On the occasion of September 21, the International Day of Peace, it is clear that the international situation is currently moving in an extremely dangerous direction. The world urgently needs disarmament and a de-escalation of the rhetoric of confrontation.
For seven months, Russia’s war in Ukraine has been raging, putting the country on fire and bloodshed. Russia also indirectly confronts NATO there. All against the backdrop of a potential radioactive disaster at the Zaporijjia power plant, the largest in Europe.
In April, it was announced that the new military alliance AUKUS — bringing together for a year Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States with a view in particular to equipping Australia with nuclear submarines — would also develop hypersonic weapons, which will likely be pointed at China.
In June, the NATO summit in Madrid adopted a new Strategic Concept branding Russia as “the most important threat […] to the Euro-Atlantic area” and China for its “coercive policies that are contrary to our interests, our security and our values”.
In August, China responded to the provocative visit of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, to Taiwan with extensive live ammunition exercises in the vicinity of Taiwan.
Also in August, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference ended in dismal failure, failing to reach consensus on a text which, in any case, would have in no way forced the countries with nuclear weapons to a concrete process of disarmament which they nevertheless undertook to pursue “in good faith” 52 years ago!
A discourse that hides reality
According to our leaders, the growing tensions in the world are solely to be blamed on Russia and China. This discourse is not only simplistic, but hypocritical. Because if they are defenders of international law in the case of Ukraine, Western countries have themselves attacked Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria. If they are defenders of the right to self-determination of Taiwan, they are not at all favorable for Palestine, Donbass, Western Sahara, Catalonia, etc. And they are ready to defend democracy and human rights… except in the many authoritarian countries that are their allies.
Their main principles are only levers of their foreign policy, to be activated when it serves their interests. And the instantaneous information in which we are bathed – which provides neither historical context nor testing of the facts – simply echoes the indignant denunciations of our leaders and thus reinforces public opinion in a posture of moral superiority of the West.
But what is the point of all this theater and what exactly is China being blamed for, since it is above all China that is in the crosshairs of the United States? In the new Strategic Concept adopted by all NATO countries, one can read that China “uses a wide range of political, economic and military tools to strengthen its presence in the world and project its power […] It seeks to exercise control over key technological and industrial sectors […]. It uses economic leverage to create strategic dependencies and increase its influence”.
In short, having become a major economic power in its turn, China is adopting many of the actions that were previously the prerogative of the United States alone. Basically, the threat that China represents is that the United States will no longer be alone in leading the world, a prerogative of which they intend to retain exclusivity at all costs… even at the cost of putting humanity in danger. .
Impending nuclear peril
As early as 1946, Albert Einstein said: “The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything, except our ways of thinking, and we are thus sliding towards an unprecedented catastrophe. Our leaders, themselves, show total unconsciousness by pushing us more and more into a logic of confrontation with China and Russia, while a war between nuclear powers should be absolutely unthinkable.
Not only do they think about it, but they talk about it openly. “For us, it’s only a matter of time,” the intelligence director of the US Indo-Pacific Command recently asserted. On May 23, and again last Sunday, President Biden said the United States would use force to defend Taiwan if attacked by China.
Not only do they talk about it openly, but they believe they can win such a war! Thus, one of the four main priorities of the U.S. Defense Strategy (2022) reads as follows: “To deter aggression, while being prepared to prevail in conflict if necessary, prioritizing the challenge of the People’s Republic of China in the Indo-Pacific, then to the challenge of Russia in Europe. »
A warlike escalation
The war in Ukraine has created millions of new refugees and internally displaced people. Elsewhere in the world, it has contributed to a significant rise in the rate of inflation, which particularly affects the most vulnerable populations, and risks leading to a food crisis.
Moreover, in terms of the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine and the threat of war in Taiwan are leading to significant setbacks: on the one hand, a return to coal in Germany and projects for increased exploitation of hydrocarbons, particularly in Canada and the United States; and, on the other hand, the suspension of negotiations on climate change between China and the United States, the two largest emitters of GHGs in the world…
There is an urgent need not only to decarbonize human activity on the planet, but also to put an end to the logic of war, belligerent rhetoric under humanitarian pretexts and the astronomical military expenditures that accompany them.
One of the slogans of the climate justice movement is “Change the system, not the climate”. Let us also reject the logic of war inherent in this system. It is a question of survival for humanity.