The courage to stand for peace

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Lead Editorial

28 June 2023
Vol. 25 No. 26

The death of former Labor Party leader Simon Crean this week brings to the fore, at a crucial moment, the courage to stand for truth regardless of party politics or global consensus. Surprisingly, media coverage has universally acknowledged that Crean stood virtually alone among Australian leaders in opposing the Iraq war. He was the last ALP leader to have a spine on foreign policy and made important interventions on related domestic fronts, such as opposing sweeping new anti-terrorism powers in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attack (back page). That courage, to go against the AngloAmerican consensus, is so far sorely lacking in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

As Albanese prepares to head to the NATO summit, to be held 11-12 July in Vilnius, Lithuania, a dangerous new provocation to world war is in motion. Following the failed, apparently Western intelligence-instigated coup attempt against Putin (p. 11) led by head of the Wagner military contractors, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kiev regime is claiming that Russia has approved plans to blow up the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. That this is almost certainly a false flag, in reality being prepared by Ukraine and its backers, is revealed by the timing of a US legislative initiative. On 22 June Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal introduced a resolution specifying that if Russia uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine or sabotages the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant resulting in the spread of radiation to NATO member countries, NATO under its Article V must respond against the alleged perpetrator—Russia.

The danger of triggering nuclear war through such provocations is dangerously high. Research fellow at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations and member of the Russian International Affairs Council, Dmitry Trenin, warned in a 22 June article that the mistaken belief by Western military planners that Russia would never use nuclear weapons, no matter how severely it was attacked, could lead to a full-scale Russia-NATO war risking nuclear Armaggedon. This risk is high, Trenin wrote, because “the US has now set itself the task—unthinkable during the Cold War—of trying to defeat another nuclear superpower in a strategically important region, without resorting to atomic weapons, but instead by arming and controlling a third country.”

Candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for next year’s Presidential race, Robert F. Kennedy Jr alluded to this danger in his 20 June speech, “Peace and Diplomacy”, published in full in this week’s Almanac. He recalled that his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, had asked his fellow Americans to put themselves in the shoes of the Russians. Elaborating their enormous sacrifice to win World War II, JFK had affirmed Russia’s legitimate security concerns thereafter, acknowledging that they would never let something like that happen again.

Even as that threat escalates, another is growing, posed by provocations against China in the “Indo-Pacific”. This will be a major topic of discussion at the NATO summit. Indeed, it was only after pressure was applied from behind the scenes that both Albanese and NZ PM Chris Hipkins, both of whom had indicated they would likely not attend, agreed to show up. Our nations are a vital part of the expansion of NATO into Asia, with the creation of a lattice of intersecting new alliances, including AUKUS. The offensive includes the British-driven “economic NATO”, to coordinate a Cold Warstyle economic blockade of our largest trading partner, China.

In the face of this insanity, Australian leaders must have the courage to stand apart from the crowd—from the war consensus, which is actually a dwindling proportion of the world. The “global majority” will pose the alternative to the NATO summit at the 22-24 August BRICS summit (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, which are planning major advancements towards a new financial architecture), and 9-10 September G20 summit (chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has vowed to make it uphold the voice of the “Global South”).

In this issue:

• Anna Bligh’s bank branch closure protocol is a swifty, not a solution
• Abandoned Sterling First tenants forced into Court to save their home
• RBA demands higher unemployment to ‘solve’ inflation
• Support war crimes whistleblower David McBride
• Attorney-General’s Department drives Australian prisoner’s ‘trial by media’
• Statement by Greens Senator David Shoebridge
• Morrison confirms AUKUS was an Australian-British plot
• Prigozhin’s Gambit—Treason by any other name
• War propaganda: Western media suspends editor for publishing facts on Ukraine
• There is much to be optimistic about!
• Simon Crean, the last major party leader to oppose Australia’s ‘dangerous allies’
• ALMANAC - RFK Jr: Peace and Diplomacy

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