Call for an International Emergency Conference to Reorganize the Bankrupt Financial System

by Helga Zepp-LaRouche
March 14, 2023

The tremors in the financial system felt around the world triggered by the run on Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in the United States, its subsequent closure and being put in receivership, are the clarion call for all governments in the world to act quickly to prevent a repeat of the 2008 crisis on a larger scale—larger and more deadly, because all the so-called “tools” of the central banks have been exhausted.

Given the extreme over indebtedness of the financial system coupled with a derivatives exposure of two quadrillion dollars, the “Everything Bubble” is threatened with the fate of what Wall Street-Guru Bill Gross compared to a supernova—a bright shining star that suddenly burns out. Between the Scylla of financial tightening triggering growing margin calls and a run on the banks, as occurred before the trouble of SVB, and the Charybdis of reverting to QE—letting hyperinflation eat up the debt—there is no solution within the system. In either case, be it a sudden collapse of the entire system, or hyperinflationary devaluation destroying people’s life’s work, the potential damage to billions of people and the likely death of millions is unacceptable.

The failure to address the root causes of the systemic crisis of the financial system in 2008, and the 15 years since of reckless creation of liquidity by Quantitative Easing (QE)—zero and even negative interest rates at the disadvantage of the physical capacities of the economy—in combination with geopolitically motivated economic madness, such as sanctions hitting the Western economies in a gigantic blowback, is resulting in a blowout of the system. Neither Schachtian austerity, nor “bailouts” or “bail-ins” will remedy the situation. Only an end to the casino economy and a return to sound investments in the real physical economy, aimed at increasing the productivity of the economy through capital intensive and energy flux dense economic production, will do.

If FDR were alive, he would declare a bank holiday, implement a Glass Steagall banking separation, a New Deal and offer American participation in a New Bretton Woods system according to his original intention to supply massive credit to increase the living standard of the people of the Global South. Unfortunately it can’t be expected that the current U.S. Congress has the stature or wisdom to do likewise.

While the efforts of the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union), the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) and the BRICS-Plus to create a new commodity-based currency and a new financial system may not have progressed sufficiently, given all kinds of restrictions and remnants of previous approaches, the drama of events could force the realization of existing intentions to be sped up. Since the very real possibility of an uncontrolled collapse of the financial system could accentuate the danger of the present proxy war between NATO and Russia, with China in the background, to escalate by accident or miscalculation, urgent action is required.

There must be an immediate emergency conference, whereby governments signal to the world that they will act together with good will to move to a new global security and development architecture, taking into account the interest of every nation on the planet. The first expression of such a new architecture should be the implementation of  the Four Laws proposed by Lyndon Larouche: a global Glass Steagall system, a system of national banks, a new credit system, and international cooperation in the next generation of scientific and technological investments, such as thermonuclear fusion and space science.

This emergency conference must take place either as a conference of the UN General Assembly, or the G20. If these institutions are unable to respond, then other sponsors must be found, such as the BRICS-Plus, the SCO, or a combination of representative institutions. When the well-being and possibly existence of the human species is at stake, all ideological obstacles must be overcome.

This statement is available in Spanish, French, Italian, and Chinese.

No, not sleepwalking, but rather with eyes wide open, and without reason, backbone or conscience, the trans-Atlantic Establishment is pushing us to the edge of the cliff, beyond which a thermonuclear Hell is lurking, that threatens to annihilate all life on this planet. The 12-point program for a diplomatic solution to the strategic crisis between NATO and Russia, released by China on February 24, represents a possible last-minute lifeline to save us from jumping off. Although it was rejected out-of-hand by President Biden and the EU Commission, it has been increasingly supported for good reason by nations of the Global South, and consequently by most of humanity. It definitely needs to become an integral focus of all those forces worldwide that, in this time of existential threat for humanity, are committed to a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict. It also represents a concrete option around which to orient the offer of Pope Francis to use the Vatican as a venue for peace negotiations.

The reason why China’s peace plan was immediately rejected by the United States and NATO is that their goal is the restoration of a unipolar world in which China would never be allowed to play the role of a broker for peace. As NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made clear Feb. 28, in his joint press conference with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin in Helsinki, he sees Ukraine’s future as a part of the EU and as a member of NATO (in the long run). Thus, for NATO, the option of a neutral Ukraine is off the table, although the NATO leadership knows perfectly well that Russia considers that a blatant disregard of its demand for security guarantees. In other words, the U.S., the UK, NATO and the Atlanticists defend the line: “Ukraine has to win on the battlefield,” and “Russia must be ruined.” Conversely, Russia naturally sees this as an existential threat, and will attempt to bring about a decision on the battlefield. 

The Russian government would be in a parallel universe if it did not take seriously the proposals discussed at a joint event of the Jamestown Foundation and the Hudson Institute in December 2022, concerning options for a complete breakup of the Russian Federation. Their “minimalist” goal is for Russia to be turned into “a looser, confederation-type administrative political structure”—de facto disempowering the Russian government, while the “maximalist” goal is the complete breakup and partition of Russia “along ethno-religious lines” and the simultaneous creation of separate states such as Chechnya, Dagestan, and Tatarstan. In that case, they say, demilitarization comparable to the Morgenthau Plan proposal, a “de-Sovietization,” would have to be carried out, and broad sections of society would have to be brought before a war crimes tribunal or re-educated. 

Since the collaborators of these two think tanks are recruited from the inner core of the U.S. intelligence agencies and the military-industrial complex, i.e., the real U.S. power structure, Moscow must assume that these scenarios reflect the intention of the U.S. government. That, in turn, would fulfill the condition that the Russian military doctrine has set for the use of nuclear weapons, i.e., when the territorial existence of Russia is threatened.

According to experts from several nations, a military victory for Ukraine is far away. Ukrainian troops have suffered huge losses, averaging 1,000 men per day over the past three months and around 500 per day since mid-February. Some 10 million refugees—two million of them in Russia—unanimously say they do not want to return to Ukraine. Overall, the Ukrainian population has dropped from 37.5 million to about 20 million at present. Almost half of the urban infrastructure has been destroyed, while all critical industrial capacity is located in Russian-speaking regions.

In such circumstances, a war of attrition lasting many years, as the amount of weapons ordered by NATO would seem to indicate, will be a meat grinder in which the population will be wiped out “to the last Ukrainian.”

While U.S. military officials such as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley are pushing for negotiations based on a realistic assessment of the situation, and even the Rand Corporation has advised against a “long war” in Ukraine for its own reasons, the hawks around the State Department are apparently following the proposal made by one of Britain’s leading think tanks, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), which advocates escalating the war to the point where Russia would have to threaten to use nuclear weapons because of a threat to Crimea and thus to Russian territory. According to this perverse logic, the ensuing “Cuban Missile Crisis on steroids” would “promote” the settlement of the war because Russia could thus be forced to surrender. U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria “Dr. Strangelove” Nuland, notorious for her active role in the 2014 Maidan coup in Kiev, recently reiterated her support for Ukrainian military attacks on Crimea. Thus, the danger of an escalation to a global nuclear war in the short term is knowingly accepted. Obviously, the lives of the Ukrainian population do not count in this scenario; the sole goal is to ensure the defeat of Russia in order to re-establish the status of American hegemony.

The European Council for Foreign Relations, the EU’s own think tank, points out in a recent study that although the U.S. and Europe have drawn closer to one another, the rest of the world is moving further and further away from the West. Those who wish to get an idea of this reality for themselves are advised to watch the video of a dialogue between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the head of the Indian think tank ORF (Observer Research Foundation), Sunjoy Joshi, at this year’s Raisina Dialogue. A good representation of the Global South’s elite meets regularly at this prestigious event sponsored by the Indian government. As Lavrov, among others, indicated, the Russia-India-China troika, first initiated by Russian Foreign Minister Primakov, continues to be a centerpiece of strategic cooperation, but has since greatly expanded into the BRICS Plus group, to which two dozen other countries of the Global South have applied for membership. Therefore, Russia is hardly isolated, as this includes an overwhelming majority of humanity.

And this majority supports the Chinese peace proposal, which calls for respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, abandoning a Cold War mentality, ending hostilities, ending sanctions against Russia, and proposes concrete steps on how to overcome the crisis diplomatically. President Zelensky has also stated that he wants to discuss this with President Xi. The near-hysterical reactions of the mainstream media and the Atlanticists to the Chinese proposal prove once again that ideological glasses cause blindness.

The majority of the world’s population supports a diplomatic solution to the crisis. Brazilian President Lula, who has called for a peace club composed of the nations of the Global South, will travel to China later this month to discuss peace initiatives with Xi Jinping. Italian General Fabio Mini, former commander of the KFOR mission in Kosovo, has proposed further useful steps for a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. Pope Francis’ offer to use the Vatican as a venue for diplomatic negotiations is gaining support from key individuals and institutions around the world, as well as religious leaders of various denominations.

Therefore, it is high time for China’s proposal to become the center of the discussion. The situation today is comparable to that in which the negotiations leading to the Peace of Westphalia ended 150 years of religious war in Europe. At that time, the warring parties came to the conclusion that the war had to come to an end, otherwise there would be no one left to enjoy a victory because everyone would be dead. That is precisely our situation today, with the difference that the existence of nuclear weapons today would guarantee such an outcome.

One of the most important results of the Peace of Westphalia, which laid the foundation for international law, was the realization that peace requires taking into account the interest of the other. From that standpoint, not only is NATO’s repeated eastward expansion a catalyst for war, NATO itself is obsolete and urgently needs to be replaced by a new international security and development architecture that takes into account the interests of all states on the planet.

It is urgently necessary that the newly emerging peace movement, that came onto the scene at the “Rage Against the War Machine” demonstration on Feb. 19 in Washington, on Feb. 25 in Berlin, and in many other rallies in Italy, France, Germany and numerous other countries, take a clear position in favor of ending NATO and supporting the Chinese proposal for a peaceful settlement to the conflict which otherwise threatens to lead to the end of civilization.

zepp-larouche@eir.de 

“War—involving two nuclear powers—has returned to Europe and with it the danger that modern technology will turn the war over Ukraine into a total disaster. It is still true: ‘No security without America,’ but it is also true: ‘No security without Russia.’ And if we get away with it again, then the same will apply: also ‘No security without China.’

“None of the structural reasons that lead to wars has really been overcome. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Carl Friedrich v. Weizsäcker spent a researcher’s life never tiring of reminding us: ‘It is not the elimination of conflicts, but the elimination of a certain way of carrying them out that is the inevitable peace of the technical world.’ “

The Open Letter is signed by Justus Frantz (leading classical music organizer, also signer to the Wagenknecht-Schwarzer Manifesto); General Harald Kujat(ret.); Dr. Bruno Redeker, Chairman Carl Friedrich von Weizsaecker Gesellschaft (a think tank in the tradition of detente policies); Professor Dr. Horst Teltschik, former security advisor to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, former chairman of the Munich Security Conference.

This Nazi-inspired policy of cultural ethnic cleansing is part and parcel of the West’s current forbidding of its scientists from participating in international conferences in Russia, the canceling of the concerts of Russia’s top Classical musicians and singers, and the false arrests and the destruction of the scientific careers of Chinese researchers working in America’s labs.

Quoted in RIA Novosti news service on March 3, the Schiller Institute’s Richard A. Black responded: “The beauty of mankind lies in the fact that it has developed a variety of different civilizations which differ in their language, their means of communication, and in fundamental ideas. Islamic, Western European, Chinese, Vietnamese—all civilizations have evolved for thousands of years, and have made unique contributions to the understanding of fundamental principles, fundamental truths—which, in essence, is the role of art. So, the imposition of lies by the U.S. authorities on an institution—such as the Metropolitan Museum—about leading examples of Russian civilization—this is a mockery of all culture, of all art and all science.” Black called the museum’s actions an attack on truth, “on an idea, on civilization, on the role that art and science play in civilization. This is an attack on American citizens, in order to continue to keep them uninformed, and to portray Russia as an enemy.” RIA Novosti concluded its article by reporting, “According to President Vladimir Putin, Western Russophobia is nothing but racism.” The article, in Russian, may be found here.

The article was also published by Sputnik Mundo, Sputnik’s Spanish-language site today, in full, changing it only to report that Black had made his statement to Sputnik. 

“It used to be that in the old days, the Western banks always were the ones that called the shots. That is no longer going to happen. There will be banks and financial intermediaries from around different parts of the world. In fact, it’s going to become a financially more equal world. On logistics — in fact, it is very good, because, again, the systems that exist have been disrupted. But what we are going to see, and there is going to be a renewed push, is to get the Eurasian systems and the customs unions, etc. to start reactivating. For instance, the international North-South Transport Corridor, which runs from Central Asia down to Iran, this is now going to be looked at again, because these are connectivity projects that are closer to West Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, maybe Russia and China. And Asia will see different kinds of connectivity, maybe maritime connectivity projects, I’m not sure. But certainly, these multimodal transport corridors are going to be looked at now with great interest,” Kripalani said.

Live: China-Europe ties – exploring new heights – CGTN

What would the future of China-Europe relations hold? Join CGTN for a forum featuring experts from both China and Europe as they dive into the opportunities and challenges of this crucial bilateral relationship. From existing challenges to opportunities for collaboration, this panel will provide valuable insights into the future of China-Europe relations.

Lift All Sanctions on Syria, End the U.S. Occupation

The sanctions against Syria can no longer be tolerated. Pax Christi USA joined several faith-based groups in an open letter asking “the Biden administration and Members of Congress to affirm the dignity of all persons by lifting sanctions, continuing diplomacy, and sending aid to those most affected in Türkiye and Syria.”

The Schiller Institute’s two-hour-plus live Feb. 21 webcast, “Syrian Sanctions Must Be Lifted,” is a powerful weapon of truth, directly addressing the fact that the sanctions and war, which have forced 90% of the Syrian population into poverty, go hand in hand with the military occupation of Syria by the United States, which must also end.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute; Vanessa Beeley, British independent journalist now living in Damascus; Marwa Osman, a professor, author and TV presenter from Lebanon; Col. Richard H. Black (ret.), former Virginia State Senator, and Chandra Muzaffar of Malaysia, leader of JUST (International Movement for a Just World) presented the scale of destruction inflicted by United States and its European allies on Syria since 2007.

After the devastating earthquakes this February, the necessity of the complete abrogation of the unilateral economic and financial sanctions by which the United States and European Union are blocking reconstruction—and now, even aid to that country—is imperative.

The call went out: “You must demand that the U.S. Congress lift the ‘Caesar’ Sanctions. This is collective punishment of the civilian population” of Syria. Moderator Dennis Speed noted that as the seminar was going on, Schiller Institute delegations were in Congress pressing for an end to NATO’s war in Ukraine and to the sanctions on Syria.

Action Beginning

In the U.S. House of Representatives, a “War Powers Resolution,” was submitted Feb. 21 by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to get all U.S. troops out of Syria. By law, that action is a privileged measure, which must be voted upon within 18 days. If it is voted up, the Biden Administration will have 15 days in which to implement the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

The LaRouche movement is mobilizing to target Congress, which has blood on its hands, to pass this resolution, which will be an important first step in stopping the barbarism of sanctions in Syria, and worldwide.

Reports From Experts

Vanessa Beeley, speaking from Syria reported: “Syrians are resilient, they’re resourceful. And despite the fact that 90% of the population is below the poverty level, they have survived. Now, they have a terrible humanitarian tragedy, five million estimated homeless in Syria. Even in the northwest, which is under the control of Western-backed terrorist groups, it is a humanitarian tragedy. But the West is not helping. She underscored that sanctions are a part of the occupation of Syria, which has “three of its four borders controlled by hostile powers.” Moreover, she said, “The West is exploiting this tragedy to effectively kick start the war again against Syria, letting “humanitarian” aid in only through the Idlib crossings from Türkiye which al-Qaeda controls. She concluded, “What Syria needs now is for the sanctions to be lifted; but more than anything, it needs U.S. occupation ended …. [The U.S.] occupies the southeast in their Al-Tanf military base which also controls the Rukban refugee camp. It has established a 55-kilometer no entry zone around it, where it’s training and arming armed groups, including ISIS. So, end the occupation, please.”

Chandra Muzaffar emphasized, “The sanctions would be nothing without the occupation…. And occupation remains throughout South Asia.” Syria, he said, has become since 2007 a state which is not able to function as a state, because large parts of it are occupied by foreign powers and various groups backed by those powers. Syria had outdone many of the richer countries in Southwest Asia in providing both health care and education to all its people, equal rights and respect to women, tolerance in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society. It is a victim of “U.S. hegemony,” he said, which must end. “We should be able to work together to bring about a world of development.”

Marwa Osman was very specific in suggesting to Americans: Go to associates or neighbors and raise some funds to aid the tens of thousands of Syrian victims of the earthquakes. Then contact your member of Congress and ask for assistance in sending those funds to people or charities in Syrian cities like Aleppo, and ask that Member to explain to you why that’s blocked, not possible, although the sanctions were supposed to be “suspended for 180 days” [the financial sanctions were not suspended]. Then demand that that Member change it. Even NGOs in neighboring Lebanon, Ms. Osman said, are afraid that they will be sanctioned by the United States and EU if they convey funds to Syrians across the border.

Col. Richard Black, who has made numerous visits to Syria, graphically described the nature of the terrorists supported by the U.S. government, stating that we have turned over large parts of the country to terrorists “who take selfies standing on the backs of innocent women. It is disgraceful! And now, we’re following up by taunting the people of Syria who are under this terrible earthquake devastation, and we’re taunting them about how they really should have gone the other way. They should have been on our side, and now they’re getting what they deserve is essentially what the State Department is saying:

“It is a disgrace! It is a horror! If the American people understood what is happening, this government would fall. This government could not exist in the United States if the American people were not shielded by this complicit media in the horrors that we have imposed on the Syrian people.

“It is a shame. I hate to see it, because I love my country. I want it to be a better place, than it was when I was growing up. And I have hope and prayer that it will become better, but we could certainly start by ending these obscene Caesar Sanctions that are imposing famine and freezing on innocent people.”

Faith–Based Groups

An urgent appeal was issued on Feb. 6 by the Middle East Council of Churches, an affiliate of the World Council of Churches, stating “We urge the immediate lifting of sanctions on Syria and allowing access to all materials, so sanctions may not turn into a crime against humanity.”

On Feb. 17, an open letter was released by a group of faith-based organization in the United States. The letter states in part:

“Therefore, we as a community ask Congress and the Administration to:

Lift sanctions in order to expedite aid delivery, open commercial access, and expand relief services to civilians in need.

Remove the 180-day sunset on the new General License for Syria.

Extend applicability for the newly adopted Global General License for material support in all of Syria.

Continue to communicate with Syrian and UN counterparts during the earthquake response, and work to open new border crossings for personnel to access Northern Syria.

Issue letters of comfort to financial institutions and aid organizations to help facilitate emergency assistance in Syria.

Coordinate the opening of banking channels to help NGOs and INGOs get aid to where it is needed; including family remittances.

Appropriate additional funds to USAID and UN programs to support Türkiye and Syria through the earthquake response and recovery.”

The letter was signed by the Alliance of Baptists; American Friends Service Committee (AFSC); Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP); Community of Christ; Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL); Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns; Mennonite Central Committee U.S. (MCC); National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd; Pax Christi USA; Presbyterian Church (USA); The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society; Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC); and United Church of Christ, Justice and Local Church Ministries.

Sign the “Open Letter to Pope Francis From Political and Social Leaders: We Support Your Call for Immediate Peace Negotiations”

The reckless sending of ever more and ever more heavy weapons into Ukraine must stop instantly. The “narrative,” that there are no red lines, that “Ukraine must win,” and that “Russia must be ruined” is insane. The strongest nuclear power on Earth, Russia, cannot lose the war, but we all can lose together. Any escalation, such as an attack on Crimea, or strikes into the territory of Russia, are completely mad. The idea of a “winnable” limited regional nuclear war, will mean thermonuclear war on a global scale in the short-term. This would be followed by many years of nuclear winter, which would be the end of life on Earth. That is what the war hawks are playing with!

This war is not about Ukraine. The Ukrainian people are being ground down in a proxy war for geopolitical purposes, and we are not “helping” them, by prolonging this grinding war to the last Ukrainian. This war reflects the fact that we are in an epochal change, that we are at the end of the era of colonial suppression and the countries of the Global South are now demanding their innate right for development. The effort to maintain the unipolar world is futile, because it no longer exists. The old order, which neither follows rules, nor is in order, is trying to prevent a change in the status quo, which protects the rights of the billionaires, but neglects the billions of people who suffer from scarcity.

There is now an attempt by this so-called rules-based order, to establish Global NATO through an interconnected network of military treaties including the NATO-EU agreement, AUKUS (Australia-United Kingdom-United States partnership), and the U.K.-Japan “Reciprocal Access Agreement,” which is looking more and more like a march towards a global showdown with Russia and China, whose rise is seen as an existential threat. According to Evan Ellis, the U.S. Army War College’s resident expert on Ibero-American-Chinese relations, there will be an inevitable war with China over Taiwan no later than 2025 and that war will be global.

In the midst of this escalation, Seymour Hersh has dropped a bombshell by presenting the results of his investigation of the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines: that it was done by the United States. He describes how the secret U.S. planning for blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines started more than nine months earlier, and that there was a big debate inside the intelligence community whether or not to do it, given the potential for a gigantic blowback. In a press conference with German Chancellor Scholz on Feb. 7, 2022, President Biden told the gathered media that if Russia were to move into Ukraine, the United States had ways to make sure the Nord Stream pipeline would be stopped from functioning. And Chancellor Scholz stood there, like a little boy, without saying a mumbling word then—and to the present day. And Germany is being deindustrialized as a result.

There must be immediately an international investigation into the allegations of Hersh, with the participation of Russia. Because if it is true, that the U.S. and Norway sabotaged the pipeline, the implications are momentous. What does Germany need enemies for, with friends like this? If Hersh’s charges are true, this could very well mean the end of NATO.

We have to end the war danger by stopping the supply of weapons to Ukraine.

We must undertake all efforts to find a diplomatic solution. With the admissions by former German Chancellor Merkel and former French President Hollande that they never intended to let the Minsk Agreement succeed, trust in international relations with these nations and their allies has been ruined. Therefore all efforts must be made to support the offer of Pope Francis to use the venue of the Vatican to conduct unconditional negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. And if Brazilian President Lula forms a peace group of nations of the Global South, that should be added to support the efforts by Pope Francis.

But beyond these immediate steps, we absolutely have to overcome geopolitics which led to two world wars in the 20th Century. We have to realize a new international security and development architecture, which takes into account the security interests of every single country on the planet—a lesson we should have learned from the Peace of Westphalia—and we have to realize that there can be no peace without development.

Principles for a Durable Peace

We have to discuss the principles upon which the future order of humanity can be built, in order to be able to self-govern ourselves. The future world order must guarantee the life and creative potential of every person on the planet, and therefore must eliminate hunger, poverty, and underdevelopment. We need to conceptualize and create institutions that can realize these goals. There are many useful historic reference points for the construction of such a just new order, such as FDR’s original intentions for the Bretton Woods system to massively increase the living standard of the countries of the Global South, as well as the UN Charter. There are China’s proposals for the GSI, the Global Security Initiative, and the GDI, the Global Development Initiative.

We have clearly reached a crossroads in human history, where we either self-destruct in a global nuclear war, or we realize our potential as the only known creative species in the universe so far, and therefore find a solution which overcomes the present conflicts by establishing a higher level of reason. A good example of that method of thinking was presented to the world in the 15th Century by Nicholas of Cusa with his “Coincidentia Oppositorum,” the Coincidence of Opposites, which proceeds from the understanding that the One has a higher power than the Many.

It is high time that we bring the political, economic, and social order on Earth into cohesion with the actual physical laws of the universe, which will also give rise to an unbounded optimism about the creative lawfulness which underlies creation. If we change our thinking in this way, we can shape our future in ways few people have an inkling of today.

We will soon use thermonuclear fusion power commercially and solve energy scarcity; we will cooperate with the nations of Africa in fulfilling Africa’s promise as the continent of the future; we will cooperate on international space science and travel; we will increase longevity by discovering cures for many diseases; and we will create a new cultural renaissance to celebrate the creativity of our species, just to name a few of the many wonderful things we will be able to do.

ADD your name to the “Open Letter to Pope Francis from Political and Social Leaders: We Support Your Call for Immediate Peace Negotiations.”

JOIN the Schiller Institute!

Over recent months, the CCD target list has included dozens of Schiller Institute leaders and speakers at Schiller Institute events, some of whom have also been featured prominently on the Myrotvorets hit list as well—including Diane Sare, candidate for the U.S. Senate from New York, who is a scheduled speaker at the Feb. 19 rally, as are a number of other individuals on those lists.

The Schiller Institute responded to the new CCD posting by recalling that the CCD has been and continues to be financed by the U.S. government, specifically by agencies of the State Department. The Schiller Institute has also informed dozens of House and Senate offices, on both sides of the aisle, of the details of the CCD/Myrotvorets lists, urging that U.S. government funding be stopped and that their violent targeting of political enemies be prohibited.

The Schiller Institute takes the opportunity of this latest threat by the CCD to urge those Congressional offices that have been informed, and others responsible for oversight of such funding, as well as the relevant agencies of the Federal government who have heretofore supported the CCD, to help ensure that the Feb. 19 rally proceeds peacefully, as a group of Americans of disparate political ideologies join to exercise their First Amendment rights, calling for “Not One More Penny for War in Ukraine” and “Negotiate Peace,” among other demands.

The full text of the English-language version posted by the CCD on its Telegram site follows:

“In the USA, an anti-war rally is planned with the demand to stop military aid to Ukraine and start peace negotiations.

“The Libertarian and People’s Parties of the USA are organizing a rally called ‘Rage Against the War Machine.’ During the rally, the speakers plan to address President Joe Biden with a number of demands, in particular regarding the war in Ukraine. Among them are ‘ceasing the financing of the war’ and calling for a ‘diplomatic settlement of the conflict.’

“The ad contains Russian narratives that the expansion of NATO to the east provoked the Russian invasion, and the war against Ukraine led to the threat of nuclear war with Russia.

“Invited speakers include former politicians, journalists, activists and musicians who have previously expressed pro-Russian rhetoric, including former US Democratic Party member Tulsi Gabbard and Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters.

“The rally is scheduled for February 19 near the Lincoln Memorial in the center of Washington.”