An important and constructive joint communiqué emerged from the 13th Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Russia, India, and China (RIC) held in Beijing Monday. The innovative vision stands in marked contrast to the vision of the trans-Atlantic financial and political oligarchy.

The RIC joint communiqué emphasized peace, development and global governance. The vision of the three major powers points to a future worth looking forward to.

RIC countries realize that the world is changing and that the old post-WWII international system needs an update appropriate to today's global situation.

They see that the rapidly changing world, characterized in particular by the rise of China and India and the rejuvenation of Russia, requires an innovative update of existing institutions as well as the creation of new institutions.

The constructive transformation of the present international system is a worthy goal for the international community.

Strengthening global governance through significant reform at the UN, the IMF and World Bank, and through the creation of new international financial institutions and mechanisms is at the top of the RIC agenda.

It is not just China and India that are rising. Asia overall is rising, as Chinese colleagues remind me. Russia has a destiny as part of both Europe and Asia, as Russian colleagues remind me.

In the US, in world history classes for high school, college, and university students, the history of Russia, India, and China are given close attention.

Students become familiar with the ancient Silk Road and Admiral Zheng He's long-distance voyages with the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) fleet to India, the Middle East, and Africa. They learn about the Mauryan and Gupta empires in India, and the modernizing efforts of Peter the Great in Russia. They learn about centuries of human cultural, commercial and religious interaction.

Unfortunately, Washington's politicians and policymakers seem devoid of historical and cultural understanding. Their mental space is occupied by a simplistic narrative of the post-WWII Cold War and US hegemony.

Today, Washington's dominant mind-set is filled with fear about the changing world. Thus foreign policy has been thoroughly militarized. A certain fetishism for drones, air strikes, and cyberwar replaces serious diplomacy and a creative vision for the future. Such fetishism and the ubiquitous obsession with coercion and the use of force blindsides foreign policy planning and strategic thought and limits viable options.

Visions of Athenian, Roman, and British imperialism influence US foreign policy elite.

All manners of geopolitical theories are breathlessly put forward. So-called experts argue for the domination of the "heartland" of Eurasia, for "air-sea battle" plans, and for intervention to maintain the "balance of power" in Europe and in Asia.

That there is no new innovative vision in Washington is painfully apparent. The focus is on how to maintain the global hegemony of the trans-Atlantic financial and political elite.

Washington's strategists see the special relationship with Britain as a means to maintain the balance of power in Europe.

The US relationship with Japan similarly is seen as a means to maintain a balance of power in Asia and to contain China. The globalization of NATO provides increased tools for coercion to maintain the hegemony of the US-led "Western Order."

Washington's destabilizing coup d'etat in Ukraine, and confrontation with Russia, clearly demonstrate that new types of major power relations are far from Washington's Hobbesian mind-set.

While the RIC foreign ministers were meeting in Beijing, the Atlantic Council and the Brookings Institution released a report in Washington calling for hundreds of millions of dollars of US military supplies, including lethal weapons, for Ukraine to confront Russia.

The report is illustrative of the present state of feverish hysteria and delusion inside the Washington beltway.

Fortunately for the international community, calmer heads were at work in Beijing. The foreign ministers' communiqué is a welcome sight for those seeking a world of peace and development in our time.

The author is an educator and former senior professional staff member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. [email protected]