The President of Brazil asked this Saturday (18) the leaders of the United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom to “stop the madness of war” and “guarantee peace in the world”, as members of the UN Security Council.
“I wanted to tell President Trump, President Xi Jinping, President Putin, President Macron and the Prime Minister of England, who are the five members of the UN Security Council, for the love of God, fulfill your obligations to guarantee peace in the world. Call a meeting and stop this war madness, because the world can no longer accommodate”, stated Lula da Silva at the Global Progressive Mobilization meeting, which brought together several left-wing leaders in Barcelona.
In front of thousands of activists, Lula da Silva accused these five members of the UN Security Council of, despite having been historically chosen to “take care of peace, cordiality, fraternity”, having turned “into five warlords”.
“The invasion of Iraq was a lie. ‘Where’ were the chemical weapons that Sadham Hussein had? They never found them. The invasion of France and England in Libya was another lie. The invasion and genocide that was carried out by Israel in Gaza (are justified by) another very big lie. And Israel’s bombing of Lebanon, under what pretext? And the United States’ invasion of Iran, under what pretext?”, he asked.
With Pedro Sánchez and the US governor of Minnesota, Tim Waltz, listening to him, Lula da Silva recalled that, in 2010, he went to Iran with the Turkish President to negotiate with the then Iranian head of state, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to ensure that Tehran did not enrich uranium to levels higher than necessary for civilian use.
“After two days, we reached an agreement. An agreement that was made based on a handwritten letter that Obama sent me”, he recalled, highlighting that, when he managed to sign this agreement, he thought he would “be praised”.
“What happened? Comrade Pedro Sánchez, the European Union and the United States did not accept the agreement. And now they are once again trying to build the idea that Iran would build the atomic bomb. They wouldn’t build an atomic bomb,” he said.
Afterwards, receiving applause from thousands of people, Lula da Silva argued that it is necessary to “put an end to this story of telling lies about people and then destroying people”.
“Latin America is sold as if it were a world of drug trafficking. The Arab world is sold as if it were a world of terrorism. And who is good in this world? Who is good?”he asked, before reiterating a call for peace
“I was born into politics at the time of a cold war and we don’t want any more cold wars with anyone. We don’t want a cold war between China and the United States. We want freedom, free trade, we don’t want protectionism,” he said.
