30 Democrats Unexpectedly Break from NATO Total War Strategy

Oct. 24, 2022 (EIRNS)—The Biden White House got a surprise Monday afternoon, Oct. 24, when 30 members of the Democrats’ Progressive Caucus in the House issued an open letter to President Biden, initiated by the Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state. The letter asked the President, the Washington Post reported at 3:00 p.m., “to shift his strategy on the Ukraine war and pursue direct negotiations with Russia, the first time prominent members of his own party have pushed him to change his approach to Ukraine.”

The issuance of this letter has a context outside U.S. “electoral politics” as usually reported. During a furious months-long mobilization led by the Schiller Institute, against the growing threat of nuclear war arising from NATO’s “crush Russia” policy, several New York members of the Progressive Caucus sub-group called “the Squad” have been on the receiving end of extremely effective interventions at their constituent meetings, by workers for Diane Sare’s campaign for U.S. Senate in New York. Those Representatives signed the letter with fellow “Squad” member Jayapal (more than half of Progressive Caucus members did not). Citizens from all over the United States have called their Representatives and Senators demanding their staffs meet with Schiller Institute organizers on the nuclear war threat, resulting recently in more than a dozen meetings on the Hill, all taken very seriously.

The American people as a whole, though not yet making a public point of it, clearly think that throwing tens of billions and weapons systems into Ukraine is far less urgent than dealing with runaway inflation and other economic problems. They are responding more and more readily to the LaRouche movement’s organizing appeals, and supporting them. And the people of Europe are making a public point of this, with increasing numbers demonstrating against government war and sanctions policies. The most warlike European government has just collapsed in the disgrace of complete economic immorality. Members of the U.S. Congress that are not blind war ideologues imitating Cato the Elder, are aware of the growing opposition in Europe to the U.K.’s and Biden Administration’s tempting nuclear war.

The public letter itself asks the President for a “proactive diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a ceasefire.” It says, “The alternative to diplomacy is protracted war, with both its attendant certainties and catastrophic and unknowable risks.” And cites, in addition, global food shortages and uncontrolled inflation.

The White House responded fast, with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby expressing administration appreciation for their concerns but repeating the NATO lockstep that “Mr. Zelenskyy gets to determine—because it’s his country—what success looks like and when to negotiate.” But that quick response itself seemed to emphasize the significance of this crack in the Armageddon coalition.