Is the Anglo-American War Party Preparing for War with China?

The Henry Jackson Society in London, which, together with the Atlantic Council in Washington, represents a core unit in the British Empire’s desperate effort to break President Donald Trump’s effort to build friendly relations with Russia and China, held a virtual forum on Monday under the title: “The Atlantic Alliance During a New Age of Great Power Competition.” The American, British and Czech speakers were not subtle about the intention: Europe and America must build “collective diplomacy” and a “Trans-Atlantic consortium” to win a war—their words—between “the Free World and China.” China is winning, they screamed, using their Belt and Road Initiative to build infrastructure, their Health Silk Road to help fight the pandemic, and their superior technology with Huawei, to infiltrate Western nations, spy on everyone, impose their authoritarian form of government, and destroy the Western liberal system. Serbia, Hungary and Italy have become virtual Chinese puppets, they whine, and more nations are being drawn in every day—if they are not stopped.

In the U.S., President Trump partially submitted to the madness from those around him who argue that China intentionally created the virus, infected their own people, and sent those infected around the world, in order to destroy the Western economies through a pandemic. Pressed by the “fake news press” on this claim during his April 18 press briefing, Trump responded: “If it was a mistake, a mistake is a mistake. But if they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences.” Immediately the press issued headlines such as: “Trump Pushes Narrative That China Was Knowingly Responsible for Coronavirus” (Rolling Stone), while Steve Bannon lied to Fox TV that Trump had actually asserted it: “This is about the Chinese Communist Party, and they are ‘knowingly responsible’ for what happened. This is an act of commission.” Military-linked blogs have simply asserted that we are in an undeclared war with China.

Former Iraq WMD inspector Scott Ritter, who has been a whistleblower against neo-con lies dragging the U.S. into wars, warned that the accusation against the Wuhan Virology Lab, for which no one—repeat, no one—has provided even a hint of evidence, is no different than Colin Powell’s infamous Feb. 5, 2003 UN speech, holding up a tube of anthrax, and showing pictures of a trailer, as justification for a genocidal war against Iraq, a war which President Trump has rightly declared to be the worst mistake in American history.

China is increasingly furious over the lies and open threats of war, as well they should be. But their complaints are always joined by a plea for cooperation, at a time when the world desperately needs the great powers, and especially the U.S., China and Russia, to cooperate in stopping COVID-19. The World Food Program warned today that the number of people suffering from “acute food insecurity” is expected to double, to 265 million souls, in 2020, while their Senior Economist Arif Husain told reporters today: “COVID-19 is potentially catastrophic for millions who are already hanging by a thread. It is a hammer blow for millions more who can only eat if they earn a wage.”

Will humanity tolerate such a humanitarian disaster, a Black Death in the 21st century? Or worse, will the human race accept this while being led into a global war between the nations whose cooperation is most essential to prevent such a holocaust?

These questions will likely be answered in the coming weeks and months. It is urgent that everyone reading this editorial, from every nation on Earth, attend the International Schiller Institute Conference this coming weekend, April 25-26, beginning at 10:00 a.m. EDT (14:00 UTC), where this question of existential importance for mankind is the only issue on the agenda, from the perspective of strategy, science, culture and economics. If you have not registered already, you can do so at the Schiller Institute website, which includes a description and link to each of the conference panels.