Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), opened the 105th consecutive weekly meeting today by warning that the strategic situation has significantly worsened over the past week with the June 1 drone attacks by Ukraine deep inside the territory of Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown remarkable forbearance. It is ominous that U.S. President Donald Trump says he was not informed of the operation, despite the fact that MI6 and CIA were almost surely involved in its planning and targeting. It is important that the two Presidents spoke June 4.
It is clear that the perpetrators hoped to corral Trump into the “Coalition of the Willing,” that wishes to perpetuate the war. Neocons within the Trump administration are also agitating for some sort of provocation against Iran, and the horror in Gaza continues unabated.
Zepp-LaRouche made a point of advising everyone, in order to understand the ongoing “scenario” of madness, to read the June 5 column in the Washington Post, “Ukraine’s Dirty War Is Just Getting Started,” by senior reporter David Ignatius.
Understanding Russia
The IPC meeting, which occurred on the anniversary of the 1944 D-Day Normandy invasion, featured an intense, but grave back and forth about the nature of the attacks on Russia: Why are they occurring? What will President Putin do?
Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), said that Russia has chosen not to escalate, because its leaders hope that they can still negotiate with Trump and develop a decent relationship with the U.S. The Russians are furious over the attack, but Putin “remains calm, cool and collected, as we say in the States.” Western analysts got all worked up, but what have the Russians said? “Almost nothing.” The Ukrainians and their masters had hoped to get Russia to overreact, in order to manipulate the U.S. into joining the “coalition of the dead brains.” McGovern said that the New York Times lies when it reports that Russia is responding to attacks on its military bases. The Russians are not saying this at all; they say they are responding to “terrorist attacks” on civilian infrastructure.
Jose Vega, a leader of the LaRouche movement and independent candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York’s 15th Congressional District, addressed this point during the discussion, asking how, if attacks are being classified by Russia as terrorism, and Russia does not negotiate with terrorists, does this represent a change? McGovern replied that the Russians are concentrating on the attacks on the bridges, and deliberately avoiding discussion of the attack on their strategic forces. They consider the Ukrainian leadership terrorists, but they intend to negotiate. McGovern said that Putin “will surprise everybody with how much sangfroid he has.”
Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector and former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence specialist, made the fundamental point that there is no overlap between the core interests of NATO and of Russia. Russia will not tolerate a Ukraine that is being used as a proxy to sabotage Russia. Moscow will continue to insist on the demilitarization and de-Nazification of Ukraine. The West continues to hope that Russia will bend the knee. But, he said, “The root causes of this conflict will be addressed.”
In reply, McGovern said that Russia will stick to its announced objectives, but has no interest in taking possession of all of Ukraine. Zepp-LaRouche replied at one point to McGovern, commenting, “I’m probably an optimist for a slightly different reason than Ray.” She cited a German proverb, which she translated as, “the best person cannot live in peace, if the evil neighbor doesn’t like it.”
The Role of the British
In his presentation, Ritter charged that the British have been heavily deployed to “keep Ukraine in the fight…. I believe that the British have been heavily involved in trying to help the Ukrainians to kill the Russian President.”
During the discussion, McGovern recounted that his Irish grandfather once told him: “The British are responsible for every untoward thing that has happened in the world for the last three centuries.” The Brits were probably involved on multiple levels with the Ukrainian attacks, and Trump was probably kept out of the loop.
Dennis Fritz, past director of the Eisenhower Media Network and a retired Command Chief Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, added that the British are “living their dream through us” in the United States. Fritz reminded the participants that then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson shot down the 2022 peace deal between Ukraine and Russia that was worked out in the first round of talks in Istanbul. He later added that he had studied the playbook of the neocons in the Pentagon, where he had served and seen it first-hand, and part of their playbook is to work behind the back of the President.
The Significance of the Assassination Threats
During the discussion, IPC co-moderator Dennis Small said that the problem with the Ukrainian attacks is that they come in the context of assassination attempts against both Trump and Putin. They represent a statement of intent. Unless we are able to implement the diplomacy and development solutions of the Schiller Institute, they will find a way to take the world to war. Zepp-LaRouche pointed out that if one of these assassination attempts actually succeeds, we could lose civilization.
McGovern went further, saying that one incentive for Putin to deal with Trump is that he realizes that both of them may not be around much longer.
Details of the Attacks on Russia
Col. (ret.) Richard H. Black, former head of the U.S. Army’s Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon, Marine Corps combat veteran, and former Virginia State Senator, said that the Ukrainian drone attack was a substantial psychological blow. It turns out that the Ukrainian claims of damage to Russian aircraft were exaggerated, but there was an initial psychological impact, and it was timed to disrupt the peace talks. NATO has a long-range plan to continue the hostilities. Clearly, U.S. satellite imagery was used by Ukraine, and it is likely that the CIA or MI6 played a leading role in planning the operation.
Lt. Col. (ret.) Ralph Bossard of the Swiss Armed Forces, a consultant on military-strategic affairs, in 2014 served as a senior planning officer for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM). He presented key specifics of what is known about Ukraine’s June 1 Operation Spiderweb drone attack. Bossard expressed regret that there are people in the Western media, and even in the intelligence agencies, who are ready to uncritically repeat anything the Ukrainians say. “De-escalation can only be achieved if Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump agree not to take advantage of the current situation,” he said, and characterized Ukraine as “a government whose fanaticism outweighs its intellect.”
Dennis Fritz warned, “At any time, Russia could destroy Ukraine.” Russia has hypersonic intermediate-range missiles, which they could use at any time. The U.S. should be a voice for peace, but we broke the Iran deal, and we vetoed the UN Security Council resolution on Gaza on June 5, Thursday of this week.
Scott Ritter stated that, “over the past couple of weeks there have been two occasions where Russia would be within its doctrinal rights to use nuclear weapons.” One was a Ukrainian drone attack against Putin’s helicopter, a clear assassination attempt. The other was the June 1 drone attack on five of Russia’s strategic air bases.
Upcoming Actions
Ritter reported that on June 18, they will “resurrect the Space Bridge,” on the 40th anniversary of the 1985 Citizens’ Summit organized by Phil Donahue of the United States and Vladimir Pozner of the Soviet Union. Ritter is also making a film called “Thirty-Eight Minutes” about the 2018 false alarm of inbound nuclear missiles in Hawaii.
Zepp-LaRouche announced a demonstration June 6 in the German town of Schrobenhausen, where the Taurus missiles are produced.
A Spanish participant announced that there will also be a demonstration June 6 in Madrid, to “activate the anti-war mentality” in that country.
