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Ottawa Schiller Institute Diplomatic Forum March 9, 2017
The United States and Canada Must Join the New Silk Road

By Robert Hux
March 2017

On Thursday March 9, EIR Asia Editor Mike Billington addressed an Ottawa Schiller Institute forum which was attended by representatives of 16 Embassies/High Commissions to Canada from nations in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, including representation from 3 of the BRICS nations. The 18 diplomatic attendees, one-third of whom were either Ambassadors or Deputy Heads of Mission or Consuls, followed the presentation with great interest.  

One diplomat expressed his appreciation for the Schiller Institute activities in Manhattan and internationally to replace geopolitics with a more human relationship between nations. It was recognized that geopolitics has kept the world divided, and created the conditions for conflict and war. Another representative was similarly appreciative of the chance to speak briefly with Mike before the event began, and several other people expressed on arrival the recognition that they were about to hear something beyond the usual diplomatic presentation.   

Following Mike's excellent 45-minute comprehensive overview of the great revolutionary moment in history, questions revolved around the basis for establishing positive U.S.-Russia relations; what was really behind China's New Silk Road policy; the role of Africa in the New Silk Road. Mike’s answers provided an in-depth perspective, covering the historical, philosophical, as well as the strategic and economic issues. He discussed Confucianism, he showed the graphic from the EIR Report “The New Silk Road Becomes the World Landbridge”, with the two railroad network maps of Africa, as indicative of the change in paradigm, and the current strategic potential. To a question about the EU, Mike responded that the EU is soon going to disappear – the only positive alternative for Europe will depend upon joining the New Silk Road.