Dec. 20, 2024 (EIRNS)—Opening today’s 81st consecutive online Friday weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche reminded participants that she warned that the period leading up to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20 could be the most dangerous period in human history—and that assessment has not changed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is looking at the prospect of an early war against Iran, to confront Trump with a fait accompli. The truth about the sudden collapse of the Assad government in Syria is emerging: The British- and American-trained fighters of the Revolutionary Commando Army (RCA) had been told by U.S. Special Forces, this is your moment, get ready for the attack.
She underscored that the British and American sabotage of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in the Spring of 2022, is now confirmed by Jean-Daniel Ruch, Switzerland’s Ambassador to Türkiye at the time. In the same vein, U.S. Defense Secretary Austin told the Ukrainians that it was too early to end the war; that it must be prolonged in order to weaken Russia.
Swiss Lt. Col. Ralph Bosshard (ret.) , formerly senior planning officer for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM) in 2014, reported that when Trump withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Russia immediately began to work on what became the hypersonic IRBM Oreshnik. It was relatively inexpensive; it involved nothing revolutionary. They simply channeled existing efforts into making a new missile. However, to shoot down a hypersonic Oreshnik, which flies at Mach 10, one has to be close enough to intercept it in its boost phase. When it reaches its descent phase, it is moving far too fast. Even the European Parliament can’t change the laws of physics, no matter what EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen thinks. The Russians were thinking about non-nuclear strategic weapons in the 1980s, taking warnings of nuclear winter seriously, unlike USSTRATCOM Director for Plans and Policy Rear Admiral Thomas Buchanan, who explains his imagining what a winnable nuclear war looks like.
Steve Starr, former director of Missouri University’s Clinical Laboratory Science Program, discussed the recent assassination of Russian Gen.-Lt. Igor Kirillov, head of Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear Defense Troops of the Russian Armed Forces. The Anglophile media accused General Kirillov of disinformation regarding U.S. biolabs in Ukraine. He was providing factual information. The U.S. claims that these labs were for “biological threat reduction,” but pathogens produced there were not destroyed. They were purchasing long-range drones from Türkiye. Why would they need those, if not for the delivery of biological weapons? The U.S. Department of Defense has biolabs in 25 countries. They are conducting “research into biological warfare under the guise of health.”
Starr compared the Oreshnik system to ballistic missiles, which follow a parabolic trajectory through space. Hypersonic missiles, however, stay within the atmosphere. Russian hypersonic glide missiles, such as the Avangard, use magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generators to, in some way, annihilate shock waves and eliminate drag, making missiles maneuverable at hypersonic speeds. Starr concluded that no political goals are worth risking the destruction of the entire human race.
Zepp-LaRouche asked Starr to comment on the fact that Europeans are asking whether NATO war scenarios assume the destruction of Europe. Starr replied that during war games, there was a popular joke that German villages are 5 kilotons apart, adding that under present doctrines, there are incentives for launching a preemptive strike. Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons can fry all solid-state electronics, disabling all communications. Under such circumstances, it’s “use ’em or lose ’em.” Zepp-LaRouche responded, “If Europe wants to survive, should we get the hell out of NATO as soon as we can?” Starr responded, “Yes.”
Herman “Ka Mentong” Tiu Laurel, head of the Asian Century Journal in the Philippines, began with his long history of collaboration with the LaRouches. Before February of 2023, the Philippines was in good shape, enjoying productive engagement with China and the world. But the Bongbong Marcos team came in and stopped all development projects. Disputes with China, which were being addressed by dialogue, are now sparking armed clashes at sea. Laurel said, “There are still many Filipinos who do not accept the China Bully theory.”
In April 2024, the U.S. brought in missile launchers, ostensibly for an exercise. There was protest against this. The Armed Forces of the Philippines promised that they would be removed, but they are now accepted as permanent. Laurel’s organization works to counter the war drive. They have found 25 U.S. bases that are not identified as such, and need to be removed, so that the Philippines can be a sea of calm; of peace and prosperity.
Discussion
A question was asked of Starr: If a number of hypersonic Oreshniks and/or other weapons were combined, as Putin has noted, could it produce an effect similar to a nuclear explosion, but without using a nuclear weapon? Starr discussed some of the possible effects, then returned to the question of MHD, which could help develop fusion energy. But the French military said, “bombs first, energy later.”
A number of long-term activists presented reports on their organizing activity. Cloret Ferguson of the Schiller Institute described how she has been trying to broaden the network that is active with the IPC, including with an email campaign to “derail this deranged Admiral Buchanan.” Former congressional candidate Jose Vega was in the nation’s capital with former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter a couple of weeks ago, where he was told that the CIA had briefed congressional officials that Russia is not bluffing, but the corporate media has spun their reports to say the opposite. Vega is emphasizing that Congressmen should support H.R. 10218, to stop the shipment of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. Gilles Gervais, from The LaRouche Organization in Canada, read from a letter he sent to the Canada-U.S. Intra-Parliamentary Group, telling them that the solution to border issues, tariffs and migration is to be found in the new Schiller Institute pamphlet, “Development Drive Means Billions of New Jobs, No Refugees, No War”.
In response to a participant who argued that Buchanan’s first-strike policy has been in effect for decades, Zepp-LaRouche answered that that is true, but there are differences today in the world situation. Following the end of the Cold War, it would have been easy to dissolve NATO and go for a peace order. Instead, we got NATO expansion, more than 1,000 km eastward, then the Maidan coup in 2014 and the subsequent civil war in Ukraine which killed 14,000 in the Donbas. What we face now is not simply more of the same, but rather an escalation spiral. The population of Europe is “only slowly waking up,” unlike during the 1980s when hundreds of thousands were protesting in the streets.
She concluded, “If I may add a bit of optimistic outlook at the end of this discussion,” this is the time to call your elected officials. “Much of our democracies have been turned into plutocracies,” but you may find some officials who are still human, and civilization is at risk. Trump has hinted that he “might not be the kind NATO member that Biden was,” and we must act to ensure that is the case. She encouraged the participants to read up on the Peace of Westphalia, and her proposal for Ten Principles of a New International Security and Development Architecture.
