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Vladimir Putin: To Avoid the Fate of WWII, The P5 Leaders Must Meet
24 June 2020
EIRNS—As President Vladimir Putin promised last year, Russia has released all Soviet Union documents regarding World War II, and has presented his own analysis of the causes of that horrendous disaster for mankind, with his own call for urgent measures today to prevent the current crisis from ending in the same disaster—which, in the age of thermonuclear weapons, could end civilization as we know it. His essay, “The Real Lessons of the 75th Anniversary of World War II,” was published in English on en.kremlin.ru and in the American journal The National Interest in time for the Red Square parade commemorating the 75th anniversary of the victory in Europe on June 24. President Putin was in part driven to take these steps by the revival of overtly fascist movements in Europe—specifically the violent “Maidan revolutionaries” who overthrew the elected government of Ukraine in 2014 (with unabashed support from George Soros and the U.S. Obama Administration), openly displaying their swastikas and carrying portraits of Hitler’s cohort in Ukraine, Stepan Bandera. Along with this fascist revival in Ukraine and other Eastern European states, came an effort to re-write the history of the war on fascism and the Nazis, by those in Poland and elsewhere who claimed that the war was launched by both Germany and the Soviet Union through the 1939 division of Poland. The 1938 Munich Pact, when the U.K.’s Lord Chamberlain gave his blessing to the Nazi takeover of Sudetenland, demonstrating that there would be no anti-Nazi coalition, is ignored by such revisionists, while some in the West have even posited that the U.S. and the U.K. alone defeated Hitler, ignoring the 27 million citizens of the Soviet Union who perished on the Eastern Front. Putin writes: “The blame for the tragedy that Poland then suffered lies entirely with the Polish leadership, which had impeded the formation of a military alliance between Britain, France and the Soviet Union and relied on the help from its Western partners, throwing its own people under the steamroller of Hitler’s machine of destruction. The Soviet Union did its utmost to use every chance of creating an anti-Hitler coalition. Despite—I will say it again—the double dealing on the part of the Western countries.” Putin’s concern is that there are signs today that the world could blunder into war yet again. “The creation of the modern system of international relations is one of the major outcomes of the Second World War. Even the most insurmountable contradictions—geopolitical, ideological, economic—do not prevent us from finding forms of peaceful coexistence and interaction, if there is the desire and will to do so. “Today the world is going through quite a turbulent time. Everything is changing, from the global balance of power and influence to the social, economic and technological foundations of societies, nations and even continents. In the past epochs, shifts of such magnitude have almost never happened without major military conflicts. Without a power struggle to build a new global hierarchy. Thanks to the wisdom and farsightedness of the political figures of the Allied Powers, it was possible to create a system that has restrained from extreme manifestations of such objective competition, historically inherent in the world development. “It is a duty of ours—all those who take political responsibility and primarily representatives of the victorious powers in the Second World War—to guarantee that this system is maintained and improved. Today, as in 1945, it is important to demonstrate political will and discuss the future together. Our colleagues—Mr. Xi Jinping, Mr. Macron, Mr. Trump and Mr. Johnson—supported the Russian initiative to hold a meeting of the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon States, permanent members of the Security Council. We thank them for this and hope that such a face-to-face meeting could take place as soon as possible. “What is our vision of the agenda for the upcoming summit? First of all, in our opinion, it would be useful to discuss steps to develop collective principles in world affairs. To speak frankly about the issues of preserving peace, strengthening global and regional security, strategic arms control, as well as joint efforts in countering terrorism, extremism and other major challenges and threats. “A special item on the agenda of the meeting is the situation in the global economy. And above all, overcoming the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Our countries are taking unprecedented measures to protect the health and lives of people and to support citizens who have found themselves in difficult living situations. Our ability to work together and in concert, as real partners, will show how severe the impact of the pandemic will be, and how quickly the global economy will emerge from the recession.” It must be noted that such a meeting of the P5 leaders has not yet been scheduled. Whatever differences exist between these nations, such a dialogue may well determine the fate of civilization. The Schiller Institute, which has campaigned for Lyndon LaRouche’s call following the financial crash of 2008 for the world powers to meet, including especially Russia, China, India, and the U.S., is holding an international conference on June 27, at 10:00 A.M. EDT, focused precisely on convoking such a Summit. We call on everyone, from all nations, to attend. You may register here. |