and Moldova candidates for EU membership (likely to take a while) plus Georgia to be a candidate soon, and other actions are pending. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted her glee today that this decision “strengthens us all ... in the face of Russian imperialism.”
The Group of Seven will gather in Germany on June 25, the day following the EU Summit, joined by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy; and the NATO Summit in Madrid will follow upon that, beginning June 28. President Joe Biden’s handlers have previewed that there will be new proposals for action against Russia. For the now customary fig leaf of a new “initiative”—such as were rolled out for the White House Summit for Democracy, the U.S. World Food Security Summit, Summit of the Americas, and other official circuses—a so-called “Global Infrastructure Partnership” is to be announced.
In contrast, based in Beijing, the 14th Summit of the BRICS heads of state and government met today, with a focus on development. The title of this year’s deliberations is “Foster High-Quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development.” The 10-page “XIV BRICS Summit Beijing Declaration” issued today from the heads of state and government Summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, covers the areas of mutual commitment, from combatting COVID-19 and the threat of all diseases, to increasing trade, to increasing world food. For example, the BRICS statement noted that the five members “produce around one-third of the world’s food” now, and intend to further cooperation “aimed at safeguarding food security of BRICS countries and the world.” On the financial side, Russian President Putin yesterday reported that, “together with BRICS partners, we are developing reliable alternative mechanisms for international settlements.... We are exploring the possibility of creating an international reserve currency based on the basket of BRICS currencies....”
The Beijing Declaration states, regarding “Safeguarding Peace and Security”: “We have discussed the situation in Ukraine and recall our national positions as expressed at the appropriate fora, namely the UNSC and UNGA. We support talks between Russia and Ukraine.” Other points included support for “a peaceful, secure and stable Afghanistan....”
Tomorrow, host Chinese President Xi Jinping will preside over the “High-Level Dialogue on Global Development,” with a number of other developing nations from Africa, Ibero-America, and Asia joining with the five BRICS members.
The turmoil in the Trans-Atlantic is dramatic. Today is the second of the three announced national rail strikes in Britain (June 21, 23, and 25). Canadian National Railway Company is striking in North America. Yesterday in the Netherlands, 40,000 farmers and supporters took their tractors to the roadways to protest the impossible conditions. Today, crews and pilots struck Brussels Airlines, hitting at the time of the EU Summit. Ireland’s Ryanair is set to strike this weekend. There are other actions.
The role of the young stands out. Will there be a future? This is what young dairy farmers demanded to know at the huge protest rally near Amsterdam yesterday. The same question came from the young Iowa farmer in the Schiller Institute June 18-19 conference panel, “Runaway Inflation or Glass-Steagall?”
Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche spoke of the new dynamic we must have, during a discussion she joined on Pakistan TV today. The topic was on “Security for Pakistan” and the region, most emphatically for Afghanistan. Zepp-LaRouche made the urgent, general point about the context: “The main problem right now is that the Western neo-liberal system is really getting out of control, with galloping inflation, ... and that affects not only Europe and the United States, but also affects especially the developing countries, which have a hard time getting food, getting fertilizer” and other necessities of life, she said. “It has been the view of the Schiller Institute for a very long time, that the new name for peace is development....”
Join with the Schiller Institute in mobilizing the forces to make peace through development a reality.
