Feb. 17—“Why Ukraine? Why now?”

Although what had been promoted as the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has come and gone, and as Russia mobilizes to move troops from its western border regions and Belarus back to their bases, the tremendous threat of military conflict has not abated. Shrill cries continue to emanate from the U.S., UK, NATO, and legacy media. And the threat cannot be resolved by actions taken within the “Ukrainian” arena itself.

The strategic crisis manifesting itself in eastern Ukraine did not find its origin in that region, and cannot be understood as an event. It is the local eruption of an unresolvable tension inherent in the conflict between the physical-economic necessities of a growing and thriving humanity, and the dying unipolar Anglo-American geopolitical system, which tolerates no rivals to its hegemony.

The very identity of that oligarchical system is threatened by the rise of China and the independence of Russia. It is the threat to that oligarchical identity that is driving the conflicts currently seen in Ukraine and Taiwan. It is the bankruptcy of the hyperinflating economies of the trans-Atlantic that demands more-than-endless bailouts to maintain its control. And it is the anti-human nature of that elite that expresses itself in the zero-growth fascism to be enforced through “green” mandates.

But the February 4 joint agreement between Russia and China expresses in the starkest of terms that the Anglo-American zero-growth financial empire is over: “Today, the world is going through momentous changes, and humanity is entering a new era of rapid development and profound transformation…. A trend has emerged towards redistribution of power in the world; and the international community is showing a growing demand for leadership aiming at peaceful and gradual development.”

The “rules-based order” of the so-called West will become the “international law-based order” of the future. The use of “democracy” and “human rights” as pretexts for interfering in other nations’ affairs is over. Security must take on a global, inclusive character. NATO has outlived any useful purpose it once had, and it is time to “jointly build international relations of a new type.” This Russia-China relationship “has no limits” and “there are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation.”

The threat of war, of nuclear war that could end civilization, can only be defeated by ushering in, globally, a new paradigm of international relations and of human self-identity. No longer can the bankrupt Anglo-American elites be allowed to dictate their agenda to the entire planet. The world — emphatically including the US itself! — must be freed from this malady of mankind, to take up the beautiful and inspiring challenges of mastering nuclear fusion, eliminating poverty worldwide within a decade, expanding our abilities in space, and revolutionizing the infrastructure platforms of the planet.

The peril and promise of this moment of a shattering of paradigms are the topics of the Schiller Institute’s conference this Saturday: “100 Seconds to Midnight on the Doomsday Clock: We Need a New Security Architecture!”